Charming Jo

Jo McCaine may dress like a man, work like a man, and sometimes act and talk like a man, but she still finds it difficult to find ranch hands willing to work for a woman in 1880s Kansas. After the latest departures, a desperate Jo goes to Lefty's saloon hoping to find workers. Unfortunately, the only man available is Levi Travers, who is on the verge of being run out of town as a result of his latest sexual misadventure. Finally bowing to the inevitable, Jo hires Travers--knowing full well that he's going to be nothing but trouble. Travers is a hard worker, but Jo finds it difficult to keep her beautiful sister Carrie from flirting outrageously with him, or her uncle Mac from killing him. To further her complications, Travers is determined to charm Jo, and she is finding it uncharacteristically hard to resist him even though she knows he'll be heading to San Francisco as soon as his job is done. On his part, Travers is fascinated by the bossy, prickly ranch owner--both admiring her spirit and determination, as well as seeing her own charms underneath her grubby, unflattering clothes. For once, Travers regrets his bad reputation. There aren't too many surprises in this story about not judging a book by its cover, but Ms. Drewry still manages to present it in a way that is fresh, amusing, intense, and, yes, charming. Jo is more than a typical tomboy cliché, and Travers is more than a reformed ne'er-do-well. The secondary characters are well-fleshed out (although I would have liked to have seen more done with Carrie and Will), and the ranch setting real and believable. I confess that I almost didn't buy this book because, based on a quick look at the cover, I thought it was a madcap contemporary romance. But I'm so glad I gave it a second look--otherwise, I would have missed out on a real treat. Treat yourself to this 4 1/2 star Western romance.