Leisure, $5.99, ISBN 0-8439-5073-0
Historical Romance, 2003

I must say, what are they thinking to give this book that title anyway? I mean, Hannah’s Half-Breed – what on earth? What’s next? Michael’s Mulatto? Joanna’s Jew? Charlie’s China Doll?

Hannah Blake has not seen David Walker for about ten years. She is surprised, to say the least, when he shows up for the obligatory “Hot Cowboy – Wounded! Bring your bandages, ladies!” thing. He wants Hannah to take care of his nephew Little Bird (boy, this nephew will really hate his name when he hits adolescence) while David rescues his sister from the abusive husband. Hannah and David go way back when they were kids and he took care of her when they lived at the orphanage. He stayed away when he realizes that he’s feeling more than sisterly towards her, especially when he’s trying to make peace with his mixed heritage at the same time.

Familiar Western fare ensue: the obligatory nursing him thing, the heroine getting in touch with the inner maternal side of her as she becomes the best mommy ever, the hero dealing with typical inferiority issues that result in the predictable separation thing, all in all, Hannah’s Half-Breed won’t be winning any prizes for originality, not even the consolation prize, I’m afraid.

Still, the story’s a decent read. Despite the rather predictable hero, the heroine isn’t too bad, she has her moments, and the pace flows well. This is not a bad book, but in the end, the monotony that is the result of a story that doesn’t deviate from the predictable path gets to me somewhat. It’s not a bad book, but it’s not a good one either. It could be worse, but it could also be better. It’s sort of a neither here nor there thing, and while I don’t regret reading this book, I doubt I will remember much about it later. It’s just there.