Reviewer: Connie Payne
Title: The Bounty Hunter
Author: Cheryl St.John
Publisher: Harlequin Historical
E-ISBN: 0-3738-1121-7
Release Date: September 2005
Genre/Sub-genre: Historical Romance
Year/Setting: 1890 Montana
Series: Montana Mavericks: Gold Rush Grooms
Overall rating: 5
Sexual content rating: Subtle/Sensual (one scene)
Cheryl's Website:
www.tlt.com/authors/cstjohn.htm
Lily Divine has a fight on her hands. And it’s a doozey. The Women’s Temperance Prayer League. They want to shut down the three saloons/bawdy houses of Thunder Canyon. But the Intolerants, as Lily calls them, refuses to believe she runs a respectable operation in the Shady Lady.
Enter in the new sheriff, Nate Harding. He’s supposed to "clean up the town" and "handle the women" which really meant he was to take care of the Intolerants so the husbands wouldn’t have to. What a job!
Almost immediately Nate has a minor run-in with Lily, and while intrigued by her, he’s among those who don’t believe her claims; that neither her nor the women working for her accommodate the customers.
Lily is big-hearted and generous. She helps any and all who come to her in need. But when it comes time for her to receive love or help she staunchly refuses. She’s got Nate a bit baffled by that, and herself as well if she’d stop to admit it.
And while Nate’s thoughts often center on Lily, he begins to step out with another young lady with the thought in mind of settling down and starting a family. All of which Lily has denied she wants. What's he to do?
One event after another throws Nate and Lily together, whether in a personal or business context, or in championing a cause. Though in one way they grow closer, in another they seem to come to an impasse.
Time and help from an unexpected source give Lily the push she needs to realize what she’s been denying herself, what she’s been hiding from.
Lily is so much more than what we see of her. She’s so much more than even she knows and it’s nice to be able to experience her journey of self-worth and self-respect right along with her. Nate is a black and white kind of lawman, and he knows that with the law justice does not always prevail. It’s with watching Lily that he comes to see that in certain situations and circumstances justice can be done without compromising the law.
From the start, we’re drawn into the lives of those of Thunder Canyon. Ms. St.John plants the seed of curiosity in our minds, creates such colorful secondary characters, such vivd pop-in-for-a-moment characters that we want to know more about them, what drew them to Lily’s and Thunder Canyon, what’s going to become of them. Through it all, we’re given many smiling and heart-tugging moments.
The Bounty Hunter is more than a romance. So much more. You can’t walk away from reading it without picking up on the many and varied themes woven through this story. To name the themes wouldn’t be fair, and to be honest, it’s going to depend on the reader whether they can pick up on any or all of them. It won’t necessarily be only the characters that learn something about themselves or their thought process.
You can’t go wrong picking up one of Ms. St.John’s historical romances as she certainly packs and delivers more than you could hope for. Her books, her style, the way she satisfies, keeps the reader hungry for more. She just gets better and better.
So, curl up with The Bounty Hunter and some Dove chocolates 
and be prepared to pass the time in a most pleasurable way.
Connie
P. S. If you want to read about Lily and Nate’s great great granddaughter pick up a copy of Cheryl’s June ’05 Montana Mavericks Silhouette Special Edition: Million-Dollar Makeover.
Question or comment regarding the review or the book? Click here and let Connie know.
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