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Lawyers in Love #1

A Man of His Word

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Attorney Rosebud Donnelly has a case to win. And she never lets anyone see her sweat. But her first meeting with Dan Armstrong doesn't go according to script. No one warned her that the COO of the company she's fighting would be so...manly.

From his storm-colored eyes to his well-worn boots, Dan is an honest-to-goodness cowboy. But is he honest? Her yearning for the Texas tycoon goes against reason, against family loyalty, against everything she thought she believed in. And yet, in Dan's strong arms, Rosebud feels she might be ready to risk everything for one more kiss....

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

6 people are currently reading
256 people want to read

About the author

Sarah M. Anderson

371 books398 followers
With over 1.2 million copies published in over twenty-one countries, Sarah M. Anderson has published over 45 books. Sarah's book A Man of Privilege won a RT Book Reviews 2012 Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award. The Nanny Plan was a 2016 RITA® winner for Best Contemporary: Short. Additionally, Sarah has given workshops at national and regional conferences, taught craft classes online, spoken at libraries and book clubs, and published articles in the Romance Writers Report.

When she’s not walking her rescue dogs, reading or crafting, Sarah spends her days having conversations with imaginary people, all of which is surprisingly well-tolerated by her wonderful family. Find out more about Sarah’s books at www.sarahmanderson.com and sign up for the new-release newsletter at http://bit.ly/sarahalerts.

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
Profile Image for Fiona Marsden.
Author 37 books148 followers
July 17, 2012
This story was something right out of the box. Cowboys and Indians. I for one am old enough to remember playing with guns and bow and arrows. I always wanted to be the Indian.
And when you meet Rosebud Donnelly you can agree that it was a great choice. Rosebud became a lawyer against her inclination to fight on behalf of her Lakota people.
The battle she's been engaged on for over three years against Cecil Armstrong and his company is to save part of her people's land being lost under a reservoir. Cecil is not above using intimidation tactics to get what he wants. When his nephew Dan arrives to find out what the hold up is he thinks Dan will be a useful weapon against the young lawyer.
The instant attraction Dan and Rosebud feel is complicated by their position on opposite sides of a war. Both have good reason to distrust each other. For Dan, it's a bullet hole in his hat and for Rosebud it's the suspicious death of her brother.
When they do take time out from the battle to get to know each other, the conniving Cecil is waiting to pounce on their weakness with disastrous results. It's going to take the courage of their convictions for both Dan and Rosebud to come out of the situation intact. Whether there is any hope for their romance after such an apparent betrayal is a different matter entirely.
Sarah M Anderson does a wonderful job portraying the realities of life for Indian tribal people in a modern and often hostile world. There is one edge of the seat scene that really hits home about prejudice that remains alive and well in a supposedly PC world.
The heat levels were high in this story but in the nicest possible way. The only thing I found a little uncomfortable was the high profile of Rosebuds former lover in the story. He's cute and has his own story next in the series but it made me squirm a little. The trials of the modern age for an old fuddy duddy like me. I like them out of sight and out of mind.
PS The ending made me cry. Just a bit. It was so sweet. He really is a man of his word. Chuck in another half a star.

Profile Image for Christine (KizzieReads).
1,794 reviews106 followers
March 31, 2018
This was so good! Dan is a real man with morals and a sense of righthood and equality. He sees the Red Creek Lakota Indians as equals. His uncle Cecil, was a blackguard of a man and hated anything that did not go his way and put money in his pocket. Rosebud was self sacrificing in order for her tribe to be recognized as equal people, not savages, and she was not treated right by white people. The story was what a good romance should be like.
Profile Image for Saly.
3,437 reviews578 followers
June 7, 2012
Rating 3.5
When I was reading this book I had serious doubts this was a desire since it had such a different tone and so much going on, deception and mystery.

The heroine is a lawyer when she doesn't want to be, but she has to for her Lakota tribe and her dead brother and family. For years she has been fighting a man called Cecil who wants to build a dam which will flood their rez. The hero Dan is his nephew and the she fires at him to scare him but Dan isn't the scared type, he is successful and brainy.
He doesn't like his uncle and knows there is something fishy going on with the project of his and he can't pin down what. His uncle tells him to sweet-talk the heroine while the heroine's family tells her to do the same.

They play games with each other at first but their attraction is genuine and not fuelled by other things, but their conflict stands in the way. I liked the hero, he had a great heart and was a good man. The heroine had too much of sacrifice in her life, so these two found a place to be alone while the hero worked on a solution but his uncle turned out to be more evil and tried to blackmail the heroine with incriminating picture of Dan and her, which leads to another gun pointing incident.

I liked the book and how we saw the discrimination that exists between the Whites and Indians. We also meet the heroine's ex James who has a book for himself. I liked the author's voice.
Profile Image for Ni_kii.
613 reviews333 followers
January 4, 2012
It's 4 1/2 stars really :)

Dan Armstrong’s day can’t get any worse. First his evil Uncle Cecil calls him to site of their companies latest project to try to resolve some long running “problems” and then a Native American woman on horseback takes a pot-shot at him, narrowly missing his head and putting a hole in his favourite hat. Upon arrival at his Uncle’s house, he starts to see that all is not well with the construction project in which his company has invested millions of dollars. It seems that Uncle Cecil has run into “problems” with the Native American tribe whose land the company intend to flood with the Hydroelectricity Dam. He has been summoned to use his pretty boy looks and Cowboy charm on the tribes Lawyer, Rosebud Donnelly. Upon arrival to her office, he discovers the identity of his mysterious shooter...

Rosebud Donnelly has been working tirelessly on getting an injunction to stop the construction of the Hydro-Dam that will flood her tribe’s reservation. After dispatching multiple lawyers, enduring persistent intimidation and having to deal with aftermath of her brother’s very untimely, and suspicious, death, this case has become a test of endurance. When Dan walks into her office, her game-plan goes out of the window. Whatever she was prepared for, he wasn’t it. When her Aunt and Uncle ask her to use her looks to try to get dirt on Cecil from him, she balks at the idea of exploiting herself in that way. But as attraction sparks between the two of them, maybe they can use their loved one’s wishes as a cover to explore this mutual attraction.

The author found my blog after one of my many (MANY) Cowboy related tweets (I have issues). I’m so glad she did because I really enjoyed this book. The central characters were engaging, the plot kept me turning the pages and it contained a cowboy! Rosebud Donnelly is the type of heroine I like to see in this type of romance. A strong, independent lady, she is the only thing stalling the multi-million pound contract that would create cheap electricity for some, but at the cost of the decimation of the reservation of an entire tribe. She has to stand against some serious opposition, the peak of which is the suspicious death of her elder brother. When Dan walks in, she struggles with her attraction with him. He is forbidden fruit; someone who she can never trust whilst she is on the case, but still she can’t help herself. Dan is a swoon-worthy Cowboy. He’s charming, handsome and honourable; I loved him. He wasn’t particularly happy with his Uncle asking him to pimp himself out but he had sunk a hell of a lot of money into that Dam. Once he saw Rosebud, he suddenly didn’t feel too bad about his “assignment” from his reptilian Uncle. He sets out to woo her with donuts and brownies which, I’ll admit, was a little odd. Manly cowboys in my head do not come bearing baked goods, but I’ll go with it. She give’s into the baked goods and all-round charm from the cowboy hottie, but under the surface, she still doesn’t trust that he isn’t just trying to get her to screw up the legal case. From there on we have wooing, we have distrust and we have a whole heap of drama.....I’m not telling you anymore! Will Rosebud give into temptation and sleep with her enemy? Will Dan stick with the old adage blood is thicker than water and stick by his skeezy Uncle, even if he is possibly implicated in some suspicious deaths? Read it, find out...I loved it.

I always appreciate when an author tackles a difficult subject in a romance novel. Aside from the corporate corruption plot that is central to this tale, the author also addresses the very difficult topic of racism. Not only do our hero and heroine have to deal with the disapproval of their family, they have to deal with some seriously hideous racism. The plot fit well with the story and wasn’t resolved in a sloppy way that belittles the issue; I hold my hat up to the author because it made me cringe to see the venom and hatred that some of the people in the town dealt with someone who wasn’t the same skin colour as them. It was horrible. It made this book more than a bit of fluff and I think I enjoyed it more for that.

Overall, a lovely sexy tale of a hot Cowboy and a Native American beauty who start their relationship with attempted murder and embark on a lovely and sweet (if not slightly dirty) romance which is blighted by the actions of the people around them.
Profile Image for Nikki .
804 reviews114 followers
December 8, 2011
You can pick your employees but unfortunately you can’t pick your family. A realization Dan Armstrong has had to live with for years. His uncle Cecil and he never got along but since they generally worked in different states within the company they co-owned, Dan could tolerate him. Now Cecil is telling him to come and deal with a situation over a impending dam structure and the local Lakota Indian tribe. Seems the tribes Attorney, Rosebud Donnelly is tenacious and Cecil thinks Dan might be able to woo her away from her lawsuit. Dan does’t quite know what to expect upon arriving, but the last thing he thought about was getting shot at in the forest by a beautiful Indian princess riding bareback.

Rosebud doesn’t want to fall for the gorgeous cowboy/oil entrepreneur but something about Dan keeps her interested. He seems to actually care about what will happen to her reservation if the dam plans go through. What starts out as a plan to save her reservation is quickly turning into how to survive falling in love with a man her entire tribe hates on principal.



I really enjoyed this debut contemporary romance from Sarah M Anderson! It combined my love of cowboys with my fascination with Native American culture for a most definite win! A Man Of His Word not only has the sweet romance of Dan and Rosebud but it also brings to light the tension between the Indians and the “white man”. I know this has been going on for a long time, but I have never had a first hand account of the quarrels. I don’t know if Sarah does either but if Indians are treated by other people like they are in the book. Wow. Shame on those people. It’s just another example of racism and bigotry within the human race. It upset me to see characters in the book treat Rosebud with so much contempt simply because she was Native American. I guess that means I got attached to her huh?

Dan and Rosebud were a great couple. Both strong willed, accomplished people just trying to do what they believe is right. Dan was incredibly hot…and moral to boot. Can’t go wrong with that. I felt for him because he was stuck in the middle between what was good for the company he owned and what was best for the Lakota Tribe. It did give him amble ways to take down his crooked uncle Cecil once and for all though. He was also incredibly patient and understanding with Rosebud though and he actually listened when she talked instead of trying to bowl her over for being a woman attorney.

Rosebud was in an awkward position herself. Falling for a man that basically held her reservations survival in his hands. Being told to use her body in any way necessary as long as it accomplished the correct end result for her tribe. Then to be treated like she is lesser of a human being just for the color of her skin and her heritage. Even though she was probably more accomplished then any of the idiots that looked down on her. I loved her ability to stand tall, even in the face of such ugliness.

There was a sweet, comfortable feeling in their romance. Like two halves becoming whole. The entire story read smoothly and I rarely hit a rough patch that made me want to skim.

The only thing I thought could have been played up more was the threat to Rosebud. We are given a bit of background threat but nothing much happened between her and Cecil with the exception of some verbal threats towards the end. We are told she’s had skinned animals and such show up on her doorstep, her brother died mysteriously…all things in the past. I would have liked a bit more on that front. Not enough to take it to a suspense obviously, but something in the present instead of everything happening before Dan shows up in the picture.

A Man Of His Word is a excellent contemporary romance read, sure to keep you interested not only in the amazing love story but the culture surrounding these two as well!



I give A Man Of His Word by Sarah M Anderson 4 stars!
Profile Image for Jess.
40 reviews29 followers
December 20, 2011
I loved this book! A Man of His Word is beautifully written and the main characters Rosebud and Dan are great! Seriously, who wouldn't want to read a book about a sexy cowboy and a gorgeous indian!
I liked that they didnt rush into a relationship straightaway just because of their sexual attraction, and that they considered the consequences of being in a relationship.
I loved how they also all got a happy ending considering Dan's company was going to be building a damn which would have flooded Rosebud's home!

A seriously good read :)
Profile Image for Jennifer Anderson.
Author 9 books25 followers
December 25, 2011
Fantastic debut novel for Anderson. She hooked me right off the bat and the chemistry between characters was spot on. The romantic scenes weren't too much where I felt I needed a shower afterwards, either.

I honestly felt by the end of this book that I was connected to the MC and I could feel her plight, especially with the bar scene. Intense.

You have to read this.
Profile Image for AJ.
40 reviews19 followers
December 5, 2011
A smart, sexy female, a gorgeous cowboy, steamy scenes, tons of sexual tension, and forbidden romance...

Who can resist that?
I would suggest this book to anyone who's in need of a good romance to read ^_~

(I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.)
Profile Image for Debbie.
487 reviews23 followers
January 25, 2012
New author for me. I LOVED this story. Native American heroine. Some of the things she endured at the hands of white people made me ashamed to be white. Hard to believe this still happens in the 21st century, but it does.
Profile Image for Hanna Martine.
Author 10 books122 followers
June 21, 2012
My first Harlequin Desire. Even though it was much shorter than what I am used to reading, it's a solid read--loved the hero and heroine and the way they fit together. Great setting, and the climax was perfect.
Profile Image for Skirmantė Rugsėjis.
Author 6 books105 followers
July 30, 2019
Pastebėjusi, kad istorija kiek skiriasi nuo įprastinių, nes joje yra veikėjų indėnų, sugalvojau paskaityti. Kadaise yra tekę skaityti vieną tikrai neblogą romantinę knygą apie indėnus, tačiau ši, kad ir kaip gaila, tėra dar vienas banalus meilės romanas.
Indėnė veikėja yra, tačiau visa kita labai aišku jau nuo pat pradžių. Kaip liudytoja ji susipažįsta su įtakingu ir turtingu teisininku, kuris ateity ketina netgi siekti prezidento posto. Be abejo, vyras pajunta trauką žaviai moteriai, kiek valdosi svarstydamas apie savo karjerą, bet aistra nugali.
Man trūko daugiau paslapties ar intrigos, kad ir paprasčiausių nuotykių. Viskas apsiriboja banaliais dialogais, daugybe pietų ir vakarienių (kas man asmeniškai pats nuobodžiausias dalykas meilės romanuose) ir keletu sekso scenų.
Profile Image for Sarah.
Author 4 books741 followers
August 9, 2016
I loved how vividly the author portrayed Native American land issues, and the conflict between the hero and the heroine - and how neither could defy their families too easily, even if they wanted to. What kept this book from a higher rating was that the prejudice and fear experienced by the heroine was mitigated by her decision at the end of the book - but I kept returning to the scenes where she was in danger and thinking about her family and the rest of her friends on the reservation that were stuck. She escaped, in effect, but they didn't. Certainly the author couldn't magically heal and resolve prejudice in random assholes in dive bars, but the fear and terror the heroine experienced stayed with me, especially since with it came the hero's realization how ignorant he had been, allowing them both to be in danger. However, the tension and emotional and physical attraction between the hero and heroine were marvelous, though, and kept me reading.
Profile Image for Rebecca.
589 reviews34 followers
October 14, 2012
I really enjoy Ms. Anderson's romances and their Native American heroes and/or heroines. I actually read this series out of order and finished this after reading books 2 and 3, but you can easily read the books in any order, as they stand alone. A Man of His Word is outstanding; I just wish the ending didn't feel so rushed. I think that the word limit has a bit to do with that. Still, the ending is very satisfying, because we get to see the bad guys get what's coming to them and the HEA for the H/H. I would have liked to see a bit more of the 2 together at the end, but as I said, word limit probably prevented that. Definitely recommend this one!
Profile Image for Ladyacct.
863 reviews
December 21, 2012
Thoought this one should have been printed in the suspense category as opposed to the desire series. Okay story, good mystery that wasn't a mystery.
Profile Image for Cortez_jk.
240 reviews31 followers
April 27, 2013
that was a very cute ending =P
this should be made into a lifetime movie, i liked it. a quick read as well.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews

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