The Arizona Territory was a dangerous place, but gunslinger Jake Redman was half-Apache and all man--more than a match for the wilderness. Sarah Conway was something else again. She was every inch an Eastern lady, yet she was determined to make Lone Bluff her home.
Jake was annoyed to find himself playing guardian angel to this tantalizing innocent--even more disgusted to find he liked it. Little did he suspect that beneath Sarah's ladylike demeanor beat the heart of a frontier woman ant that her body yearned for his hard embrace, her heart for his words of love .. . .
Nora Roberts is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 200 novels, including Hideaway, Under Currents, Come Sundown, The Awakening, Legacy, and coming in November 2021 -- The Becoming -- the second book in The Dragon Heart Legacy. She is also the author of the futuristic suspense In Death series written under the pen name J.D. Robb. There are more than 500 million copies of her books in print.
A western by Nora Roberts. She should write more if them 'cause this is terrific! It's got all the style and romance of a Louis L'amour. This is the book that the heroine, Jackie MacNamara from Loving Jack was writing. It has tall, dark and handsome gunslinger who finds himself involved with a young girl raised by nuns in the East. She arrives in a dusty town hoping to meet up with the father she hasn't seen since childhood. We have the expected complement of Apaches, saloons, bordellos, shoot-outs and gold mines. The only thing missing was a stampede. Well, maybe next time. 😊 Excellent book! If you like westerns don't miss this one.
"You take too many chances, Sarah." Slowly, when he was certain she understood his meaning, he removed his hand.
"You don't frighten me, Mr. Redman. If you were going to hurt me, you would have done so by now."
"Maybe, maybe not. Your kind wears a man down."
"My kind?" She turned, the height of challenge in her eyes. "Just what kind would that be?"
"The soft kind. The soft, stubborn kind who's right on the edge of stepping into a man's arms."
Jake Redman and Sarah Conway were two pretty great characters in search of a better plot. Not that I didn't enjoy Nora Roberts' historical western romance Lawless. On the whole, it was highly entertaining. There were gripping gunslinger shootouts, a riveting stagecoach battle, and a bloody hilarious bordello catfight, to name but a few. The chemistry between the two protagonists was off the charts hot too!
But the plot basically consisted of that tried and true romance trope of having the heroine continually get herself into a dangerous situation and the hero just happening to show up at the right time to rescue her. It was a bit repetitive. What saved it was that the heroine was a great, kick-ass, brave woman if somewhat anachronistic for 1875. LoL Oh well, no matter. It was great fun.
Too bad its ending was botched. It would have been a higher rating had the author not ended a pretty great story with two of my major pet peeves. ["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>
This book made me want to say things like Yes sirree bob, lower than a snake’s belly or you yellow bellied coward. I loved it and loved the hero and heroine.
Sarah, the heroine, has been educated in a convent in Philadelphia, and poor girl, finds herself in late 19th century Arizona desert, not a fine sight to see. Rough start as her father is dead, and the frontier is even rougher. Sarah is a heroine that we need many, many more of as she has a spine of steel and takes no guff from anyone starting with the incredibly hunky curmudgeon in training, Jake. Jake is mixed race with a small hint of Apache that doesn’t stop the girls at the local saloon from sighing over him.
Sarah was such an awesome character. She takes nothing lying down, and has no problem getting tough with Jake or her more straight laced beau, but she never crosses the line of being arrogant or nasty.
Jake’s character is the strong, silent type and broods smokily as he obsesses over keeping Sarah safe.
There is an appropriately evil OW, Carlota, that runs the saloon/brothel that is really, really evil as in she beats one of her young prostitutes to within an inch of her life because she’s miffed that Jake likes the more virginal Sarah. She is complicit in lots of bad things and slinks out of town which was a bummer. I’ll just have to settle for the fact that prim Sarah takes care of her in her own way.
It fizzles out towards the end, but all in all it was a great read.
"Lawless" is the story of Sarah and Jake, and a western masterpiece by Nora Roberts. I can't believe I didn't read this before- because this book was amazing!
Sarah moves from the east to country finally reconcile with her father, but what she finds out is her father is dead and she has to survive in the rustic lands all by herself. Jake doesn't believe the Duchess who arrived on the coach would survive in the harsh conditions in the Old west, but what he doesn't expect is himself falling for her and finding home with her. A story about two lost souls finding each other, Sarah and Jake were just great, contrasting yet hopeful characters to read. How Sarah arrives with her heart in her eyes, finds all her dreams shattered and then picks herself up- building a home, learning skills and finding love is just very well portrayed. I admired her strength- her finding work with sewing- giving shelter to Alice- adopting the puppy- taking care of old Lucian- punching Carlotta (which was my favorite scene). Jake is 1/4th apache, having always lived as a gunslinger and a outlaw. Never had home or affection. Instantly attracted to this polite but brave lady, he never expects to feel protective or fall in love. But he does. Their romance is beautiful, and so are their love making scenes. There is a lot of evil which surrounds them- but together they fight them against all odds. The secondary characters, i.e. of Anne, Lucian et al were likable and certainly added to the story. The confession in the end with her threatening and chasing him..GOLD! Overall, opposites attract to make this love story worth rereading. Ah such a brave heroine and such a devoted alpha hero!!
Superb suspenseful storytelling from the Old West!
This was my first historical romance by Nora Roberts and I loved it. Set in 1875 in Arizona Territory, it tells of Sarah Conway, who was raised in a convent school in Philadelphia where her father left her when he went west to discover gold. He loved his daughter and saw Sarah had everything but the one thing she really wanted—her father. So, when she was nearly 18, she traveled west to Lone Bluff where her father had settled and built them a fine home. She is shocked to see how stark the land was and to discover her father has been killed in an accident in his mine and there was no fine home. Instead, she finds a one-room shack with a dirt floor.
Jake Redman is half Apache and all gunslinger, a hardened man but with a kind, noble heart. Jake thinks the girl he calls Duchess won’t last a day in Lone Bluff. But he was wrong. And for some reason, he wants to protect her.
Sarah is a stubborn, determined woman with little respect for the prejudice of others. She falls hard for Jake and befriends a young prostitute—all the while she is making a home of the cabin her father left her and building a seamstress business. Jake is the perfect hero, steel and ice outside and fire inside. Sarah has a steel backbone but is all lady inside.
Roberts brings the Old West to life creating vivid images of the rough life on the frontier with lots of action to keep you biting your nails. There are wonderful secondary characters, too, including Lucius, the kind old soldier who Sarah hires to look after her place; Alice, the young prostitute who thought the sun rose with Sarah; Sam Carlson, the smooth rancher who was more snake than gentleman; and Carlotta, the madam of the local whorehouse who wants gold and Jake and doesn’t take kindly to the proper young lady from Philadelphia who has captured Jake’s attention. Great storytelling!
I've forgotten what a fantastic author Ms. Roberts is. She used to be my catnip when I was in my teens. The library and the second-hand bookstore I visited had many of her books. The Calhoun series used to be my favourite, as I would re-read it once a year. I'm unsure how this particular series holds up, as it's been quite some time since I last read it.
Anyway, this book has one of my favourite types of heroines; a convent-bred heroine. Ms. Roberts paired the heroine, Susan, with Jake, a gunslinger. I loved this type of pairing because of the sexual tension. You know the sexual tension would be through the roof. The heroine is somehow repressed (due to her upbringing). The hero, wittingly or unwittingly, tries his darndest to break her ice. So, you can expect a lot of witty banters. The whole story reminds me a bit of 'The bequest' by Candice Proctor. However, this book has a lighter tone, while 'The bequest' is weightier due to the writing style.
The love scenes are non-explicit and littered with purple proses. I remember her older books having this style (I'm not sure about her recent offerings).
This book was a pleasure to read, and I will definitely be on the lookout for her other books. She's a prolific author (more than 200 books!!), so I will definitely be spoilt for choice.
¡Me encantó! ❤ Esta es la historia que escribe Jackie mientras vive en la casa de/con Nathan, protagonistas de "El hombre de sus sueños" (primer libro de la Serie Arquitectos), contada por Nora Roberts. Impecable. ❤
Esta ha sido mi primera vez con esta autora y seguro que repetiré porque me ha encantado la historia y su modo de contarla. Es un western, porque la he leído y era como una película, con las descripciones justas para meterte en la historia y sentir que estás allí, sin hacer que la lectura sea lenta ni pesada. Sarah llega desde el Este donde se ha criado y recibido educación en una escuela de señoritas. Va a reunirse con su padre por fin después de muchos años, pensando en la vida que tendrán juntos en la casa que ha construido con los beneficios de una mina. Pero cuando llega nada es lo que parece, la casa no es más que una choza y la mina es pequeña y parece que no tiene mucho valor y lo peor es que su padre ha fallecido. Jake es un pistolero que se busca la vida como puede, y cuando conoce a Sarah nada más llegar al pueblo, se siente casi obligado a cuidarla y ayudarla, aunque también se siente atraído por ella. Sarah resulta ser más fuerte de lo que parece, se adapta a su nueva vida, agradecida por todo lo que su padre se sacrificó por ella, por darle lo mejor. Es una muchacha muy joven e inocente, pero es inteligente, noble y espabilada. Jake contra lo que le dice su cabeza, la ayuda todo lo que puede, se siente responsable de su seguridad. Es un hombre duro, con un pasado doloroso y que no quiere ataduras de ningún tipo, pero no puede evitar lo que siente por Sarah y protegerla. Ella también tiene sentimientos por Jake y está decidida a hacer que él deje de lado sus dudas y se quede junto a ella. Una historia muy bonita, Jake debajo de toda esa rudeza es un hombre necesitado de amor y ternura y Sarah se lo da con creces. Me ha encantado su relación, cómo evoluciona, la confianza que va creciendo entre ellos,el amor y la pasión. Ha sido una lectura que me ha enganchado totalmente, con todos los ingredientes de los buenos western, que me encantan, con sus malos sin escrúpulos, las chicas del salón, peleas, tiroteos, y una historia de amor preciosa y contado todo con maestría, sabiendo meterte en la historia y en los sentimientos de los protagonistas, secundarios imprescindibles que hacen redonda la novela. Me ha encantado y la he disfrutado muchísimo 🥰.
Listed as .5 in the Love by Design: Jack's Stories series by Nora Roberts. Sarah Conway has come to Arizona Territory to see her father. Her mother died when she was young and her father left her in Philadelphia at a convent school, while he set out west to carve out a better living for them. The stage is attacked and Jake Redman comes to the rescue. Anyway, she arrives in Lone Bluff to discover that her father was killed in a mining accident just days before. She continues on to her father house and decides to stay.
Yes, it was a bit predictable but it still had a charm to it. The characters were likable and well developed, though I wouldn't have minded a bit more of their history told. The bad guys were obvious, too. I felt it was well written and ran at a nice pace without lagging. Truly, I didn't even know Nora Roberts wrote any historical romances until I ran into this one.
This was a different type of story than what I normally read from NR. She still gave us her trademark mystery with a huge dose of Western. I’m not big on Westerns, but I gave it a try because I’m an NR fan.
I learned a lot about the Native American population. This book was published in the 80s and I am assuming Nora’s viewpoints were not popular back then. I was actually surprised to see such forward thinking towards the Native Americans given the age of the book. I appreciate Nora trying to share the truth with the world through her ‘fiction’ writing. I wish she would have added more detail here.
Overall, this was an interesting story. Sarah got on my nerves at times. She did dumb stuff like walking alone just after being kidnapped. How dumb can you be? No sense of self-preservation. However, I enjoyed the plot and learning how things were done in the west. I don’t watch westerns so a lot of this was new for me. It seemed so savage and rough back then.
In "Loving Jack," the second book in the series, the heroine is an aspiring author and is writing this story. Seems I read the series out of order, but it didn't lesson my enjoyment of this book. This, apparently, is Nora Robert's first historical romance. I liked it. Love finding "new to me" books written by Nora Roberts. ;)
My beautiful late nan owned every single one of Nora’s books. So when she moved in with us for her last few years we spent the time reading our way through every single one together. Granted they are not the type of books I like to read, but they were still really good and sweet.
It's a romance novel set in Injun country! Does it have:
1. A "half-breed" hero? CHECK! Per the jacket copy, Jake Redman is "half Apache and all man"! . 2. A caucasian heroine? CHECK! She's even blonde and pale. (+2 bonus points)
3. A kidnapping and attempted rape of the caucasian heroine by a Native American villain? CHECK! His "dark eyes" actually "gleam" in the firelight as he begins to cut her clothes away! (+1 bonus point)
I believe that's romance novel Indian bingo right there.
Putting aside the painful racial caricaturing (and I know that the idea of easily "putting it aside" is an issue in its own right) this novel's plot is as flimsy as one of its heroine's chemises, but the writing isn't terribly godawful and some of the characterization is fun. (Nora, you're welcome to steal that blurb for the next edition).
This is a delightful and romantic western about Jack, a half-Apache gunslinger, and Sarah, a city-bred woman who moves to Arizona to meet up with her father. Sarah is a great heroine, strong and smart, she never whines regardless of her dreary circumstances. Jack is a loner who learns to love, and for the first time in his life he wants a place to call home. They make a great pair and I loved the scenes where they were together. The villains are truly evil, and even though the storyline is predictable at times, the writing is so well-executed that I was eager to learn what would happen next. We get a great HEA at the end of a story full of adventure and romance in the Wild West.
this book wasn’t long but it felt like a long one. i learned that i don’t enjoy historical romance. if there’s no electricity or plumbing, i need at least magic to balance it out.
i wanted to shake sarah so many times of her naïveté.
so she nearly died then tended for him for weeks. so what he did after that? he went away so she could find a better man for her.
I thought a fair amount about why I disliked this book so much. Turns out it's because it's not relatable. What makes books like this good for me is the ability to relate to the female character, which is absolutely impossible with this book. Also the writing was terrible.
This was a true western novel. Sarah is traveling to Arizona via wagontrain/stagecoach when she meets a young gentleman. He falls immediately for her but believes he is not worthy of such a true "lady". She faces many ups and downs as she learns of her dad's death and the mine and property he left her. She realizes daddy was a dreamer and now she is trying to make this dessert home. She is strong and the challenges keep coming. It was an enjoyable read and addicting to the love and territory.
This was just ok for me. I'm not sure if it was because this was story was supposed to be from the 1800's or if it's because it was written in 1989 but this wasn't one of her best works.
1.5 star read. I haven’t read a Nora Robert’s book since I was in my early twenties so this was very nostalgic. I love 1800’s westerns wild west troupe but this just didn’t do it for me. Maybe it was the pace or I don’t know it was missing something.
Such a nice romantic period piece set in western times with a classic cowboys and Indians rivalry. First time reading Nora Roberts but I will definitely be reading more of her books!
Depois da boa surpresa que foi o segundo livro, estava com receio de não gostar deste terceiro, pois as expectativas eram bastante altas. Felizmente, o nível de qualidade manteve-se e mais um livro aprovado. Para quem não sabe, apesar deste livro estar enquadrado nesta trilogia, "Sem Lei" não tem nenhum arquitecto e nem é um romance contemporâneo. Logo na primeira opinião, em "O Homem dos seus sonhos" disse que a protagonista, Jackie, está a escrever um livro. Pois bem, este é o livro escrito por Jackie, e por isso pertence a esta trilogia. Gostei deste detalhe, é sem dúvida engraçado, sabemos que uma personagem está a escrever um livro e depois temos a oportunidade de ler esse livro! É um romance histórico, passado no faroeste americano. Que me lembre, acho que foi o primeiro histórico que li da Nora e tanto como nos romances actuais, a autora saiu-se bem. Conseguiu enquadrar a época, e gostei do enredo da rivalidade entre pistoleiros e índios, muito giro. Neste livro o casal protagonista é Sarah Conway, uma dama vinda de Este que após muitos anos, está ansiosa pelo reencontro com o seu pai. Infelizmente ao chegar à terra de sonhos que ele prometeu, descobre que o seu pai faleceu, num desmoronamento da mina onde trabalhava, e que agora pertence a Sarah, assim como o pequeno casebre onde vivia. Apesar destes bens serem dela, a população tenta convencer Sarah a abandonar a casa, pois não é seguro para um jovem viver sozinha, perto de uma mina, onde se encontra ouro. Decidida a honrar o pai, Sarah fica por conta própria e faz o melhor que pode para se sustentar. O que ela não sabe é que tem Jake Reedman como seu protector e por muitas divergências que ambos tenha, afinal tiveram educações e vidas diferentes, os dois não resistem à paixão que os une. Adorei a Sarah, e mais uma vez o choque de personalidades entre os protagonistas animou a leitura, e aqui o par romântico não poderia ser mais diferente, um cowboy e uma dama! O Jake é um pedaço de mau caminho sempre a salvar a sua amada, de revólver em punho! De todas as cenas, as minhas preferidas são quando ele ensina-lhe a disparar. Tão imaginar uma dama a agarrar uma arma com duas mãos que teimavam em tremer? Muito engraçado. Este livro acabou por ser um excelente fecho para esta trilogia e de agora em diante, só me resta ler todas as séries desta autora, editadas pela Harlequin.