(originally from All About Romance)
Emma Peterson
2006, Contemporary Romance
Cobblestone Press, $3.99, 53 pages, Amazon ASIN 1600880304
Grade: C+
Sensuality: Hot
Branded, a novella by Emma Peterson, is a reunion story about cowboy and ranch owner Ty Parsons, and Jenny, a woman who spent the last five years in California, first at veterinarian school, then running her own practice.
In high school, the two were inseparable. Though he told himself she was annoying, Ty nevertheless found himself spending time with her. Then, as they grew older, suddenly annoyance grew into arousal, and he began to see her as something much more. Five years before the story starts, at Ty’s father’s funeral, Jenny’s attempt to comfort him turned in something more. Ty stopped short, however, of taking Jenny’s virginity, not wanting to take advantage of her. Jenny viewed his actions as rejection, and raced off to California.
At the beginning of the story, Jenny has returned home to take care of her grandmother after her grandfather dies, and fills in unexpectedly for the vet while she’s there. She is, naturally, sent to Ty’s ranch to take care of a mare in foal. Both of them are still nursing anger and hurt from that long ago night. Jenny avoids hers; Ty uses his to goad and push her. Things are brought to a head when Jenny’s grandmother dies unexpectedly, and they have to make decisions.
Branded is a nice quick read, but I do suggest skipping the prologue. The entire back story is covered in those seven pages, which is quite disproportionate, considering the novella is only just over 50 pages long. Peterson would have created a more cohesive story by cutting it completely and allowing the events to unfold naturally for the reader. As it is, momentum is lost slogging through a great deal of back story that has little relevance to the central relationship. For example, Ty doesn’t believe he’s good for women because his father wasn’t. This fact is highlighted quite heavily in the prologue, but dealt with in a sentence in the actual story.
Some readers might find the ending heavy-handed, a bit of deus ex machina to force a climax (no pun intended!), but it’s a well used romance trope, so I barely noticed.
What I did like about the story is that both Jenny and Ty mention that they have Native American heritage, but it’s neither a plot point nor a major element in the story. There is a nice universality about Peterson’s writing here. A lot of controversy has swirled around race in romance novels lately. Peterson simply focuses on two people falling in love – an experience that everyone can relate to, regardless of their skin color.
My original grade for this novella was a B-, but with a clumsy beginning and somewhat heavy-handed ending, it drops down to a C+.
