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Historical Romance Review: Texas Fire by Caroline Bourne

Texas Fire is the sequel to Caroline Bourne’s previous Zebra Lovegram romance, Texas Conquest. While better than its predecessor, that’s not saying much.

book review historical romance
Texas Fire by Caroline Bourne
Rating: two-half-stars
Published: 1989
Illustrator: Melissa Duillo-Gallo
Imprint or Line: Zebra Lovegram
Book Series: Texas Duo #2
Published by: Kensington
Genres: Historical Romance, Western Romance
Pages: 498
Format: Paperback
Buy on: AmazonAbeBooksOpen Library (BORROW FOR FREE)
Reviewed by: Blue Falcon


Historical Romance Review: Texas Fire by Caroline Bourne

MILD SPOILERS 😉

The Book

This review is of Texas Fire by Caroline Bourne. This western romance, published by Zebra/Kensington in March 1989, is the sequel to her book Texas Conquest.

Heroine: Laureli Cade, 23, Auburn hair, blue eyes. Heiress to the Wildwood ranch empire.

Hero: Court McKennon, 35. Black hair. Gray eyes. Former detective at Scotland Yard, later Texas Rancher.

Locations: London, England. Brazoria, Texas. 1850-1967.

The Plot

Part I

Texas Fire begins in London in 1850 and will span 17 years. A woman is raped and, while trying to escape her attacker, she falls and suffers serious injuries. This will set the tone for the rest of the book.

The scene then shifts to Brazoria, Texas, where Laureli Cade, the heroine, lives on a sprawling ranch. Laureli is the only member of her immediate family in Texas right now. Her father, Matthew, and mother, Mariah (the hero and heroine of Texas Conquest), are in Europe, and Laureli’s younger brother, Timothy, is at West Point.

As she is introduced, Laureli is trying to catch a wild stallion. She will come into contact with two Englishmen. One is Court McKennon, the hero of the book, who arrives with a woman who Laureli erroneously believes is his wife. The other is Wynn Garrett, a man with many secrets.

Laureli and Court clash, but they are also very attracted to each other.

They become lovers. Soon, there is a dark cloud hanging over their relationship: Garrett. In particular, Laureli and Court’s disparate views of him. Lies and deception soon tear the lovers apart, making Court depart from Texas.

Part II

After leaving Laureli and Texas behind, Court goes to San Francisco, then to London. We learn a bit about Court’s family, including his high-in-the-instep relatives.

He then decides to return to Texas and Laureli. They marry and start a family. However, their happiness is threatened by a vengeful man who wants to harm them both.

Part III

In the end, the threat is neutralized.

Laureli and Court become parents. They have their Happily Ever After.

Upside

Laureli and Court are a well-matched couple, and the love between them is written in a very genuine way.

Downside

Ms. Bourne tries very hard to write an emotional book but doesn’t quite get there. Among the issues preventing this: Laureli and Court aren’t well-developed or particularly interesting characters; the supporting characters are in a similar vein. Ditto for the storylines.

Sex

A few love scenes between Laureli and Court, which don’t generate a lot of heat.

Ms. Bourne is more focused on the emotional aspects of lovemaking and not the act itself.

warm heat

Violence

Assault, attempted rape, battery, shootings, and killings all take place during Texas Fire. None of the violence is graphic.

Bottom Line on Texas Fire

Caroline Bourne’s Texas Fire generates all the heat of one lit match.

It’s a better book than her previous outing, Texas Conquest, but that’s not a particularly high bar to get over.

Tropes: Enemies-to-lovers. Historical romance. Texas.

Rating Report Card
Plot
3
Characters
3
Writing
2.5
Chemistry
2.5
Fun Factor
2.5
Cover
4
Overall: 2.9

Note: Cover points don’t count!


Synopsis

SHE WANTED HIS LOVE
From the moment the arrogant Englishman had arrived at her ranch with a very pregnant woman in tow, he had made Laureli Cade’s blood boil. Not denying his desertion of his wife and baby, the handsome rogue had taken Laureli in his arms and given her the most passionate kiss she had ever known. Outraged, she had ordered the blackguard off her land, hoping never to see him again… But as he stood before her now, she could not forget the way he had caressed her body with his eyes, and the warmth of that kiss he had brazenly taken from her. And she wondered what it would be like to be loved by him, or if she should send this virile stranger away, leaving her to long for him forever….

HE WANTED HER PASSION
For the past seven years Court McKerinon had never once abandoned his mission to hunt down the man who had brutally raped his sister. Until he saw Laureli Cade. She was a goddess, with hair like a sunset on a summer day and lips as pink as roses in first bloom. And he had not forgotten the taste of her sweet mouth nor this fiery creature’s anger when she had pushed him away. Cherishing that memory, all he wanted was to relive it once more, to take from her again and again…

Texas Fire by Caroline Bourne
Across a Starlit Sea duillo gallo

Historical Romance Review: Across a Starlit Sea by Rebecca Brandewyne

BOOK-REVIEW-gothic
Across a Starlit Sea by Rebecca Brandewyne
Rating: four-stars
Published: 1989
Illustrator: Melissa Duillo-Gallo
Book Series: Highclyffe Hall #2
Published by: Warner Books
Genres: Gothic Romance, Historical Romance, Bodice Ripper
Pages: 365
Format: Paperback
Buy on: AmazonAbeBooks

Historical Romance Review: Across a Starlit Sea by Rebecca Brandewyne

VERY MILD SPOILERS 😉

The Book

Across a Starlit Sea was a tempestuous romance written by Rebecca Brandewyne.

This was a sequel to one of my most beloved love stories, Upon a Moon-Dark Moor.

Also notable is this was one of the rare Brandewyne novels with Warner Books that was not illustrated by Elaine Duillo. Instead, her daughter Melissa Duillo-Gallo painted the cover.

Across A Starlit Sea, Rebecca Brandewyne, Dorchester, 2002 Reissue, cover artist TBD

The Plot

The Cornish coast setting of Across a Starlit Sea was appropriate for dark, gothic feel to this historical romance. I enjoyed the first-person narrative in both installments of this series.

The heroines told their life stories on detail: their youths, their first loves, true loves, their married lives with children, and finally into old age. Expect to see Brandewyne’s standard purple-prose writing and in-depth descriptions of history.

Laura was betrothed at birth to Jarrett, the eldest son of Maggie & Draco, the protagonists from Upon a Moon-Dark Moor. The trouble is that she’s been in love with his younger brother, Nicholas, since childhood..

The brothers battle for Laura’s love, but it’s soon evident that Jarrett is the hero who is worthy of her affection.

The way Jarrett won Laura over was so beautifully portrayed. He was an enigmatic, reserved man, but so full of confidence, charisma, and compassion. How could she possibly resist him in the end?

The children of the secondary characters from Upon a Moon-Dark Moor are quite relevant in this book, including Lizzie and Thorne, cousins to Laura, Jarrett, and Nicky.

Lizzie and Thorne have been raised as heirs to Chandler Hall and look down upon their lesser relations, even as Lizzie lusts after Nicky.

Even her brother Thorne had the hots for Nicholas. He hated Laura because Nicholas wanted her so much–and not him!

Nicholas was quite a scoundrel because he had an affair with Thorne’s wife and various other women. This would wreak consequences for the entire Chandler family.

There were so many tragedies in this story (and its prequel). The sacrifices Laura makes to preserve her family are noble, and the ending, while a happy one, is bittersweet.

For the heart is not a candle that, once lit, can be extinguished at will, but a fragile, foolish thing, all too easily wounded, all too slow to heal.

ACROSS A STARLIT SEA

Final Analysis of Across a Starlit Sea

Across a Starlit Sea was to be the second book in Rebecca Brandewyne’s Highclyffe Hall Trilogy about the Chandler family. Brandewyne intended to write a third book about Laura’s son, Rhodes, but never did.

I’ve been waiting for over 30 years for it to come out, and I don’t think it’s ever going to happen. ☹

Across a Starlit Sea is a wonderful book, at times quite the tearjerker. More heart-wrenching is its prequel, Upon A Moon-Dark Moor, which was one of my favorite Brandewyne novels.

I’ll have to use my imagination about the outcome of the series, but I know that no matter what ominous circumstances face the family, love will win out in the end.

4 Stars

Rating Report Card
Plot
4
Characters
4
Writing
4
Chemistry
4
Fun Factor
4
Cover
4.5
Overall: 4.1

Synopsis

She was caught in a whirlwind of passion…Between two men, two brothers, and two fates

As the wind tossed her tangled locks, Laura Prescott looked out into a future as bleak as the savage moors. The only daughter of a sea captain, Laura was betrothed to the master of Stormswept Heights. But it wasn’t Jarrett Chandler who came to her in dreams; it was his impetuous younger brother Nicholas.

Now, standing on the jagged Cornish cliffs, Laura let her tears fall, for she could not foresee a time when she would tremble beneath her husband’s hungry kisses. Nor could she know that a spoiled maiden and a scoundrel schemed for her ruin. All she could do was rush blindly into desire’s mad embrace, toward a destiny decreed by irresistible love… 

ACROSS A STARLIT SEA by REBECCA BRANDEWYNE