Review: Colorado Dawn

Colorado Dawn 
Kaki Warner
Historical Western Romance
Runaway Brides Series/Book 2
Berkley/January 3, 2012

After only three letters and one visit during her six-year marriage to a Scottish Cavalry Officer, Maddie Wallace decides to build a life without him. Accepting an assignment from a London periodical to photograph the West from a female perspective, she sails from England, determined to build a new life as an independent woman.
 

After injury ends his military career, Angus Wallace returns home to find his wife gone, his family decimated by fever, and himself next in line to an earldom. His new mission is clear--find his wife and sire heirs. His search takes him across an ocean and half a continent, but he finally tracks her to Heartbreak Creek, Colorado. There his biggest challenge awaits--to convince his headstrong wife to return home as his viscountess.

Amidst statehood struggles, claim jumping, and railroad disputes their passionate battle rages...until word comes that Angus has become the earl. Now they must decide between a life in the mountains of Colorado, or in the glittering ballrooms of London...and between duty and desire.

Since reading Heartbreak Creek (book 1) I've been curious about Maddie Wallace and what drove her to Colorado. We're told she is there to take pictures of the American West but why is she willing to go so far from home and who is she running from?  We find the answers and the romance in the second book of this wonderful western series.

Maddie Wallace doesn't think of herself as a quitter but a woman can only take so much rejection.  Maddie left her homeland for America after being left adrift by an absentee husband.  She felt there was no reason to stay and grabbed the opportunity to pursue her love of photography.  Maddie is enjoying her new life in Colorado, making friends and establishing a career.  Then her past comes roaring back in the form of her lost but not forgotten husband.  Immediately we see the chemistry between Maddie and Angus.  There is also tension, anger and sadness.  Maddie's conflict is well written, showing the conflict between her love of photography and her love of her husband.  She doesn't think she can have both and she's afraid Angus only wants her out of duty, not love.

Angus Wallace has come a long way, literally.  Across the Atlantic, then crossing a large part of America, all to find his wife.  But is is duty or love that drives him?  Sometimes I don't think even Angus was certain of the answer.  He takes his new role of Earl as he does everything else, seriously and with a great sense of duty.  In order to fulfill his role as Earl he needs to provide a heir, that's where the wife part comes in.  :)  Angus thinks he only needs to tell Maddie to come home and she will.  Oh, Angus, you poor fool!  Instead he finds he needs to do some serious convincing and in the convincing is reminded why he fell for Maddie in the first place.

Maddie and Angus' romance isn't the standard fare.  He's consumed with duty, she with independence.  What it all comes down to is love.  How much and how far are they're will to go for love.  There are tender moments and humorous moments that gave me hope for these two.  The thing about the romance is that Angus doesn't just fall in love again with Maddie, he also falls in love with Colorado which allows him to understand Maddie and her need to stay much better.  I really enjoyed the conflict Maddie and Angus went through between what their hearts want and what they feel obligated to do.  Warner made me believe in their final decisions rather it being the forgone conclusion.

The story isn't just about Maddie and Angus but also the good friends Maddie has made in Colorado.  They are skeptical about Angus but eventually welcome him into the fold. Declan, his wife Ed and their children, mysteriously wealthy Lucinda Hathaway and schoolteacher Prudence and her protector the Cheyenne Dog Soldier, Thomas Redstone.  I especially liked how Pru and Thomas' story evolved with more of their backstory given.  It's a sweet romance of two people who have learned to fight for everything they have and must fight for their own HEA.  A lovely secondary romance, worth the pages devoted to it's development.

With an unknown enemy causing trouble, the politics for statehood and the great big west, Colorado Dawn is more than just a romance, it's an adventure. 

Rating: A-

Runaway Brides Series ~

Heartbreak Creek
Colorado Dawn
Bride of the High Country

Review: Heartbreak Creek

Heartbreak Creek
Kaki Warner
Historical Western
Colorado/1870
Runaway Brides/Book 1
Berkley/July 5, 2011

From the back cover ~

Edwina Ladoux hoped becoming a mail-order bride would be her way out of the war- torn South and into a better life, but as soon as she arrives in Heartbreak Creek, Colorado, and meets her hulking, taciturn groom, she realizes she's made a terrible mistake.

Declan Brodie already had one flighty wife who ran off with a gambler before being killed by Indians. He's hoping this new one will be a practical, sturdy farm woman who can help with chores and corral his four rambunctious children. Instead, he gets a skinny Southern princess who doesn't even know how to cook.

Luckily, Edwina and Declan agreed on a three-month courtship period, which should give them time to get the proxy marriage annulled. Except that as the weeks pass, thoughts of annulment turn into hopes for a real marriage-until Declan's first wife returns after being held captive for the last four years. Now an honorable man must choose between duty and desire, and a woman who's never had to fight for anything must do battle for the family she's grown to love...

Many of you know how much I love a good western romance. After reading and enjoying Ms. Warner's Blood Rose trilogy, to say I was looking forward to her newest release was putting it mildly. One of my absolute favorite romance tropes is the mail-order-bride trope. If I read a blurb mentioning mail-order-bride, I'm there. For me, it's the ultimate in the romantic fantasy of trusting in fate and falling in love.

Southern belle Edwina Ladoux has lost just about everything. Her home, almost all of her family and her way of life. But she's ready to start a new life as the mail-order-bride of a man she only knows through his letters. Along with her best friend and half-sister Prudence (Pru), they head west. Edwina is a woman who can give the outward appearance of a delicate and proper lady but when she wants something she can be as stubborn as a mule! Edwina and Delcan don't make the best first impressions on each other. She thinks he's too big and too rough and he thinks she has some crazy ideas.

Declan Brodie is rough around the edges with a sweet and gentle inside. He loves his four rambunctious children and he loves his ranch. But he can't run a ranch and take care of the kids and the house too. Declan is nothing if not practical so he advertises in the Matrimonial News no less.

Honest, hard-working widower, age thirty-three, seeks sturdy English-speaking woman to help with mountain ranch and four children. Drinkers, whores, and gamblers need not apply.

How could Edwina possibly pass up a request like that? Except Ed, as Declan calls her, after first calling her Miss Priss, Declan doesn't think Ed has what it takes to take care of the children and house. He thinks she's too fragile and she can't even cook! Imagine! LOL Good think Pru is there to cook and teach Ed. Declan's impression of Ed slowly changes as he watches her take on the task of corralling his children's wild ways and learning about ranch life.

Ed and Declan were so very good together! They tease and irritate each other while they're busy checking each other out. I loved how Warner developed the romance, letting Ed and Declan discover that their first impressions only showed the surface and there was a lot more going on underneath. There's one scene where Declan realizes that he doesn't just need a wife, he needs Ed. For Ed, she not only fell in love with Declan, she also fell in love with his children which was important since the are so much a part of him. Some of the best scenes were with Ed and the children. These kids had personality and certainly added humor and emotion to the story.

The secondary characters that populate the town of Heartbreak Creek are a wonderful mix of typical small town folk and a couple of newcomers who liven the place up. Maddie Wallace and Lucinda Hathaway arrived on the same train as Ed and Pru. The four women become fast friends and share advice, experience and encouragement on their new lives. I know we'll see much more of both Maddie and Lucinda in coming books.

Ranch life isn't easy but for Declan and Ed, it's made even more difficult with a crazy man out to get revenge against Declan. Looking back, there was a lot going on in addition to Ed and Declan getting to know each other. Lots of upheaval with threats to everyone Declan cared about. Then throw in the once-thought-dead wife come back to life and damn but they had a heck of a lot to overcome. Yet, I never felt that it took away from the romance. If anything, it brought Declan and Ed closer together. There was just the right balance of romance, humor, suspense and teasing for future books.

Heartbreak Creek is a beautifully told historical western romance. We need more books like this! Thankfully, Ms. Warner has more on the way.

Rating: A

Books in this series ~

Heartbreak Creek
Colorado Dawn (January 2012)