Mary Connealy has created another fun series in the "Trouble in Texas" collection! I was tickled to be able to review book #2 Fired Up.
Fired Up begins just days or weeks after book #1 Swept Away in the series ends. The primary characters in this book are Dare--a war trained doctor--and Glynna Greer--widow of the now dead "bad guy" of the previous book.
I can tell you right off that you cannot just jump into book #2 and expect to know what's going on. It is DEFINITELY necessary to read book #1. This book does not stand alone. We do learn more about Glynna and Dare and the "skeletons" in their closet.
As the book moves along we know that Dare likes Glynna and she likes him. The main thing standing between them is Glynna's son who hates any man desiring to get close to his mother. This issue is always simmering in the background of the book. Throughout the book, Dare is nearly killed several times and it becomes clear that someone is out to do him harm. No one knows whether it is someone from his past experiences in the war (Civil War), cronies of Glynna's deceased husband, or another unknown element. Ultimately this is the plot the book follows. Who is trying to kill Dare and why...
About midway, we are set up with a new character in the form of the minister's sister...the minister is a war buddy and best friend of Dare and the arrival of his formerly-fat-gangly-ugly-turned-extremely-attractive sister shakes things up--especially with her Prohibition leanings in this Wild West Texas Town. It is obvious that the author is trying to set up book #3 which clearly is going to be about this sister and another one of Dare's best friends.
All in all, I would give it about 3.75 out of 5 stars. It was a quick and fun read, but not one of Ms. Connealy's best. Things get tied up or out of hand too quickly for my liking...or things get dragged out when they don't need to be.
That being said, I still look forward to reading the full series. I have predicted there will be 3 more books as there are still 3 more bachelor's in the group of 5 war buddies left to get hitched. We'll see if I'm right or not!
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Baker Publishing Group as part of their book review bloggers program for Bethany House. All opinions expressed are my own and I was not required to write a positive review.
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Here are some of my favorite books by Mary Connealy
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