Blog Tour, Scavenger Hunt & Review: Big Sky Country by Linda Lael Miller

If you’re coming from the blog tour, welcome! Below you’ll find the next excerpt of Big Sky Country and the link to tomorrow’s piece as well. If this is your
first stop on
the tour, you’ll need to start from the beginning to get the whole
excerpt. Go here, to see the full list of blog tour stops. 

First line: “You weren’t at the funeral,” Slade Barlow’s half brother, Hutch Carmody, accused, the words rasping against the underside of a long, slow exhale.

From the back cover: The illegitimate son of a
wealthy rancher, Sheriff Slade Barlow grew up in a trailer hitched to
the Curly-Burly hair salon his mother runs. He was never acknowledged by
his father – until now. Suddenly, Slade has inherited half of Whisper
Creek Ranch, one of the most prosperous in Parable, Montana. That
doesn’t sit well with his half brother, Hutch, who grew up with all the
rights of a Carmody. Including the affections of Joslyn Kirk, homecoming
queen, rodeo queen, beauty queen-whom Slade has never forgotten. 

But
Joslyn is barely holding her head up these days as she works to pay back
everyone her crooked stepfather cheated. With a town to protect – plus a
rebellious teenage stepdaughter – Slade has his hands full. But someone has to convince Joslyn that she’s responsible only for her own actions. Such as her effect on this lawman’s guarded heart.

My review: This is the first in Linda Lael Miller’s new Swoon-Worthy Cowboy series, set in Parable, Montana, and boy are the two cowboys in this book studs!  I’ve only read a few of Linda Lael Miller’s books, but find that they are quick, fun romances involving some tough but lovable cowboys.

Big Sky Country is Slade and Joslyn’s story. We are introduced to half-brothers Slade and Hutch, who have never really been close, and after the death of their father has them each inheriting half his estate, they are even more at odds. Joslyn returns to Parable to make amends for her step-father’s wrong-doings – something she had nothing to do with but feels guilty for nonetheless. She takes up residence in the guest house of the property she used to live in, which is now owned by her best friend, Kendra.

Both Slade and Joselyn seem to be at cross-roads in their lives. Neither knows what it is they really want to do – him being a sheriff who is up for re-election, and her having spent the last part of her life trying to make up for her step-dad’s mistakes. As they begin spending more time with each other, they slowly come out of their shells and start looking towards the future.

Along the way, we also get to meet some other characters, who all add to the story. There’s Callie, Shea, Boone, Tara, and of course, the furry-legged characters of Jasper and Lucy-Maude. We get to know just a little bit about these other characters – enough to know who they are, but not enough to be satisfied. Hopefully some of these will be the feature characters of the next book in the series.

I look forward to catching up with these characters again in the next Swoon-Worthy Cowboy story, Big Sky Mountain, which is due out the end of July. Don’t you just love the name of the series? Have you ever been driven to read a series just by the name of it?

Scavenger Hunt/Excerpt: 

Memories swamped her—on the other side of the broad
green lawn, her mother would have been sitting on the screened-in
sunporch on a bright morning like this one, sipping coffee and reading
the newspaper. The housekeeper, Opal, would have
been busy in the huge kitchen, preparing breakfast.

Now, her mom was in Santa Fe, living with husband
number three, a successful artist. Husband number two, Elliott Rossiter,
had died in prison of an embolism, and heaven only knew where Opal was
by now. She and Joslyn had parted tearfully,
with promises to stay in touch, but they’d lost each other’s trails
years ago.

Joslyn sighed, pushed back her long brown hair and
wriggled out of the sleeping bag. There was no sense in moping about the
past—she’d come back to Parable for a reason, and she needed to get on
with the plan.

So she could leave again.

Tomorrow’s stop: Geeky Bloggers Book Blog

I received a complimentary copy of Big Sky Country by Linda Lael Miller from Kate at Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, Inc.