While this book isn’t a keeper for me, it is one of those tender and sweet stories that Harlequin/Silhouette authors do so well. Both hero and heroine have issues to overcome before they can enjoy life and each other, and both come to these realizations mostly on their own, with only a little nudge from the other and from introspection after having met one another.

Tori has recently been betrayed both those closest to her, so she’s left town to get away from the hurt and the resulting embarrassment. She’s taken a job as a housekeeper, but she expands her duties to include helping the recovering cowboy she finds sulking away in a wheelchair. Her nursing instincts kick in, whether he wants the help or not. She’s used to surly patients, so there’s no way Matt is going to drive her away with his attitude.

Matt’s life has always been wound up in the rodeo, it’s what he’s always done best. But the accident that killed his fiance and her son has put an end to his career and his guilt over their deaths is putting an end to his life as he knew it. When the pesky housekeeper his mother hired turns her sights on him as her pet project, at first he wants nothing to do with her. He changes his mind, though, when Tori won’t give up and he gets to know her. He’s determined to find out what her horrible secret is and why she gave up her nursing career. Something is changing between them and darned if he doesn’t want to pursue that just a little bit more.

I enjoyed these two characters. They both have a world of hurt to get over, and they end up healing each other while falling in love. I liked the evolution of Matt’s desire for getting out of his wheelchair. It was nonexistent when Tori showed up and then gradually he wants more and more to walk again, taking up the challenge Tori tosses at him. Tori herself eventually opens up to Matt concerning her life, even after he butts in where he doesn’t belong. But that’s what gets these two people to take a good look at what’s happened to them, how they’ve reacted to it all, and how much they’re willing forgive — themselves and others. There’s also a nice setup for the next book in the series.

This is one of those books you can curl up with on a rainy day and feel a little sunshine and goodness in the midst of those down and gray feelings on such days.

See my complete review at http://www.goodbadandunread.com