Publisher: Carina Press
Publish Date: Out today
How I got this book: From the publisher via NetGalley
It’s hard to keep a secret in the small town of Pike, Montana, but veterinarian Margot McDougal and sheriff Roy Lee Hanson managed to keep their relationship on the sly for months. Margot cares for Roy Lee, but the last thing she needs is to worry about local gossip while she’s busy running her clinic and dealing with the loss of her beloved father.
Roy Lee can’t wait to tell the world that he loves Margot. He respected her decision to keep their affair quiet—until now. It’s time for everyone to know Margot is his gal…especially Ryan Martin, her new assistant. He’s formed an attachment to Margot and Roy Lee is sure the city boy’s unexplained appearance in Pike means he’s up to no good.
Margot just wants to help Ryan fit in, and Roy Lee’s jealousy soon drives a wedge between them. A wedge that only increases when Margot is roped into Ryan’s secret, too….
This blurb came from the author’s website here.
I was browsing NetGalley when I saw the title. I am a fan of westerns so I took a look at the blurb and decided to request it. I didn’t know until I visited the author’s website after receiving the book that this was actually the third in the Sisters of McDougal Ranch series. Cue my OCD wincing but I decided to go ahead and give it a try but unfortunately despite having some elements that I tend to enjoy, Margot’s Lawman didn’t work for me.
I enjoyed the small town setting and the close-knit families. I also liked how the central couple had gone from friends to lovers sometime in the past. I don’t know if that transition was shown in the previous two books but I didn’t need to see that portion. Their previously existing long friendship was mentioned more then once along with the fact that Roy Lee was also friends with the entire McDougal family. It was good to see the McDougal sisters pushing each other to go back and work on attaining their dreams after the death of their father, another event that occurred previously but it has played a significant role in this series.
Roy Lee was too good to be true. He was incredibly sweet and never pushed back at Margot’s controlling ways. Even when she was finally able to make him mad he still ended up basically apologizing for being upset. He also didn’t trust what he had to offer Margot and I never quite figured out where that self-doubt came from unless it stemmed from her requirement to keep their relationship secret. While I felt that Roy Lee was a weak guy, the majority of my issues with this book were with the heroine. I really did not like Margot as a character.
She was a combination of TSTL (without life-threatening events happening) and self-centered. To my way of thinking if you have left your small town for college and then come back you will have acquired enough of a worldly education to be able to tell when someone is putting the moves on you. I also think that even if you are keeping your relationship hidden you can discourage another person’s attentions, eating private meals with them does not work. When your significant other manages to convince you that the other person is hitting on you I don’t think you should take the other person’s side. When you have effectively betrayed your partner, no not by cheating, I don’t think you have the right to be all upset when they need time away from you and don’t want to talk to you for a while after that.
This book also brought up something that I have been wondering since I had a discussion with one of my fellow bookpushers. We tend to get upset when the hero after wronging the heroine doesn’t produce a good groveling scene to work his way back into her good graces. But I haven’t seen very many women have to do, “the grovel,” when they were the ones who screwed up. Are we accepting a double standard? I know I certainly felt cheated out of a good groveling scene from Margot in this book.
Basically, while I enjoyed the setting and the family dynamics my annoyance with the heroine only grew as the book progressed. By the end I wasn’t able to buy into their HEA because I felt that while Roy Lee would do everything he could to make her happy, she didn’t have the same devotion to him outside of their sexual relationship.
I give Margot’s Lawman a C-
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The issue you raise about the groveling is a big one and I think it does illustrate a double standard- if Margot was the one who was wrong then she should be the one to apologize. I know it’s fiction and all that but when you really hurt someone’s feelings it takes more than an “oops” for people to move on. Nice review!
@Emily: Thanks. I am glad you liked the review :). I hadn’t really thought about equal groveling until the discussion I had but now that is one of the things I will be looking for.