She's Gone Country »

Jane Porter is the author of Flirting with Forty, Odd Mom Out, and The Frog Prince. She lives in Seattle, Washington, with her two sons, where she is currently working on her next book. Visit her website at www.janeporter.com.

Shey Darcy, a 39-year-old former top model for Vogue and Sports Illustrated led a charmed life in New York City with a handsome photographer husband until the day he announced he'd fallen in love with someone else. Left to pick up the pieces of her once happy world, Shey decides to move back home to Texas with her three teenage sons. Life on the family ranch, however, brings with it a whole new host of dramas starting with differences of opinion with her staunch Southern Baptist mother, her rugged but overprotective brothers, and daily battles with her three sons who are also struggling to find themselves. Add to the mix Shey's ex-crush, Dane Kelly, a national bullriding champ and she's got her hands full. It doesn't take long before Shey realizes that in order to reinvent herself, she must let go of an uncertain future and a broken past, to find happiness—and maybe love—in the present.

Publishers Weekly

Porter (Easy on the Eyes) injects some western flavor in this story of starting over and romance in the over-30 set. After ex-supermodel Shey Darcy's husband leaves her for another man, she packs up her three teenage sons and moves from New York City to the Texas ranch where she grew up, and while Shey easily finds work as a catalogue model and reconnects with her two older brothers, the divorce weighs on her mind and two of her boys can't make the transition, particularly 14-year-old Bo, who suffers from depression. Naturally, Shey's return to her old stomping grounds prompts the inevitable reunion with an old flame, former pro bull rider Dane Kelly. Porter's depiction of small town Texas is convincing, but her protagonists are too flawless to be believable, and their happy ending comes after too little conflict. It's a nice diversion that could use a bit more complexity. (Aug.)