Reviewer: Trudy Smith
Title: Tall, Dark & Determined - 2nd in the Husbands for Hire series
Author: Kelly Eileen Hake
Publisher: Barbour
ISBN-13: 978-1-60260-761-3
Release Date: September 2011
Genre/Sub-genre: Inspirational Historical Romance
Year/Setting: 1887/Hope Falls, Colorado Territory
Overall Rating: 3.25
Sexual Content Rating: None
Language (Profanity/Slang) Content Rating: None
Violent Content Rating: None/Negligible
Kelly's Website/Blog: www.kellyeileenhake.com
It appears that delicate Lacey Lyman is made of stronger stuff than what she appears. It’s a good thing, too since she seems to get in more scrapes than a hound chasing a fox. Lacey is determined to make the sawmill work making Hope Falls a town to be proud of, in spite her surly bother who is recovering from injuries received in his silver mine’s collapse.
Hunter and all-round man of the land, Chase Dunstan has come to Hope Falls to secretly investigate the mine’s collapse. His brother-in-law died in that mine devastating his sister. Could the collapse have been planned as a cover up for something sinister and are the Lyman’s behind it?
It seems that Chase is plagued with the company of Lacey at almost every turn. Chase is a quiet man, doesn’t need a lot of conversation. Lacey on the other hand is a chatterbox, whether to someone specifically or herself, it doesn’t matter. Chase is beginning to wonder if Lacey is tagging along to keep him from further investigations and Lacey believes that Chase over stepped his bounds when he came to Hope Falls. You see Lacey’s friends voted to allow Chase to stay without her presence and she feels betrayed.
In spite of themselves and the situation, Chase seems to be the one to save Lacey from her scrapes and she resent it. No one takes her seriously treating her like a china doll but she’s bound to prove them wrong. Chase does see the determination and courage that Lacey has and his admiration grows, but is she behind the mine’s collapse?
Whether they wanted to be or not, God is leading both Chase and Lacey to work together leaning on each other’s strengths and learning something in the process. But will Chase uncover the cause of the mine and will he be able to see past what he believes to be true to what is true. Will Lacey come to realize that she can be herself even with the aid of a man?
Tall, Dark & Determined is truly a story of determination. Both Chase and Lacey have had their share of life experiences that have molded them and left them with perceptions that need to be changed in order to see God’s plan for them. Subtle inspiration with occasional references to prayer and God eventually leads them to the place they need to be.
I found the story a little hard to follow at first even though I had read the first book (I do recommend reading the first book before this one). The writing style that Ms Hake chose for this tale was periodically distracting and confusing as occasionally conversations are repeated almost verbatim in order to see the other person’s point of view. When this occurred it did interrupt the flow of the story for me but even at that I enjoyed seeing how Lacey and Chase finally came to care for each other.
I have enjoyed Ms Hake’s past writing and look forward to the 3rd book in the Husbands for Hire series.
Trudy
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