The Particulars: Historical western romance novella, #4 in Holiday in Mountain Home series, Self-published, 2015, Kindle Unlimited (at time of this posting)
Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I picked this up at the only Romantic Times Convention I ever attended (2016). I went to a western-themed gathering and recognized exactly two authors in the room - so being the western fan that I am, I went around and snapped up some freebies to try from the unknowns. Holt was one of those.
The Review: I'm in the midst of "obligation reading" at the moment, so for new-to-you-author month I decided to scrounge up a novella. Novellas are tricky to write and I like trying new authors in this format because it's sink or swim as far as how well their "voice" is going to work for me. Also, if the story ends up being a dud I'm not slogging through 300+ pages.
Adaline Whipple's father succumbed to a massive heart attack three months ago, leaving Adaline in charge of the family bakery in small town Mountain Home, Colorado. Her 10-year-old twin sisters are a help, but her mother has basically been catatonically depressed since her husband passed - so it's up to Adaline. She's become distracted by frequent customer, Malloy (just Malloy), who is a cowboy who drifts in and out of town. He's handsome to distraction but plain, plump Adaline - firmly "on the shelf" at 25 - knows that a man like that would never give her a first glance, let alone a second.
Then one day a slick big city banker from Denver shows up presenting a signed copy of a mortgage her father signed before he died. Neither Adaline nor her mother knew a blessed thing about any mortgage and now it's past due, the bank demanding payment in full - an astronomical amount of $700. The bakery is doing OK, but they don't have $700 just lying around!
Malloy overhears this exchange and something smells rotten in Denmark. Malloy is no mere drifter cowboy. Our guy has accounting skills and has traveled around the country helping law enforcement nail down fraud convictions. Give this guy another 30 years on the planet and he would have caught Al Capone. Anyway, he's obviously smitten with Adaline (like, duh) and has a white knight complex - so we're off the races.
This story firmly falls into Rescue Fantasy category, but Holt makes it work for me by keeping this short and giving Adaline (and her mother!) some gumption as things develop. The mystery of the mortgage the family is clueless about keeps the plot humming along, and held my interest to the end. It does get a bit melodramatic towards the end and our villain is fairly one-dimension, but honestly after living through 2020 it's amazing how much I'm no longer finding a certain brand of mustache-twirling villain as "over the top."
The romance here is firmly in "just kisses" territory and the courtship follows a very fast timeline, but largely worked for me given that the main couple has been circling each other for months. Some series baggage naturally creeps in, but it's nothing that confuses the reader and doesn't interfere with this particular romance.
For readers looking for "just kisses" and who enjoy small town romances, this particular novella is very solid and a good introduction to the author. I liked it and would definitely try another book by Holt in the future.
Final Grade = B
