Zebra Splendor, $4.99, ISBN 0-8217-6573-6
Historical Romance, 2000

Gypsy Elliott is the best cook around the logging camps in… er, that reminds me, I never did find out what year or where this story takes place, other than it happens somewhere in America where there are many trees to be cut down, some time in the past. Anyway, Gypsy isn’t happy when her boss practically forces her to take on a new staff in her kitchen: a citified-looking fellow named Adam Lassiter who arrives with his leg in a cast. Just what is she going to do with Adam?

But Adam is a smooth talker who is soon invading Gypsy’s personal space, and while she chuffs and huffs like a molested porcupine about it, she isn’t that displeased. But he has secrets, and she has more. When she receives a blackmail letter, and when people start having “accidents” around the camp, she wonders if she can trust Adam.

Anything for You is a nice, readable romance with great chemistry going between Adam and Gypsy. I really don’t find anything objectionable to the story, style, or prose, except maybe Gypsy’s insistence of keeping secrets to herself for so long. And then she has the nerve to scream at Adam for not trusting her. But at the same time, this book is also very easy to put down. Maybe it’s because this book lacks something. I’m not really sure what exactly is that something, but I can guess it has something to do with the less-than-riveting pacing and character development. Adam and Gypsy are okay characters, but they don’t grab me. Neither do the story, to be honest, because it’s all about Gypsy keeping secrets. Oh well.

Still, it’s a nice read. Even if it takes me almost a year to finish it.