By Holly Newman, Diane A. S.
Stuckart & Denise Domning
BOOROV8Z7M
624 Pages
Price $0.99
Rating 5-Stars
This Kindle format includes two novels and one
novelette. TREAIL OF DREAMS by Holly Newman, DESERT HEARTS by Diane A. S.
Stuckart, and AN IMPETUOUS SEASON by Denise Domning. (The File sent to me did
not contain the novelette.)
TRAIL OF DREAMS by Holly Newman. Savannah Escalante
Pemberton is the child of an American white woman, and a Mexican gentleman.
When the child witnesses something bad on their family farm, it leaves her
mentally troubled, and her mother sends her to live with her family in the
East, where she’s raised as a sophisticated lady. But Savannah wishes to return
to her Mexican family, to learn of her heritage. Her brother sends her a letter
requesting her help with his daughter in Santa Fe, New Mexico, but it’s 1824
and she has a problem traveling there. Eventually tying up with her
stepfather’s caravan taking goods to Santa Fe, she meets Zachariah Connelly,
the trail boss, but her presence among a caravan of men brings only danger and
hardship. Rough men, and wild Indians might be too much for a lady.
DESERTS HEARTS by Diane A. S. Stuckart introduces us
to Jessamine Satterly, the bank owner of Brimstone, Arizona Territory. The Black
Horse Gang led by Rory Devilbiss robbed the bank the previous year, and Devilbiss
killed her husband. When Jacob Hancock arrives, claiming to be a bank examiner,
she learns that the Black Horse Gang may be back in the area. Indeed, they are,
and in no time the bank is robbed again, and the sheriff and his deputy are
killed, while Jess and Jacob are away. They’ve taken her aunt as hostage, and
now Jess plans on trailing the outlaws and rescuing her aunt. She discovers
that Jacob is also following them, and he may not be the man he claims. Outlaw
or Pinkerton agent, his real name is Nick Devilbiss, brother of the leader of
the outlaws.
TRAIL OF DREAMS was well written and had good
characterization, but it was badly paced. The author should have tightened it
more. Readers do not need to be told something over and over again, such as the
repeated information about the main character’s sophisticated upbringing, to
understand it. The men and women that settled the west had grit or they
wouldn’t have survived. Yet Savannah Escalante Pemberton never shows her
Mexican courage, and Zachariah Connelly, who we are told is big and tough,
never follows through in a fight, leaving me to wonder if either would have
survived in the West. I was also disappointed in the slave girl, whom we are
told loved Savannah and liked being her slave. I don’t believe history has ever
proven that any slave liked being owned by someone. DESERT HEARTS was also well
written, and moved at a fast pace, with never a dull minute. The characters
were tough and determined, with grit and courage. Nor do we have a slave in
this one; of course it was after slavery had been abolished. There is a young
Chinese girl, and she is portrayed as a smart and an independent woman. I liked
that. I want to see strong female leads, even for secondary characters. As for
Doc Holliday, the biography I read of Doc Holliday did not paint him as a
gentleman.
The stories were a fun read, and despite my personal
gripes I think fans of Historical Romance will like these two novels set in the
Old West. Highly Recommended.
Tom Johnson
Author of CARNIVAL OF DEATH
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