Book Review - A Town Called Valentine by Emma Cane

It is always fun to get in right at the start of a series, and when the series looks as promising as Emma Cane's new "Valentine Valley" one, with her first book, "A Town Called Valentine," - well, let's just say the fun is just beginning!

About The Book:

Welcome to Valentine Valley—where broken hearts come home to mend, and true love may lie just across the range . . .

Emily Murphy never thought she’d return to her mom’s rustic hometown in the Colorado Mountains. But after her marriage in San Francisco falls apart, leaving her penniless and heartsick, she returns to her old family home to find a new direction for her life. On her first night back, though, a steamy encounter with handsome rancher Nate Thalberg is not the fresh start she had in mind . . .

Nate has good reason not to trust the determined beauty who just waltzed into town—he’s no stranger to betrayal. Besides, she’s only there to sell her family’s old property and move back out. But as Nate and Emily begin working side-by-side to restore her time-worn building and old family secrets change Emily’s perception of herself, both are about to learn how difficult it is to hide from love in a place known far and wide for romance, family ties, and happily-ever-afters: a town called Valentine.

As a former resident of the wonderful state of Colorado, I was reading this novel closely, to see if the author got the details and nuances right, and I'm proud to report that Emma Cane does the Rocky Mountain state justice!  Her fictional town of "Valentine," could be one of many little mountain towns that my family and I used to explore in the region and it brought back wonderful memories just reading this story!

Emma starts out her series with an introduction to her personable cast of characters, including the Thalberg family with their charming matriarch and handsome sons, and the business-owners that populate the town and are so essential to this tale. But my favorite character was Emily Murphy, the lost soul with a broken heart who finds friendship and love in the tiny community that takes her in like one of their own.

With friendship and romance key components to this series, I can't wait to see what fun Emma Cane has lined up for future books. I know I'll be on the outlook for them!

About The Author:

Emma Cane was born in Erie, a small Pennsylvania town on beautiful Lake Erie, where the sunsets are some of the best in the world. Though Emma enjoyed figure skating and skiing (good sports in the northeast), she brought a book everywhere she went, usually science fiction and fantasy. In high school she discovered historical romances, starting with Kathleen Woodiwiss’s Shanna, and Emma never looked back. The first romance she ever tried to write was a historical Western, but now she’s changed to the 21^st century, where cowboys can ride pickup trucks as well as horses. Emma fell in love with small-town, heartwarming stories, and created the fictional town Valentine Valley, a small ranching community in the Colorado Rockies, where she sets her novels. A Town Called Valentine is the first in her new series.

Now that her three children are grown, Emma loves spending time crocheting and singing (although not necessarily at the same time), and hiking and snowshoeing alongside her husband Jim and two rambunctious dogs Uma and Apollo.

Emma also writes as USA Today Bestselling historical romance author Gayle Callen.

Check out her website at http://www.emmacane.com/ for more information on her books and upcoming projects!

I'm giving away a copy of Emma Cane's "A Town called Valentine" as a part of the "Follower Love Giveaway Hop" that is going on now!  Click here to enter -
http://sharonsgardenofbookreviews.blogspot.com/2012/02/follower-love-giveaway-hop-i-love-my.html


I received a review copy of this book from the publisher. I was not compensated for my opinion.