Nora Roberts – Song of the West

A stand alone novel, published April 1982.
Genre: contemporary romance
Cover: ehh



The towering mountains and windswept plains called to her. But she'd never intended to stay forever until Jake Tanner stirred her emotions like a summer tornado and made it impossible for her to leave. But no man was going to seduce Samantha Evans to give up her dreams. Even a cocky cowboy who made her blood go hot...


One of the first books Nora Roberts has written, and it shows. Samantha has come to Wyoming to help her sister Sabrina, whose pregnancy is not going well. She needs to rest for the coming months. So Sabrina quit her job, and has rushed to her sisters side. Taking care of her and her husband, who is a hard working farmer and can’t spend the day looking after his wife. The sisters have always been close. Their mother has always pushed them to be the best, and to marry well. Sabrina is a virtuous musician, and Samantha is a former Olympian gymnast, and is now a gym teacher.

Sabrina has little time for herself, but whenever she can she goes outside to breathe in the fresh Wyoming air, and to admire the glorious surroundings. She certainly has fallen in love with the land, and that for a city girl.

Jake Tanner is their closest neighbour, and Dan and Sabrina’s best friend. He is still single, but according to Sabrina, Lesley Marshal has set her cap for him, and what Lesley wants, Lesley gets. Jake sure is a catch, very rich and handsome.

Jake Tanner takes one look at Samantha, and decides he will have her. Samantha can deny it all she wants, but he will keep chasing her, and he won’t take no for an answer. Samantha can’t fight her attraction to Jake, but she refuses to steal another woman’s man. And Lesley has made it clear that she is almost engaged to Jake. Samantha is not an innocent young girl, but her few sexual encounters have not made her eager to repeat the experience. So in Jake’s eyes, she is still very much an innocent. He will give her the time she needs to take care of her sister, but after the baby is born, she will be his. He won’t take no for an answer any longer, he knows she desires him as well ...


I have always disliked heroes who threat their heroine as brainless and without the power to say no. Jake Tanner is a bit like that. He sees her, he wants her, and what Sam wants doesn’t matter. How can she not want him, right? Her sister likes the match a lot, because if Sam and Jake get married, her sister will stay right next door! And so she conspires to bring them together for a whole day.
Still, it is a Nora Roberts book, so I kept on reading, and the story itself is nice, as are the two sisters together. Jake never once says he loves Samantha, or that he wants to marry her, and that fact almost makes her flee the state to go back home. I really wish her sister had not interfered and that Jake would have had to chase her, and fall on his knees instead of taking her hostage and carrying her away over his shoulder.

Still, it was a sweet story, and I liked Samantha a lot. It was nice to read about her past, and the strange way their mother raised them.

6 stars.

© 2014 Reviews by Aurian