By GREG LANGLEY
Books editor
Published: Sep 30, 2007

Mention a romance novel and the concept that pops into most people’s heads is one of a steamy, sex-filled paperback with a suggestive photo on the cover. There are plenty of romance novels like that, but recently the genre has shown surprising variety and romance writers have displayed considerable versatility.

Take Denham Springs writer Elaine Grant. Her book, Make-Believe Mom ($5.50), just came out as one of Harlequin’s “Super Romance” series. Yes, it’s a paperback, and yes, the central complication is a man/woman romantic entanglement, but it’s almost as much a Western as a romance novel.

The plot revolves around recently widowed Montana rancher Jon Rider (you have to know he’s a cowboy with a name like that) who meets the new veterinarian, Kaycee Calloway, a South Carolina transplant, when she comes to help a cow with the troublesome delivery of a calf. There’s an immediate attraction, and sparks fly between the handsome rancher and the beautiful vet. Typical romance stuff so far. Then Kaycee has to help the cow deliver the calf. She has to do a  Caesarian section. She skillfully slices open the cow.

“A careful second cut opened the peritoneum. Kaycee gently moved the rumen aside, then reached into the heat of the heifer’s body, searching by feel for a foot to use as a guide to cut into the uterus. Finding it, she made a precise incision and extended the opening enough to deliver the calf without tearing.”

That’s not what you expect in a romance. The calf is successfully delivered, but Kaycee thinks it’s dead. Jon doesn’t give up on the little animal and manages to coax it to life. That’s a great metaphor for what will happen in the lives of Kaycee and Jon. The rancher is still mourning the loss of his lovely wife, but he has responsibilities that keep him from lapsing into depression: he has a huge cattle ranch to manage, a crew of cowboys depending on him for a paycheck and, oh yes, he has seven children, from toddler to teens.

Grant’s smooth style lends itself to effortless reading, and her plotting is rock solid. Kaycee and Jon are going to get together — you know that from the onset, but Grant works some other very interesting complications into the story. There is the conflict between Jon and the children’s rich grandfather who want to move them from Montana to California, there is unresolved grief that burdens the whole Rider family, especially one of the young daughters. There is Kaycee’s failed engagement in the past that makes her wary of a new relationship.

There’s some heavy breathing in this book, but nothing like some of the soft-core porn that is currently masquerading as romance writing. And there is a rodeo, a blizzard, a stampede and, of course, a cow C-section. That’s hard to pass up. It’s a short book, easy to read. You can read it start-to-finish in one sitting or two. Like all romance novels, you know going in that it’s going to have a happy ending, but there are a lot of things in this book that you don’t expect. It’s worth a look.

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