I once said that I’d happily read anything Carla Kelly wrote. Unfortunately, this book convinced me what works for her at around 200 pages doesn’t seem as compelling and interesting when the page count more than doubles. No one who’s a fan of Kelly’s expects her stories to be seat of the pants exciting, but…
Ned Buntline, the writer who is credited with popularizing the dime novel in the American Old West, would have loved Elaine Levine’s writing. Levine pens Western romances using old fashioned storytelling techniques. Her stories are often over the top with quirky individual characters and blood-thirsty events geared to the gut. Leah and the Bounty Hunter,…
If you read historical romance in order to learn history in a more congenial setting than a classroom, then Jenkins’ new book is for you. If you’re curious about marginalized groups in the settlement of the American West, then Jenkins’ book is for you. If you like feisty heroines clashing and falling in love with…
This is one of those books that’s incredibly difficult to grade because on one hand I liked it, but on the other there are problems that are extremely difficult to ignore. Often, the points that I enjoyed within the story were essentially the sources of the problems. Created as a killing machine during the Civil…
Finding a husband for a girl living on a remote ranch in the late 1800s was difficult when the only men she saw with any regularity were crusty ranch hands or those already married. For three sisters in their early 20s, there just weren’t enough possible beaus to go around. Thomas cleverly tackles this problem…
I’ve often said I’d read anything that Carla Kelly writes – including a laundry list if it was the only thing available. Her new books are auto buys for me, and I’ve worked at picking up copies of her older Regency romances. Now Kelly begins a new path as a romance author, switching continents, time…
Sometimes I crave a saga, something long and involved like Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander that seems to go on and on. Only instead of time travel set in Britain, I’d like something set in the old West. Fortunately, new writer Ellen O’Connell has stepped up to fill the bill, and I can’t wait for her next…
A few publishers have continued to publish Western romances, but recently, I’ve started seeing more of them from other houses as well. With Pieces of Sky, we have the return of a type of Western romance I’ve missed – the big, sprawling saga. This debut novel has a slightly retro feel to it (in a…
Note to self: Step away from the Brava westerns. The Education of Madeline is the second one I’ve read in recent months, and it’s as disastrous as the first. I’m starting to get the impression that readers who want something more than a sexual checklist should look elsewhere for their entertainment. Madeline Brewster is a…
I find few enough romances set in colonial times or during the Revolution, so finding a book not only taking place during the Revolutionary War, but also set against the western frontier battles completely surprised me. As I flipped through Jamie Carie’s Wind Dancer and saw that it dealt with the campaigns of George Rogers…
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