162 pages
Published August 22, 2023
ISBN 979-8860467682
Heather Blanton’s books are page-turners, and I better not start one late in the afternoon or I’m going to lose sleep. Fortunately, for The Vaquero’s Heart, I had an entire day and set aside chores to hunker down on the couch and lose myself in the story. The book is part of the Burning Dress Ranch series but is easily read as a stand-alone (other than making me want to go back and read the others.)
Pearl, the female protagonist, is a horse thief through no choice of her own. Her father is cruel and heavy-handed, and unmarried women in the 1800s had few options, so Pearl is stuck. A chance to escape occurs and through a series of events, she ends up at the Burning Dress Ranch. What Pearl doesn’t realize is that the owner’s purpose is to take in women who are hurting in some way, and then teach them a skill through which they can earn a living. Miss Sally also shares the love of God with them to help them heal. Miss Sally is a force to be reckoned with and has her own baggage to deal with. I love how she treats her staff and the girls she’s housing.
Pearl meets her match with the head wrangler at the ranch, Rodrigo Garcia. A widower with a young son, he can spot a liar a mile away, so he immediately knows Pearl is hiding something. He makes it his mission to find out what. The author does a wonderful job of getting readers into the characters’ heads and hearts discovering their flaws and vulnerabilities. I enjoyed learning about the role the Latinos played in the cowboy culture.
The Spanish influence in ranching and the Old West began before there was an Old West. Spanish rancheros filled the Southwest landscape with horses, cattle, and sheep by the mid—1600s. Hispanic contributions to cowboy culture did not end with the introduction of the horse, as evidenced by the terminology. Vaquero is the Spanish word for cowboy. Bronco, the English spelling of broncho is Mexican Spanish for wild or rough. A lariat is la reata, “the lasso,” from the Spanish word reatar which means to tie together.
My heart broke for both Rodrigo and Pearl as they tried to deal with the difficulties in their lives and navigate the unwanted feelings they had. Rodrigo’s son is delightful, precocious but not obnoxious, and he acts as the bridge between his father and Pearl. A beautiful story of redemption.
Book Blurb:
She wants to steal horses…but at Burning Dress Ranch, only hearts are stolen.
On the run from the law, daring horsethief Pearl Pickett stumbles upon the enigmatic Burning Dress Ranch and its mysterious owner, Miss Sally. Sensing something is amiss with the newcomer, Miss Sally asks Pearl to work with a captivating herd of Arabian horses. Pearl’s sole desire is to lay low for a while, but the allure of these stunning creatures proves irresistible.
Ranch wrangler Rodrigo Garcia is a widower with a young son. Brooding and surly, he’s not happy about taking on a know-it-all female as an assistant. But the sassy woman knows horses, even though she initially tries to hide it. As the two work together, Rodrigo can’t help but soften a little, particularly when he witnesses the bond she is forming with his son, Miguel.
Still, it is a shocking revelation when he realizes Pearl is stealing his heart.
But that may not be all she’s out to steal…
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