Branded as Trouble: A Western Romance Novel

Delores Fossen

Jun 2017 · Sold by HQN Books

About this ebook

Every town needs a bad boy, and Wrangler’s Creek’s has been gone far too long…

Getting his high school girlfriend pregnant was just one square in Roman Granger’s checkered past, but it changed him forever. When his son’s mother skipped town after the birth, Roman decided to do the same, baby Tate in tow, hoping for a fresh start.

Now Roman fears his teenage son is following in his wayward footsteps, so he returns home to Wrangler’s Creek, aiming to set him straight. It’s there he encounters Tate’s cousin Mila Banchini, the good-girl opposite of Roman who’s had a crush on him since childhood. The old spark between them undeniably never died, though Roman worries it’ll only lead to heartache. But if falling for Mila is such a bad idea, why does everything about holding her feel so right?

Ratings and reviews

Roman Granger might have been the black sheep of the family and the town’s bad boy, but he’s always taken parenting seriously, and when his thirteen year-old son Tate shows signs of following his footsteps, he knows he must stay close to the boy, but after Tate gets in a school fight, he runs away to a friend, Mila Banchini. Mila has always been infatuated with handsome Roman: a single father when still in his teens, he has a business to run, he has never had time for relationships. But events bring him closer to Mila, who contrary to Roman, the ladies’ man, is still a virgin at 31, and the whole town knows about her status as well as her long-time crush; talk about embarrassing. I was so eager for Roman’s story after reading NO GETTING OVER A COWBOY, and he remains the charismatic character glimpsed in the previous book. But first of all, I must confess one thing: I am not a fan of virgins, even less of “older” virgins, and had I known beforehand that it was the case with Mila, I probably would not have chosen to read BRANDED AS TROUBLE. It is not the author’s fault, it’s one of my pet peeves, and since the virgin trope seems to be a favourite subject in many romance novels, I must grin and bear it. On the other hand, it was somewhat understandable that Mila was still a virgin, given the small town where everyone knows everybody else’s business; her mother who is, to put it mildly, an original, and scared most boys away. What I had problems with – and this is not a unique case – is having a youthful crush that literally stops you from even attempting to have a life because no one measures up to your object of desire; I find it difficult to process for someone in their twenties, but in their early thirties? I thought it very sad to put one’s life on hold because the dream man is unattainable. Anyway, my real problem is that, while Mila is head over heals with him, Roman seemed to suddenly become wildly attracted to Mila, for no reason whatsoever, and responding to her offer of sex felt to me as if he was doing her a favour. There was a genuine friendship, but I didn’t feel any sparks, and I think Mila should not have been a romantic interest for Roman. Interestingly enough, the story in BRANDED AS TROUBLE is sufficiently strong, that the romance was not really necessary. The strained Granger family relationships are so intricate they held my attention throughout, particularly between the interactions between Tate and Roman, and Tate’s mother Valerie. In fact, all the events concerning Tate were my favourite parts of the book, and I’m usually not crazy about teenage woes in romances. The characters are wonderfully fleshed out, the dialogues superb, and the writing impeccable, as is always the case with Ms. Fossen, and the storytelling riveting. ̴ A Book Obsessed Chicks Review Team Selection

Great read

About the author

USA Today bestselling author, Delores Fossen, is a former Air Force officer who’s sold over 150 novels. She's received the Booksellers' Best Award for romantic suspense, the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award and was a finalist for the Rita ®. In addition, she's had nearly a hundred short stories and articles published in national magazines.You can contact the author through her webpage at www.deloresfossen.com