A Review of Tempest, by Beverly Jenkins

Tempest is a rollicking historical western romance by the one and only Beverly Jenkins. Love ultra-competent heroines and broody widower heroes? This is your book!

Setting

Wyoming Territory, 1885.

Main Characters

Regan Charmichael is a complex woman. The abandoned daughter of a prostitute, she and her sister were raised by a wealthy and loving aunt and uncle in Arizona Territory. She can cook, she can do construction, she can shoot, and she has a college degree. In search of adventure, she decides to become the mail-order bride to a doctor in Wyoming Territory, where women can at least vote.

Dr. Colton Lee graduated with a medical degree from Howard University, and he married a proper Eastern woman while he was in school, bringing her back home to Wyoming with him. He is a country doctor who treats his neighbors’ animals as well as their family members, and they often have to pay him by barter, or sometimes not at all. That won’t stop him from helping them. He feels terrible guilt that his wife died while he was off tending someone else, but despite his love for her, he needs a new wife to help raise his beloved daughter, Anna.

Romance

As Regan is heading to town, the stagecoach is attacked, and she kills one of the attackers. When they are pursued again, she shoots one of the pursuers in the shoulder, but that turns out to be the sheriff’s posse, and she has just shot her intended. (A meet-cute where the heroine shoots the hero? Sign me up!)

Colt Lee is not thrilled, but Regan is good with his daughter, and this is a practical arrangement, not a love match, so he marries her. He quickly becomes distressed by how attracted he is to her, despite her pointing out to him how “plumb dumb” he is about women, when he assumes they do not have the same sexual urges as men. His training has told him otherwise, but maybe she is correct…

As they grow closer, someone takes a shot at Regan and Anna and threatens their peace.

Plot

The town is full of possible culprits, from Colt’s grandfather, who dislikes Regan on site and moves out, to Anna’s great aunt, who sees Anna as her own because she is her mother’s aunt, to the widow who is in love with Colt and planned to marry him herself, to the brother of the outlaw Regan killed on the stagecoach.

As the danger mounts, they have to work together to live to see their happy ending.

Historical Worldbuilding

Beverly Jenkins always brings in wonderful historical details, like the legal status of Regan and her money in the era. She also includes the Rock Springs massacre of Chinese rail workers in Rock Springs, Wyoming, after which Colt helps the wounded workers. Colt is fiction, but the massacre really happened. Regan has to deal with not being able to testify in court, as a Black woman, and plenty of other racist incidents, but she always comes out on top in the end. She is smart and strong, and not about to be broken by the failings of others. Jenkins also brings to life the more uplifting truths of a very diverse town of the era. She is a master at bringing out the laughter and love in tough historical situations.

Tropes

This is a mail-order bride story, but with a fun twist. Regan is wealthy and competent, not a woman who needs to marry. It is also a grumpy and Sunshine story, as Regan brings Colt out of his closed-off, pessimistic ways. And of course, it has all the typical trappings of a classic western.

Secondary Characters

The town of Paradise, Wyoming, is full of colorful characters. Miss Minnie, little Anna’s great aunt, who thinks of Anna as hers, but is so strict that she makes Anna’s life miserable. And Anna, who is a subdued child at first, having been through too much for someone her age, but as she comes out of her shell under Regan’s influence, she grows into a strong and dynamic little girl. The sheriff, a childhood friend of Colt’s, is full of surprises, as are the women of the women’s club. Half the population of the town would be fantastic characters for spin-off novels.

Point of View

The story is written in third person, and the POV rotates between Regan and Colt.

In Summary

• This is a fast-moving Western romance that is super fun. It is perfect for when life is feeling like a lot and you need a boost!
• It is set in Wyoming Territory in 1885.
• Regan and Colt are perfect foils for each other. Neither is what the other thinks they are looking for, but they are each exactly what the other needs. You root for them right from the start.
• As always, Jenkins weaves in lots of real history that often gets ignored by others, and she doesn’t whitewash the bad stuff. But she always manages to bring out the love and laughter to make a rollicking, fun story.
• It is a mail-order bride, grumpy/sunshine story with all the trappings of a good western.
• On a scale of 1 to 5, the heat level is about a 2.5. There is sex on the page, not all of it missionary-approved, but much of it is implied and not graphic. There is some frontier violence and racism, but none of it is gratuitous, and the good guys always triumph.

Keep them Coming!

What historical romances are you reading right now? Please let me know! I am a reader, too, and I am always looking for historical romances to read and to review.

Love gritty historical romance? Check out Passion’s Return, a six-chapter short story set during the French & Indian War. That is the war that laid the foundation for the American Revolution. It is yours for no money whatsoever, and is a nice, low-time-commitment length for trying out a new-to-you author. Be sure to check it out!

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Image: Image by Terry K from Pixabay

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