Finished Montana Legacy by R.C. Ryan. This is the first book in Ryan’s contemporary western romance trilogy about a group of cousins searching for lost gold on their family’s Montana ranch.

When Jesse McCord’s grandfather dies, he leaves Jesse and his two cousins the family ranch. Jesse isn’t too happy about this, since he hasn’t seen his cousins in years. But what really captures Jesse’s interest is Amy Parrish, his first love who moved away several years ago. Amy is back in town to take care of her sick father, and she and Jesse quickly reunite. But there’s someone who has his eye on both Jesse and Amy and will do anything to get his hands on the legendary McCord gold …

I’m a sucker for all kinds of westerns, and I picked up this book in the goodie room at the Romantic Times Convention. I think the premise is cool — I like the idea of the three cousins searching for gold on the family ranch. Unfortunately, I didn’t think the execution was that great.

Jesse and Amy are likable enough characters, but the reason they broke up was a simple lack of communication. Both thought that the other just didn’t care anymore, and there was also some letter stealing and rumor spreading done by Amy’s father. I don’t care much for those kind of conflicts — I just don’t find them realistic. Also, I thought the villain and the mystery plot were both very underdeveloped.

This isn’t a bad book, but it felt very formulaic to me. For that reason, I’m going to go thumbs down.

Up next: McKettricks of Texas: Garrett by Linda Lael Miller.

Books in my TBR pile: About 15.

What about you guys? Anyone read anything good lately? Share in the comments.