Saturday, October 13, 2012

Book Review: Beauty and the Bounty Hunter


Author: Lori Austin
Publication Date: October 2, 2012
Publisher: Signet
Series: Once Upon a Time in the West # 1

Cathleen Chase is no killer—but as Cat O’Banyon, she is a ruthless bounty hunter who always gets her man. Catching one lowlife after another, she continues her search for the only man she really cares to locate. The one whose voice she will never forget; the man who murdered her husband. She’ll stop at nothing to find him. Con artist Alexi Romanov taught Cat every trick she knows.  He is a master of deceit, disguise, and desire. He’s difficult to trust, and even more difficult to resist, but he has news she can’t ignore. The man she’s after has placed a bounty on her head. To get him before he gets her, she’ll have to team up with Alexi again....And just like before, the two of them together are nothing but trouble.
This cover says so much! A woman dressed in Western clothing with a gun next to her inner thigh? It just screams action packed heroine. I love the cover and I think it, in this case, drew me to want to know more about the book and author. I love to read books from all kinds of different settings and time periods and I don’t remember the last time that I read a “wild, wild west” book. I was so into the setting and wrapped up in this awesome and very courageous female character!

Where do I even begin with this book? I loved it!! My favorite part was Cathleen Chase, or should I say Cat O’Banyon? Cat is a bounty hunter who is out to seek revenge on the man who killed her husband some time ago. The death of her husband obviously altered her life for the worse and she has changed her entire persona just to find his killer. When we are first introduced to Cat she is in, well, a whorehouse and some man has just bought a “session” with her. I was like, WHOA CAT, but once they are alone you find out her real purpose in doing what she does. She is an amazing heroine and she had my respect from the beginning, well after I realized she wasn’t really a prostitute. I have always wanted to own my own gun and I would like to imagine that I could be as courageous as Cat with it! Her words and actions are just so powerful and I was thinking to myself the whole time that she should be a character in a movie.

Alexi is Cat’s male counterpart and I have to say that I love Alexi equally as much as I love Cat. In the beginning of the novel you get the sense that they have been lovers before and it makes the tension between them so much more steamy! Alexi is your typical male in this story. His first loves are money, alcohol, and women, lots of women! He comes off as arrogant and just plain stubborn at times but there are parts where we are able to see the soft side of him and the side that cares deeply for Cat. Their attraction to one another is unstoppable; they are like two huge magnets that cannot stay apart. Alexi has a tendency to speak in various foreign languages, especially when using terms of endearment with Cat, and I thought this was an awesome characteristic that only added to his depth as a ladies’ man!

Action, action, action! I was so thrilled with how much action we see in this story and Lori Austin keeps you right in the covered wagon with Cat and Alexi the whole time! I could hear the guns and see the looks on the grimy faces of the men that Cat was hunting down. I loved every second of my trip with Alexi and Cat. The best parts were when either Alexi or Cat would end up hurting someone who saying the wrong thing to someone else and then they would have to skip town as fast as they could to avoid anyone coming after them. They both seem to have a knack for causing trouble. They love to start fights, but just can’t stick around to finish their pathetic victims off!

The best twist in this story is what holds Cat and Alexi together! I don’t want to give anything away because it is worth picking up and finding out for yourself! This is a new series and I hope to read every other book in it! I am so pleased with this story and this new author that I can add to my list!

***A huge hug and thank you to Lori Austin for gifting me an e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review***





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