Love on the Line by Deeanne Gist

I love this cover! It was perfect for the book!

Love on the Line by Deeanne Gist
Bethany House Publishers, October 2011
Paperback 368 pages 0764204098
Review copy provided by the publisher via HNR, thank you!
Review originally posted in Historical Novels Review Magazine
Burton Book Review Rating: 4 stars

Rural switchboard operator Georgie Gail is proud of her independence in a man's world ... which makes it twice as vexing when the telephone company sends a man to look over her shoulder.

Dashing Luke Palmer is more than he appears though. He's a Texas Ranger working undercover to infiltrate a notorious gang of train robbers. Repairing telephones and tangling with this tempestuous woman is the last thing he wants to do. But when his stakeout puts Georgie in peril, he realizes more than his job is on the line.

Loaded with intrigue, birds and historical context this is a well-written story of telephone switchboard operator Georgie Gail and Texas Ranger Lucious Landrum in 1903. The Ranger goes undercover as a telephone salesman to catch a criminal in Brenham, Texas, and he soon finds himself in love with the bird-loving Georgie. If he blows his cover with Georgie, he could risk his law career and lose the trail of the notorious Comer Gang.

Georgie is ferociously protective of birds, and a large part of this story is Georgie’s stance against the use of bird parts as decorative accessories on clothing, and in the spirit of Nellie Bly she educates the townsfolk on her favorite pastime of bird watching. Meanwhile, it is the very townsfolk who are members of the Comer Gang that the Ranger is tracking, and Georgie finds herself immersed in the Ranger’s plans to trap the men. If the two survive the Comer Gang, can they allow themselves to love each other when the stubborn and strong-willed Georgie learns who her telephone salesman really is? A fast-paced, humorous and well researched story with many intriguing characters that offers a little bit of everything, Love on the Line is the perfect historical romance to curl up with on a long weekend.

2012 RITA Finalist for Inspirational Romance! Also note that for those readers who enjoy Julie Klassen's work, she is one of the editors for this novel.