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The Man from Blue River
Westbank Ranch
West of the Blue River, Wyoming
West of the Blue River, Wyoming
Fraser McKenna is the Owner of Westbank Ranch.
String, too silent, a still-grieving widower.
Martha Thomas is the woman who comes to stay.
Martha's at loose ends, her job "downsized" out of existence. She's a city woman driving through the western states, looking for adventure. Then, in a small-town Wyoming newspaper, she sees this ad:
WANTED: Lady Companion for two girls. Remote location. No cooking/housekeeping required.
On a whim, she applies for the job - and gets hired. That day, her life starts to change, and so do the lives of Fraser and the two little girls.
Who would think she'd end up married to the rancher from Blue River? Even if it is a marriage of convenience, a marriage for the children's sake. And even if she has to do the proposing herself...
293 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 1996
About the author
Judith Bowen
46 books7 followersJudith Bowen was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and grew up in a logging camp in the Rocky Mountain foothills. She had many friends who lived on farms and ranches, a fact to which she attributes her love of the outdoors and of rural life. She bought her first horse at age 12 with money saved from allowances, gifts, and odd jobs—the horse only cost $60 and was fresh off the range! Luckily he was a sweetie, and she trained him and rode him until she left high school.
Judith holds a bachelor's degree in English Literature from Carleton University, Ottawa, and worked for newspapers and magazines, before writing fiction. She was published since 1990 by Harlequin. Her Men of Glory miniseries, set around small-town Alberta, arose directly from her experience of going to school in a small town and living in small towns all over Canada. She has lived in many of Canada's provinces, from Prince Edward Island to B.C., and writes from the heart, of people who live on the land that she knows best.
Judith currently lives in Ladner, British Columbia, is married, with three children, and spends every day of the working week at her word processor, writing the stories she loves, and is also a member of many writing and arts organizations. Weekends and summers are for family.
Judith holds a bachelor's degree in English Literature from Carleton University, Ottawa, and worked for newspapers and magazines, before writing fiction. She was published since 1990 by Harlequin. Her Men of Glory miniseries, set around small-town Alberta, arose directly from her experience of going to school in a small town and living in small towns all over Canada. She has lived in many of Canada's provinces, from Prince Edward Island to B.C., and writes from the heart, of people who live on the land that she knows best.
Judith currently lives in Ladner, British Columbia, is married, with three children, and spends every day of the working week at her word processor, writing the stories she loves, and is also a member of many writing and arts organizations. Weekends and summers are for family.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 9, 2019
Quietly beautiful, quietly impactful marriage of convenience story.
36-year-old heroine has lost her job as a newspaper columnist and is heading west to visit her mother. She stops at a diner in Wyoming and scans the local paper out of boredom. The hero’s ad for a “lady companion” for two girls on his ranch catches her eye.
On a whim she goes to the interview at the same motel where she is staying. She discovers:
*The two girls are interviewing for the position, not the hero.
*The hero is hungover from a bachelor party that kept her awake the night before.
*The girls aren’t his - a neighbor left them three months ago and hasn’t come back.
*He’s smoking hot.
Heroine falls for the girls right away (Who could resist an 8 year-old who asks to be called Anne-with-an-e?) and agrees to be their “lady companion.” She fits right in at the sheep ranch and tries to hide her attraction to the hero.
The news – two months later - that girls’ mother has died prompts the H/ to marry for convenience. They will adopt the girls – oh. and the heroine wants to try for a baby of her own. This is problem for the hero since his wife died in childbirth.
All of these tropes have been done before, but the characters and gorgeous writing make this story stand out.
Hero is kind and strong and still grieving the death of his wife four years before. He is very quiet, but the heroine reads him well. “Love and protect” is his mantra and he tries to live up to that philosophy. (He fails utterly a few times)
He cannot handle his emotions (or alcohol) so he usually chooses not to indulge in either. There is a great scene near the end of the story where he lies on the ground and faces the trauma in his life and realizes he can handle/is handling it. His traumatic past is just part of his landscape - just as the ranch and mountains he has grown up with. The author doesn’t spell it out (thank you author) but the whole story has been quietly leading him to that insight.
The heroine is equally wonderful. She acts like a 36-year-old. She’s understanding of failures and foibles, she is willing to compromise, she takes the time to observe and to withhold judgment. She also takes time to enjoy the little things that make up her day. She delights in the girls, the ranch, the hero’s quiet hotness, the weather, the food – whatever it is she’s doing. I loved her attitude toward life and her honesty.
I read this over three nights. I rarely savor a book, but the author’s voice really sucked me in.
36-year-old heroine has lost her job as a newspaper columnist and is heading west to visit her mother. She stops at a diner in Wyoming and scans the local paper out of boredom. The hero’s ad for a “lady companion” for two girls on his ranch catches her eye.
On a whim she goes to the interview at the same motel where she is staying. She discovers:
*The two girls are interviewing for the position, not the hero.
*The hero is hungover from a bachelor party that kept her awake the night before.
*The girls aren’t his - a neighbor left them three months ago and hasn’t come back.
*He’s smoking hot.
Heroine falls for the girls right away (Who could resist an 8 year-old who asks to be called Anne-with-an-e?) and agrees to be their “lady companion.” She fits right in at the sheep ranch and tries to hide her attraction to the hero.
The news – two months later - that girls’ mother has died prompts the H/ to marry for convenience. They will adopt the girls – oh. and the heroine wants to try for a baby of her own. This is problem for the hero since his wife died in childbirth.
All of these tropes have been done before, but the characters and gorgeous writing make this story stand out.
Hero is kind and strong and still grieving the death of his wife four years before. He is very quiet, but the heroine reads him well. “Love and protect” is his mantra and he tries to live up to that philosophy. (He fails utterly a few times)
He cannot handle his emotions (or alcohol) so he usually chooses not to indulge in either. There is a great scene near the end of the story where he lies on the ground and faces the trauma in his life and realizes he can handle/is handling it. His traumatic past is just part of his landscape - just as the ranch and mountains he has grown up with. The author doesn’t spell it out (thank you author) but the whole story has been quietly leading him to that insight.
The heroine is equally wonderful. She acts like a 36-year-old. She’s understanding of failures and foibles, she is willing to compromise, she takes the time to observe and to withhold judgment. She also takes time to enjoy the little things that make up her day. She delights in the girls, the ranch, the hero’s quiet hotness, the weather, the food – whatever it is she’s doing. I loved her attitude toward life and her honesty.
I read this over three nights. I rarely savor a book, but the author’s voice really sucked me in.
April 14, 2012
Pretty good story of a man and a woman who marry to take care of 2 orphan girls. The hero is a man whose first wife died in childbirth. He has some very real emotional crap to get over and it isn't really glossed over, but is played out throughout the book. The heroine was realistically written as a 35 year old woman who wants to get married and have a baby and realizes that it just might not happen. I thought the story was well written and I liked how the hero eventually came to terms with his past. Not everything is explained and I wonder if maybe there are books about his brothers.
The story was well written and flowed well. The characterization was well done. And the hero raised sheep. That was sort of a yippee moment for me since I raise sheep and even better, one of the minor characters was a weaver! Cool beans for little ol' weaver me.
Edited to add
I looked and can't find any books about his brothers unless they were written by other authors as sometimes happens. If anyone knows if there are books somewhere about the missing brothers please let me know.
The story was well written and flowed well. The characterization was well done. And the hero raised sheep. That was sort of a yippee moment for me since I raise sheep and even better, one of the minor characters was a weaver! Cool beans for little ol' weaver me.
Edited to add
I looked and can't find any books about his brothers unless they were written by other authors as sometimes happens. If anyone knows if there are books somewhere about the missing brothers please let me know.
March 15, 2026
This was amazingly written for a book published in the late 90s. It's your typical, cheesy romance book and the cheesiness of it is Wattpad-level, if I'm being honest. But the reason why I particularly love this book despite hints of sexism is because it made me miss home. And most importantly, it made me want to migrate to Wyoming! Could be a dream destination if the standard of living in that state wasn't so expensive.
This and many other books before this one, I could say inspired Wattpad fanfictions and Filipino romance pocketbooks (The "Special Hearts Romances" series) you buy for P50-P100 in National Bookstore. Romance usually makes me feel yucky but the female lead's personality just draws me in. I usually don't re-read romance, but I would definitely read this book again if I have a reading slump.
This and many other books before this one, I could say inspired Wattpad fanfictions and Filipino romance pocketbooks (The "Special Hearts Romances" series) you buy for P50-P100 in National Bookstore. Romance usually makes me feel yucky but the female lead's personality just draws me in. I usually don't re-read romance, but I would definitely read this book again if I have a reading slump.
October 8, 2013
Holy Romance Novels Batman !
My dry spell is OVER ! Finally, FINALLY ! Finally, after a year or so of forcing myself to trudge through one book after another. Finally, after borrowing books from the library, only to read the first 20 pages, say " meh" and take the book right back, unfinished and sad... FINALLY after a year of looking at the new books on the store shelves and not being moved to care..... FINALLY I read a book that I LIKED ! A book that made me pause in place and reread the words again because they were So True and So Good that I needed to savor them a second time. Finally a romance , finally a love story that had depth and wasn't trite or made me feel like I was reading the script for a made for Lifetime tv movie featuring Meredith Baxter Burney ....... OH MY WORD FINALLY !
I like these characters. I Like this life they have built for themselves. I Like the Happily Ever After that came at the end. These people were pragmatic and yet emotional. There were kids in this book and they weren't written like adorable bobble headed smiling morons. Stuff Just Was, and that was ok. Their lives weren't fancy and they were plain spoken and simple in a way that , for me, is a breath of fresh air in characters.
And amazingly enough, all of this came from a Harlequin Super romance that was published in 1996 that I got from a second hand store out of a paper wrapped mystery bag of romance novels for two dollars and fifty cents.
I am a huge lover of Americana in my fiction, and this fulfilled a lot of that love quite well. Judith Bowens words may have seemed simplistic, but there is a depth there that reminded me of reading Willa Cather or Laura Ingalls Wilder.
I will place this book on my keeper shelf, and I will not loan it out. I need it to stay there so I can read it again when the mood strikes.
My dry spell is OVER ! Finally, FINALLY ! Finally, after a year or so of forcing myself to trudge through one book after another. Finally, after borrowing books from the library, only to read the first 20 pages, say " meh" and take the book right back, unfinished and sad... FINALLY after a year of looking at the new books on the store shelves and not being moved to care..... FINALLY I read a book that I LIKED ! A book that made me pause in place and reread the words again because they were So True and So Good that I needed to savor them a second time. Finally a romance , finally a love story that had depth and wasn't trite or made me feel like I was reading the script for a made for Lifetime tv movie featuring Meredith Baxter Burney ....... OH MY WORD FINALLY !
I like these characters. I Like this life they have built for themselves. I Like the Happily Ever After that came at the end. These people were pragmatic and yet emotional. There were kids in this book and they weren't written like adorable bobble headed smiling morons. Stuff Just Was, and that was ok. Their lives weren't fancy and they were plain spoken and simple in a way that , for me, is a breath of fresh air in characters.
And amazingly enough, all of this came from a Harlequin Super romance that was published in 1996 that I got from a second hand store out of a paper wrapped mystery bag of romance novels for two dollars and fifty cents.
I am a huge lover of Americana in my fiction, and this fulfilled a lot of that love quite well. Judith Bowens words may have seemed simplistic, but there is a depth there that reminded me of reading Willa Cather or Laura Ingalls Wilder.
I will place this book on my keeper shelf, and I will not loan it out. I need it to stay there so I can read it again when the mood strikes.
September 23, 2011
This book was pretty good. I liked the characters and the story line. I wouldn't mind reading this again, but it wouldn't be a go-to book. There was laughter, love, sadness, stress, sweetness, and hope. The ending was a great and left a little smile on my face. Part irony and part happiness. A good book for passing time or relaxing and cuddling up for a read. Enjoy
June 15, 2015
I would have given it 5 stars if not for the explicit sexual scenes. Everything else was superbly done! The story was gripping, I laughed, cried, yelled in frustration and generally loved all the characters!
September 25, 2009
Modern
July 18, 2013
Typical Romance. Nothing out of the ordinary. This could have been a fun story to run with and make it a little longer read.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews