Danni Roan, $2.99, ISBN 978-1393705222
Historical Romance, 2020

Well, Danni Roan’s Amanda sure starts with a bang, or rather, a crash.

Amanda Antonia arrives in Needful, Texas, in search of a new life after her beloved daddy died and her mother quickly married another man. In the grand tradition of strong and independent romance heroines blazing a new trail in the wild, wild West, she has no clue where she is going or what she is doing.

Just as she arrives at Olive Hampton’s boardinghouse, that woman is called to tend to some guy with a broken shoulder. At the same time, Amanda faints because why not, anything to get the hero to paw her a little to get the Story going.

This is how Teddy Lewis, our hero, gets to know her better. He’s actually waiting for his mail-order bride to show up, but that one seems to have got lost in the mail, so hey, this cute damsel may as well be his darling.

“Miss, Miss.” Teddy’s voice was soft as he gazed into the lovely face before him, but the young woman was beyond hearing. She was out in a dead faint, possibly brought on by the rowdy cowboys whooping their way through town. “Now, don’t you worry none,” Teddy drawled. “Ol’ Teddy will look after you.”

That’s not creepy at all, really!

Teddy wanted nothing more than a few head of cattle, a decent horse under him, and someone to love. So far Olive and Peri, the local matchmakers, had failed to bring him the desire of his heart, but today the Good Lord had seen fit to lay her right in his lap. Maybe he wasn’t the best cowpuncher, the brightest mind, or the best looking man in Needful, but Teddy knew he would make a wonderful husband and provider if given half the chance.

Flicking his dark eyes to the light burden resting across his knees, Teddy smiled. “You wait and see,” he said. “You’ll find I’m just what you were lookin’ for here in Needful. I have a lot of love to give, a nice little place, and faith that everything will be alright in the end.”

She’s in a faint. Good lord indeed, can he at least wait until she comes to and has a good look at him first?

Fortunately, the Good Lord on high is wise and kind, and He brings to her a creepy fellow that is young-looking and hot, so that evens out the lack of agency of Amanda’s part. Gloria! Gloria in excelsis Deo!

Oh yes, did I mention that this is a Christian romance? This one is light on the preaching, however, and it doesn’t embody some of the more fundamental values that would make a heathen like me scratch my head in befuddlement. Hence, it’s a pretty accessible story to me while still being what it is.

Now, I haven’t been exactly sweet and nice about this story so far, but I have to say, as the story progresses, the author wins me over.

I still think Teddy is tad creepy, but at his core, he’s just a socially awkward fellow that is alright. He’s what he says he is: a hardworking and kind fellow that will work hard to provide for the family, and honestly, in a place all alone like this, Amanda can actually do much worse. Sure, sometimes he comes off as a Nice Guy instead of a, you know, nice guy, but in the end, he’s alright. He has a good heart, good intentions, and really, a woman can do far, far worse in a place and time like that.

I also like Amanda. She rarely has much choice when it comes to her circumstance, which galls me a bit, but I understand that free will and freedom of choice can be tad thorny issues when it comes to religion-based romances, so I do try to look beyond this. The heroine is alright. She’s not dumb or reckless, but rather, she turns out to be someone that is well aware of her situation and can make rational decisions. Do you how rare these traits are in romance heroines, especially those stuck in a small town in the wild West?

Most people that our heroine meets are of course nice and welcoming, but I like that they are not blind cheerleaders in the relationship between Amanda and Teddy. In fact, Olive expresses doubts about Amanda being able to get used to a life with Teddy, which is reasonable as we are talking about a country lad and a city gal here. Hence, while many characters here may seem like small town archetypes, they do behave like actual people that can form their own thoughts most of time, instead of being part of the author’s cheerleader troupe.

Hence, there is a pretty sweet, old school Western romance feel to this one, reminding me often of those stories that Pamela Morsi and Jodi Thomas used to write back in those days.

However, there is one thing about this one that holds it back a little where I am concerned: it doesn’t have much of a conflict. Problems that crop up are quickly resolved, often neatly and conveniently, hence there is not much sense of urgency and drama to the romance.

Sure, this makes the story a pleasant, comfy read—probably too pleasant and comfy because I find myself easily distracted by other things. Once I temporarily set this one aside to tend to those things—oh my, there’s an old show on TV with Adrian Paul being shirtless a lot—I sometimes forget to pick it up again until much later!

Still, this is a readable story that makes for a reasonable way to unwind after the holiday bustle.

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