I haven't read a western in so long and I was excited when I picked this one up. I have to admit, the cover got me. The plot was interesting and had some unexpected twists, but the pace did slow towards the middle. The story did keep with the time period.Hope is a strong wild woman who is bent on saving her brother. She heads into a saloon looking for the one gunslinger who can help her.Drake is taken aback by the woman who stumbles into his room. After Hope explains what she wants him to do, fight on her brother's behalf, and offers to pay him all the money her family has left, he states that he isn't interested in her money. Drake is interested in her. With some reservations, Hope agrees, but does not intend to keep her end of the bargain.I enjoyed Drakes character but I would have liked to read a little more of his POV. Hope dominated the story a bit for me, but I did like her character. She dealt with a lot and kept moving on.I gave this book 3 stars because of the pacing issue and the lack of Drake's POV. I didn't really know what he was thinking or what he was feeling - one chapter he seems to be over the moon for Hope and the next he seems to not care. With the disconnect of his feelings the relationship between the characters was a bit off for me. My review:It was the first book of Rebecca Sinclair I have read and I liked it. It was a good historical romance with little western taste in it.Regarding the plot:Hope is desperate to save his brother Luke from being killed and she takes some extreme measures to save him. She is approaching gunslinger Drake to take her brother’s place in a fight. Drake agrees to it, but the prize is high for Hope – she has to spend a night with Drake.When Hope and Drake first meet, then there is an undeniable attraction between them even though Hope is trying to avoid the thought. Hope has some other plans; mainly that she has no intention of keeping her promise. The story is quite good with some twists and turns in it. There is fairly good romance story in the California Caress and also quite a lot of action. The author has written a good story which keeps your interest for reading.Regarding the characters:I liked Hope. She had courage and was believable heroine. She was feisty and had lot of spark in her. She was willing to take some serious risks even though she was afraid sometimes. Drake was also well-written and he was quite good at balancing Hope. Generally:I really enjoyed the plot. In the middle of the story I think that the pace became little too slow, but towards the end of the book the pace took up again and the ending was very enjoyable. The strongest parts of California Caress’ were the characters. I liked that the author also put some attention to the supportive characters. Every character had a story to tell and that made it enjoyable to read.4 stars
