Welcome Back to Rambling, Texas in the first book in June Faver's new A Visit to Rambling, Texas series, and while I genuinely enjoy western romances, and have read and moderately enjoyed several of Ms. Faver's earlier novels, this one was a bit of a let-down for me for a number of reasons, which I'll get to, and I simply cannot give it more than a 2-star rating.
This is an enemies to lovers novel, the two main characters, Regina (Reggie) and Frank Bell, met in high school, where Frank, who was new in town, came up with a dreadful nickname for her, and harassed her endlessly. Reggie came up with a nasty nickname for him too. After graduation, Frank left town, made millions in real estate, and Reggie went on to work at the local newspaper, housed in a building owned first by Frank's grandmother, and passed down to Frank after her death, which is when he returns to town, 12 years after graduation. He soon discovers that the editor-in-chief at the newspaper has been skimming money for years, and the embezzler immediately departs and leaves a note, promoting Reggie to editor-in-chief, and thereby making Frank her boss.
Frank, now 30, immediately starts in with her nickname (could he be more immature?), and Reggie finally lets him know that they aren't classmates and haven't been for the past 12 years, and she further upbraids him for not attending his grandmother's funeral. During those twelve years, Reggie married the large, football-playing, high school bully, who deserted her as soon as she got pregnant. She moved herself and her baby daughter, Shannon, into her father's home and divorced Kenny, her ex. Knowing that Kenny was a short-tempered bully in high school, we never really learn why on earth Reggie married him, or thought herself in love with the brutish oaf.
Frank, is never fully described, and neither was Reggie, except for repeated mention of her blue eyes, then her brown eyes--quite a trick. In fact, we really never get a full description of any character in this novel. Her daughter, who is said to look just like her, has blue eyes. Since blue eyes are a recessive trait, both Reggie and her ex-husband should also have had blue eyes, but as the novel progresses the author manages to finally accept that Reggie's eyes are brown.
Now, the plot--there isn't much of one. Reggie tries hard to live up to her promotion, fearing that at any moment, Frank could fire her, which makes Frank's interest in dating her even more suspect, although he is as attracted to her now as he was in high school--he simply didn't know how to express himself back then. Now that he's made a fortune in real estate, has homes and beautiful women at his beck and call all over the world, and is headquartered in New York City, he runs hot and cold about whether or not he could return to small town life, and he waffles even more about whether or not he could even handle a long-term relationship, making it seem that even at 30 years of age, he's clueless about his own desires, intentions and feelings for Reggie--and he's far too immature in this reader's opinion.
While we do eventually get a little backstory on these characters, I found it to be too little, too late. Things do eventually happen in this otherwise slow-moving and uneventful novel, when Reggie's ex returns to town, but that was also too little, too late. Then, there's Reggie's dad, who has supported her and her decisions, although he was no fan of her ex-husband, and who could blame him? But why on earth is little Shannon calling her grandfather, "Daddy"? There are a number of words a child can use to refer to a grandfather, but "daddy" isn't one of them.
This was a novel that did have possibilities at the outset, but it simply didn't deliver on those possibilities. The writing was lackluster, inconsistent, and repetitive, and the dialogue and emotion were flat, and finally, when Frank tricks Reggie into a sudden trip to New York City, there were factual errors about the city as well. All in all, I'd give this novel a pass. As a reader/reviewer, I don't plan to delve any further into this series.
I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.