The Marshal'sMission

 

ANNA ZOGG

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, Love Inspired Historical, 2017.

How acquired: Received from a BookCrossing member.

First lines: Who is that?

(For Goodreads synopsis, scroll down.)

My thoughts: My first time reading Anna Zogg, and I very much enjoyed this book. Lenora is a widow, struggling to keep her ranch going with just her ten-year-old son, Toby, to help her. Cole is a US Marshal, undercover and investigating a gang of outlaws who robbed a bank, killing two people in the process. A gang that included Lenora’s deceased husband.

The romance played out very, very slowly, which I liked, as it was also very realistic. Cole and Lenora have secrets they keep from each other. Cole’s secret didn’t bother me, he’s undercover law enforcement, so of course he has to keep his true identity a secret. Lenora’s secret worried me. Before he died, Amos gave her a satchel full of money, and not wanting to use any of it, Lenora buried it in his grave. Was that the right thing to do? Maybe, maybe not. But Cole of course is looking for that money, and both I and Lenora worried about his reaction when he learned she’d kept that secret from him.

I loved Cole and Lenora, and young Toby, who was fiercely protective of his mother. The relationship that built up between Cole and Toby was heartwarming. And of course I hated the villain, Jeb, who keeps coming around, harassing Lenora, and telling her he’s going to marry her. He, too, is looking for that money, and some of the scenes with him were tense indeed.

And then towards the end, the tension really ramped up, and even though I knew it would have a happy ending – it’s a category romance, after all – I was still on the edge of my seat and totally engrossed way past my bedtime.

Also, I love the cover.

Synopsis from Goodreads: Hiding his true identity is the only way for US Marshal Jesse Cole to bring bank robbers to justice. But the lovely widow whose Wyoming ranch he stumbles onto reminds him of everything he's sacrificed for the law. When his job is done, he's resolved to leave Lenora Pritchard behind--until she and her son are threatened. Now the only way to protect them is to make her his wife.

To conceal her late husband's guilt, Lenora hid his stolen haul. And with a ruthless gang leader determined to retrieve it, she needs Cole's protection for herself and her son. It's a marriage in name only, founded on dangerous secrets...but could it possibly lead to a true and loving family?