The Mackenzies: Josh

First, I picked up this book because its cover was so similar to another book that I'd just read (No Other Man, by Shannon Drake...a trilogy). Then, when I started reading Josh, I wanted to strangle Emily's father for being such a controling jerk...I had to remind myself a few times that wealthy parents often did this back then...force daughters to marry men not of their choosing. And I loved though, that Emily was willing to give up everything and work hard so that she did not have to marry someone she did not want. I did, however, get a little bored shortly after she got to whatever town it was that they were in (Las Vegas, New Mexico, was it?) and put the book down. But not for long... About a month later, I picked it up again (due to my own lack of desire to write) and finished it in just one evening. I found that it was a delightful story; Leigh had me giggling all the way through. That Tarnation scene nearly had me PIMP. I just had to rush out and get Rose's story (Zach). Those MacKenzie boys are just too cute! Now I'm going out to find some more!

This MacKenzie installment is Josh MacKenzie, Luke and Honey MacKenzie's son, who had joined to Pinkerton Detective Agency to make a name for himself, and come into his full potential like his father and uncles have before him.Pinkerton agent Josh MacKenzie always gets his man . . . but he's never been up against a woman like runaway heiress Emily Lawrence!SHE WAS TROUBLE . . . AND TEMPTATION...Emily had fled her wealthy home and the boring society men who courted her, looking for adventure in the wild West -- but the new-fledged Harvey Girl gets more than she bargained for when she meets Josh MacKenzie. At first she thinks the tall, handsome Texan just may be the man of her dreams . . . until he snaps handcuffs on her wrists to take her home! Naturally, the beautiful spitfire fights Josh at every turn -- and as he manfully tries to resist her impossibly irresistible charms, Josh wonders which is in greater danger: his job . . . or his heart?

Great story about a wealthy rich girl (Emily) who is runs away from an dominating father who is trying to marry her off to obtain an heir. She runs away from home and gets a waitress job with the Harvey Girl's in the west. Her friend Rose helps her change her hair from blond to black and adds thick glasses after a Pinkerton Detective named Josh MacKenzie hired by her father tracks her to New Mexico and starts asking questions. He has a difficult time trying to get Emily to admit who she is but finally the truth comes out and he slaps her in to handcuff's to take her back to her father. After a series of funny misadventures she gets them into, Josh gets shot and she nurses him back to health, admit their love for one another, marry, and go back to New York to confront her father. I did not realize this was a series so I am now reading the other three books called The MacKenzies; David, Peter, and Jake. Also, these books are from an older series of three books called "The Mackenzies: 1. Luke (Josh's father) his brothers, Flint and Cleve which I cannot find since the publishers are all out of stock. Hope they re-release them.

In 1890 Long Island, heiress Emily Lawrence informs her father Hiram that she will not marry just because he insists she do so. She knows how poorly her father treated her now deceased mother and vows to not fall into the same trap. However, Hiram lays down an ultimatum that she either picks a spouse or he will select one for her. Emily decides to flee west as a Harvey Girl working in a restaurant near the train stations even if she cannot cook.Pinkerton Agent Josh Mackenzie is assigned the job of finding the runaway Emily and return her and the fortune she stole to her father. Josh knows this job is a snap because how difficult is it to capture and escort an Eastern debutante? He will soon learn the hard way that taking Emily home will prove to be his most difficult task ever because she refuses to cooperate and they are now in love with one another.THE MACKENZIES: JOSH is an entertaining western romance that brings America in the last decade of the nineteenth century to life. The story line is fun and humorous as Emily thwarts every effort Josh tries to complete his obligation. The relationship between the lead charcaters makes the tale wonderful even as the support cast provides the color behind the plot. Ana Leigh writes a tale that when compared, holds up to the sterling works of the previous generation of Mackenzies. Harriet Klausner