Three years ago Canyon and Keisha broke up over a misunderstanding. Canyon was hurt and furious that she hadn't trusted him enough to hear his side of the story, and Keisha felt betrayed by him. She moved away, taking a very important secret with her. Now she's back and she still won't have anything to do with him. Canyon is determined to confront her and follows her one day - only to discover what that secret is.

I loved Canyon. He isn't one of the men who resists the idea of commitment. He had been ready to propose to Keisha when all the trouble started. Since she left he had dated some, but nothing serious. Now that she's back in town he really wants a chance to clear the air, but she is still avoiding him. I loved the scene where he is basically stalking her and his brother is trying to convince him that he's going to get in trouble. He is stunned when he finds out she had his son, and furious that she never told him. I loved the fact that he had no trouble with the idea that he was a father and that he was going to be fully involved from then on. Seeing him with Beau was just so sweet. There are some great scenes between the two of them that show what a great dad he is going to be. When Keisha's house was broken into he insisted that they stay with him - perfect for getting a chance to straighten things out between them. He's not happy that she still doesn't believe the truth but hopes to convince her. Being together so much shows him that his love for her never died and their chemistry is still off the charts. I liked the realism of his character. He isn't perfect. He gets frustrated, he loses his temper sometimes, and he has to be shown that he probably would have made the same mistake in her place. He also has a great love of family, as is shown in the closeness of the Westmoreland clan. I loved the effort he put into getting Keisha to finally accept the truth, and his frustration when she then wouldn't forgive herself.

Keisha frustrated me a lot of the time. She was so sure about what she saw that she refused to listen to what Canyon tried to tell her. Then she left town, taking the news of her pregnancy with her. She held on to her feelings of betrayal, refusing to tell Canyon that he was a father, even after she returned to Denver. At least when he confronted her she didn't try to lie about it, but she wasn't pleased with the idea of him being involved. I loved the way that her surprise at his rapid acceptance and obvious happiness at being a father made her begin to realize that she had been wrong not to tell him. She still wasn't ready to believe that he hadn't been unfaithful to her. She had serious trust issues when it comes to men because of the way her father had treated her mother and it affected the way she treated Canyon. When her house was broken into Canyon insisted that they move in with him until the person was caught. This made her very nervous because she was still attracted to him and didn't trust herself around him. I loved the way that he started breaking down her walls and showing her that his feelings for her hadn't changed. I also loved her reaction to meeting the whole family and the fact that they didn't treat her badly because of what she had done. She really didn't know how to deal with that. I was glad to see that she finally accepted the truth, but then the subsequent refusal to forgive herself and move on with him was a bit much. It took facing some real danger for her to realize what she was doing. ( )

Originally posted on Tales to Tide You Over

When I need a break, a good read I can count on for an interesting story but nothing too heavy, I turn to Harlequin. I’ve been doing this since I was in my mid-teens. That’s right: Catcher in the Rye balanced by any number of Harlequin romances. With James A. Michener’s The Source, I read a chapter, read a romance, read a chapter (back when I was fifteen, I think). It isn’t that I dislike heavier books, but it’s more that I need a bigger beat difference, a rest between, and that’s something a Harlequin romance supplies.

Why am I bothering to tell you this? Well, that’s exactly what happened. The next book on my list is a philosophical historical, and I didn’t feel like it yet. So I skipped ahead to Brenda Jackson and Canyon to get exactly what I was hoping for.

This is not the first Brenda Jackson novel I’ve read, and though I can’t figure out in which, I’ve met Canyon and Keisha before as well. I’ve already read the event from three years ago that is so critical in Canyon, and I knew it couldn’t end as it did, with Keisha walking out of his life believing he’d slept with her best friend even though that’s what had happened in the previous read.

Canyon, the novel not the male main character, is about what happens when Keisha returns three years later, and he realizes he’s not as ready to walk away as he’d thought. Only there’s more going on than he can imagine, which he discovers when, having given up trying the polite approach, he decides to follow her home, confront her, and force her to believe that whatever her friend told her, and however it appeared, he did not sleep with Bonita.

It only takes a glimpse of Beau to realize the two-year-old boy with Keisha is his. And this is where the story begins.

Until this point (very early in the book), it was a simple misunderstandings plot with Canyon the injured, but determined, party. Once Beau is introduced, the story gets much more complex, and both Canyon and Keisha say things they don’t really mean as they try to work through anger and mistrust.

It’s further complicated by an element of suspense, one that offers a reason to throw the two even closer together and is well seeded with possibilities to explore.

Canyon isn’t an earth-shattering novel, but it isn’t meant to be. I found a story about interesting people, the chaos of a loving extended family in the Westmorelands, and a situation in which both Canyon and Keisha had to grow up a bit so that the past no longer controlled them. The circumstances are a little bizarre at times, but in such a way that never disrupted my enjoyment.

For those concerned about misunderstanding novels, Brenda Jackson is a master. There’s no chance of “talking to each other” clearing this particular air. In fact, they have already talked, and talk again about their issues several times in Canyon. The misunderstandings here aren’t based in a simple event. They are laced through with complicated histories and “seeing is believing” issues. It’s not just that they have to learn to trust, that they have to acknowledge appearances can be deceiving, but mostly that they need to recognize how the situation would have been with them on the other side. It’s a wonderful take on how people overcomplicate their own lives and often have trouble backing away from that once they’ve begun.

Brenda Jackson delivers on the romance, but she takes her books a step further. Canyon is no exception, and I’m glad I had this title on my list to read.

P.S. I read Canyon as a NetGalley ARC in return for an honest review. ( )