Cheryl St. John

The January 2024 #TBRChallenge is "Once More with Feeling." I chose to interpret this as a second chance romance prompt, and dug into my Harlequin Historicals for a tried-and-true favorite author. I tend to hoard their backlists for when I especially need a strong read, and what better way to start this year's reading challenge than with a Cheryl St John title?

As the blurb implies, our leads have baggage galore. Tye Hatcher has returned to Aspen Grove, Colorado, after the Civil War. He's not sure why he returned to the town, given the fact that he's been ostracized practically since birth. His mother was a saloon girl and his father didn't even acknowledge his existence. He's always been on the outside looking in, and I guess he figured one place was as good as any to return after war. He's trying to save up some money to buy some land to start a rendering plant, but thus far has had no luck seeking gainful employment. The only place that will have him is the local saloon, where he plays the piano in the evenings.

Meg Telford is a beautiful young woman who was a town favorite even before marrying into the prosperous Telford family. Her husband, Joe, did not return alive from the war, and she's been in mourning ever since. She's at a crossroads: she and Joe bought a plot of land and a bunch of cattle before the war, trying to make it on their own as ranchers. Joe barely had time to build a house before being called for the war effort, and now Meg is down to her last dimes trying to keep hold of her land. Her husband's family is pressuring her to sell and move in with her mother-in-law, Edwina. Edwina has made mourning a Way of Life: first she donned the black for her own husband, and then for her beloved son, Joe. She wants Meg to move in with her and basically serve as a companion, but Meg wants desperately to hold onto Joe's dream of the ranch.

To that end, she comes to a conclusion: she needs a man to work the land and coax a profit. She can't afford to pay him, so she decides to offer a marriage of convenience instead. The only eligible man in town is Tye Hatcher, whom Meg knew as a child. Meg is perhaps the only respectable person in town willing to give Tye a chance, aside from the Reverend. She thinks long and hard and decides to offer marriage - and her property - to him. It will save her from having to sell the rest of her furniture to pay the mortgage and will get Edwina & co off her back about selling.

Meanwhile, Tye has been approached by an old friend, Lottie, who is dying and wants him to take guardianship of her young daughter, Eve. Lottie plays on Tye's emotions to achieve this end, knowing how strongly he feels about being a fatherless child, and wanting to shield an innocent from such a fate. He agrees to take Eve, even though he can barely support himself, much less a child.

Meg's proposal comes just in time. Tye is shocked, and warns her that if he marries her, she will also be ostracized by the town. Meg is desperate enough to not care. They agree to marry, and Tye will move onto Meg's ranch. With her land and her stock, the rendering plant will be even more successful, even sooner - if they can make it through the season and keep the cattle alive long enough to be sold.

Meg doesn't quite believe Tye about the town turning their backs on her, but she gets a taste of it firsthand at their wedding, when nobody attends except her farm hands (her sister-in-law sneaks in, too, behind her husband's back, but only for a very short period). Meg is shocked, but swallows her pride and moves forward. She's struck her bargain and she's going to stick with it.

The dead husband, Joe, is a huge wedge between them. Meg loved him dearly and is not quite ready to let his memory go. Tye is jealous of this, and because Joe kept providing for her even beyond the grave: he sent home a pair of exquisite horses that Tye decides to stud out, covering some of their immediate monetary needs. Joe also built Meg a house and started the ranch, and Tye wonders how he could ever take his "rightful" place on the ranch that's now his.

Lottie dies soon after Tye and Meg wed, and Tye is forced to tell Meg about Eve. Meg balks at taking in a whore's illegitimate daughter, but Tye insists and brings Eve to the ranch. Meg softens towards the child, but becomes jealous of the bond that Tye and Eve forge. She fights with herself about her feelings, her memories, and her own pride, especially when she sees how shabbily the rest of the townspeople treat Eve.

There's a LOT of baggage to go around, and a lot of things that could've been solved if Tye and Meg had bothered talking to each other instead of making assumptions. Once they do being talking, tensions ease, at least between them. They decide to adopt Eve, legitimizing her and taking away the stigma that Tye labored under as a kid. They have a successful breeding season with the cattle and the horses. Tye even manages to buy back the ring that Meg had to sell at the beginning of their marriage to cover a mortgage payment, even though he does it in secret by returning to town to play nights in the saloon, leaving Meg to think the worst.

There's a lot to sink your teeth into, and a lot to mull over. Tye and Meg both deal with feelings of insecurity, jealousy, pride, shame, and humiliation. The author pulls no punches at how awfully the town (and Meg's family, led by Edwina) treat them all, even little Eve. There is an excellent moment of catharsis when Meg confronts her former mother-in-law about the terrible things she's saying about Meg and how Joe WOULD NEVER if he was still alive.

For all the awesome, there is some "meh" as well. Meg's absolute lack of knowledge of the marriage bed was unbelievable, considering she was happily married. She didn't know sex was supposed to be fun?! WTF?? Their own pleasure was basically the only thing women in 1865 had to call their own and no one else's, but Meg spends most of the book feeling ashamed for how lusty she feels over Tye, her own husband. (Yeah, okay.) She also apparently didn't know anything about the signs and symptoms of pregnancy. I just can't buy that a woman who is otherwise intelligent has absolutely no knowledge of her own body.

It is also disappointing that Tye has to make a Grand Gesture at the end to be accepted by the town, much less Edwina and the rest of the Telfords. Grand Gestures are some of my least favorite plot devices, and I kinda wanted them to keep forging their own way and to hell with those who were prejudiced against them. But, that's me. Obviously Tye proves his worth to the town, and to his wife, and they all live happily ever after.

It's another strong showing by Ms St John, and another great, meaty Western historical that hits all the feels. It was a great book to start this challenge with, and gives me hope for the rest of the prompts!… (mais)

I enjoyed this collection quite a bit. I'm not usually one who reads westerns honestly, I prefer my historicals set in England, so this was an entirely new genre for me to read about, but I found the stories to be enjoyable.

I didn't have one story I preferred above the others; mostly pieces of the stories that I thought were refreshing and different. I had minor problems with each story as well (a plot thread in Christmas Day Family for instance was a burden to the plot, a contrivance almost to extend the story), but overall they were fun quick reads about the holiday season.… (mais)