Blog Tour Review: Tumbleweed Heights – Joan Bird

Danger won’t find Gilly in tiny Briarwood, Colorado. Right? Banking on her instincts is all she has left. That and a dream of a simpler life as a rancher. Luke Hudson has secrets. Living a lie, he recognizes a kindred spirit the moment he lays eyes on Gilly. What are her secrets quickly becomes how can he protect her when violence slams through her front door. Will truth ruin their fragile bond or will time run out before they have the chance to admit their love?
Moving to Briarwood, Colorado had not been in Gilly Casey’s original life plan. Sure, she’d dreamed of owning a horse ranch, but as kind of a part-time gig, in Topanga Canyon maybe. But the best laid plans of this high-powered L.A. attorney turn to dust when more than her bar card is threatened. Fleeing to a life she had never imagined quickly becomes a cat and mouse game just to stay alive.
Luke Hudson’s road to Briarwood was no less bumpy. Hiding from his own demons, he’s no longer able to float below the radar when he recognizes the feisty Miz Casey is in more trouble than she’ll admit. Donning the hero mantle years after he’d shed that skin, Luke realizes that rescuing Gilly might just save him, too.
With so many secrets between them, does love stand a chance? When the past trains its loaded gun on them, truth may not be enough to safeguard Gilly and Luke.

After reading the blurb for this book, I figured it would be right up my alley.  A woman on the run from her past moves to a small Colorado town and ends up with a marriage of convenience to the local vet’s assistant with a secret past of his own.  


But after reading Tumbleweed Heights, I was left wanting something more.  Something less convoluted and jumpy.  It seemed like we would get bits and pieces of information and then have the characters jump to something else.  Both Gilly and Luke has such potential for their storyline to be so much more involved and emotional.  Considering what both of them were running from, it would have made their relationship (and the storyline) that much meatier.  But instead I was left feeling disconnected from both characters.


Even with the mystery around the Sheriff, Max Tunney and exactly what they were up to seem to fall a bit short.  I needed more more of the bad guys and why they were doing what they were doing.  


While I may have been left wanting more than was there, I did enjoy the witty dialogue between Luke, Gilly and Doc.  It was entertaining and engaging.  I also enjoyed the smoldering chemistry between Luke and Gilly.  While they weren’t burning up the pages with one another, you could tell there was something significant between them just waiting to be explored.