Escape to the Country by Patsy Collins

Escape to the Country is not exactly a western; it is not even set in the U. S. West, but somewhere in the United Kingdom. So, it certainly doesn't qualify as a western, but it does have a farm with the usual suspects - cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, mud, lotsa mud when it rains, and bulls as tall as a human.

What happens is, this young lady named Leah Tilbury is accused of wrong-doing on an account she manages at her work at a company called Prophet Margin. The company suspends her while they investigate, and she leaves London and her boyfriend, who works for the same company, and visits her Aunt Jayne in the country.  There is a bit of crime involved in her life, but her story is mostly a romance when she meets a fellow called Duncan on the neighboring farm. She gets stuck in the mud, literally, with a borrowed pair of Wellington's that are too large for her and she can't pull them out of the mud. This Duncan fellow espies her and rescues her by lifting her and her boots out of the mud and sets her down on dry land. The story revolves about this romance and her life with Aunt Jayne and life on the farm. She must find herself free from fraud at work and free from her boyfriend that she shares a flat with for the romance to blossom into something else. There are some surprises along the way and a fine ending that wraps things up nicely.

I plead guilty to reading this mostly romance story and also to maybe reading one or two other books classed in the romance genre for which I will not apologize. I found Ms. Collins novel entertaining, humorous, and well written overall. I thought there was some repetition or over-explaining in the narrative, but not enough to detract from the story. Her style was consistent throughout and she takes Ms. Tilbury through her trials with Duncan and the office problems and a crisis with her Aunt in a way which kept me engrossed and glued to the book to see what would happen next.

Patsy Collins, of course, lives in the U. K. and writes in the very English language of which she is accustomed to doing, well-educated with a wide vocabulary and great enthusiasm. She enjoys traveling around in her van with her husband of a few months and taking photographs of the scenery in addition to her writing and blogging on the net. She has written numerous short stories and a few novels and won many prizes for her writing. On her blog, she provides links to many competitions and tips on writing. Check out her blog at patsy-collins-blogspot.com titled Words About Writing and Writing About Words..