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Book Review of Beauty and the Bounty Hunter (Once Upon a Time in West, Bk 1)

Beauty and the Bounty Hunter (Once Upon a Time in West, Bk 1)
warbler43 avatar reviewed on + 83 more book reviews


I loved it!

This is the first book Ive read by Lori Austin/Lori Handeland and I must say it wont be the last. I placed the next book in this series (An Outlaw in Wonderland) on my books-to-buy list.

The action starts out on the first page with a bang and doesnt let up. We meet Cathleen Chase/Cat OBanyon in one of her many disguises on her quest to find the man who murdered her husband, Billy Chase. She learns her mastery of disguises from Alexi Romanov (also an aliasbut who knows his real nameand do we really care?). As the story progresses, the reader discovers more about each character, their painful pasts and the events that brought them together.

Its a gritty story with the characters reliving some rather unpleasant events that might be offensive to some readers. I say, get past itthe story is worth it. There are a few surprises along the way and near the end but it all ends well for our hero and heroine and they end up living their HEA! My only problem with the book is the title. Im getting mightily fed up with everyone jumping on the fairy tale bandwagon with word plays on titles and story lines similar to fairy tales. That said, whatever the title, this story cant be construed as a fairy tale!

If you like historical westerns, this one is for you. Even if you havent read one for a long time (like me), read this one. You wont be sorry. I use a 4-star rating system for the books I read so I gave this one 3.5 stars out of 4.