A review by lisajo85
Matthew by Emma Lang

5.0

Emma Lang has done it again! MATTHEW, the first book in her new series ‘The Circle Eight', is a fantastic novel with plenty of sex appeal! It's a must have for fans of historical westerns with plenty of spice.

Life has been extremely difficult for Matthew Graham lately. His parents were brutally murdered and his youngest brother abducted. Suddenly all responsibility fell to his shoulders, caring for the ranch and his brothers and sisters. When he decided to finalize the land grant his father was working on before he died, he realizes the state of Texas will only give him the land if he's married. So Matthew invents a fiancé named ‘Hannah' and quickly realizes he only has thirty days to find a girl by that name and marry her.

Hannah Foley spent most of her time working in her grandmother's boarding house and the rest of her time accepting the fact that she may never marry. Yet one day she meets a handsome stranger in town who follows her to the boarding house and within minutes proposes to her. Matthew explains his tricky situation with the government and the fact that he has to marry a girl named ‘Hannah' within the next month. Willing to take a risk, Hannah accepts.

Newly married, Hannah and Matthew find they have no problem in the bedroom, but plenty of problems building a relationship outside of closed doors. Now there may be a problem with the land grant that will affect the future of the farm. Unfortunately for Hannah, she realizes she wants a marriage based on love and she will do whatever must be done to get it.

My opinion of Emma Lang's latest release can be summarized in just a few words; I loved this book! Ms Lang (who also writes as Beth Williamson) has been a favorite of mine since I first read Ruthless Heart last year. Her stories are interesting and extremely sexy...and MATTHEW was no different. It is a story that doesn't drag around, moves fairly quickly and contains amazing characters. It is positively a joy to read and a novel that just cannot do any wrong.

One thing I adored about MATTHEW were the characters. Ms Lang has this unique talent of creating such vulnerable characters that you can completely fall in love with. They are so absolutely charming you just get lost in all the magic of their story. Matthew was the soft-spoken, yet masculine cowboy who was fighting his growing feelings toward his wife. He was a loner, despite his large family, and had trouble accepting the possibility that he could be falling in love...with his wife, no doubt. He was just the perfect hero. Always endearing and truly adorable.

Matthew's better half, Hannah, was extremely charming as well. She has little to no experience in matters of the heart, she just knows she loves her new husband and wants to be loved in return. Her angelic innocence was something I found very enjoyable and interesting. She is easily the heroine most girls can relate to, including myself, because of her down-to-earth qualities. With this new series, Ms Lang sets up an enormous cast of characters around Matthew and Hannah. Each one is as uniquely delightful as the last. It's pretty amazing how easily you fall in love with this family and begin to desire to become a part of it.

Yet beyond all the drama and creative storytelling is an unbelievably passionate romance. Ms Lang had a difficult task when she set out to create a newly married couple, who are virtually strangers, yet share a grand attraction. Especially since they could share everything in the bedroom yet could only share a charming awkwardness outside of it. Still, she pulls it off beautifully, creating a sexy yet beautiful love story. It was delightful reading about these characters as they stumbled along the way to getting to know each other and to find their happily ever after.

If you love erotica and western historical romances, MATTHEW should be the next novel you pick up. Emma Lang is a wonderful talent who writes brilliant stories you will thoroughly enjoy. While this novel may contain plenty of scorching love scenes, at the end, you will be pleasantly surprised by the emotional and charming romance inside this novel. MATTHEW is one of the rare novels a reader picks up and never wants to end. Luckily for all of us, this is only the beginning of The Circle Eight series.

Lisa @ The Romance Reviews