Love on the Line by Deeanne Gist

Book Blurb:

In 1904 Texas Ranger Luke Palmer arrives in Brenham, Texas, with one goal—to capture the gang of outlaws led by Frank Comer. Undercover as a telephone repairman, he uses his days on the range to search, not realizing there's another pair of eyes watching him.

Georgie Gail, switchboard operator and birder, heads out on a birding expedition, but instead of sighting a painted bunting, her opera glasses capture her telephone man, armed and far away from telephone lines. Palmer is forced to take this alluring troublemaker into his confidence and unwittingly puts her in harm's way. The closer he comes to the gang, the further she works her way into his heart—and into trouble. Soon it's more than just love that's on the line.

My Review:
5 STARS

Deeanne Gist is absolutely one of my favorite authors and it was no surprise to me to fall in love with another of one of her books yet again. I don’t think Love on the Line will be my favorite by this wonderful author but it was still just great!!

Love on the Line is about a young switchboard operator Georgie and her new troublman Luke Palmer. However, Luke isn’t just a troubleman, he is an undercover Ranger trying to find Frank Comer and his gang that robs trains and supposedly gives the money to the needy. Georgie and Luke soon find that working together is frustrating and rewarding at the same time. Lots of tension and sparks!!

My favorite thing about Gist writing is that she creates believable and desirable tension between the hero and heroine. I love a book with a little love/hate going on and Love on the Line is no exception. Georgie drives Luke crazy, in fact she drives me crazy, yet he can’t seem to ignore her. She is beautiful and passionate about what she cares about and birds eat out of her hands for heaven sakes!

Love on the Line is a superbly written story with characters that are swoon worthy and delightful, passionate moments of romance and kissing, great and humorous dialogue and expert attention to history and detail. I always get sucked in to the books by Deeanne Gist; her attention to detail and characters paints a very vivid description in my mind and I end up thinking over her characters for days after I finish the book.

Oh how I love the way Gist writes her romantic scenes. Two favorite scenes are when Georgie helps Luke pull out all his splinters from falling down a telephone pole, and the other is when makes a tough decision and asks Luke to respect her wishes. Wow!! I think I held my breath during both of those scenes!!

The ending was unique and there were some great surprises throughout the story that made it even that much more enjoyable. I have read everything by Gist and I will anxiously be awaiting her next book! I you have yet to read a book by this great author…what are you waiting for???

Thank you to Bethany House for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own, I would not recommend this book if I didn't LOVE it!!
About Deeanne Gist:

After a short career in elementary education, Deeanne Gist retired to raise her four children. Over the course of the next fifteen years, she ran a home accessory and antique business, became a member of the press, wrote freelance journalism for national publications such as People, Parents, Parenting, Family Fun, Houston Chronicle and Orlando Sentinel, and acted as CFO for her husband’s small engineering firm--all from the comforts of home.

Squeezed betwixt-and-between all this, she read romance novels by the truckload and even wrote a couple of her own. While those unpublished manuscripts rested on the shelf, she founded a publishing corporation for the purpose of developing, producing and marketing products that would reinforce family values, teach children responsibility and provide character building activities.

After a few short months of running her publishing company, Gist quickly discovered being a "corporate executive" was not where her gifts and talents lie. Ignoring her creative yearnings, she wrestled with manufacturing, distributing, marketing, invoicing, collecting, warehousing, pick-pack-and-shipping, etc. In answer to Gist’s fervent prayers, God sent a mainstream publisher to her door who licensed her parenting I Did It!® product line and committed to publish the next generation of her system, thus freeing Gist to return to her writing.

Eight months later, she submitted A Bride Most Begrudging to Bethany House Publishers and they picked it up for their new "edgy inspirational" line of historical fiction. After its release in July 2005, Bride hit eight best seller lists, has sold over 150,000 copies and won the Christy Award for BEST ROMANCE 2006. The Measure of a Lady hit five best seller lists and won the Christy Award for BEST ROMANCE 2007. Courting Trouble and Deep in the Heart of Trouble have made five best seller lists so far.

Gist is contracted to have a book out every June through 2011. She lives in Texas with her husband of twenty-five years and their two border collies. They have four kids in college. Visit her blog to find out the most up-to-the-minute news about Dee.

Buy Love on the Line on Amazon here!