Rio: The Texans

The second in Georgina Gentry's Texans series (Diablo) lacks subtlety and features clich%C3%A9s: the villain is literally weak-chinned; the half-Mexican hero lusts so greatly for the heroine that he visits a whorehouse to relieve himself, then can't perform; and the feisty heroine is fond of "sassy" answers. Blue-eyed, pale-skinned Turquoise Sanchez longs to escape her half-Mexican heritage and sets her eyes on the older, sophisticated Senator Edwin Forester. Her desires are complicated by Rio Kelly, an illegitimate cowboy, who lusts after her. However, the senator won't be denied and sets in motion, along with Snidely Whiplash, multiple plans to end Rio's life. Gentry's writing reads very much like romances from the 1980s, when her first book was published, but today's readers have moved beyond hair-tossing heroines who are clueless to villains' plans and heroes who call their heroines whores. (Feb.)