A Cowboy Christmas Miracle

In the final romance of her Burnt Boot, Texas series, bestseller Brown (One Texas Cowboy Too Many) borrows from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to pair up a couple from families caught in a matriarch-driven 100-year-old feud. Declan Brennan looses a poker bet: before Christmas, he has to woo and bed the next woman who walks into the bar. Feisty Betsy Gallagher saunters in, the very woman Declan has loved since they were kids. Through a couple of coincidences, the two contrive to secretly gather props, costumes, and decorations for the church Christmas pageant to replace those destroyed in the Gallagher-Brennan feud. They sneak around trying to avoid detection in a gossip-fueled town. Hot sex seems a bit at odds with the devoutly churchgoing couple, and readers will yawn as Brown adds country songs and their artists to prop up the story, but the characters are refreshingly straight talkers who discuss their kisses and emotions without hedging. [em]Agent: Erin Niumata, Folio Literary. (Sept.) [/em]