Love Somebody like You

Fox’s engrossing fifth Caribou Crossing contemporary (after Love Me Tender), set against a captivatingly horsy rural British Columbia backdrop, opens with 30-something widow Sally Ryland, a former barrel racing champion, at rock bottom. The riding school she runs is in financial trouble, her assistant is gone, and her emotional wounds are still throbbing from her devastating marriage to the archetypally abusive Pete, whose fatal heart attack sent her into lingering spasms of guilt. When handsome Ben Traynor, a bronco rider from Sally’s happy competition days, unexpectedly comes calling, he decides to stay and help her with the heavy demands of her school. His concern, sensitivity, and growing attachment gradually ease her out of her three-year self-imposed seclusion and her shattering fear of men. Ben has his own troubles: a shoulder fracture has temporarily grounded him from the rodeo circuit he loves, and even though he immediately feels drawn to Sally, he’s not sure he’s good enough for her. Amid their simmering mutual attraction, Fox works in convincing flashbacks of Pete’s excruciating abuse of Sally, as well as snippets of rodeo life that bring the allure of the “confident and purely male” bronco rider to vivid life. The reader knows exactly what Sally needs so desperately—kindness and understanding—and Fox provides it with the gentle touch that makes her romances especially endearing. Agent: Emily Sylvan Kim, Prospect Agency. (Oct.)