THE CAJUN COWBOY

Author: Sandra Hill ISBN: 0446612952 6/2004 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: Warner Forever

Talk about a bad hair day! Louisiana beauty salon owner Charmaine LeDeux has a loan shark on her tail, and Raoul Lanier, the six-foot-three hunk of testosterone she thought she divorced, has just delivered a bombshell: They're still married! At least the rundown ranch they've inherited together is the perfect hideout for a woman who needs to lie low. It's hard enough for Raoul to play cowboy to a bunch of raggedy steer, but it's exquisite torture living with the delectable Charmaine, who's declared herself a born-again virgin. What's a man crazy with desire to do? Seduce her on their home on the range, even if it means taking advice from his three bachelor ranch hands, Charmaine's belly-dancing great-aunt, and St. Jude, patron saint of lost causes. With the moon shining over the bayou and the Dixie Mafia in hot pursuit, this Cajun cowboy must keep his wife safe as he tries to sweet-talk his way into her arms again...before she unties the knot for good!

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Reading a Sandra Hill book you are gua-ran-teed a thoroughly engaging, well researched story. Gua-ran-teed laughs. Gua-ran-teed sizzling tension. Gua-ran-teed satisfaction.

Hill manages to make four-times divorced, somewhat-of-a-bimbo Charmaine LeDeux a heartwarming, humorous heroine for whom you want to stand up and cheer. She also does a wonderful job of making ex-convict Raoul Lanier a hero to love and root for. I am always amazed and deeply appreciate the humor, the depth of the characters, the thick tension, and the rich details Hill puts into her novels.

One of my pet peeves are series books that have to be read in order. This is the third book in Hill's Cajun contemporary series, but it stands alone well. Hill teases you just enough to keep the story flowing without the previous books being necessary, and entices you to read the previous if you haven't already. My only quibble with this author is that she doesn't write fast enough.

Maria LeGrand