Harriet Klausner's Review Archive
How nothing Casey knows about ranching hits home when she arrives at the Spanish Slur Ranch. Half-breed Gabe Slaughter offers to run the spread for her in exchange for room and board. A desperate Casey agrees. As other interests try to drive the easterner and her brood home, Casey and Gabe fall in love, but he feels she could do better than him. Casey thinks otherwise and plans to prove to her beloved that his heart contains the right stuff as far as she is concerned though others agree with Gabe and will resort to violence in the hopes of driving the Hamiltons out of Texas.
Few authors do nineteenth century Texas romances (see the Half-Moon Ranch romance - MOON RACER) as well as Constance O'Banyon consistently does. Her latest tale is an engaging tale starring two individuals hoping to survive the present with love (and her ranch) as their only hope for the future. The support cast provides deep insight into the lead couple as well as a look into an interesting era when the Civil War remains a sad memory (sort of like Viet Nam) while Rangers try to bring law and order to the state. Sub-genre fans will want to RIDE THE WIND with these TEXAS PROUD characters.
Harriet Klausner Brazen Bobbi Smith Leisure, Jun 2004, $6.99, 384 pp. ISBN: 0843951567
In 1879 Michael Donovan comes home to Hard Luck, Texas to find his father Frank crippled from an ambush. His first reaction is the Turners did this as the families have argued for years.
Jack Turner knows he is dying, but death does not frighten him. What does worry Jack is that his beloved daughter Casey is safe, but with bank loans due on the family property Jack knows he must take extreme action.
Frank, worried about the future of his spread, and Jack agree that Michael and Casey must marry so that not only does the spat end, but also their ranches merge and are that much powerful. Very reluctantly, their respective children agree to a marriage of convenience to save the ranches. As the couple falls in love, a third party working behind the scenes manipulates events to insure that Michael and Casey fail to save their respective family's heritage.
Though the plot theme has been often told, Bobbi Smith creates a brisk BRAZEN book due to a fine cast that enables the audience to see deep inside the love yet mistrust of the lead characters. Michael struggles between desire and hope vs. doubt and suspicion, but discovers that Casey is a sabra, tough on the outside, but sweet and loving on the inside. Fans of late nineteenth century Texas romances will relish this fine novel.