Cindy Gerard
Taming the Outlaw (2002)
Author: Cindy Gerard
Genre: Romance (Contemporary)
Plot Summary:
Peg Lathrop is a single mother of a 6-year-old girl in Sundown, Montana. Her old flame, Cutter Reno, comes back to town a hero. He’s become a huge rodeo star and everyone seems excited to see him, except Peg. The last time she saw Cutter was when he left town six years ago. She knows her daughter is his, but she has wondered many times if she did the right thing not telling him all this time. She didn’t because she knew he would be traveling with the rodeo and was the type that would never stay around for long anyway. Cutter talks to Peg on the trip and subsequent trips back to Sundown, and figures out on his own that the child, Shelby, is his. Gradually, Peg lets Cutter into their lives and they end up having sex just about every time they run into each other. Even though Peg is always angry at Cutter for leaving, he is just irresistibly attractive. Finally, after a climactic talk between them in the last pages, Peg realizes that all this time maybe it was Cutter’s heart that was the vulnerable one, not her own. He reveals that he was just afraid he would end up like his father, who ran out on him and his mother. So he never formed close relationships. Peg also assures him that she won’t leave him like his father did. They decide to try to make their family work and get married. Cutter wins his third national championship and buys 1200 acres of land for them, and they start a new life together.
Geographical Setting: Sundown, Montana
Time Period: present
Series: Silhouette Desire
Appeal Characteristics:
This is about as far from plot-driven as you could get. Just about the entire book is spent revealing the thoughts and feelings of the two major characters, Peg and Cutter. Their thought processes are periodically interrupted by Cutter coming back into town again and the two of them making love. For this reason, I’d consider it slow-paced. They both think a lot of the same things over and over again. Occasionally, apparent editing errors are distracting, in grammar or even misspelled words. It seems a lot like a soap opera, in being very melodramatic and drawing out emotional points over a long period of time. The rodeo element might draw some people, but it is not so present that it would distract other readers.
Similar Authors: Ann Major, Barbara Boswell
Red Flags: several detailed sexual encounters, minor swearing
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