cover image Naughty Marietta

Naughty Marietta

Nan Ryan. Mira Books, $6.5 (384pp) ISBN 978-1-55166-676-1

The bare-bones plot and stock characters in Nan Ryan's overwrought western romance, Naughty Marietta, provide a weak framework for the book's explicit sex scenes and rip-roaring action sequences. Controlling Cole Heflin and aspiring singer Marietta Stone are thrown together when Marietta's estranged, dying grandfather hires Cole to bring her to Texas. Naturally, complications ensue. In between sex and shouting matches, Cole and Marietta square off against a thug named Lightnin', a band of bloodthirsty Comanches and a herd of stampeding buffalo. Marietta loses her heart to Cole, but he, believing she's a gold-digging whore, doesn't profess his love until he learns she was a virgin when they met. Even fans of alpha males may be put off by Cole, and Marietta's easy acceptance of his many flaws seems out of character. Still, Ryan's speedy erotic escapade delivers the sexual and emotional highs her fans have come to expect.