TGIF Everyone! Today I am featuring a wonderful historical romance, Loveland by Andrea Downing. The story is wonderful between a Lady from England’s royalty and a lowly cattle rustler. It’s quite lovely and very real for a historical. It has some romanticizing of the Old West but for the most part it is fairly realistic. Make sure to keep reading for the rest of my review. I hope everyone has a great weekend and if you’re not planning on doing anything pick up a good book!
Book Blurb: 
When Lady Alexandra Calthorpe returns to the Loveland, Colorado, ranch owned by her father, the Duke, she has little idea of how the experience will alter her future. Headstrong and willful, Alex tries to overcome a disastrous marriage in England and be free of the strictures of Victorian society –and become independent of men. That is, until Jesse Makepeace saunters back into her life…Hot-tempered and hot-blooded cowpuncher Jesse Makepeace can’t seem to accept that the child he once knew is now the ravishing yet determined woman before him. Fighting rustlers proves a whole lot easier than fighting Alex when he’s got to keep more than his temper under control.
Arguments abound as Alex pursues her career as an artist and Jesse faces the prejudice of the English social order.
The question is, will Loveland live up to its name?
Review:
We first meet Lady Alexander Calthorpe as she is being dragged out of the ranch she loves and forced to go back to England to her father. She has lived on the ranch for 4 years and loves the life, the people and the surroundings. So, it’s no surprise when she returns five years later a full-grown woman. She is ready to be independent. All she wants to do is paint and ride on the ranch. She gets her wish but she also gets more. When Alex realizes Jesse Makepeace is still on the ranch and as handsome as ever this puts a small kink in her plans. Alex and Jesse have been friends since she lived on the ranch before. The biggest change is that she is no longer a little girl and Jesse is shocked at the beautiful young woman she has become. Through trials and tribulations Jesse and Alex find themselves falling in love. Unfortunately, there are many outside forces that want to see them separated. Can Jesse and Alex fight for the love they both deserve or will the world win and kill the flame that burns between them.
This was a wonderfully romantic book. I loved the scenery, the characters and the story. It almost felt like a western Pride and Prejudice. I adored Alex’s spunk. She really came into her own as a character. Her story develops beautifully and with that allows for her and Jesse’s love to grow. I enjoyed that it wasn’t a quick romance. You could feel the love grow. It felt much more realistic that way. Jesse was also a great character. Any woman would fall in love with this cow puncher. But, it’s not just that he’s hot he is much more. The depth to his character shows and makes an impact. Overall, I have to say the biggest character was the backdrop of Colorado during this time. Andrea Downing’s description are wonderful and really want to make you go and see the Colorado that Alex sees. All in all this is a great romantic read. Every character has a purpose as does every word. I would recommend this for anyone looking for a good western romance. I know I’ll be looking for Andrea Downing’s next book!
Author Bio:
Andrea Downing has spent most of her life in the UK where she received an M.A. from the University of Keele in Staffordshire. She married and raised a beautiful daughter, and stayed on to teach and write, living in the Derbyshire Peak District, the English Lake District and the Chiltern Hills before finally moving into London. During this time, family vacations were often on guest ranches in the American West, where she and her daughter have clocked up some 17 ranches to date. In addition, she has traveled widely throughout Europe, South America, and Africa, living briefly in Nigeria. In 2008 she returned to the city of her birth, NYC, but frequently exchanges the canyons of city streets for the wide open spaces of the West. Her love of horses, ranches, rodeo and just about anything else western is reflected in her writing. Loveland, a western historical romance published by The Wild Rose Press, is her first book. She is a member of Romance Writers of America and Women Writing the West.