Colorado Jewel by Cate Brandt is a historical Western romance novel where the couple faces perils and must marry after being caught in a compromising position.
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The Book
This review is of Colorado Jewel, a standalone Zebra Heartfire by Cate Brandt, published in April 1989.
The Characters and Setup
- Heroine: Magheen Fitzgerald. Red hair and emerald eyes.
- Hero: Daniel Calcord. Black hair, blue eyes. Businessman/lawyer.
- Location: Leadville, Colorado, 1878–1880.
- Tropes: historical Western romance.
The Plot
Colorado Jewel opened in Colorado in early September 1878. Daniel Calcord, a businessman with his fingers in many pies, is heading toward one of his enterprises, a silver mine in the town of Leadville. His trip is delayed, however, as Daniel helps to rescue Magheen Fitzgerald from a stagecoach accident.
He nurses her back to health, and they face many perils, one of which is their attraction to each other.
When one of Maggie’s brothers, Patrick, a priest, catches them in a compromising position, they are compelled to marry. Their engagement doesn’t go well.
Maggie and Daniel do eventually marry. Sexually, they’re compatible; in other ways, not so much. Things don’t improve when the workers in Leadville’s mines protest working conditions, leading to violence between the miners and the mine owners, with Maggie in the middle.
Later, Daniel’s mother, Mayse, shows up and causes problems for both Daniel and Maggie. Those problems endanger Maggie’s life.
In the end, Maggie and Daniel reconcile, have a child, and get their happily ever after.
Upside
Aside from finishing the book…? Well, Maggie is a fairly nice character.
Downside
Daniel is a hot-and-cold-blowing bastard.
First, he wants Maggie. Then he doesn’t want her. This goes on for the entire book. He talks at Maggie, not with her, which creates almost all of their issues.
Daniel is self-centered, egotistical, condescending, demeaning, and insulting to her. He accuses her of things that are not true. By the way, he never apologizes.
There is no actual romance or character development, and the storylines, such as they are, zip back and forth without actually reaching a destination.
Sex
There are a few love scenes in Colorado Jewel between Maggie and Daniel that don’t generate much heat.
Heat Factor
There are on-page love scenes, but sadly, they are the worst kind of lukewarm.
Violence
There are depictions of mild violence, including assault and battery. A shooting takes place “off-screen.”
Bottom Line on Colorado Jewel
Maggie is a nice heroine. She definitely needed an actual hero. She’s the only thing saving Colorado Jewel from a lower than 1-star rating.
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| Overall: | 1.5 |
Synopsis
Magheen Fitzgerald could have never predicted her fate the day she left her native Ireland for the shores of America. Blinded by tales of gold and great wealth, she believed that she’d reclaim her family’s fortune in a gold mine in Colorado. But when the stagecoach she was traveling in overturned in a storm, she was lucky to escape with her life. And now she was snowbound, trapped in a primitive shack with the most virile man she’d ever known. Despite the cold outside, Magheen felt a heat building in her like never before.
COLORADO JEWEL BY CATE BRANDT
DANGEROUS SETTING
Daniel Calcord ventured to Colorado for a change of pace andRA some excitement. But he got much more than he bargained for in the shapely form of the Irish beauty he had saved from a stagecoach wreck. As he nursed her back to health, Daniel couldn’t help but caress her silky flesh and her sensuous curves. From the flash in her emerald eyes to the fiery light in her auburn hair, she enchanted him. It was only a matter of time before he would take her in his arms and make her his own.