Cougar Romance

Black Hills
Nora Roberts
Berkeley Mass Market

Let me start off by saying that the "Cougar" in the title of this post refers neither to me, nor to my dating habits.   It does, however, refer to the major preoccupation of one of the leads in this story.  Boys, you might as well stop reading now ... if you see the name Nora Roberts in the header, then undoubtedly I have fallen prey to the species known as the trashy romance.  I promise to review something way more testosterone worthy next time around.

Okay, so back to the book.  Black Hills is a love story set in one of the Dakotas.  Cooper, an eleven year old city kid, is dumped at his grandparents house for the summer and he is totally miserable.  His misses his friends, his apartment in New York,  and his Yankee's season tickets.  As it turns out, his only solace is his Gameboy -- the guilt gift purchased by his dad before sending Coop into exile.  One day a couple of weeks into his visit, his Grandma and Grandpa take him over to the neighbours' for dinner.  Coop meets 10-year old Lil and falls head over heels in love.  They are destined for one another.  Well, until he dumps her while she is away at college.  Just like a man, isn't it?

Flash forward to today.   Coop returns to the Dakota ranch to help his ailing grandpa with the family business.  He and Lil have only occasionally run into each other over the years so the, uh, tension is rather high.  Add to the fact that Lil suddenly becomes the focus of a crazed Sioux stalker, and well, we have lots of reasons for old feelings to resurface.

As far as romance novels go, this wasn't awful.  I read it in a few hours and it was a good distraction from a rather crazy week.  I'm not going to recommend it though -- she has written much better stuff with a lot more thoughts.  Two crazed cougars out of five.