Paper Roses

Wow! This is a great book! You'll definitely enjoy the characters with their trials and tribulations! Evie is everything smart and [attractive] and Tyler is in every woman's dreams. This is the first book in the Paper trilogy. I also recommend the second book, Paper Tiger and third book, Paper Moon. Absolutely enjoyable reads!

A young woman, born on the wrong side of the blanket & raised in wealth by a nanny, is subsidized by the mother who wants to remain anonymous. Although raised with love by the servant, she is traumatized by the knowledge & stigma of her illegitimacy. She begins a search for her family roots after the nanny dies. Evie is an extremely intelligent, well-educated, very beautiful young woman - however she has a powerful imagination, fired by her love of literature & fiction, & a tendency to live in a dream-world. She hires a man she believes to be a famous gunfighter to escort her safely to Texas from post-Civil War St. Louis, Missouri. The "gunfighter" is a notorious, womanizing, gambler & though he is an expert marksman, he is definitely not the man Evie believes him to be - a hero she picked out of a penny novel. Tyler Monteigne, in fact has some serious traumas of his own. His family was killed during the War, their plantation in Louisiana lost to carpetbaggers, & he was a prisoner of war in a Yankee prison camp for 3 years.Tyler agrees to accompany Evie, along with some other very colorful & well-defined characters, to Texas. He is a hunk. She is sooo sassy. Together they ignite. Very Steamy! These are more than cardboard, formulaic characters. Ms. Rice has worked to populate her novel with 3-D people, lots of humor & sensitivity. There are wonderful plots & sub-plots - and a beautiful & realistic love story. What a great book! I could not put it down. The writing is intelligent & witty. I love strong heroes...but I like strong heroines more - especially back in the days when a woman had to fight extra hard for her independence & individuality. This one's a keeper.PS - This is book #1 of a series. I look forward to reading books 2 & 3, "Paper Tiger" & "Paper Moon."

This book was very good.....I have read romance novels all my life and this was definetely a find....it kept me laughing and interested and OH so in love with Tyler that I couldn't put it down...for once the heroine was smart and sassy and loyal...it was nice to see a woman stand up for and believe in her man instead of always running him down....I loved the story and would highly recommend it to anyone....It helps too if you like the west and cowboys type of man.