They Ain't Proper

      

Title: They Ain't Proper

Author: M.B. Guel

Publisher: Bella Books, June 2, 2023

Pages: 324

Genre: LGBT Historical Romance

1880s, The Wild West.

An easy, solitary life on the outskirts of Ghosthallow is all Lou Ramirez wants. They want to buy some house plans, build a home, and live their quiet life far from townsfolk’s prying eyes. But somehow instead of house plans, a housewife is delivered to their door.

Clementine Castellanos desperately needs a way out from under her family debt, and it seems as though selling her services as a wife is the only way to do it. Expecting a rough, harsh man to be her new husband, Clementine is pleasantly surprised to instead be dropped off at the ranch of an equally surprised Lou.

Lou would rather Clementine leave them to their lonely existence, but Clementine is too charmed by the quiet and mysterious rancher to give up. She may have come into Lou’s life easily, but she certainly isn’t planning to leave that way. Undeterred by Lou’s prickly demeanor, Clementine is determined to get her reluctant spouse to open up to her.

When the past comes back to haunt the pair, the fight for their independence—and their love—may become more deadly than either of them ever expected.

I have had this book on my TBR since before its release. I was nervous to start it because I had such high hopes for it. I was trying to manage my own expectations, and it worked to some extent. 

This is not my usual cup of tea. So that was part of managing my own expectations. I was excited for the representation in this story, but historicals and westerns and not necessarily my jam. This did exceed my expectations in that way. I really enjoyed Ghosthallow as a town. I was very interested in the little saloon in town, and would totally read Juanita's and/or Veronica's books. West World probably helped me there..

Lou was perfect. Clementine was so patient. Shockingly patient. This was much darker than I expected. Which is silly. It's the Wild West. Of course there were small minded people and everyone solved everything with the threat of a gun shot. But when this book got dark, it was really dark. It's also the slowest of burns. You get a few daydream scenes to whet your thirst along the way. But oh my goodness gracious do they make you freaking wait for it! After we were getting pecks on the corner of the mouth at a first meeting, I was NOT expecting so much slow burning. But here we are.

Now, I will say, the choices for Lou's accent/dialogue were a lot. It was meant to kind of submerse me into the world, but it kept throwing me all of the way out because I couldn't nail down their accent in my head. And then there was the handling of the binding. I loved that we saw binding at all, and I get that it's the 1800s and we're working with what we have. But it really stressed me out any time the binding was mentioned because it was just an ace bandage that they put on in the morning and didn't take off until the end of the day when they were getting ready for bed. I am so concerned for their osteo and pulmonary health!

Ratings

Stars: 4/5

Spice: 3/5