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Of Men and Angels
JAKE MALONE HAD NOTHING MUCH TO BELIEVE IN --
UNTIL HE HEARD AN ANGEL SINGING IN THE DESERT....
Under the blazing Colorado sun a miracle happened. Soulless Jake Malone began to care about Alexandra Merritt, an indomitable, heaven-sent beauty, and the small, squalling life she'd helped bring into this world. But could she help Jake forgive himself his past so that they could have a future?
UNTIL HE HEARD AN ANGEL SINGING IN THE DESERT....
Under the blazing Colorado sun a miracle happened. Soulless Jake Malone began to care about Alexandra Merritt, an indomitable, heaven-sent beauty, and the small, squalling life she'd helped bring into this world. But could she help Jake forgive himself his past so that they could have a future?
298 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 2003
2 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
About the author
Victoria Bylin
49 books493 followersIf someone had told me twenty years ago that I'd be the author of 20 books, I'd have fallen off my chair. I’m still amazed to see my novels on Goodreads, Amazon, and occasionally the shelves at Walmart.
More than anything, I delight in telling stories that tackle tough issues with faith and compassion. One my most challenging books, Together With You, won the RWA FHL Readers Choice Award for Best Contemporary Romance. I was equally thrilled when The Two of Us made it to the shelves in Target as part of the "Target Recommends" program.
Before writing contemporaries, I wrote westerns for Harlequin Historical and Love Inspired Historical. The LIHs are clean reads. The Harlequin Historicals (no brown banner like the LIHs) were written for the mainstream market. They have Christian themes but gritty content. Some readers won’t care for the language and love scenes. (If you want to know why I wrote them, the story is on my website.)
My two most recent books are independently published. When He Found Me and A Gift to Cherish are a mix of romance and women’s fiction and part of The Road to Refuge series. These stories are particularly close to my heart.
My husband and I now make our home in Lexington, Kentucky, but I’m a California girl at heart. I hope you enjoy my books! For more information, visit https://www.victoriabylin.com
More than anything, I delight in telling stories that tackle tough issues with faith and compassion. One my most challenging books, Together With You, won the RWA FHL Readers Choice Award for Best Contemporary Romance. I was equally thrilled when The Two of Us made it to the shelves in Target as part of the "Target Recommends" program.
Before writing contemporaries, I wrote westerns for Harlequin Historical and Love Inspired Historical. The LIHs are clean reads. The Harlequin Historicals (no brown banner like the LIHs) were written for the mainstream market. They have Christian themes but gritty content. Some readers won’t care for the language and love scenes. (If you want to know why I wrote them, the story is on my website.)
My two most recent books are independently published. When He Found Me and A Gift to Cherish are a mix of romance and women’s fiction and part of The Road to Refuge series. These stories are particularly close to my heart.
My husband and I now make our home in Lexington, Kentucky, but I’m a California girl at heart. I hope you enjoy my books! For more information, visit https://www.victoriabylin.com
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 27, 2010
Every once in a while you run across a book that seems unassuming and no different from the other books on the shelf at Walmart. But then you start to read and the more the story unfolds, the more you think - wow. This is that kind of book.
Jake Malone is on the run. He's ditching his past and leaving behind all the mistakes and heartache he's experienced over the last few years. Along the way he hears the voice of an angel, only this angel is crying. Disturbed and not even remotely wanting to know why such a beautiful voice would carry such sorrow he tries his best to skirt around the noise, to no avail. The angel he heard is Alexandra, or Alex, tending to a pregnant woman giving birth.
Alex has been on her way home to visit her parents. Her father is dying. But just before she gets home, a terrible accident crushes the stagecoach she's in and the very pregnant woman she's with goes into labor. On her own and with no idea what to do, Alex does her best to calm the woman by singing while she helps her to give birth. Unfortunately the woman dies, but her child, a boy, lives. Its at this point that Jake rides up and finds her. He agrees to take her and the child to her father's town and see them there safely.
This story had so many layers. The past Jake was running from was both emotional and physical. He'd spent years under the care of his half-brother who both despised him and mentally abused him. You would think Jake would be a character you felt pity for, but Jake's made his own share of mistakes as well. He's definitely in the alpha male category with a take no prisoners and damned the consequences attitude, but deep inside he's still that 8 year old boy who was told he was "no good" and would never amount to anything. He's bought into that belief by being a drunkard, a hell-raiser and a womanizer.
Alex also has her share of self doubt. She's a spinster at 27, working with orphans in Philadelphia when she gets the word her father is dying. She's also just become engaged to her deceased best friends husband, a man 25+ years older than her, in a bid to feel wanted and needed. She's used to being self reliant, yet when she finds herself in the wilderness with a dying woman and a baby, she's finding out that maybe she's not as together as she thinks she is. Jake's arrival and subsequent help only reinforce that feeling in her. But Jake also pushes all the buttons in her that her fiance never has - buttons like passion and want and love.
This is not a wilderness or travel story at all. In fact, the majority of the book takes place in Alex's hometown. But it has a wildness to it that's hard to describe. Jake feeling and wanting things he feels he has no place wanting, and Alex feeling pulled toward Jake, yet feeling guilty about her fiance whom she really doesn't love, but respects. Victoria Bylin always writes a good story and she really delivers with this one.
A-
Jake Malone is on the run. He's ditching his past and leaving behind all the mistakes and heartache he's experienced over the last few years. Along the way he hears the voice of an angel, only this angel is crying. Disturbed and not even remotely wanting to know why such a beautiful voice would carry such sorrow he tries his best to skirt around the noise, to no avail. The angel he heard is Alexandra, or Alex, tending to a pregnant woman giving birth.
Alex has been on her way home to visit her parents. Her father is dying. But just before she gets home, a terrible accident crushes the stagecoach she's in and the very pregnant woman she's with goes into labor. On her own and with no idea what to do, Alex does her best to calm the woman by singing while she helps her to give birth. Unfortunately the woman dies, but her child, a boy, lives. Its at this point that Jake rides up and finds her. He agrees to take her and the child to her father's town and see them there safely.
This story had so many layers. The past Jake was running from was both emotional and physical. He'd spent years under the care of his half-brother who both despised him and mentally abused him. You would think Jake would be a character you felt pity for, but Jake's made his own share of mistakes as well. He's definitely in the alpha male category with a take no prisoners and damned the consequences attitude, but deep inside he's still that 8 year old boy who was told he was "no good" and would never amount to anything. He's bought into that belief by being a drunkard, a hell-raiser and a womanizer.
Alex also has her share of self doubt. She's a spinster at 27, working with orphans in Philadelphia when she gets the word her father is dying. She's also just become engaged to her deceased best friends husband, a man 25+ years older than her, in a bid to feel wanted and needed. She's used to being self reliant, yet when she finds herself in the wilderness with a dying woman and a baby, she's finding out that maybe she's not as together as she thinks she is. Jake's arrival and subsequent help only reinforce that feeling in her. But Jake also pushes all the buttons in her that her fiance never has - buttons like passion and want and love.
This is not a wilderness or travel story at all. In fact, the majority of the book takes place in Alex's hometown. But it has a wildness to it that's hard to describe. Jake feeling and wanting things he feels he has no place wanting, and Alex feeling pulled toward Jake, yet feeling guilty about her fiance whom she really doesn't love, but respects. Victoria Bylin always writes a good story and she really delivers with this one.
A-
January 23, 2012
Of Men And Angels by Victoria Bylin
This was a great read and slightly different. It had the good, the bad and the ugly. Life and death, mistakes in life that could not be fixed and other's that could.
Jackson Jake Malone was a man who was selfish and didn't think much beyond the moment. His brother, Gabe, had raised him from the age of eight but they were mostly at odds with each other. After his last mistake he did not know if he was a wanted man. Hung over and beat up he heard an angel singing in the desert. He did not care about others but something pulled him towards the angel. There was one woman giving birth and before long his angel held a baby and the other woman had died. For some reason he felt he needed to protect them. Jake brings them to Grand Junction and ends up staying to work for his angel's father's peach orchard.
Alexandra Merritt was heading back to Grand Junction after ten years in Philadelphia. Her father was having heart issues and she had to get home. After many delays she was already a month later then she planned. After a stagecoach accident that left her alone with the very pregnant Charlotte Smith she soon found herself delivering a baby. When she looked up she thought she saw the angel of death watching her but he ended up being her hero. Charlotte didn't make it and she had to get home along with a baby boy in her care. Jake brings her home and that is just the beginning.
**Sexual situations and some language.
http://justjudysjumbles.blogspot.com/...
This was a great read and slightly different. It had the good, the bad and the ugly. Life and death, mistakes in life that could not be fixed and other's that could.
Jackson Jake Malone was a man who was selfish and didn't think much beyond the moment. His brother, Gabe, had raised him from the age of eight but they were mostly at odds with each other. After his last mistake he did not know if he was a wanted man. Hung over and beat up he heard an angel singing in the desert. He did not care about others but something pulled him towards the angel. There was one woman giving birth and before long his angel held a baby and the other woman had died. For some reason he felt he needed to protect them. Jake brings them to Grand Junction and ends up staying to work for his angel's father's peach orchard.
Alexandra Merritt was heading back to Grand Junction after ten years in Philadelphia. Her father was having heart issues and she had to get home. After many delays she was already a month later then she planned. After a stagecoach accident that left her alone with the very pregnant Charlotte Smith she soon found herself delivering a baby. When she looked up she thought she saw the angel of death watching her but he ended up being her hero. Charlotte didn't make it and she had to get home along with a baby boy in her care. Jake brings her home and that is just the beginning.
**Sexual situations and some language.
http://justjudysjumbles.blogspot.com/...
March 30, 2022
Wow! Talk about an incredible debut novel for Victoria Bylin!
There were parts of this book that I loved, and then there were other parts of this book that I really did not care for. Overall, this was an enjoyable, fast-paced read.
There were parts of this book that I loved, and then there were other parts of this book that I really did not care for. Overall, this was an enjoyable, fast-paced read.
September 26, 2017
Not well written - predictable
January 5, 2014
O segundo parágrafo na sinopse é muito mentiroso. Não acredite em nada pois no livro as coisas são bem diferentes!
Depois desse desabafo vamos seguir em frente. O livro é bem empolgante e você começa a ler mas não consegue parar! Terminei 3 da madrugada e ansiosíssima! A mocinha é inteligente, sagaz, boa gente, bonita, cheia de opinião mas nunca rude, objetiva e adoro o nome dela pois é forte! Ela também é levemente inocente mas apenas por inexperiência e não por burrice ou por ser tapada. Não é uma romântica incorrigível e sonha em adotar crianças. Adorei ela. O mocinho é mais lugar comum mas que todo mundo gosta, aquela coisa do playboy que no fundo é uma boa alma que apenas fez escolhas erradas e que muda de vida na primeira oportunidade que recebe. Ele é despeitado mas educado, bonitão (moreno, alto, sensual, quem não quer?). Também é bem esperto e ele e a mocinha tem uns diálogos bem interessantes.
A história se desenrola em diversos cenários que fazem a diferença pois acompanham a evolução do relacionamento deles. Embora siga a premissa da maioria dos livros de banca de amor à primeira vista (que eu chamo de atração a primeira vista) o relacionamento deles realmente evolui como na vida real sabe? Você conhece a pessoa, se interessa, conversam, descobrem coisas em comum, sonhos em comum, vê equívocos, defeitos, perdoa, decide se quer ou não olhar a cara daquela pessoa o resto da vida… Esse tipo de coisa. Não há vilões mas não seria preciso visto que eles já tem sua dose de desafios na vida. Acredito até que se tivessem vilões a história perderia o sentido ficando muito carregada e perdendo nos diálogos espertos.
Depois desse desabafo vamos seguir em frente. O livro é bem empolgante e você começa a ler mas não consegue parar! Terminei 3 da madrugada e ansiosíssima! A mocinha é inteligente, sagaz, boa gente, bonita, cheia de opinião mas nunca rude, objetiva e adoro o nome dela pois é forte! Ela também é levemente inocente mas apenas por inexperiência e não por burrice ou por ser tapada. Não é uma romântica incorrigível e sonha em adotar crianças. Adorei ela. O mocinho é mais lugar comum mas que todo mundo gosta, aquela coisa do playboy que no fundo é uma boa alma que apenas fez escolhas erradas e que muda de vida na primeira oportunidade que recebe. Ele é despeitado mas educado, bonitão (moreno, alto, sensual, quem não quer?). Também é bem esperto e ele e a mocinha tem uns diálogos bem interessantes.
A história se desenrola em diversos cenários que fazem a diferença pois acompanham a evolução do relacionamento deles. Embora siga a premissa da maioria dos livros de banca de amor à primeira vista (que eu chamo de atração a primeira vista) o relacionamento deles realmente evolui como na vida real sabe? Você conhece a pessoa, se interessa, conversam, descobrem coisas em comum, sonhos em comum, vê equívocos, defeitos, perdoa, decide se quer ou não olhar a cara daquela pessoa o resto da vida… Esse tipo de coisa. Não há vilões mas não seria preciso visto que eles já tem sua dose de desafios na vida. Acredito até que se tivessem vilões a história perderia o sentido ficando muito carregada e perdendo nos diálogos espertos.
February 27, 2013
I reached deep into one of my TBR boxes and pulled this little gem from the pile. From 2003, this Harlequin Historical western had too many spiritual references for my romance reading pleasure, however, the emotion was touching and heartfelt. The characters were real, had their demons, and ultimately there is redemption. Jake is a drifter and by his own standards, a no-account. His journey made for an entertaining read. Is there blatant manipulation of emotions in parts? Sure, but it works.
I see Victoria Bylin went on to write historicals for the Love Inspired line at Harlequin. After reading this I can see why. The attraction between Jake and Alexandra sizzled, and the plot and their romance moved at a good pace. I enjoyed this~I defy you not to have a lump in your throat while reading the epilogue. A pleasant surprise and definitely recommend~
I see Victoria Bylin went on to write historicals for the Love Inspired line at Harlequin. After reading this I can see why. The attraction between Jake and Alexandra sizzled, and the plot and their romance moved at a good pace. I enjoyed this~I defy you not to have a lump in your throat while reading the epilogue. A pleasant surprise and definitely recommend~
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews