Eric Quinlan was born a cowboy and a rancher and intends to die a cowboy and a rancher. But when his ranch is in danger of failing, he travels to the wilds of London looking for a business deal to save it. What he finds there are stuffed shirts, odd manners, and a damsel in distress.
Amelia Elphick’s life is over. She may have been born a lady, but when she finds herself jilted by a lover who leaves her pregnant and refuses to marry her, she seems destined for a life on the streets. When her employer’s rough but handsome houseguest, Eric, offers to rescue her from ruin, she has no choice but to say yes, even if it means moving halfway around the world.
But Amelia finds herself saying yes to more than a ticket west. What starts with a harmless lie tangles Amelia and Eric in a web of desire and deceit that exposes passions and turns their worlds upside-down. Eric believes Amelia holds the key to saving his beloved ranch and giving him the family he always wanted, but can he save her from the demons of her past without losing himself in the process?
People do foolish things when they’re in love….
Genre classification: Western Historical Romance
~Book Review~
This was my first book by Merry Farmer and I was pretty excited to start on it. The cover is typical wild west and blurb pretty interesting.
The story is set in the regency era where England was divided into the stuffy upper class and the looked-down-upon lower class. Amelia is stuck in such a pretentious world. Forced by circumstances to fall in the lower class, she has lost the support of everyone and the supposed love and promises of the man who had once promised her his love. Humiliated, struck out by everyone and left in a hopeless situation, she is a fallen woman, so when he gets Eric’s offer to travel with him to America, it is like a godsend.
The story is well conceived but execution did need some brushing. I was interested in the story but got irritated with Amelia at times. She is guilt ridden and her constant self blame game while understandable at first soon starts getting on your nerves. It looks like she is just blind to all the good that is happening to her. Eric loves her and she loves him but still keeps putting him down. Her inner conflicts are admirably brought to paper by the author but I loved and rooted for Eric throughout the book. He is such a gentleman- strong, dependable, passionate and so handsome. 🙂
I loved reading the story and loved the contrast between America and England which is so beautifully described. I could visualize the rich English parties with over dressed people who stuck up their noses at other people and also visualize the free, open, vast fields of America where people were simple, devoid of high society pretension and more focused on the simple pleasures of life.
While I loved the story with its multiple story layers, complex characters, beautiful descriptions of America and England of the 1800s and a very romantic love story, I was not very satisfied with the wrap up. The scheming cousin of Eric, Curtis is left off too easily in my opinion. Nothing is done with Jacinta and Amelia’s acceptance to Eric’s love is sudden and looked a bit hurried.
The plot is very engaging and I was kept interested till the very end. There is mystery, suspense, romance, chivalry, the good old historical romance thrill and the good feel of traveling back in time to witness the story. The story goes deep with its heart touching themes of love, sacrifices, helping others and looking for the best in people. I enjoyed reading the book and look forward to reading more from Merry in the future.
My only dissatisfaction with the story were Amelia’s excessive guilt, her late and rather abrupt realization of Eric’s love, nothing done to help Eric overcome his weakness regarding reading and too easy justice to Jacinta and Curtis. Just because of this I give Fool For Love3.5 out of 5. I had more expectations from the book and while I enjoyed reading the book, the dissatisfaction with some points also weighed with me. Recommended to all lovers of western historical romance.
I received the book from the author and the tour organizers and I am very thankful to them. The above review is my honest and unbiased opinion and in no way influenced.
Fool for Love is the second full-length novel in Merry Farmer’s highly acclaimed, historical Montana Romance series. In Fool for Love, she writes about the tangled web people will weave when they’re in love…and lying. “…it is a tale of sacrifice and salvation, of second-chances and overcoming not only the prejudices of society, but of oneself.”–Mary at Buried Under Romance
~About the author~
Merry Farmer is an award-winning author of Historical Romance and what she likes to call “Sci-Fi for Women.” She lives in suburban Philadelphia with her two cats and enough story ideas to keep her writing until she’s 132. Her second novel, The Faithful Heart, was a 2102 RONE Award finalist and her unpublished futuristic novel A Man’s World won first place in the Novel: Character category at the 2013 Philadelphia Writer’s Conference. She is out to prove that you can make a living as a self-published author and to help others to do the same.
Read my Interview with Merry Farmer:http://njkinny.blogspot.in/2014/09/author-interview-merry-farmer-author-in
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