Love's Heirloom: A Paranormal Romantic Suspense Big Bend Series Book 2
LGBT Romance/Gay Fiction
Independently Published
July 1, 2021
233
Eddie is confronted by a ghost that Alex resembles. Neither trusts the other. Can their unlikely relationship help them survive the imminent danger?
Could the legend of Diamondback Jack be true?
How else can Eddie explain a man showing him the entrance to a hidden gold mine on his ranch —then mysteriously vanishing?
When Eddie meets Alex, his resemblance to the stranger outside the mine instantly causes suspicion. But that ghostly apparition soon reappears, and warns Eddie that he'll need Alex's help if he's to overcome the evil that lurks around him.
In this 'enemies to lovers' romance, will Eddie and Alex be able to overcome their mistrust and nurture an unlikely love affair? Or will those who wish them harm use their differences to destroy them?
Love's Heirloom is not a standalone book. Please read Love's Legacy first.
Reviewed by Ulysses Dietz
Member of The Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
The heirloom of the title is a small thing, tucked into a corner of the plot neatly, where it embodies a pivotal emotional moment between the two protagonists: Eddie Crawford and Alexandro Zitlal. However, the author takes us on a long journey before that little heirloom enters the scene.
Having set the stage for us in the first book of the series, the Madison family ranch near Big Bend in West Texas, author Blake Allwood now turns his attention to Flex Henry’s brother-cousin Eddie. Eddie matters because he alienated his family by siding with Flex in the battle over Flex’s rightful inheritance of the vast tract of land. Now Flex’s partner in the ranch, Eddie is slowing re-learning what family is, with his two little boys, Luke and Drake, working side by side with Flex.
The trigger of the story is Eddie’s coming across a mysterious, dust-covered Mexican on the property one day as he’s riding the fences. When that man turns out to be a dead ringer for the Mexican-American film producer Alex Zitlal, Eddie’s confusion creates an awkward situation straight out of a screwball comedy of the 1940s.
The emotional set-up is simple: Eddie is not inclined to trust anyone, having been both betrayed by his own family and terrified by the shooting of Flex, his only ally. Fearful for his family’s safety and his boys’ future, he also doesn’t trust Alex Zitlal. Alex, for his part, is of a proud and—significant in this story—wealthy Mexican family. His family has ties on both sides of the Rio Grande at El Paso, which is now divided from Juarez, its Mexican counterpart. Alex is not inclined to trust the Gringos who treat his people so badly and who built the ugly wall that divides the two sides of his heritage.
What makes this classic conflict so fascinating is that the author gives us some insight into the long history of the region, contrasting the “big” family conflict (Mexico/Texas) with the small family conflict of Eddie’s family and Flex’s family. At the core of it all is the love of the land—this bleak, sweeping desert that means so much to the people who live there. The land forms a major character in this story, and Allwood’s greatest success is making the importance of the land palpable.
The Zitlal family are as different from Flex and Eddie’s family as could possibly be, and the yearning for family lies at the center of the story’s emotional punch. Add in the fact that Eddie has never explored his sexuality at all, having focused solely on his two children since his wife left him; while Alex is an archetypal handsome playboy who’s explored everything. Eddie has no self-confidence, while Alex is defined by it.
All in all, a good mix for a cozy romance that has a surprising amount of adventure in its darker moments. I still wish that Allwood was a more elegant writer, but am glad that the richness of this story line makes up for the relative flatness of the prose. I can’t wait to see what happens in book three of the series.