Fighting Back to My Groove, and that TBR Challenge

Yeah, I signed up for it again.  It seems I just totally disappeared off the face of Bloglandia last year.  Kinda just lost my touch for writing about anything and everything, and didn't have much to contribute.  But I did sign up for Wendy's TBR Challenge '13 again, and I'm going to do my best.

This month was an easy one -- short story, quickie, series, what-have-you.  It was so convenient that I was weeding my TBR last week and came across Bridget by Linda Lael Miller.  AND it just so happened to be the first in the Primrose Creek series, or at least that's what the front cover says.

Westerns aren't always the first era I gravitate to, but I'd almost forgotten what a word magician Miller is and why she was one of the authors that hooked me in the romance genre way back when.  Her husband, Mitch's, death in the Civil War had not only left Bridget McQuarry a widow, but now taxes have caused her to lose their home as well.  Having no choice but to move her son and sister to Primrose Creek and claim the land that was left to them by their grandfather.  It would be a hard battle: alone, in the middle of Indian territory, and with no solid roof over their head, but Bridget was determined to rebuild their future and make the land in Primrose Creek thrive.

Enter Trace Qualtrough, Bridget's childhood friend and the man she blames for her husband's death in the War.  He'd grown up with Mitch and Bridget and he'd promised Mitch he'd watch over Bridget and her son.  But she's not willing to capitulate and in less than agreeable to Trace's presence, although it's quite obvious that a man's strength and hard work is needed. But she can't ignore the softening of her heart as she watches Trace day in and day out, putting a roof on their small cabin, mentoring and teaching her son, and just stepping in where a man needed to.  Oh, it would be so easy to fall in love with him, but that'll never happen.

There's no tearing apart and critiquing a short story, or at least it's damned hard for me to do.  And, c'mon, it's Linda Lael Miller, an author I've respected for years.  What else is there to say that I loved this little quickie and am glad I came across it.  It kinda whet my appetite for some more westerns, and since I'm already in the midst of a reading binge -- we'll see what happens.  I still have Wendy's beloved Rock Creek Six to read.  Apparently I knew what I was doing when I bought it way back in 2000, but now I need to go TBR diving and see if I have the rest of the Primrose Creek series.  I think there's four.