Showing posts with label Kathleen Eagle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kathleen Eagle. Show all posts

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Review: Once a Father by Kathleen Eagle

Logan Wolf Track had horses in his blood. For this "Indian cowboy," teaming up with army sergeant Mary Tutan to enter the Double D's wild mustang training competition was a win-win proposition. This tough yet vulnerable woman was a natural with horses—and with Logan. She soon had the single father yearning for love and family, something he'd lost when his grown stepsons left home.

But as with horses, it wasn't enough for Logan to know how to ride this feeling; he had to know how to fall. And when Mary made a shocking discovery that threw their relationship into question, Logan knew he'd risk all to keep their untamable passion alive….
This is the book I was reading when I left on my brief vacation, and the one that stayed with me. It's the cowboys, the horses and the western setting. They always do it for me. In Once a Father, I really enjoyed the way Eagle's unique character combination and how she portrayed both the "Indian cowboy" hero and army sergeant heroine.

Logan Wolf Track is an expert at training wild horses -- he even wrote a book about it -- and he wants to join the Mustang Sally Training Competition. The fact that he's on the Indian Council leasing lands to Sally, however, disqualifies him to enter and win the $20,000 purse. Mary Tutan would also love to enter the competition and she does qualify, but her forte is training dogs in the army, not horses. Her friend Sally comes up with the perfect solution -- Mary will partner up with Logan and she'll enter the competition while he shares his horse training methods with Mary. If they win, they'll split the purse.

While Mary is on a 30 day leave from the army to take care of her mother who is ailing, she finds herself torn between wanting to spend her days with Logan training their their horse, and taking care of her mother. Although her mother is sweet and understanding, her father makes things difficult. There's no love lost there. Her father is a man who has emotionally and verbally scarred his entire family. He's also a rancher and has a problems with using good land to save wild mustangs.

Mary is a plain looking woman and doesn't think of herself as attractive, but what I like about her is that she doesn't really seem too concerned by it. Logan is immediately attracted to the character he sees on Mary's face and a mutual attraction and sexual pull develops pretty quickly after that. Logan is one of the nicest men I've encountered in a book -- a man with two grown up children, a giver -- and Mary is a strong woman who's still trying to find her true path in life. Together, they make a beautiful couple.

The romance itself is heart warming and although there's not a lot of external conflict, I enjoyed the characters and their internal and personal struggles. Although the sexual scenes between Mary and Logan are written in an almost mystical way and not necessarily to my taste, others might find them pleasing and I must say that there's just something about Eagle's writing that I enjoy. The title of the book fits the story, Eagle gave it a bit of a twist that gave this story and characters depth.  

Eagle's protagonists are warm and down to earth. The story is quite contemporary, and while it centers around Mary and Logan, the plight of the wild mustang in the West is also a focus. Training the chosen horse plays a big role in the story and romance that develops between Mary Tutan and Logan Wolf Track -- Eagle integrates the two in an almost mystical way. Characters from the previous two books in this series make appearances, and I'll be definitely pick up those books.

Genre: Contemporary Romance/Western
Series: Western American Series - Book #4
Released: Harlequin/Silhouette Special Edition - September 2010
Grade: B  

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Cowboys & More Cowboys!

I mentioned in my last weekly post that I was reading Kathleen Eagle's, Once A Father and as it turned out I took it with me on my vacation, well.. that story stayed with me. In that same post I mentioned Wendy's great post Contemporary Cowboys: The New Black? and sure enough that also stayed in my mind throughout last week. I'm a huge fan of westerns, cowboys and ranchers, both in historical and contemporary romances. I've already read or have some of the books Wendy highlighted in my "to be read" pile... but there's more, Wendy said! So when I returned home I went hunting..., and sure enough I found some. :D

In addition to Kathleen Eagle's series and the great books Wendy posted, I found a few upcoming October releases by the Harlequin Silhouette Special Editions line that caught my eye. There are more out there, but I think the following are great additions. These authors have some great backlists, and the upcoming books are part of series about well-loved cowboys and ranchers. Well, the contemporary type, anyway.

Kathleen Eagle

Once a Father is the fourth book and Kathleen Eagle's new addition to her latest contemporary Western American series. The first book in this series features a sheriff, the second a washed-up rodeo cowboy, the third a Native American medicine man, or rodeo physician's assistant, and this last story an "Indian cowboy" as a hero. The female protagonists are also quite interesting: a hardworking nurse, two female ranchers and an army sargeant. So if you enjoy this current release, there are three other books out there to read and hopefully love. In order:
  • In Care of Sam Beaudry - 2010 RITA Award Finalist
  • One Cowboy, One Christmas
  • Cool Hand Hank
  • Once a Father - September 2010 release
You can visit Kathleen Eagle at her website for more information on her impressive backlist.

As far as October goes, Silhouette Special Edition has a quite a few new releases about those glorious cowboys and ranchers we all love. I'm highlighting three of them.

RaeAnne Thayne

New October 2010 Release

From RaeAnne Thayne, a personal favorite, there's a new release and the last book about the Wilder Ranch from her latest Cowboys of Cold Creek trilogy. In order:
  • A Cold Creek Homecoming 
  • A Cold Creek Secret
  • A Cold Creek Babyexcerpt here.
I've read a few of the older books from this series and enjoyed them and Thayne's writing style. I already have "A Cold Creek Homecoming" and will read it soon. Now I just need to catch up and purchase both "A Cold Creek Secret" and "A Cold Creek Baby." :)

You can find a complete list of RaeAnne Thane's Cowboys of Cold Creek series and other books by visiting her website.

Crystal Green

New October 2010 Release

From Crystal Green, there's a new addition to the Montana Mavericks: Thunder Canyon Cowboys series. This is the fourth installment in a continuity series written by different authors. In order:
  • McFarlane’s Perfect Bride by Christine Rimmer  
  • Taming the Montana Millionaire by Teresa Southwick 
  • From Doctor…to Daddy by Karen Rose Smith
  • When the Cowboy Said, “I Do” by Crystal Green - Excerpt here.
AND, if you like the Harlequin Blaze line, this author has a tempting back title that I'll definitely be checking out, featuring a sexy cowboy... One for the Road. Excerpt here.

You can find out more about Crystal Green, plus a complete list of her books by visiting her website here.

Lois Faye Dyer

New October 2010 Release
And from Lois Faye Dyer you can get in on the first book of what looks like the start of the new Big Sky Brothers miniseries. This looks like a great story about the prodigal cowboy returning to the ranch and his old love. It's set in Montana, one of my favorite places! So yeah... definitely going to get this one. :)
  • Cade Coulter's Return - summary here.
Additionally, Lois Faye Dyer has other series and single title books featuring ranchers/cowboys including a series she began writing in 2006 and was still actively adding titles to in 2009, The McClouds of Montana.

You can find a list of those titles by visiting Lois Faye Dyer's website here.

I think that's plenty to keep me happy for a little while. :)