What do you think?
Rate this book
The Best Man
I leave all my worldly goods to my worthless daughters, but they got to earn it. If you three want an acre of my ranch, you got to drive a herd of longhorns to Abilene, Kansas. If you fail, then my fourth and worst wife, Lola, gets everything. May the best man win.
Your Pa, Joe Roark
Neither Freddy Roark nor her pampered, high-strung half-sisters had even been on a horse! And they despised each other almost as much as their Pa, who wanted only sons. An actress, Freddy especially felt her sisters' cold disdain. Now a fortune depended on the three working together—and finding a trail boss to teach them to rope, ride, and herd cattle across seven hundred miles of open plains.
He'd have to be one desperate man.
Dal Frisco needed the job bad enough to deal with the devil—or the Roark sisters. But before their dangerous journey began, he found himself blindsided with desire as searing as a red-hot brand. Freddy's beauty and maverick spirit had him both hogtied and filled with hope...as they all headed into the hidden places of the heart.
Your Pa, Joe Roark
Neither Freddy Roark nor her pampered, high-strung half-sisters had even been on a horse! And they despised each other almost as much as their Pa, who wanted only sons. An actress, Freddy especially felt her sisters' cold disdain. Now a fortune depended on the three working together—and finding a trail boss to teach them to rope, ride, and herd cattle across seven hundred miles of open plains.
He'd have to be one desperate man.
Dal Frisco needed the job bad enough to deal with the devil—or the Roark sisters. But before their dangerous journey began, he found himself blindsided with desire as searing as a red-hot brand. Freddy's beauty and maverick spirit had him both hogtied and filled with hope...as they all headed into the hidden places of the heart.
424 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 1998
49 people are currently reading
886 people want to read
About the author
Maggie Osborne
30 books514 followersaka
Margaret St. George
Maggie Osborne is the author of I Do, I Do, I Do and Silver Lining, as well as more than forty contemporary and historical romance novels written as Maggie Osborne and Margaret St. George. She has won numerous awards from Romantic Times, Affaire de Coeur, BookraK, the Colorado Romance Writers, and Coeur du Bois, among others. Osborne won the RITA for long historical from the Romance Writers of America in 1998. Maggie lives in a resort town in the Colorado mountains with her husband, one mule, two horses, one cat, and one dog, all of whom are a lot of aggravation, but she loves them anyway.
Margaret St. George
Maggie Osborne is the author of I Do, I Do, I Do and Silver Lining, as well as more than forty contemporary and historical romance novels written as Maggie Osborne and Margaret St. George. She has won numerous awards from Romantic Times, Affaire de Coeur, BookraK, the Colorado Romance Writers, and Coeur du Bois, among others. Osborne won the RITA for long historical from the Romance Writers of America in 1998. Maggie lives in a resort town in the Colorado mountains with her husband, one mule, two horses, one cat, and one dog, all of whom are a lot of aggravation, but she loves them anyway.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
March 17, 2017
Enjoyed this one. Her heroines are always quite strong and feisty and these ladies were no exception. It might have taken them a while to toughen up but they did. Three sisters have to drive a herd of Longhorns from Texas to Kansas to fulfil the request of their father's Will ... if they don't they inherit nothing and their stepmother gets it all.
It was some adventure. The sisters started off hating each other but as the trip progressed they realised they had to put aside their differences.
I suppose it was primarily Dal and Freddy's story ... but Alex and Les got their own stories too.
There was a lot of growing up to do on the trail. Overall, a very enjoyable read.
Dal Frisco wasn't handsome in a classical sense, but women would notice and remember his rugged good looks.
It was some adventure. The sisters started off hating each other but as the trip progressed they realised they had to put aside their differences.
She had flown to him as unerringly as a moth to a flame ...
I suppose it was primarily Dal and Freddy's story ... but Alex and Les got their own stories too.
There was a lot of growing up to do on the trail. Overall, a very enjoyable read.
One of them would have to surrender his or her dreams. If that happened ... how long would it be before resentment began to chip away at love? Before regret and misery set in? A year? Two years? A tear dropped on her knee. The misery was already starting.
March 19, 2012
The Best Man is a novel that is going to be hard to review, not because it wasn’t a splendid read in all the ways that counts. It is going to be difficult to put into words just how much the story affected me, how the characters that were brought to life in front of my eyes continued to worm their way into my heart and later on etched themselves onto my very soul to stay there for the time to come. As I have said before and I will continue to say this, Maggie Osborne is an author who is one of a kind. She delivers romances that takes you to place you rarely get to go and she gives you a story that you can sink your teeth into and cannot let go!
Joe Roark, owner of the King’s Walk Ranch dies leaving behind 3 daughters and his fourth wife a widow. Each of them grapples with the astounding will that Joe leaves which dictates that his daughters prove their mettle before they are to receive their due inheritance. If that fails to be the case, all the sweat and hard work that Joe had put into building his ranch would be in vain and will be handed over to a wife that he detested more than he did his daughters.
A man who only wanted sons and got saddled with daughters, Joe refused to let his daughters forget their place in the world. Alexander Roark Mills (Alex), Fredrick Roark (Freddy) and Lester Roark (Les); the 3 daughters whom he had pampered in his way and each of whom had disappointed him in one way or the other suddenly finds themselves tasked with driving a herd of longhorns to the market in Abilene, Kansas.
Dal Frisco is a man who is looking for a second chance, a chance to turn his life around and achieve his dream of owning his own spread in Montana. To do that, he needs cold hard cash and the news of the infamous will Joe left to his daughters pave the way for him to do exactly just that. What he doesn’t bargain for is to find daughters who look like the high strung type who carry smelling salts in their fringed wrist purses who look and behave as if they have never engaged in an honest day of work in their whole lives. But even then, Freddy with her dark hair and green eyes catch him unawares with the bolt of desire that strikes him upon the very first time their eyes meet.
For Dal, the success of the mission ahead hinges on his ability to prepare the 3 women to face and cope with the challenges of being on the road, to actively take part in delivering the herd in the exact number their father has stipulated in the will. But the number of foes who want nothing more than to see them fail work from within to bring chaos and mayhem to their venture. And through it all, the 3 sisters continue to discover the hard truths about themselves, become better women and go on to form a bond with each other that would remain unshaken till death does them apart.
Labeling The Best Man as the story in which Freddy and Dal discover each other and fall in love would not do justice to a story that is so very much more. The Best Man brings to life the characters of 3 sisters who had grown up trying to compete and outdo each other during their childhood, each resenting the other for one thing or the other. And later when adolescence had hit, the 3 of them had found themselves going their separate ways, never forging a connection befitting that of sisters. Alex elopes while Freddy sets off to embrace her dream of performing in a theater which drives a further wedge between the sisters. Les, the youngest is the one who stays behind, who feels betrayed when her father brings home a wife that disrespects everything they stand for.
For 3 people who have never tried working as a team or have never worked hard a day in their life, the training and the pace that Dal sets serves to be sheer torture. But Dal is the man who forces them to force out their inner strength, to straighten that backbone of steel that each sister has in spades, to embrace the true hidden characteristics within each of them that makes them such appealing characters. Each of them has their own fair share of faults, fears and dreams. And learning about each of them was a journey in itself and I loved every minute of it.
The men who enter into their lives are nor less appealing. Dal plays the most prominent role and he is the stuff that pure alpha men are made out of. He is strong, stubborn, has that inner qualities that makes him a good leader. But he is not without his fair share of faults either. A recovering alcoholic, Dal battles his inner demons day in and day out and the focus shifts from his desire for the drink to his need for a woman that sets his senses afire by merely just existing. Freddy drives him crazy in more ways than one and though Dal might try to tell himself otherwise, Freddy invades his heart and his soul before he is even aware of it happening.
Alex was one of the most complex characters in the story. With a past that portrays her as the most tortured soul in the story, Alex is a character that rouses equal amounts of sympathy and admiration in the reader. At first she comes across as a snob who later transforms into a woman who is able and willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that she and her sisters get what is entitled to them. How Alex discovers love, forgiveness and the courage to move on in one of the most unlikely heroes to crop up put a huge lump in my throat and made me ache in ways I cannot explain. If it is only to discover Alex and the magical transformation she undergoes in this story, it is worth getting yourself a copy of The Best Man.
Les is the sister who has problems with asserting herself. The one who enters into a relationship with an abusive fiance and believes it to be her due. The sister who has the hardest time in putting one foot in front of the other and taking the next step. The one who continually faces the dilemma of doing the right thing and choosing the easy way out. And hers was a story that I read all the while wanting to infuse her with the strength to move on, to be able to stand up and give as good as she gets. And she does get there eventually, surprising herself more than anyone else by just how far she has come by the time the story ends.
Freddy is the dreamer, the one who envisions life as a stage set for acting and she plays the lead role. One hard bump after the other and the tough lessons day in and day out teaches her to face reality, forces her to come crashing down into the world of living rather than continue to walk the Earth with her head up in the clouds. Her desire for Dal is one that catches her by surprise, her innocence the factor that lures her towards a man who shakes her up and tosses her into a maelstrom of desire that she cant shake lose from.
With Maggie Osborne, you never get a simple straightforward story. She takes you on a journey filled with twists and turns, ups and downs, traversing through roads that brings joy as much as peril comes seeking you out and later on at the end you emerge victorious from all the hard labor you have toiled in, which in the end transforms your reading experience into something wondrous that you won’t forget anytime soon.
Recommended for fans of Maggie Osborne. If you have never read a Maggie Osborne, you are definitely missing out!
Rating=4.5/5
Original review posted on MBR's Realm of Romance
Quotes included below!
Joe Roark, owner of the King’s Walk Ranch dies leaving behind 3 daughters and his fourth wife a widow. Each of them grapples with the astounding will that Joe leaves which dictates that his daughters prove their mettle before they are to receive their due inheritance. If that fails to be the case, all the sweat and hard work that Joe had put into building his ranch would be in vain and will be handed over to a wife that he detested more than he did his daughters.
A man who only wanted sons and got saddled with daughters, Joe refused to let his daughters forget their place in the world. Alexander Roark Mills (Alex), Fredrick Roark (Freddy) and Lester Roark (Les); the 3 daughters whom he had pampered in his way and each of whom had disappointed him in one way or the other suddenly finds themselves tasked with driving a herd of longhorns to the market in Abilene, Kansas.
Dal Frisco is a man who is looking for a second chance, a chance to turn his life around and achieve his dream of owning his own spread in Montana. To do that, he needs cold hard cash and the news of the infamous will Joe left to his daughters pave the way for him to do exactly just that. What he doesn’t bargain for is to find daughters who look like the high strung type who carry smelling salts in their fringed wrist purses who look and behave as if they have never engaged in an honest day of work in their whole lives. But even then, Freddy with her dark hair and green eyes catch him unawares with the bolt of desire that strikes him upon the very first time their eyes meet.
For Dal, the success of the mission ahead hinges on his ability to prepare the 3 women to face and cope with the challenges of being on the road, to actively take part in delivering the herd in the exact number their father has stipulated in the will. But the number of foes who want nothing more than to see them fail work from within to bring chaos and mayhem to their venture. And through it all, the 3 sisters continue to discover the hard truths about themselves, become better women and go on to form a bond with each other that would remain unshaken till death does them apart.
Labeling The Best Man as the story in which Freddy and Dal discover each other and fall in love would not do justice to a story that is so very much more. The Best Man brings to life the characters of 3 sisters who had grown up trying to compete and outdo each other during their childhood, each resenting the other for one thing or the other. And later when adolescence had hit, the 3 of them had found themselves going their separate ways, never forging a connection befitting that of sisters. Alex elopes while Freddy sets off to embrace her dream of performing in a theater which drives a further wedge between the sisters. Les, the youngest is the one who stays behind, who feels betrayed when her father brings home a wife that disrespects everything they stand for.
For 3 people who have never tried working as a team or have never worked hard a day in their life, the training and the pace that Dal sets serves to be sheer torture. But Dal is the man who forces them to force out their inner strength, to straighten that backbone of steel that each sister has in spades, to embrace the true hidden characteristics within each of them that makes them such appealing characters. Each of them has their own fair share of faults, fears and dreams. And learning about each of them was a journey in itself and I loved every minute of it.
The men who enter into their lives are nor less appealing. Dal plays the most prominent role and he is the stuff that pure alpha men are made out of. He is strong, stubborn, has that inner qualities that makes him a good leader. But he is not without his fair share of faults either. A recovering alcoholic, Dal battles his inner demons day in and day out and the focus shifts from his desire for the drink to his need for a woman that sets his senses afire by merely just existing. Freddy drives him crazy in more ways than one and though Dal might try to tell himself otherwise, Freddy invades his heart and his soul before he is even aware of it happening.
Alex was one of the most complex characters in the story. With a past that portrays her as the most tortured soul in the story, Alex is a character that rouses equal amounts of sympathy and admiration in the reader. At first she comes across as a snob who later transforms into a woman who is able and willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that she and her sisters get what is entitled to them. How Alex discovers love, forgiveness and the courage to move on in one of the most unlikely heroes to crop up put a huge lump in my throat and made me ache in ways I cannot explain. If it is only to discover Alex and the magical transformation she undergoes in this story, it is worth getting yourself a copy of The Best Man.
Les is the sister who has problems with asserting herself. The one who enters into a relationship with an abusive fiance and believes it to be her due. The sister who has the hardest time in putting one foot in front of the other and taking the next step. The one who continually faces the dilemma of doing the right thing and choosing the easy way out. And hers was a story that I read all the while wanting to infuse her with the strength to move on, to be able to stand up and give as good as she gets. And she does get there eventually, surprising herself more than anyone else by just how far she has come by the time the story ends.
Freddy is the dreamer, the one who envisions life as a stage set for acting and she plays the lead role. One hard bump after the other and the tough lessons day in and day out teaches her to face reality, forces her to come crashing down into the world of living rather than continue to walk the Earth with her head up in the clouds. Her desire for Dal is one that catches her by surprise, her innocence the factor that lures her towards a man who shakes her up and tosses her into a maelstrom of desire that she cant shake lose from.
With Maggie Osborne, you never get a simple straightforward story. She takes you on a journey filled with twists and turns, ups and downs, traversing through roads that brings joy as much as peril comes seeking you out and later on at the end you emerge victorious from all the hard labor you have toiled in, which in the end transforms your reading experience into something wondrous that you won’t forget anytime soon.
Recommended for fans of Maggie Osborne. If you have never read a Maggie Osborne, you are definitely missing out!
Rating=4.5/5
Original review posted on MBR's Realm of Romance
Quotes included below!
October 17, 2024
4.5 stars
One thing I was NOT while reading this novel was bored. Not for one second. But I was aggravated, frustrated, infuriated, horrified, bemused, bewildered, and bothered while reading it too.
Blame those three idiot sisters and their nasty father who wanted boys. He wanted boys so badly he named his daughters Alexander, Frederick, and Lester, then insisted they be raised like girls, then despised them for being girls. In his will he railed against them and his current, fourth wife, deciding to challenge his daughters to drive 2000 cattle to market in Abilene to inherit his estate and wealth or forfeit it all to the worst fourth wife in the history of fourth wives.
Oh, the whining. The crying. The hand wringing. The vitriol. The selfishness. The immaturity. The abysmal taste in men. The sheer stupidity of these three women was off the charts. I spent as much time wanting to slap them as I did wanting to murder Ward Hamm.
If it hadn’t been for how contrived the setup felt, and for how long Alex clung to her bizarre “atonement” scheme, this would have been five stars. And maybe it should be anyway, if for no other reason than the emotional turmoil it put me through.
One thing I was NOT while reading this novel was bored. Not for one second. But I was aggravated, frustrated, infuriated, horrified, bemused, bewildered, and bothered while reading it too.
Blame those three idiot sisters and their nasty father who wanted boys. He wanted boys so badly he named his daughters Alexander, Frederick, and Lester, then insisted they be raised like girls, then despised them for being girls. In his will he railed against them and his current, fourth wife, deciding to challenge his daughters to drive 2000 cattle to market in Abilene to inherit his estate and wealth or forfeit it all to the worst fourth wife in the history of fourth wives.
Oh, the whining. The crying. The hand wringing. The vitriol. The selfishness. The immaturity. The abysmal taste in men. The sheer stupidity of these three women was off the charts. I spent as much time wanting to slap them as I did wanting to murder Ward Hamm.
If it hadn’t been for how contrived the setup felt, and for how long Alex clung to her bizarre “atonement” scheme, this would have been five stars. And maybe it should be anyway, if for no other reason than the emotional turmoil it put me through.
August 31, 2014
★★★★½ Man-oh-man! Nobody writes heroines like Maggie Osborne.
September 5, 2018
I rather enjoyed this one. It started off a tad slow but once the story got going I found myself anxious to find out what would become of these three Roark sisters.
This is only my third book by Maggie Osborne and I have to say I love her heroines. They are always strong minded and ballsy. Her heroes are great too. Freddy, Les and Alex are all sisters. Not the best of names. Their dad wanted three boys and got three girls instead!
I won't say much about the plot. The synopsis gives you all you need to know. The rest is much better experienced by flipping the pages.
As you can imagine there isn't anything easy about running a herd of Longhorns from Texas to Kansas. And there isn't anything easy when it comes to the Roark sisters. While the story centered around Dal Frisco and Freddy Roark (I loved these two) we are lucky to also get side stories for Les and Alex.
If you are a fan of Maggie Osborne then this one is certainly worth the read. :)
July 15, 2020
I have really enjoyed several of Maggie Osborne’s books because she is great writer, developing a sense of character and place that sucks me in. Unfortunately, this book doesn’t qualify. Some good aspects to this book were the description of the cattle drive and the process for getting steers to market. Osborne really made it come alive in her descriptions of the tasks, the routines, the hazards and the long journey to Abilene. (I went to Abilene Kansas last summer on a Greyhound Adoption trip so felt invested in the location). In addition, she deftly created interesting cowboy characters and three spoiled, obnoxious women that I couldn’t stand. However, the weak part of this book was the plotting in my opinion. The development of three romantic storylines and the soul searching journey each of the Roark women took was overly dramatized and kind of unbelievable. I didn’t love it for that reason.
October 4, 2013
Freddy, Les, and Alex are sisters and find out their father left a condition in the will that they had to go on a cattle drive and deliver 2000 head of cattle to Abilene, Kansas or his widow would inherit the fortune. They hire Dal Frisco, a former drunk, as their trail boss.
It started a little slow for me and was predictable at times but turned out to be an entertaining read overall. It was hard to truly like the sisters at first. But through the journey each one grew and discovered they had more in them than they thought. Each sister ultimately found love but had to deal with hardship and personal issues to get there. The focus seemed more on the trail ride at times and I did feel the romance itself suffered a bit but it was great to get an idea of what the cowboys in the old west went through.
It started a little slow for me and was predictable at times but turned out to be an entertaining read overall. It was hard to truly like the sisters at first. But through the journey each one grew and discovered they had more in them than they thought. Each sister ultimately found love but had to deal with hardship and personal issues to get there. The focus seemed more on the trail ride at times and I did feel the romance itself suffered a bit but it was great to get an idea of what the cowboys in the old west went through.
October 20, 2017
1 1/2
Not the book for me. Maggie Osborne is a great writer, and it shows in this book too. Unfortunately for me I hated the 3 heroines and that didn't change until -maybe - 90% of the book. And it's definitely too long even for better fans than I'll ever be.
The 3 women were stupid, petty and despicable. I couldn't identify with any of them which is what usually happens when reading. If you are appalled by them is quite difficult. This may be the reason why I didn't feel the romance (only one couple has a believable one anyway).
Not the book for me. Maggie Osborne is a great writer, and it shows in this book too. Unfortunately for me I hated the 3 heroines and that didn't change until -maybe - 90% of the book. And it's definitely too long even for better fans than I'll ever be.
The 3 women were stupid, petty and despicable. I couldn't identify with any of them which is what usually happens when reading. If you are appalled by them is quite difficult. This may be the reason why I didn't feel the romance (only one couple has a believable one anyway).
May 31, 2024
This was a good one!! Loved the heroines and Dal!! A must read!!
July 23, 2017
Five incredible, amazing stars!!!!!!
March 20, 2019
Good enough. Didn't love it.
This story is about sisterhood, friendship, awakening from being snob.
It's PG-14. There are steamy scenes, but the author wrote it quite "clean".
Three sisters found their path.
This story is about sisterhood, friendship, awakening from being snob.
It's PG-14. There are steamy scenes, but the author wrote it quite "clean".
Three sisters found their path.
October 6, 2025
Osborne is so talented at character-driven stories.
February 25, 2013
Well, after the first 200 pages or so this story greatly improved. At the beginning the sisters were hateful to each other and spoiled rotten. By the end they had grown significantly in character and deeply loved each other.
Each sister finds her HEA, a bit like Nora Robert's Montana Sky. The ending was abrupt, I wanted more but by the end this really was a beautiful story. The words the heroes spoke to their loves was quite beautiful and lyrical. Many lovely lines in this book.
The disappointing beginning kept this book from a 5 star read. Hang in there if you read this and the sister's drive you crazy. It is well worth it.
Each sister finds her HEA, a bit like Nora Robert's Montana Sky. The ending was abrupt, I wanted more but by the end this really was a beautiful story. The words the heroes spoke to their loves was quite beautiful and lyrical. Many lovely lines in this book.
The disappointing beginning kept this book from a 5 star read. Hang in there if you read this and the sister's drive you crazy. It is well worth it.
March 9, 2012
This is only the second Maggie Osborne Western historical romance I’ve read since I stumbled upon the extremely compelling Silver Lining. The Best Man isn’t as good as Silver Lining. Overall The Best Man is an easy and light read and entertaining enough – especially towards the second half of the book - but it’s rather all déjà vu. The characters aren’t very original and the lead females – the three Roark sisters – are a bit too stereotyped and too whiny for my taste. On the other hand, the male characters are more interesting. Basically, on the whole, the story-telling could have done with less clichés, and with more sparkling originality, which I know this author can deliver.
September 9, 2021
Wowwww.. this book 😍
I started out absolutely hating each of three sisters - they were so spoilt, jelous and selfish! But the way the story progressed and how these silly girls turned into such strong women was the usp for me. The romance was a close second 😉
I love that by the end of the book, each of the sisters finds her match in the most unexpected of places. And not only that, how the sisters begin to look at each other with love and respect as well.
Really inspiring story that takes you on a journey - I almost felt like it was me on the drive, trying to earn my inheritance with sweat blood and tears.
I started out absolutely hating each of three sisters - they were so spoilt, jelous and selfish! But the way the story progressed and how these silly girls turned into such strong women was the usp for me. The romance was a close second 😉
I love that by the end of the book, each of the sisters finds her match in the most unexpected of places. And not only that, how the sisters begin to look at each other with love and respect as well.
Really inspiring story that takes you on a journey - I almost felt like it was me on the drive, trying to earn my inheritance with sweat blood and tears.
April 23, 2016
This wasn't terrible but it didn't live up to other works by Maggie Osborne.
February 26, 2016
Unique love stories: Dal and Freddy, John and Alex, Luther and Les; but my favourite of them is John and Alex.
October 2, 2023
Like other books by this author, The Best Man is more women's fiction than romance. That being said, I absolutely loved it. It's a story about women who put in extreme circumstances, come out winning. Some aspects might be a bit much for the over-sensitive, politically-correct-to-insanity modern reader, but it's a fantastic read.
January 28, 2013
Joe Roark’s will states that his daughters have to deliver 2000 head of cattle to market in Abilene, KS, 700 miles away in order to inherit his estate. They need to hire a trail boss to teach them to ride, rope, and shoot so they can be 3 of the 12 hands needed for the job. No reputable, experienced man will take the job. Ex-alcoholic Dal, who has lost 2 herds due to his drinking, needs to take the job to re-establish his reputation and get enough money to start his own ranch. If they do not get 2000 to Abilene, Joe’s 4th wife, Lola, gets the inheritance. She will stop at nothing to disrupt the drive and make sure all 2000 do not make it. One daughter is a widow who lost a leg below the knee and is in a wheelchair; one is a would-be actress who ran away to the stage and has returned home with a soiled reputation; and the last daughter has always been dependent, expecting to spend her life caring for her father. She becomes engaged to an arrogant shopkeeper (when her father married the unsavory Lola) and she needs someone to care for her and make decisions. All 3 daughters hate each other, but want the inheritance to get a new start, without it they have nothing. The story covers the 6 weeks of training and the 4 months of the trail drive. It did not sugarcoat the rough life of a cowboy or the grit, cooperation, and determination needed to be successful. I truly enjoyed watching and rooting for these girls.
April 22, 2010
In the familiar territory of wholly unlikely plots, this book takes some spoiled sisters who hate each other and forces them (through the whim of their father's will) to get dirty and herd longhorn cattle for ten months across the Southern states if they desire their inheritance. There are villains in the form of their despised step-mother and her gambler beau, and romantic interests that pop up on the trail interspersed with romantic embellishments and sex scenes. By the end everyone's happily paired off, getting along, defeated their private demons, the villains are vanquished and hardly anyone has a maidenhead but it's a perfectly typical pleasant romance.
March 29, 2017
Oh my. This story was fabulous. I will definitely read more by Maggie Osborne. This story takes you to the wild west on a cattle drive. Three sisters are taken to task by their deceased father. In order to receive their very hefty inheritance, they are required to pull their own weight on a cattle drive. The will is very specific and the girls MUST do the work. This is a story of love, family, hardships, determination and forgiveness. AMAZING.
July 13, 2022
I totally enjoyed this story! My third Maggie Osborne novel and I have loved them all. The three sisters start off bitter and at odds with each. The cattle drive is an arduous adventure that forges their character into women I would want to know. The trail boss, Dal, is a great hero, and the final ending is just about perfect!
If you haven’t discovered Maggie - you should jump right in!
If you haven’t discovered Maggie - you should jump right in!
February 4, 2012
I'm a huge fan of Maggie Osborne, and this is one of my favorite books. Three sisters with something to prove, and one very long cattle drive. I'm not ashamed to say I teared up on the last page. I wish Maggie was still writing. Miss her books so much.
April 6, 2015
Not one of her best. I glazed over the sex scenes because I've read so many there's nothing new there; the plotting is clunky at times but I kept reading because I wanted to see how it ended.
January 2, 2021
Three uppity high-society sisters (who don't care for one another) find out that in order to receive their hefty inheritance, they need to personally deliver 2000 Long-horn beeves across a (possibly life-threatening) laborious terrain. No trail boss is willing to accompany them during this doomed journey... All but Dal, a disgraced, yet infamous man who's willing to accept the risks.
I enjoyed how well developed the characters were- each distinct in their insecurities, anger and selfishness. Honestly the family was so dysfunctional (dad deserves hefty blame), it wasn't a surprise that the daughters all sought to either escape at first flight or trap themselves in disparagingly worse situations (which on the surface seemed a bit better).
All the sisters were unique in their personalities, self-esteem issues, the traumas they were facing and the jealousies they were experiencing, and I loved how everything came full circle towards the end. New bonds and a new lease on life.
I wish the pacing wasn't as awkward and the ending wasn't as rushed . I do however, get why everything needed to end with a pretty bow to tops.
All in all, I liked how it meshed adventure, romance and family which seemed to consist only of selfish women (who do learn to grow up and leave old grudges behind amidst a life-threatening Long-horn trail). My fav's were Alex and Dal.✨
December 11, 2023
3.5 stars rounded to 4.
I love a Western and I've enjoyed Maggie Osborne's other stories, so it's no surprise that this is another good one. It's not as moving as Silver Linings or quite as engaging as The Promise of Jenny Jones, but it's still full of strong characters and storylines.
This is the story of three sisters, Alex, Freddy, and Les who grew up on a ranch but learned nothing about ranching. When their father passes, he stipulates that they won't inherit any of his fortune if they don't drive 2000 longhorns from Texas to Kansas. Each of the women needs the money and each of them are fully developed, interesting and strong. Dal is the cowboy they hire to take them across country. He's a recovering alcoholic with a damaged reputation and the only one willing to take three women on such a dangerous mission.
We watch the women go from soft ladies to hardened cowboys and it's pretty great. Each woman has something in her past she needs to overcome and while there's a bit of melodrama it always feels real. Each sister has a love story, which is fun, but sometimes means the romances feel a little underdeveloped or rushed. They're still satisfying though.
If you like Westerns this is the book for you. If you're looking for an epic romance with a Western setting, this isn't quite there. That being said, I'd happily recommend it.
I love a Western and I've enjoyed Maggie Osborne's other stories, so it's no surprise that this is another good one. It's not as moving as Silver Linings or quite as engaging as The Promise of Jenny Jones, but it's still full of strong characters and storylines.
This is the story of three sisters, Alex, Freddy, and Les who grew up on a ranch but learned nothing about ranching. When their father passes, he stipulates that they won't inherit any of his fortune if they don't drive 2000 longhorns from Texas to Kansas. Each of the women needs the money and each of them are fully developed, interesting and strong. Dal is the cowboy they hire to take them across country. He's a recovering alcoholic with a damaged reputation and the only one willing to take three women on such a dangerous mission.
We watch the women go from soft ladies to hardened cowboys and it's pretty great. Each woman has something in her past she needs to overcome and while there's a bit of melodrama it always feels real. Each sister has a love story, which is fun, but sometimes means the romances feel a little underdeveloped or rushed. They're still satisfying though.
If you like Westerns this is the book for you. If you're looking for an epic romance with a Western setting, this isn't quite there. That being said, I'd happily recommend it.
November 7, 2024
What a delightful surprise! Some western romances are mostly romance with a little western mixed in for background flavour. This book is better described as western with several romances woven throughout.
Our heroines (and there are three of them who share roughly equal page space) are sisters forced to go on a cattle drive in order to prevent the loss of their inheritance to their father's fourth wife (now his widow). The back-of-book blurb reveals that the man hired to lead the cattle drive will become involved with the middle sister. Discussing the other two romances would be spoiler-y.
There's a lot of emphasis on the skills the sisters need to learn to function as cowboys on the drive, what life is like on the drive, hazards of the drive, etc. but all in a character-driven engaging way. Each sister has a different challenge in her life that she will need to overcome on this journey. There are villains of various types, heroes of various types and it's just a really well constructed story. All in all, fantastic.
Our heroines (and there are three of them who share roughly equal page space) are sisters forced to go on a cattle drive in order to prevent the loss of their inheritance to their father's fourth wife (now his widow). The back-of-book blurb reveals that the man hired to lead the cattle drive will become involved with the middle sister. Discussing the other two romances would be spoiler-y.
There's a lot of emphasis on the skills the sisters need to learn to function as cowboys on the drive, what life is like on the drive, hazards of the drive, etc. but all in a character-driven engaging way. Each sister has a different challenge in her life that she will need to overcome on this journey. There are villains of various types, heroes of various types and it's just a really well constructed story. All in all, fantastic.
January 17, 2023
The Best Man is the story of three spoiled women, sisters, who must complete a cattle drive to win their inheritances. Alex, the oldest, is widowed and lost part of a leg in a carriage accident, so she ends up as the cook. Freddie is a failed actress, and timid Les is betrothed to a man who abuses her. Dal Frisco is an ex-drunk who is the only man who'll take the risk of taking the cattle and women from Texas to Abilene.
This isn't my favorite book of Ms. Osborne's because the romances felt lacking. Each woman has the chance to find a man, but it all seems too hurried. The best parts were the historical details regarding the cattle drive itself. As each woman learned her role, I was fascinated to learn along with them, whether Alex had to dig a firepit or Les had to cut out a steer or Freddie had to turn a stampede. I give it 3 1/2 stars.
This isn't my favorite book of Ms. Osborne's because the romances felt lacking. Each woman has the chance to find a man, but it all seems too hurried. The best parts were the historical details regarding the cattle drive itself. As each woman learned her role, I was fascinated to learn along with them, whether Alex had to dig a firepit or Les had to cut out a steer or Freddie had to turn a stampede. I give it 3 1/2 stars.
July 6, 2022
I am always in awe of this author. She manages to make it all seem so realistic - I read a lot and there are very few writers who can write so convincingly that you feel you are part of the characters and can feel the same emotions. Her female characters are exactly what I like; strong, resilient who become self-confident over time unless they are self -confident from the beginning. They don't suffer from severe insecurities as many female protagonists do.
Love the characters' development, especially the blossoming relationship among the three sisters. Liked Dal Frisco, the male protagonist, as well.
Love the characters' development, especially the blossoming relationship among the three sisters. Liked Dal Frisco, the male protagonist, as well.
July 20, 2025
I loved this book and all the interesting characters
Some reviews have criticized the sisters as being whiny or complaining too much, but I absolutely disagree. If I had been obliged to do what they were obligated to do, I would have reacted the same way! Maybe worse. This book is full of likeable, interesting characters and so much fascinating detail about ranching. Also, like all Maggie Osborne books it is just extremely well-written and has happy endings for everyone who deserves one. This for me is the second best novel Maggie Osborne ever wrote (the best of course is The Promise of Jenny Jones).
Some reviews have criticized the sisters as being whiny or complaining too much, but I absolutely disagree. If I had been obliged to do what they were obligated to do, I would have reacted the same way! Maybe worse. This book is full of likeable, interesting characters and so much fascinating detail about ranching. Also, like all Maggie Osborne books it is just extremely well-written and has happy endings for everyone who deserves one. This for me is the second best novel Maggie Osborne ever wrote (the best of course is The Promise of Jenny Jones).
Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews