Welcome to the blog tour and giveaway for The Accidental Guardian by Mary Connealy, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Title: The Accidental Guardian
Series: High Sierra Sweethearts, Book 1
Author: Mary Connealy
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Release Date: April 3, 2018
Genre: Historical Romance / Western
+To Read: Goodreads

She’s the Only Witness to a Wagon Train Attack. Keeping Her Safe, Though, Means His World Is about to be Turned Upside Down.

When Trace Riley finds the smoldering ruins of a small wagon train, he recognizes an attack by the same group who left him as sole survivor years ago. Living off the wilderness since then, he’s finally carved out a home and started a herd–while serving as a self-appointed guardian of the trail. He’d hoped the days of driving off dangerous men were over, but the latest attack shows otherwise.

Deborah Harkness saved her younger sister and two toddlers during the attack, and now finds herself at the mercy of her rescuer. Trace becomes an accidental guardian when he offers the only shelter for miles around and agrees to take them in until they can safely continue their journey. His simple bachelor existence never anticipated kids and women in the picture and their arrival is unsettling–yet enticing.

Trace and Deborah find themselves drawing ever closer as they work together to bring justice to the trail and help the group survive the winter–but every day closer to spring means a day closer to leaving the mountains forever.

 

MY REVIEW

Sometimes, I wish I could use emojis in my reviews. If so, this one would start out something like Trace heart heart heart heart, because I loved him. He just might make the book boyfriend list for this year. Trace is awkwardly wonderful. He’s a powerful man, doesn’t know what to do with diapers, and thinks women are strange, but he’s endearing while doing it. Some of his thought processes definitely made me laugh.

My favorite thing about Deb is her smarts. She’s not one of those helpless damsels in distress who runs into situations where you as a reader are yelling “Don’t do that!!!!!!!!!!!” But, while being strong and able to take care of herself, she also acknowledges her limits and knows when to depend on Trace and the other men. I think she’s a great balance of independence and dependence. She’s also very practical. She knows what she wants and isn’t one to hold out to wait for just the right circumstance of sweet words to happen to give into that. (Which might not make a lot of sense, but I’m trying not to give away spoilers!) Sometimes we ladies, myself included, want the menfolk to break into sweet nothings but forget to look at all of their actions and how those tell us they care for us. Deb reminds us of that. (But I can always use more sweet whispers.)

I also really liked all of the sub-characters; Adam, Utah, Gwen. I am very much looking forward to Gwen’s story next and I’m hoping we’ll get Adam’s as well. Utah appears to be an older character, but I sense love and loss in his past and would like to see him with a happily ever after as well.

I received a complimentary copy of this book for this tour. I was not required to post a positive review and all opinions are my own!

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The next book in the series, THE RELUCTANT WARRIOR will be released later this year in October, 2018!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mary Connealy writes “romantic comedies with cowboys” and is celebrated for her fun, zany, action-packed style. She has more than half a million books in print. She is the author of the popular series Wild at Heart, Kincaid Brides, Trouble in Texas, Lassoed in Texas, Sophie’s Daughters, and many other books. Mary lives on a ranch in eastern Nebraska with her very own romantic cowboy hero.

CONNECT WITH MARY: website, facebook, twitter, instagram

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GIVEAWAY

(1) Winner will win:

For the full tour schedule for more giveaway entries, head to JustRead’s Launch Page HERE (or click on the Tour Banner below).

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