A TOUCH OF FLAME by Jo Goodman

Publisher:      Berkley

Published:      June 5, 2018

ISBN:      978-0399584299

Genre:     Historical Western Romance

Format:     Print

Reviewed by name and email address:  Gina  myreviewbooks@aol.com

FOUR HEARTS

 

When the good doctor of Frost Falls decides it’s time to retire he doesn’t leave the town in a lurch without a doctor.  He contacted his old friend to send a replace and before long E. Ridley Woodhouse arrives.  He also goes a step further and asks the newly minted sheriff, Ben Madison to meet, greet and make the new doctor welcome.  What that town and especially Ben doesn’t expect is that E. Ridley is a woman.  And what E. Ridley doesn’t expect is that the plain spoken man who picks up her up the Sheriff.  Misunderstanding aside, it isn’t long before E. Ridley proves just how competent she is.  Sadly it comes about through a woman whose life is in jeopardy by the very person who should be protecting her.  As E. Ridley becomes more present in the fabric of the town so does her relationship with Ben which suits Ben just fine. 

I’ve said it before but it bears saying again, Jo Goodman never disappoints.  In TOUCH OF FLAME she gives readers a remarkable female lead. Ridley is strong, smart, capable and no nonsense.  She isn’t all that unique for a modern heroine, but for the time period of the Cowboys of Colorado she stands out as an exceptional one.  The romance between Ben and Ridley grows slowly within the story.  There’s no rush to declarations of “I love you” or to the altar. 

The other characters of the town of Frost Falls are multi-dimensional with stories of their own.  They are much like anyone you’d find in a small town with their quirks, spats and connections.  And while this is Ben and Ridley’s story, readers have a chance to catch up with Remington and Phoebe from A Touch of Frost. 

A TOUCH OF FLAME has several layers to it.  You can read this book as just the solid romance it is.  If you want a deeper read, Goodman raises issues of preconception about roles and society, domestic abuse and alcoholism. The issues are not token mentions to add drama to the story, but an interwoven part of what makes Goodman’s characters such great reads.

You do not have to read the books in order because while there are some common characters, they each have their own story within each book.  This is one series you don’t want to miss.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.

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A TOUCH OF FOREVER by Jo Goodman

Publisher:      Berkley

Published:      June 4, 2019    

ISBN:      978-0440000648

Genre:    Western Historical Romance

Format:     Print from Publisher

Reviewed by name and email address:  Gina  myreviewbooks@aol.com

FIVE HEARTS

Roen Shepard was the odd duck in his family.  Hailing from New York, he appreciated his sculptor, musical and artist siblings and tried to emulate their talents, it just wasn’t for him.  He was the fifth child in a very gifted and wealthy family he found a career that suited him just fine – a surveyor.  While He’s done fine for himself working for the railroads, which has led him to Frost Falls, Colorado.

Lily Salt is a life long resident of Frost Falls.  Cared for, if not loved by her fellow residents, Lily has made a life for herself and her four children.  When her first husband died, the town rallied to support her.  Now with Roen’s interest in the young widow they again are ready to step in to protect her.  Her children, however, have something else in mind for Roen and Lily. Still protective of their mother, their instincts about Roen prove to be the best.  Things seem to moving along nicely…slowly, but nicely until Roen’s past begins to catch up with him.  That past would be a woman he courted who then turned on him and tried to kill him.  Knowing what Victorine, the purported jilted lover, wants, Roen poses a solution to Lily—marry him. 

Can what starts out as a marriage of convenience turn to a forever love match?

As I said when I read the first book of Jo Goodman’s Cowboys of Colorado series, A Touch of Frost, it had been far too long since I read her.  Once again, even though it has been only a year since I read her, it has been too long.  In a reading world that has gone to falling in lust rather than love, but calling it love, of who can write the most erotic scenes, Goodman’s writing takes us back to the days of our characters falling in love with romance that gives you a smile.  There is sex in her books, but she takes to reader to the brink and lets him or her decide just where the physical aspects will go. 

Her characters are fully developed with multiple layers.  They have good points and bad points.  They come across as human, as someone you would know.  Even the children in her books and particularly in her current release, A TOUCH OF FOREVER, are written as individuals.  Each unique in his or her own way.  Secondary characters like Hitch and Fedora are also complete in their own development – not merely there to bolster the main characters.  Each character has his or her own role. 

Victorine and Mr. Cabot as despicable.  I couldn’t wait for them to get their just desserts and really enjoyed reading it when the time came.  Maybe that’s just wrong when it came to Victorine, but you’ll need to read A TOUCH OF FOREVER to see what I’m talking about. 

While part of a series, (this is book 3), and readers catch up with characters from the earlier books, each is able to stand on its own.  Goodman tells a complete story, building in small parts on the prior story, but each can be read alone and in any order. As well, you do not have to be a fan of historical romance or western romance to enjoy A TOUCH OF FOREVER.  You just have to want to read a really good romance.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.

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A TOUCH OF FROST by Jo Goodman

Publisher:     Berkley

Published:     June 6, 2017 

ISBN:        978-0399584275

Genre:      Historical Western Romance

Format:     Print

Obtained via:  Publisher

Reviewed by name and email address:  Gina  myreviewbooks@aol.com

FOUR HEARTS 

When her sister Fiona asked her to come to Twin Star ranch Phoebe Apple did not hesitate to pack her bags and go.  In fact she packed up all she had, moved out of her apartment and headed west.  What she didn’t expect was to be taken – kidnapped off the train she was on.  Even less she expected that one of the passengers, who turned out to be her sister’s stepson, Remington Frost, to come after her to rescue her.  After her rescue is effected and she is settled on the Twin Star ranch, Phoebe has a chance to get to know Remington and Remington her.  While they are somewhat puzzled that Thaddeus Frost, Remington’s father, has no interest in pursuing the kidnappers, they accept his decision and move forward with their lives.  Part of that moving forward includes a growing affection between Remington and Phoebe.  But when a deputy and family friend who are pursuing the kidnappers is murdered, Remington and Phoebe just cannot let it go.  Can they find the kidnapper before someone else is killed?   Even more important, do they really want to know who it is?

It has been some time since I read a Jo Goodman book but within a few pages of her latest, TOUCH OF FROST I was reminded of why I love her writing and why western romances have always been my favorite.  Goodman writes such wonderful characters. Even if sometimes their actions seem unrealistic, the characters themselves come across as real.  And those times when they seem a tad off base?  Goodman has a reason why and it is explained either by that character or by one close to them. 

I loved the setting of TOUCH OF FROST and Goodman brings the scenery alive.  You know what it is like to be on a horse you just don’t know how to sit and at the same time you feel the poetry of Remington in the saddle. 

TOUCH OF FROST is one of those reads that you just want to settle down for a few days and slowly meander your reading through.  You want to take time to visualize the scene and not rush to the next one.  I was thrilled to see this will be a series and that the next book, TOUCH OF FIRE will be out late in spring of 2018. 

While TOUCH OF FROST is a historical western, any romance reader will enjoy the story because of Goodman’s writing and the really terrific characters.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.

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THIS GUN FOR HIRE by Jo Goodman

Publisher:    Berkley

Published:   April 7, 2015

ISBN:     978-0425277430

Genre:   Historical Western romance

Format:  Print

Obtained via:  Publisher  

Reviewed by name and email address:  Gina Gina@loveromancesandmorereviews.com

THREE-1/2 HEARTS

On his way back to Stonechurch, a mining town more or less owned by Ramsey Stonechurch, Quill McKenna stopped off for a little food, a little drink and a little female companionship.  What he finds at Mrs. Fry’s house of ill-repute is a woman who he simply cannot stop thinking about.  Turns out that woman is the rather well-known and somewhat feared bounty hunter, Calico Nash.  Calico is at Mrs. Fry’s to do a job—and it’s not necessarily one that has her tumbling into bed with the gentlemen who come to call.  She’s there as the bounty hunter she is.  But she also raises Quill’s protective instincts.  So much so that he almost comes between her and her bounty. 

A few months later, in addition to protecting his employer, Ramsey Stonechurch, the mine owner’s daughter, Ann, is threatened.  Deciding that he needs help protecting the Stonechurches, Quill sets his sights on hiring Calico.  Calico agrees to help—and for more reasons than the money protecting Ann. 

While a few more attempts or threats are directed at Ramsey, all begins to see quiet around the Stonechurch home.  During the lull in protecting the family Quill and Calico begin to probe beneath the surface of what is going on around them—Ramsey’s attraction to Calico and Ann’s to Quill.  But that dims in the light of Calico and Quill’s attraction to each other. 

But that lull is not meant to last.  Another attempt is made on Ramsey’s life—one much closer to home that any could have anticipated.  And while things at the mine have taken a downturn, evidence of something deeper surfaces.  Can Quill and Calico find the killer before he finds them?

It has been way too long since I read a Jo Goodman book.  She’s one of the authors I’ve historically turned to when looking for a good western romance and she does not disappoint.  In her latest, THIS GUN FOR HIRE she delivers not only a sweet romance, but an absorbing mystery.  At first I thought there was going to be the standard “pampered daughter falls for hired gun” story that would have some good romance and a little adventure.  It was a treat to meet Calico Nash in the first few pages.  The character has a great personality and some wonderful depth.  Even though she struggles a bit with the constraints of a woman of her time, she also has a marvellously depicted independent spirit.  She’s very likeable. Something else I liked was that her role as a bounty hunter is simply another facet of her character.  It’s not an over the top depiction with a swagger, cigar and other forced traits – it’s just who she is and for the most part she is comfortable with the elements of that role.

Quill is also wonderfully multi-layered.  A combination of a minister’s son and a fast gun could have turned into a caricature.  It did not.  Instead Goodman reveals the many layers to this character making him more and more likeable.  He draws on his family’s way of being, but is also his own man.

What I struggled with in the book was the dialogue.  Every character spoke perfect English.  Nary a contraction was to be found and I just can’t believe every person in 1888 spoke with such perfect grammar.  There were points where if I wasn’t tracking every character I would have lost who was speaking because they all spoke the same in the same perfect manner. 

While I figured out who was trying to kill Ramsey and how pretty early on, it didn’t take away from how Quill and Calico would solve the mystery and while the ending was somewhat predictable, it was well done.  

This is an objective review and an endorsement of this book.