Title: A Stolen Youth
Author: Angela Studer
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 978-1-5320-3990-4
Pages: 219
Genre: Western Romance
Reviewed by: Candace L. Barr

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A Stolen Youth follows Wyatt James, a man recently released from prison ten years after being convicted of killing a local girl when he was 16. In that decade he has missed a lot, including his cousin’s death a few years after the sentencing. The town receives him with mixed feelings—those who knew him believe in his innocence, and others treat him with disdain. While he tries to settle into life at his aunt’s and uncle’s ranch, he finds himself getting into a series of painful mishaps with his recent widow Kate Walker. Kate is indisposed after breaking her ankle and has been getting help from a man named Jared while she recuperates, but she kicks Jared out after he tries to overstep the boundaries of their relationship—or lack thereof. Wyatt and Kate struggle to get their own relationship on the right track, but Wyatt’s past keeps coming back to haunt them both. If you’re looking for a slow-burning romance, this is not it. Wyatt and Kate’s romance doesn’t take too much prodding to get going despite Kate’s tendency to injure Wyatt.

Their encounters always start innocently enough, but their passion ignites quickly and burns hot, leading to steamy sex in a variety of places as Kate shows Wyatt what he missed out on all those years. The main romance plot and the mysteries in Wyatt’s past are the best elements of the book. Author Angela Studer made sure that no matter what was happening between Kate and Wyatt, there was still curiosity as to who the real murderer was and what really happened the night Wyatt’s cousin died.

The characters in Wyatt’s circle are fun and lovable—hardworking people who love hard, too. Their bonds are easily formed and almost impossible to break, though several of those closest to Wyatt have been harboring secrets for years. Sometimes the dialogue gets cheesy and the characters could use a little more differentiation, but their wholesomeness is part of their charm. The villains don’t get much mention in the book except when they’re needed to appear. Additionally, the setting is a bit of a mystery beyond somewhere in the western US sometime in or after the late 20th century. The best indicator of the period is the treatment of cell phones as new technology, and that doesn’t come out until near the end of the book.

With the well use of emotions and passion, added to the interesting characters, A Stolen Youth is a good read. It has all the elements for a quick, sweet romance with an underlying mystery that wants to be solved.