Sawyer's Rose

"Sawyer's Rose" by Kim Turner is a very sweet, western historical romance. I really enjoyed both the hero Sawyer and the heroine Rose. Rose is on the run from New York to the west and believes she will be a mail order bride. She has one problem though, she is already married, but awaiting an annulment. Seems the man she married only wanted her father's money and was looking to get rid of her after he controlled her money.
Sawyer did not order Rose, but found out his mother did, he is the Sheriff of Cheyenne and doesn't have time for a wife. Especially no time for a wife as pretty and sweet as Rose.
I did enjoy the story, but there is a lot of back and forth in the book between Sawyer and Rose. It took a long time for them to get together, Sawyer refused to even admit his attraction until almost half way through the book. There was a lot of action that sometimes took away from the story. Numerous gun fights where all the bad guys were dead except Sawyer and his brother. The writing and ideas of the characters seemed a little too modern, Rose moved into town and Sawyer pretty much stayed with her every night after they professed their love.
There was chemistry between these two, but the book was sweeter rather than passionate. Good story though, one I would recommend if you like a sweeter less steamy romance.

In reality this book was a 3 stars read for me, but I liked Sawyer and Rose and the writer's style. This appears to be a debut novel and the first of a series. All things considered, I decided to add one more star.

I think it's obvious that the writer intends to write a book for every one of the McKaid brothers. Being the first book means that a lot of page space is spent on building the backdrop for a series. Sawyer and Rose seemed like an afterthought, which is the main reason why I had trouble staying focused. I think it quite a shame because Sawyer and Rose were good characters. They had great chemistry and it wasn't just about how the writer has written them. Lisa Kleypas said it in one of her tweets that "some couples just have it" and she wished she "could force it." Sawyer and Rose had one of those "things", but I think the writer did not take full advantage of that special chemistry.

There are a lot of secondary characters in the book and I would say this is more a family drama than a romance. I like my stories to have an unwavering focus on the lead characters, and in that department this book was disappointing.

But as I said in the beginning, I liked the lead couple and the writing style. I look forward to the writer's future works to see whether they would match my preferences better.

As a debut author, Kim Turner has definitely turned the head and caught the attention of this NetGalley reviewer. Though western romance is not my usual genre, I delightfully delve into it once in a while when the synopsis lures me in. Ms. Turner definitely did not disappoint. You know it’s a good book, folks, when you see the images/story unfold in your head as clearly as if you were watching a movie.

**spoilers possible**

It is worth commenting the story seemed to center more around Sawyer than just his relationship with Rose. In fact, Rose felt like a sub-plot at times, especially after half-way through. Sawyer’s job as sheriff, son, patriarch older brother, and all around peace keeper of the town, his family, and handling the escalating, threatening issue with next door rancher Benton, kept him more than just a little busy. Oh, there is also the unidentified reappearance of a mysterious man lurking in the shadows, who years ago shot and killed his father, too. He also become a problem Sawyer had to deal with.

But what can I say? I’m really jealous when it comes to sharing book time with anything other than the main couple’s romance. Especially when a “surprise you’re a daddy” element is thrown in. No, it didn’t sit well with me when a teenage boy shows up declaring he is the lovechild of Sawyer and a woman, who is now deceased but, up until he met Rose, was Sawyer’s one and only true love. Yes, the author worked the kid’s existence into the plot in such a way it turned out rather helpful, but I am what I am. I just don’t care for baby drama, even if the kid isn’t a baby anymore. He will always be a reminder/link to this former lady love.

Yes, I enjoy sub-plots, and these are well-written, I just felt like they began to overshadow the romance and started to make the book feel overly long. This especially held true at the end. There were several times I whipped out my Kindle fast-forwarding forefinger and went to town skimming over pages looking for Rose, romance, and the story’s final conclusion. So even though the last 20% was action packed western shoot-out drama, I actually grew weary of trying to keep up with the sub-plots and the actions of the large cast of sub-characters. For those who don’t care about the romance portion, you likely will prefer this type of ending.

I am extremely grateful the western theme was not overly done. There were no “yippee-yo ki yays” or “yee-haws.” Everyone spoke in a normal, coherent, non-irritating dialect. There were only a couple of passionate, steamy scenes, as well.

So not to deter you from reading this book, just be warned “The Trials and Tribulations of Sawyer” might be a more fitting title. Here’s to hoping sequels featuring the brothers (Wyatt, Evan, and Dawson) are just as entertaining.

Title: Sawyer’s Rose, Series: The McCade’s of Cheyenne (Book 1), Author: Kim Turner, Pages: 360, stand-alone but part of a series, only a couple very steamy scenes, surprise you’re a daddy due to another woman years ago, no cheating, no love triangle, no OW/OM drama, HEA, some western type violence, western theme was not overly done.

(This review is based on ARC generously provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion. No compensation was paid to the reviewer nor is there any affiliation between the reviewer and author/publisher. It will be posted on Amazon, Goodreads, NetGalley, and Barnes & Noble.)

A western for women..one with lawman, horses, gunfights and romance.

A new western series concerning lawmen and a ranching family. This first book brings Sawyer's tale as he deals with secrets that unexpectedly come to light and Rose, his surprise mail order bride that his mother sends for. Enjoyed the writing and getting to know this family with characters while picturing the story in my mind. Looking forward to reading the next McCade book.

Ebook from Netgalley and publishers with thanks.

loved loved loved it!

Well this was a satisfactory read for me. Not bad but not great. The first half was pretty slow. It picked up a little after the half way mark but for the most part it was a slower pace read. There was a few cool wild west type gun fights to shake things up. I think the two major problems I had with this book are 1. It skips around weeks at a time with no clear timeline. That left me trying to figure out what was going on more than once and in general was just confusing. One minute they are eating dinner then it weeks later and it doesn't even say how many weeks later, then it's weeks later again. And it didn't just confuse the timeline it confused the plot and slowed it down. For instance Sawyer would be in his office thinking of Rose then in the next sentence he was at the ranch eating dinner weeks later and I was like what whoa how did we get here. 2. There is not much in the way of relationship development for 3/4s of the book. It was more like "The Days of Sawyer's Life" soap then a romance. I mean Sawyer was interesting, but I wanted love and romance. Although we readers do get some sweet moments the last 1/4 of the book I was looking for more. The couple were almost never together, didn't really speak a lot to each other and did their own things (Mainly Sawyer) then at the 1/4 mark they're in love and I didn't really feel that love because after 3/4s of a book, hundreds of pages I didn't really see how they had been around each other or talked to each other enough to have any feelings at all. It felt very superficial. I liked the secondary characters and I wouldn't mind reading Wyatt's book. Overall this book was an okay read and I would try this author again.

I do enjoy Western historical romances to break up my Georgian/Regency/Victorian stories. Sawyer’s Rose had an interesting premise, with a mail order bride – who really isn’t one.
I understand that the hero had no idea his mother had ordered him a wife until the day she actually arrived, and I also liked that aspect of the story. However, it was not the heroine’s fault he wasn’t told, and I think he was mean to her in a few childish ways at first. He didn’t have to marry her, but he didn’t have to be openly nasty.
For this reason, I thought it was odd that the heroine was attracted to him from the start. I would have kicked him to the curb!
There is actually quite a bit going on in this story, with secrets gradually revealed. I prefer it when authors do what this one did, keeping you turning the pages because you only get bits of the story at a time. The heroine had big secrets we didn’t understand for the first half of the book.
I think that there were a few places where the story could have been tightened a bit. There were a few points where the focus shifted from the hero and heroine, and I wasn’t as interested – I wanted to know what was going on with those secrets!
This is a solid 19th century Western, with some obvious hints at future books. I would have enjoyed it more if it had been a bit shorter, but you could do worse.

I really enjoyed this book very much. Sawyer McCade was a sheriff out in Cheyenne, part of the wild west. He was blindsided when his mom met him in town and told him that she had ordered him a mail order bride who would bet arriving on the train in just a few minutes and she wouldn't be there to meet her but he should take care of her and make sure she was settled at the family ranch. He was adamant that he wasn't getting married. He didn't need a wife. He had his hands full being the sheriff and taking care of his younger brothers, Wyatt, Dawson and Evan and his mother, Dodge. Sawyer's father was killed when he was just 17 years old and his focus for the past 15 years had been to seek justice for his father's death.

Rose arrived from New York and was trying to escape her own secrets. She was an independent woman who was searching for protection and acceptance. She bonded with Dodge McCade and Mei Ling, their housekeeper.

There was danger and an evil that hovered over their lives and threatened to destroy them all. Could that evil ever be eradicated before someone was hurt or killed? Would Sawyer be able to protect them all from the secrets he still kept?

This story was well written and fleshed out. I was able to connect to the characters in an emotional way. I hurt when they hurt and experienced joy when they did, as well. Well done, Ms. Turner.

I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.