Tag Archives: The Cowboy and the Lady series

Item: Bold Texas Embrace
Rating: 2.5
Author: Blue Falcon

Historical Romance Review: Bold Texas Embrace by Victoria Thompson

MILD SPOILERS 😉

The Book

This review is of Bold Texas Embrace, #4 in the “The Cowboy and the Lady” series by Victoria Thompson (Zebra/Kensington December 1989).

The Characters

Heroine: Catherine Eaton, 23. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Teacher. Originally from Philadelphia.

Hero: Sam Connors, 32. Black hair, black eyes. Owner, The Spur ranch.

The Plot

As the story begins, Catherine Eaton has arrived in Crosswicks, Texas, from her home in Philadelphia to teach the town’s children. One of the children, David Connors, 15, has great drawing skills and wants to be an artist.

This interest, however, puts him at odds with his older half-brother Sam Connors, the hero of the book. Sam, who is also David’s guardian, has his own goals for David, and soon Catherine finds herself in conflict with Sam, even as she is becoming attracted to him and him to her.

Catherine and Sam become lovers, however, he is also dealing with a range\war, as well as trying to keep David from falling for a grasping, scheming young woman.

In the end, the range war doesn’t happen. David goes to Philadelphia. Catherine and Sam marry, have a child, and have their Happily Ever After.

Upside

Bold Texas Embrace is pretty much standard Ms. Thompson historical romance. Her characters are very much in touch with their emotions and readers can see the emotional pinball the characters deal with.

Downside

Ms. Thompson didn’t make me care enough about Catherine and Sam. Part of this is the fact that there are WAY too many similarities between Bold Texas Embrace and the previous book in the “The Cowboy and the Lady” series.

To wit:

Both heroines–Felicity Storm in the former book, and Catherine Eaton in the latter–are from Philadelphia. However, they don’t know each other.
Both women are artistically inclined. Felicity is a photographer; Catherine is an artist.
Both fall in love with and marry Texas ranchers.

I get that any creative person will occasionally repeat themselves, but it’s nice to have a little space between repeats. The characters are not particularly well developed and the “range war” storyline is unfinished and weak.

Sex

The love scenes between Catherine and Sam aren’t particularly romantic, nor do they generate any real heat. The first sex scene between Catherine and Sam can be described as forced seduction at best, rape at worst.

Violence

Assault, battery, shootings, and killings take place. The violence is not graphic.

Bottom Line on Bold Texas Embrace

Bold Texas Embrace is my least favorite book in Victoria Thompson’s loose “The Cowboy and the Lady” series.

Location: Crosswicks, Texas.

Time: unknown.

Tropes: Artist heroine. Historical romance. Rancher hero. Texas.

2.66 Stars

Rating Report Card
Plot	2.5
Characters	2.5
Writing	3
Chemistry	1.5
Fun Factor	2.5
Cover	4
Overall:	2.7

Synopsis:

HOT-BLOODED RANCHER

Art teacher Catherine Eaton could hardly believe how stubborn Sam Conners was! Even though the rancher’s young stepbrother was an exceptionally talented painter, Sam forbade Catherine to instruct him, fearing that art would make a sissy out of him. Spunky and determined, the blond schoolmarm confronted the mule-headed cowboy…only to find that he was as handsome as he was hard-headed and as desirable as he was dictatorial. Before long she had nearly forgotten what she’d come for, as Sam’s brash, breathless embrace drove her mind all thought of anything save wanting him…

HOT TEMPERED SCHOOLMARM

Sam Conners was too absorbed by a range war to pay any attention to the town talk about a fancy new schoolteacher from Philadelphia. But when petite, pretty Catherine Eaton marched into his office, he couldn’t take his eyes off her. From the instant she opened her lush red mouth, Sam didn’t agree with a word she said. He kissed her to shut her up, then proceeded to take her mind off her troubles with some irresistible arguments of his own…until she was powerless to resist his BOLD TEXAS EMBRACE.
Bold Texas Embrace by Victoria Thompson

Historical Romance Review: Texas Triumph by Victoria Thompson

MILD SPOILERS😉

The Book

This review is of Texas Triumph, #2 in the “The Cowboy and the Lady” series by Victoria Thompson. This is the follow-up to her book, Texas Treasure.

The Plot

Texas Triumph begins at the Circle M ranch near Canaan, Texas, where Rachel Anne McKinsey lives. Rachel is mourning the death of her father, Sean, who a rival rancher killed. To help her hold on to her ranch, Rachel proposes marriage to her foreman, Cole Elliot, the book’s hero. He accepts her proposal, and they marry.

Not everyone in their area of Texas is happy with their marriage. Among the unhappy is Will Statler, the rancher who killed Sean. Also unhappy: Hank Oliver, a mercantile store owner who had a thing for Rachel.

After a period of time, Rachel and Cole consummate their marriage. Later they become parents to a daughter, Colleen. Rachel and Cole are happy for a while, especially because they believe Statler is dead.

They’re wrong. Statler is very much alive and joining together with Hank to try to kill Cole and get Rachel. These efforts are thwarted, and Rachel, Cole, and Colleen have their Happily Ever After.

Upside

I frequently criticize authors for failing to reach their characters’ emotions. That certainly isn’t the case with Ms. Thompson, who goes into Rachel and Cole’s emotions in very deep detail. Very. Deep. Detail.

Downside

This detail, however, can also be construed as a weakness. Much of Texas Triumph is about Rachel and Cole not communicating with each other. They assume things that are not based on facts until about page 400, when they finally begin to talk with each other. There isn’t a great deal of character development here.

The ending of the book could have been more exciting.

Sex

The love scenes are not graphic or exciting.

Violence

Assault and battery, and two shootings. The violence is not graphic.

Bottom Line on Texas Triumph

Reading Ms. Thompson’s work is frustrating for me, as she has a good foundation for a good book in Texas Triumph, but she doesn’t quite get there.

3 Stars

Rating Report Card
Plot	3
Characters	3
Writing	3
Chemistry	2.5
Fun Factor	3
Cover	4
Overall:	3.1

Synopsis

HE SAID “I DO”
Ranch foreman Cole Elliott couldn’t say no to his enticing boss Rachel McKinsey when she proposed they have a marriage in name only. The virile gunslinger had had his eye on the shapely filly since he first hired on and dreamed of her raven hair caressing his broad chest, her full curves filling his strong hands, and her luscious mouth questing for his heated kiss. Even though he’d promised to protect her property and not lay a finger on her, the hot-blooded cowboy never intended to wed the arousing beauty without getting a real honeymoon in the bargain!

SHE SAID “I WON’T”
Nothing was more important to determined Rachel McKinsey than the Circle M – and if it meant taking a near-stranger as a husband to scare off rustlers, she would do it. Still, the gorgeous rancher felt a secret thrill that towering Cole Elliott was going to be her man. But now that Rachel had sworn they be business partners, she could never ever admit that all she really wanted was to consummate their vows and have Cole release her sensual response in the glorious moment of their…TEXAS TRIUMPH
TEXAS TRIUMPH by VICTORIA THOMPSON

Historical Romance Review: Texas Treasure by Victoria Thompson

SPOILER ALERT ⚠

The Book

This review is of Texas Treasure, book #1 in the “The Cowboy and the Lady” series by Victoria Thompson.

The Plot

Part One

The book begins in Rainbow, Texas, where Priscilla Bedford, the heroine, has come to be the schoolteacher for the town’s children. Picking her up from the stagecoach which brought her to Rainbow is Phillip Alexander “Dusty” Rhoades, the hero of the book. He is the foreman of the Steele Ranch.

From the moment they meet, Priscilla and Dusty have chemistry, even as he is playing a joke on her by not immediately acknowledging her; she gives as good as she gets.

As the book goes on, Priscilla and Dusty become more attracted to each other but also do a lot of “he/she loves me, he/she loves me not”, which also leads to them intentionally and unintentionally hurting each other.

Dusty and Priscilla become lovers, which creates its own set of issues. While Priscilla and Dusty play “are we/aren’t we a couple?”, other stories are taking place. One involves Jason Vance, a Virginia native who was on the same stagecoach as Priscilla. He has come to Texas seeking a cache of gold that legend says is buried in Rainbow. Another denizen of Rainbow is Rita Jordan, owner of the town saloon, and a woman with bad blood toward Dusty.

Part Two

Later, Priscilla secretly buys a ranch. The significance of this is that the ranch belonged to Dusty’s family in the past. At first, Dusty is very angry, but he comes around and he and Priscilla get married.

However, Rita and Vance become threats to their marriage: Vance for the gold buried on the ranch Priscilla now owns, and Rita due to being rejected by Dusty years ago. Vance and Rita hold Priscilla hostage to force Dusty to tell Vance where the gold is. Two violent confrontations ensue, one between Dusty and Vance, the other between Priscilla and Rita. Vance assaults Dusty and escapes. Rita is shot and killed when the two women fight over a gun.

Priscilla and Dusty have their Happily Ever After, and the gold has yet to be found…

Upside

Priscilla and Dusty are fairly interesting characters. It is highly unusual in my experience to see a book where the hero’s emotions are on display as they are in Texas Treasure.

Downside

This, however, is not always a good thing. This book is the definition of T.M.I. Ms. Thompson exposes her readers to every emotion Priscilla and Dusty feel.

Every. Single. Emotion.

The book is way too long at 494 pages for the print version I own (average approximately 30 pages per chapter, with many longer than that, around 50-60 pages), which is difficult for time-challenged readers like myself. The Vance/Rita storyline is basically there to make the book longer, and neither they nor Priscilla and Dusty are the type of characters whose actions will be remembered after reading the book.

Sex

The love scenes–between Priscilla and Dusty and between Rita and Vance–are okay at best.

Violence

After Priscilla disciplines one of her male students, he tries to rape her; she is saved by Dusty. Vance shoots and later kills the former owner of Priscilla’s ranch. We learn that Rita is a serial murderess, who had a very traumatic childhood. I described the end of the book violence above.

Bottom Line on Texas Treasure

Victoria Thomspson’s Texas Treasure is not a bad book, but it is also not a dynamic one, with too many issues to keep it from being a very good book.

3 Stars

Sweet Savage Flame

Old School Romance From Avon to Zebra

Tag Archives: The Cowboy and the Lady series

Historical Romance Review: Bold Texas Embrace by Victoria Thompson

MILD SPOILERS 😉

The Book

The Characters

The Plot

Upside

Downside

Sex

Violence

Bottom Line on Bold Texas Embrace

Synopsis:

Historical Romance Review: Texas Triumph by Victoria Thompson

MILD SPOILERS😉

The Book

The Plot

Upside

Downside

Sex

Violence

Bottom Line on Texas Triumph

Synopsis

Historical Romance Review: Texas Treasure by Victoria Thompson

SPOILER ALERT ⚠

The Book

The Plot

Part One

Part Two

Upside

Downside

Sex

Violence

Bottom Line on Texas Treasure

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