The Unexpected Champion by Mary Connealy (High Sierra Sweethearts #3)

ISBN13: 9780764219313
Bethany House Publishing
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My thoughts:  The author's sense of humor shines like a rocket and takes off right from the beginning of The Unexpected Champion. At times the scenes and characters are almost "slap-stick" funny.

But this isn't just a funny story - that's just a plus. The story is set in the historical Lake Tahoe region with references to gold mining and the San Francisco area. It is a bit of a good guys and bad guys in the old west story.

Two main characters are a city slicker from back East, John McCall,  and a homesteading ranch-grower woman, Penny Scott. And soon the two are virtually joined at the hip as they try to find and capture the mean old varmints. Each has skills and each has their own idea about what to do and how to do it.

I'd really like to mention some of the scenes where this duo was trying to escape the desperadoes who kidnapped them. Their traipse through vast forests and over mountains when neither knew where they were or which direction they should go to get back to the place from which they'd  been kidnapped - the cliff, the water, the trees, the mean men. Wow!

Then once they do reach civilization (well, Wild-West-Civilization) the scene that erupts in the small town with the sheriff and others is more of that belly-laughing story telling for which Mary Connealy is known.

Feisty and sweet (no that's not a contradiction) Penny, wants to be a good Christian and not sin so she calls into question lots of the activities that John plans.

Highly recommend this fun, clean read.

About the book: City dweller John McCall never expected to be out in the High Sierras of 1868 on a wild-goose chase to find the Chiltons' supposedly lost grandson. But now that he's out here, things have gotten even more complicated, mostly due to wildcat Penny Scott. She's not like any woman he's ever met--comfortable in the woods, with a horse, and with a gun.

When Penny and John are taken against their will by a shadowy figure looking for evidence they don't have, both realize they've stumbled into something dangerous and complicated. With their friends and family desperately searching for them, Penny and John must make a daring escape.

When they emerge back into the real world, they are confronted with a kidnapper who just won't stop. They must bring a powerful, ruthless man to justice, even as this city man and country woman fight a very inconvenient attraction to each other.

DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy to facilitate this review. Opinions are mine, alone and are freely given.