Kaki Warner - Colorado Dawn

After only three letters and one visit during her six-year marriage to a Scottish Cavalry Officer, Maddie Wallace decides to build a life without him. Accepting an assignment from a London periodical to photograph the West from a female perspective, she sails from England, determined to build a new life as an independent woman.
After injury ends his military career, Angus Wallace returns home to find his wife gone, his family decimated by fever, and himself next in line to an earldom. His new mission is clear--find his wife and sire heirs. His search takes him across an ocean and half a continent, but he finally tracks her to Heartbreak Creek, Colorado. There his biggest challenge awaits--to convince his headstrong wife to return home as his viscountess.
Amidst statehood struggles, claim jumping, and railroad disputes their passionate battle rages...until word comes that Angus has become the earl. Now they must decide between a life in the mountains of Colorado, or in the glittering ballrooms of London...and between duty and desire.

Comment: In 2014 I've read a book by author Kaki Warner and I liked it a lot. Checking out my post, it was quite a high grade but I barely remember details, much less specific information. That book is the first in a trilogy and I did add the other two to my TBR but in all these years they simply were left aside. This year I told myself, just read them and get them out of the pile, thus why I've picked out this one now, and I'm planning on reading the third next month.

The trilogy, titled Runaway Brides, features brides who are running away from something,of course. In this second novel, Maddie Wallace leaves England, after months of not having any information on her cavalry husband. Thinking he died and no one told her or that he had forgotten about her, she decides to accept a photography assignment in the West, which will be published as being from a woman's perspective. Her days are quite enjoyable and she has even found a group of friends, however, one day, her husband simply shows up and she believes her  life will be in his control again.

Angus Wallace, now lord Ashby, was injured and when he returned home, his family was ill and his wife was gone. He now needs her to go back to England, for there are duties they must perform, but what he finds is his wife flourishing and happy. Will they find a way to work together so both can have what they want? They will need to make a decision before a man seeking trouble discovers they all might be in his way...

Eleven years can change a lot but thankfully, I'm still interested in historical stories for the most part, and I've started this book with some expectations. The beginning, however, was a little slow and not very vibrant and on top of things it even featured a lovers reunited trope, which in par with friends to lovers isn't one I find that thrilling. I also think the development of this story didn't make me change my mind on that.

To start with, I am part of that group of readers who thinks Maddie going to America to be a photographer was a fine idea but the why is a bit contrived. I supposed the author had to explain why a married woman could simply leave, and then conveniently her husband would find her, but this whole set up was a bit weak to my way of thinking and it felt even worse when the reasoning was that she waited months for him to reply to her letters, so she believed hat she wanted and went. Possible, yes, but not convincing to me.

Maddie, I should say, does think and act as an independent woman and I certainly cherished this, even though it's an historical, but I think she wasn't always a very approachable character. Perhaps this is only my own vision of things, but I didn't really warm up to her. I did like Ashby a bit more and when they meet again, very early in the book, I thought his explanations to be reasonable but, again, after being married for some time and for love, that he hid one or two details from her... I've summarized this in my head this way: they didn't properly communicate before so that now their story could really begin.

Certainly, this is valid and I suppose the setting up was the author's way of letting us know about what happened to lead to the current situation but... ehh, I was not really satisfied with these decisions. The romance simply didn't move me and while I knew they would get their HEA, I was not moved by the evolution of their relationship. In fact, I was way more interested in seeing the dynamics with the secondary characters (some had already been in the previous book but I didn't remember much) and how everyone acted as if they were this united family.

There is also another sub plot, regarding two brothers who are looking for a gold location, after killing the owner. The only clue to the spot is a photography taken by Maddie, as they later discover, and they think she might remember where that had been. From the moment these two show up and the others realize what is going on, the story became a lot more engaging and the main reason why I enjoyed the book until the end. Not everything is great about this subplot but it allowed for further developments and evolution in what the characters were thinking of doing.

All in all, this book ended up being average to me. I liked some elements but the romance was really poor to my way of seeing things. Maddie and Ash can be as happy as they want but I wasn't convinced. I hope the third book is better executed.

Grade: 6/10