"Satisfying Brew"

Leaving Lonely Town is the story of 4 emotionally damaged people who find their mates and experience believable growth throughout the course of this terrific book. Cait London has pulled off a tour de force as she manages to make each of the couples interesting and the action exciting. Many times one feels that one couple suffers in a dual book, but Cait never slights either of them. I was rooting for them both from page one as their instant connections were believable due to their pasts.

Sable Barclay is a criminal pathologist who was asked to examine baby hair that was found attached to the button of a recently found corpse. Sable has recently learned she is adopted and as she examines the baby hair, she discovers the missing baby's name was also Sable. As Sable explores the possibility she could be the missing Langtry baby, she decides to go to Wyoming to meet the Langtrys and see what she can discover.

Sable takes her lifetime best friend paleontoligist Eden Eglantine. When they arrive at the Langtry's home, the first person they meet is the irritable cowboy Culley Blackwolf. Culley senses that Sable is going to cause an uproar with the Langtrys and is worried on their behalf, as they are the only family he has ever known.

When Sable meets Faith Langtry there is an instant connection with the woman who could be her Mother as well as an interesting reaction by Eden to Sable's possible brother Roark. A reaction that is definitely, if reluctantly reciprocated.

Sable is dealing with trying to find out who she is and the animosity she feels for her adopted parents for lying to her, but she also finds herself drawn to the troubled Culley. Culley on his part is dealing with a lifetime of injustice and rejection as a half-breed bastard. He is afraid to trust and initially wants no part of Sable's plan to live with him and use him as a go-between with the Langtrys. He fights falling for Sable as he is sure he is not worthy of her. Sable is an extremely intelligent heroine who avails herself of information and uses it well in her search for the truth.

Eden is hiding out from her uncaring parents and her vicious brother. The family has long let Eden do field work and taken credit for all of her finds to advance her brother's reputation. Her brother, Piers has spent a lifetime destroying or threatening anything or anyone that Eden cares about, so she has found it best not to grow attached to anyone. Her father and brother have also convinced her that she is an unattractive tomboy that no man could love, so she is completey baffled by Roark's interest in her.

Roark Langtry lost his wife and child in childbirth and has been mired in guilt and grief. As he finds himself inexorably drawn to Eden, he realizes that he has to overcome his own angst in order to help her discover the woman she could be and protect her from the odious Piers.

London mixes in a long ago rape, blackmarket collectible selling and the human emotions of a family for a satisfying brew. Her best creation is perhaps the wonderful Langtry parental couple Jacob and Faith, who have spent a lifetime searching for their lost child. Leaving Lonely Town was a book that I couldn't put down and one who's end is extremely satisfying. Cait London has stirred up a wonderful brew that should prove very popular as it is emotionally meaty as well as fast-paced. Linda Hurst

Reviewed by Linda Hurst
Posted September 28, 2001

Summary

Her past terrified Sable Barclay. She was adopted; she just could be the Wyoming Langtrys' child, kidnapped twenty-seven years ago. Or could she? Or should she walk away and not disturb the family who has hunted for their missing baby, aching for it? Culley Blackwolf, a man who preferred living in Lonely Town, wants to give the Langtrys what they need and isn't letting Sable back away. But Sable needs "neutral territory" in which to sort out her life, and Culley's house is it. A loner, he's got a woman upsetting his life, and opening his own painful past.

Readers who have requested Roark's story will see him leaving the past and challenging an unlikely love. In this sequel to IT HAPPENED AT MIDNIGHT, Cait creates another Langtry lullaby, which you can find at her website, http://caitlondon.com.