Amelia
Diana Palmer
Historical romance
Zebra
December 2018
Available from Amazon

Lovely Amelia Howard loves her home in the desert country of west Texas. There’s only one blemish in her world and that’s King Culhane whose dynasty is large and her father desires to be part of through marriage. Not to King, no. As much as Amelia admired him as a younger girl, he’s become a silver-eyed devil of a cowboy who she’d happily never see again. No, her father wants to arrange a marriage between her and King’s brother, a man with a milder-temperament. She hopes that perhaps the brother will be a man she can have a content marriage with.

Amelia tries to conduct herself as an obedient, demure lady to make this happen. Her efforts only draw the ire of King. When he finds out what’s behind her mask, that she’s not the timid young woman she’s put forward, will he allow the marriage to continue? Or will he claim her for himself, propriety and duty be damned?

Diana Palmer is a talented author and I’ve read many of her stories over the years. Amelia presents a storyline I’ve always enjoyed where the hero and heroine seem to despise each other at first and by the story’s end, nothing can keep them apart. Ms. Palmer did a great job penning this particular tale and all the right elements for this type of story were there. I’d like to have seen the hero be a little less abrasive and unlikeable for a large portion of the book and I’d like to have seen a little more fire from the heroine, even within the constraints of her disguise. Did I like them both and care about their endings? Very much.

That aside the setting, the secondary characters, pacing, and dialogue were all spot on and it was an enjoyable read for a cold winter’s weekend. Fans of historical stories and cowboys are sure to enjoy Amelia.

Overall rating: 

Sensuality rating: Mildly sensual

Reviewer: Jamie