Zoe Archer Lady X's Cowboy

Lady X's Cowboy

Zoe Archer

Leisure, Feb 2006, $5.99

ISBN: 0843956666

In 1883 London, Colorado cowboy Will Coffin intercedes and rescues Lady Olivia Xavier from assault from three punks. She thinks the hunk who saved her from Lord Pryce's hired thugs could have been the front cover model of the western dime novels she loves to read.

Lady Olivia hires Will to help her save the brewery that she inherited from her late husband; her unscrupulous rival Lord Pryce will do anything to either destroy or preferably steal her firm. Meanwhile Will has come to England to find his family here. He has no plans to socialize with people he does not understand, nor is he able to communicate with; yet somehow he and Lady X, who speaks a foreign language that sort of sounds like English, communicate through their hearts. Though the lady and the cowboy are in love, their respective social classes are more than just oceans apart.

This is a terrific Victorian romance that focuses on cultural differences between a tea toting English aristocrat and a cow poking American cowboy. The storyline emphasizes the Grand Canyonesque gaps that the loving pair must surmount if they want a permanent relationship; a concept both desire and fear. Humor via stereotyping presumptions add to the fun, as Olivia cannot understand how he can be gentle instead of a rough hooligan like in the dime novels; while Will struggles with how his English rose can be understanding and kind instead of haughty, as he assumed all aristocratic ladies pretend a loftiness that make dudes like him feel like sewage. Fans will enjoy Zoe Archer's superb historical driven by two obviously in love characters that live light years apart in lifestyles.