Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: September
2, 2014
ISBN: 978-1492602781
Genre: Historical Western Romance
Format: Ebook
Obtained via: Publisher via Netgalley
Reviewed by
name and email address: Gina Gina@loveromancesandmorereviews.com
Accused of murdering her mother, Emma
Radcliffe is on the run for her life.
She’s changed her name to Elizabeth Wainwright and after careful
research choose a town in far off Montana as the least likely place her
pursuers will find her. Before she makes
her way to Alder, Montana the stage she is riding on is attached and the
robbers make quick work of killing off the driver and all of the passengers but
Elizabeth. But a worse fate awakes the
young woman in the form of attempted rape by those same robbers. At the last
minute Emma is saved…but could the man who appears on the scene be even worse
than the stage robbers?
Mitch Brady has a reputation as a vigilant. In truth he’s the law in Alder, Montana. The moment he lays eyes on Elizabeth he wants
her. Not as a quick tumble between the
sheets but as his wife. It doesn’t take
long for Mitch to realize Elizabeth has a secret, a secret so powerful it keeps
her from trusting him. Bit by bit however,
Mitch works his way into Elizabeth’s heart. Can she come to truly trust him
before her secret finds her in faraway Montana?
Historical western romance is the main
reason I became a devoted romance fan.
Historical westerns had it all—handsome cowboys, fast traveling horses,
wide open spaces and a sense of adventure.
Sadly in recent years western romance, particularly the historicals,
have fallen into disfavour—or at least aren’t as available as they once
were. When I saw Roseanne Bittner’s DESPERATE HEARTS I had to pick it
up.
DESPERATE
HEARTS harkens back to what is to me the early
days of historical western romance—rough and tumble cowboys, a woman on the run
and an untamed land. Bittner captures the
aura of the times where men often had to live by the gun in their hands. There are illusions to rape in the story—something
that is a no-no in modern day romance.
The act itself isn’t committed to paper, but there are incidents
reported in the story.
I really like Mitch Brady. Handsome, brave and knew his own mind. While Bittner pays homage to the vigilantes
that helped to win the west, the never ending mention that Mitch was a
vigilante got a bit overdone. It wasn’t
so bad the first 20 times, but the constant reminders began to wear thin.
In many ways DESPERATE HEARTS is a sweet romance—there are romantic scenes
rather than physical love scenes which allows the reader to fill in the blanks
to suit him or herself.
We don’t see many romances like DESPERATE HEARTS these days and I think
that’s a shame because I miss the romances I fell in love with. I have a couple
of Ms. Bittner’s other western romances on my bookshelf and hope she continues
to tell those wonderful stories.
This is an objective review and an endorsement of this
book.
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