Showing posts with label Western Romance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Western Romance. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

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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Friday, January 4, 2019

PROMISES DECIDE by Sarah McCarty



Publisher:      Berkley
Published:      September 4, 2018
ISBN:      978-0425230701
Genre:     Historical Western Romance   
Format:     Print from Publisher
Reviewed by name and email address:  Gina  myreviewbooks@aol.com

FOUR HEARTS

 

On his way home after successfully bringing in another wanted man, Jackson Montgomery spies some activity in an otherwise run down ranch house.  Well, calling it a ranch house might be stretching it a bit.  Everyone in town knows there are issues with the Bentley place.  Well everyone but the people now living there.  Not one to pass up the opportunity for a good story, Jackson heads over to the homestead.  What he finds, however isn’t quite what he was expecting.  Granted, it’s not every day you see three young children tossing an oil lamp down a well.  But that wasn’t what caught his attention.  No, it was the woman stuck down in the bottom of a well.

Mimi Banfield left Boston with her rag tag group of three children for what she hoped would be a better wife in the west.  What she didn’t expect was to find herself in the bottom of a well with a pack of snakes.  And even less she never expected to be rescued by an honest to goodness angel.  Okay…Jackson isn’t really an angel, but with his long blond hair and handsome face, he sure could pass for one. 

Jackson soon finds that there is something about Mimi that he just can’t walk away.  Whether it is her disposition in general or how she loves the children or something more, he just isn’t ready to move on.  But Mimi has a secret.  One that could easily come between her and Jackson and on that could get them all killed.  Dare she risk her heart for the man who is determined to rescue her?

Sarah McCarty’s Promises series was one of the first western romances series I read when I started reviewing over 18 years ago.  Each one was better than the one before and there are still parts of the earlier books I remember…like Cougar’s story.   I still have my original ebooks from this series.  McCarty outdoes herself in PROMISES DECIDE.  There are some differences in her style that are indicative of an author honing her craft.  Her heroes have always been hot with a story of their own – a softness that only a special woman can reach.  Jackson is a good guy.  Definitely a man of his time, but with something more. 

Mimi has a strong inner strength hidden beneath the vulnerable aspects of the time.  She’s someone you would want to know.  The actions her characters take are credible and realistic while at the same time she tells a page turning story. 
McCarty gives the reader just enough description of the town and area to give you the feeling of being there. 

Romance, a bit of a thriller, a mystery to solve….perfect for a weekend read. 



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

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Friday, December 21, 2018

BOUND FOR SIN by Tess Lesue



Publisher:      Berkley
Published:      September 4, 2018
ISBN:      978-0451492593
Genre:     Historical Western Romance
Format:     Print from Publisher
Reviewed by name and email address:  Gina  myreviewbooks@aol.com

FOUR HEARTS



Georgiana Bee Blunt aka Georgiana Smith is in the market for a husband.  Not just any husband.  She wants a frontiersman…a rough, hardened frontiersman.  It’s not because she’s into brutal men.  It’s because she needs to get to California to rescue her son. 

Matt Slater is the youngest of the Slater boys of Oregon.  With elder brother Luke settling down with his bride Alex, Matt has taken over guiding wagon trains west.  Along with family friend, Deathrider, Matt has been traveling around.  Well actually he’s been trying to protect Deathrider after he went and got himself shot.  He’s seriously considering giving up guiding wagon trains west after this one last trip.  The last thing he wants in his life is a wife.  And he absolutely does not want a wife like Georgiana.  No how, no way…but it seems he doesn’t want Georgiana marrying anyone else either. 

As the wagon train heads west Georgiana and Matt find themselves thrown together more and more.   Neither can get the other out of their minds.  He sees a frivolous and spoiled eastern lady…she sees the man who will solve her problems and reunite her with her son.  But then he begins to see the woman she truly is—and it is one he cannot imagine not having in his life.

I’ve been reading a significant number of psychological thrillers, mysteries, and non-fiction lately.  While for the most part they’ve been pretty good, I needed a break—and when I need a reading break I return to my first favorite reads – historical western romance.  And what better way to get back to my first reading love than a new author?  Tess Lesue’s Frontiers of the Heart series caught my eye.  Since it is a series, of course, I started with book 1, BOUND FOR EDEN where the Slater brothers are introduced.  In book 2, BOUND FOR SIN younger brother, Matt gets his story.  If I had to pick which brother I’d want for me own, it would be Matt.  Hands down…Matt.

Lesue doesn’t mince words.  She tells a good, fully fleshed out story, but she doesn’t pretty up the parts that where the characters would have some grit.  She startled me a bit in BOUND FOR EDEN with repeated usage of the word “whore”.  Likewise, in BOUND FOR SIN, Matt’s use of “ain’t” was at first a bit jarring.  But the words are accurate for the time in the old west.

She adds some humor courtesy of Deathrider with his opinions and often cantankerous personality.  While at points she gives Deathrider and the Indians in the story the appearance of being dumb or ignorant, for the most part their scenes are well done.

Lesue builds the romance slowly—she doesn’t have the couple falling in love and in bed by chapter two.  She builds the tension between the couple and for the reader.  When a character I liked died I was about ready to put the book aside, especially when reading about the depth of despair and depression felt by some of the other characters.  Advice to the reader…keep reading.  Lesue redeems herself with a well done twist.

You don’t have to be a fan of western romance to enjoy this series—you just have to like a good story with full developed characters, great scenery and some laughs.  I can’t wait for book 3, BOUND FOR TEMPTATION.



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

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Thursday, January 25, 2018

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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