A Wanted Man by Nancy Parra

Genre: Historical Romance

Publication Date: December 2002

One Word Review: Fun

Author Website: www.nancyjparra.com

First Line: “The boy is mine, bought and paid for fair an’ square.”

GoodReads Synopsis: Brianna McGraw ventures out West to find and rescue her brother from bandits who will sell him illegally to the highest bidder. Separated after they were orphaned a few years ago, Brianna has worked hard as a librarian to save money for the trip. But when she arrives, she realizes she has to somehow come up with a thousand dollars to buy him back. She then sees a wanted poster with a sufficient reward and decides to become a bounty hunter, accomplishing two good deeds at once--bringing a criminal to justice and saving her brother. Trey Morgan's renegade days are long over. He is at home on his ranch, tending to his cattle, when Brianna appears and arrests him. He is more amused than concerned, wondering how she thinks she's going to drag him 900 miles through the mountains. To his surprise, Brianna proves over and over again that she is intelligent and strong enough to make the long and grueling trip. While he quietly observes his beautiful captor, his discomfort grows when she begins to win more and more of his respect and admiration. Soon, the threat his beautiful captor holds over him is not so much in the pistol she wields, but the lasso she has firmly fastened over his heart.

Kathy’s Review: Parra certainly creates some very likable characters. Brianna was a hoot, I liked her right from the start. Her interactions with Trey were fun and left a smile on my face. I’m not sure about the historical aspects of the story, but she finds herself in a tough situation and really takes her problems head on. With all of the Parra novels I’ve read so far she takes these interesting plot ideas and makes them very believable. I thought Trey was great, I loved that he just “gives up” right at the beginning because he is so curious about what this “little chit” was up to. The more time they spend together they more they fall for one another, and it was fun to be along for the ride. Again, like her other books, I wish it had been a little longer. It kind of feels like things get wrapped up a little too quickly and I would have liked a few more chapters, at least. I still really enjoyed the story and would definitely recommend it.

Bookworm Rating: 4