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Prairie Hearts #2
Promising Hearts
Can two outcasts find refuge in one another's hearts? Dr. Vance Phelps lost everything in the War Between the States - her career and her faith in herself. Mae is a frontier madam, used to standing alone. She guards the well-being of the lost young women who come under her care - she just never expected one of them to be a doctor.
200 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2006
21 people are currently reading
498 people want to read
About the author
Radclyffe
142 books1,667 followersRadclyffe has written over forty-five romance and romantic intrigue novels, dozens of short stories, and, writing as L.L. Raand, has authored a paranormal romance series, The Midnight Hunters. She has also edited Best Lesbian Romance 2009 through 2015 as well as multiple other anthologies. She is an eight-time Lambda Literary Award finalist in romance, mystery, and erotica—winning in both romance and erotica. A member of the Saints and Sinners Literary Hall of Fame, she is also an RWA Prism, Lories, Beanpot, Aspen Gold, and Laurel Wreath winner in multiple mainstream romance categories. In 2014, she received the Dr. James Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist award from the Lambda Literary Foundation. In 2004, she founded Bold Strokes Books, an independent LGBTQ publishing company, and in 2013, she founded the Flax Mill Creek Writers Retreat offering writing workshops to authors in all stages of their careers.
She states, “I began reading lesbian fiction at the age of twelve when I found a copy of Ann Bannon’s Beebo Brinker. That book and others like it convinced me that I was not alone, that there were other women who felt like I did. Our literature provides support and validation and very often, a lifeline, for members of our community throughout the world. I am proud and honored to be able to publish the many fine authors at Bold Strokes Books and to contribute in some small way to the words that celebrate the LGBTQ experience.”
Radclyffe lives with her partner, Lee, in New York state.
She states, “I began reading lesbian fiction at the age of twelve when I found a copy of Ann Bannon’s Beebo Brinker. That book and others like it convinced me that I was not alone, that there were other women who felt like I did. Our literature provides support and validation and very often, a lifeline, for members of our community throughout the world. I am proud and honored to be able to publish the many fine authors at Bold Strokes Books and to contribute in some small way to the words that celebrate the LGBTQ experience.”
Radclyffe lives with her partner, Lee, in New York state.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
September 23, 2020
I liked this better than the previous installment - the characters and scenarios are far more complex. But still the conclusions of the storylines felt a little too easily solved. But I can't complain about HEA.
Mae is the saloon Madame who takes pride in caring for the girls under her management. She does her best to make it as safe of an environment as possible for them.
Dr Vance Phelps was a surgeon during the civil war, and lost her brother and most of her arm in the final battles. She is suffering from PTSD from the horrors of war, but has come to the frontier town to assist with doctoring and to get away from her past traumas.
Mae is drawn to the new doctor, and sees the hurt and pain in her, and similarly the Dr see's the harsh realities of life for Mae, but never pities her, only admiring her for her fortitude and bravery, and the immense care she has for her working girls.
We do catch up with Jessie and Kate from book 1, which is nice. The 4 become fast friends, finding similarities in eachother and their relationships.
There's some cattle rustling going on, and a man making a nuisance at the saloon who is working on behalf of the mysterious and unknown owner of the establishment. Katie wants to learn midwifery and Vance wants to get to the bottom of who owns the saloon and stop the harassment of Mae. There's gun shot wounds and drama, but also deep love and care, as the characters try to make their own way in life as strong independent women in the old west town.
Mae is the saloon Madame who takes pride in caring for the girls under her management. She does her best to make it as safe of an environment as possible for them.
Dr Vance Phelps was a surgeon during the civil war, and lost her brother and most of her arm in the final battles. She is suffering from PTSD from the horrors of war, but has come to the frontier town to assist with doctoring and to get away from her past traumas.
Mae is drawn to the new doctor, and sees the hurt and pain in her, and similarly the Dr see's the harsh realities of life for Mae, but never pities her, only admiring her for her fortitude and bravery, and the immense care she has for her working girls.
We do catch up with Jessie and Kate from book 1, which is nice. The 4 become fast friends, finding similarities in eachother and their relationships.
There's some cattle rustling going on, and a man making a nuisance at the saloon who is working on behalf of the mysterious and unknown owner of the establishment. Katie wants to learn midwifery and Vance wants to get to the bottom of who owns the saloon and stop the harassment of Mae. There's gun shot wounds and drama, but also deep love and care, as the characters try to make their own way in life as strong independent women in the old west town.
September 1, 2017
In this book, Radclyffe puts her characters in a very particular scenario, and then saddles them with very particular circumstances. She then writes the story completely ignoring the limitations her chosen situation should impose on her characters. And not in a these characters can rise above their situation way. It's more in a the reader gets taken out of the story multiple times because what they're reading is so unrealistic way. I get that this is the romance genre, and that books in that genre have historically been a bit hyperbolic as far as what their characters are capable of. But there's a line between a bit hyperbolic and just poor writing, and I don't think Promising Hearts came down on the right side of that line.
November 16, 2025
*** 3.25 ***
September 16, 2021
4,0 stars
It was basically the same as the first one. Cheesy, predictable and fun. We also got more of Kate and Jessie which was great. I also liked Vance, she balanced Mae out very well.
It was basically the same as the first one. Cheesy, predictable and fun. We also got more of Kate and Jessie which was great. I also liked Vance, she balanced Mae out very well.
August 8, 2022
I love this book. I think I've read it 5 or 6 times now. It is just a compelling book. How people survived in a harsh environment and being different.
If you love history and the frontier then give this a go.
Really enjoyed it.
If you love history and the frontier then give this a go.
Really enjoyed it.
March 14, 2013
I loved this book, the characters, the setting, the story, all bring it alive every time I've read it.
July 30, 2023
I enjoyed this book. It was nice to read the interaction of the characters. It was all wrapped up in a nice neat package, where everything turns out with happy endings, that was the most predictable part. I wish this series had more books.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 30, 2022
The continuation from book 1 was super. thoroughly enjoyed
October 11, 2020
Like the first book, I really liked the characters, setting, and beginning of the storylines. But also like the first book, there is not enough development of the storyline and too much time in characters professing there need for each other. I know it is a romance book, but still...
November 29, 2024
Promising Hearts
This was the follow-up to Innocent Hearts.... actually, it's more of a continuation.
We meet Dr. Vance Phelps, who arrives in Montana after being injured from a battle in the Civil War. She mats Mae, and it's clear that they have a connection, but it's a slow-burn for them.
We also get to catch up with Kate and Jessie... and not just a quick cameo for the couple or a few meet-ups with them. Their story is just as much a part of this book as it was the first. So that was a nice surprise.
The two couples team up to sort out their lives and fight to keep whats theirs safe from outlaws. We get a little action in this one... frontier style! Good storyline...really enjoyed it 😊👌
This was the follow-up to Innocent Hearts.... actually, it's more of a continuation.
We meet Dr. Vance Phelps, who arrives in Montana after being injured from a battle in the Civil War. She mats Mae, and it's clear that they have a connection, but it's a slow-burn for them.
We also get to catch up with Kate and Jessie... and not just a quick cameo for the couple or a few meet-ups with them. Their story is just as much a part of this book as it was the first. So that was a nice surprise.
The two couples team up to sort out their lives and fight to keep whats theirs safe from outlaws. We get a little action in this one... frontier style! Good storyline...really enjoyed it 😊👌
August 16, 2022
I was surprised!
The way the story opened up and how it went surprised me. I liked the telling of two stores at once and how so many lives were entwined together. I enjoyed this story tremendously. To be loved wholeheartedly when one feels less than whole (body-image) isn’t easy to conquer, even if the other person that sees us doesn’t care nor does it bother them one bit. This story is also about self-forgiveness and reclaiming one’s self-worth.
The way the story opened up and how it went surprised me. I liked the telling of two stores at once and how so many lives were entwined together. I enjoyed this story tremendously. To be loved wholeheartedly when one feels less than whole (body-image) isn’t easy to conquer, even if the other person that sees us doesn’t care nor does it bother them one bit. This story is also about self-forgiveness and reclaiming one’s self-worth.
March 24, 2018
Bought this immediately after finishing Innocent Hearts, because I needed more Kate/Jessie. And I wasn't disappointed. Builds from soon after Innocent Hearts.
Keeps Kate/Jessie story going - which I really liked. And adds Mae/Vance parallel. Leads in Promising - Mae (from Innocent) and Vance - carry much more baggage than Kate/Jessie in original, so has different feel.
Keeps Kate/Jessie story going - which I really liked. And adds Mae/Vance parallel. Leads in Promising - Mae (from Innocent) and Vance - carry much more baggage than Kate/Jessie in original, so has different feel.
April 5, 2019
Loved it
This book was one of Ms Radclfyffe's best novels. I have read a number of them and really, really liked this one. Her character development was well done. There was much more of a story in this one compared to some others of hers which seem to have more sex than substance.
This book was one of Ms Radclfyffe's best novels. I have read a number of them and really, really liked this one. Her character development was well done. There was much more of a story in this one compared to some others of hers which seem to have more sex than substance.
June 8, 2020
Totally formalised book - I mapped out the basic story in my head after the first chapter and, with a few deviations we got there. I was going to criticise this but actually, I read, this series was one of the first she wrote, so it would be wrong to dis a script which was so good and successful in it's day many copied it!
January 24, 2022
Honestly this book stands better than the previous book in the series. I almost wouldn't mind getting a third with this type of writing from the author and pursuing another character. I am very pleased with this book having a much more complex story line than the previous and the characters feel much more fleshed out.
December 22, 2017
I loved the audiobook from beginning to end, amazing narrator she took you right there.
September 15, 2025
A really good continuation and addition onto the first book in this series. I loved May in the first book and her story did not disappoint. I do wish we got to go even more in depth with her background and how everything ran at the saloon.
September 23, 2019
This beautiful book is about healing through acceptance. You accept the one you love as they are, as they come to you. You dont try to change them. You dont wish them to be the person they were before a trama, or who they might have been. You accept them as they are, present tense.
July 19, 2016
Dr. Vance Phelps, a veteran of the Civil War who lost her arm in one of the last battles, travels to New Hope, Montana to try to escape from her past. She meets Mae, who was introduced in the book's prequel, Innocent Hearts, the madam at the Golden Nugget in New Hope. Kate and Jessie, the protagonists from Innocent Hearts, also make prolonged appearances.
I wanted to like this book more than I did. It was okay, but I thought that Innocent Hearts was marginally better. The book is still plagued with point-of-view problems, often switching randomly and without warning in mid-chapter or even mid-paragraph.
I liked Vance well enough, but I thought that Mae was severely underdeveloped as a character. Does she even have a last name? I don't remember it if she does. The reader never gets to know Mae well; her past and what brought her to New Hope isn't explored much at all, and it leaves her feeling flat as a result. If the reader doesn't know enough about Mae to like her, how can Vance possibly fall in love with her, when Vance arguably knows even less than the reader about Mae?
I'll give the author another chance, preferably with a book that was written much later in her career, since I've heard such good things about her stories. But this book really wasn't all that memorable, which is a shame, because it should have been.
I wanted to like this book more than I did. It was okay, but I thought that Innocent Hearts was marginally better. The book is still plagued with point-of-view problems, often switching randomly and without warning in mid-chapter or even mid-paragraph.
I liked Vance well enough, but I thought that Mae was severely underdeveloped as a character. Does she even have a last name? I don't remember it if she does. The reader never gets to know Mae well; her past and what brought her to New Hope isn't explored much at all, and it leaves her feeling flat as a result. If the reader doesn't know enough about Mae to like her, how can Vance possibly fall in love with her, when Vance arguably knows even less than the reader about Mae?
I'll give the author another chance, preferably with a book that was written much later in her career, since I've heard such good things about her stories. But this book really wasn't all that memorable, which is a shame, because it should have been.
February 6, 2015
I was disappointed to find that the book was a sequel and most of the plot, from the start, is dedicated to a beta couple that steals the spotlight from Vance and Mae.
What's more this book has the usual Radclyffe pet peeves for me: everyone is gay, and the butch girls all have male names. 'cause we can't have a rancher girl named Jessica, now, can we?
What's more this book has the usual Radclyffe pet peeves for me: everyone is gay, and the butch girls all have male names. 'cause we can't have a rancher girl named Jessica, now, can we?
June 8, 2015
Worthy sequel to Innocent Hearts. At least of the same quality, maybe even better. Again thank you Radclyffe for another great book to add to my collection.
Read
August 4, 2011Not as good as the first one. Plotting not very tight. Still enjoyable, though.
January 6, 2016
loved it cant wait for more
December 8, 2007
Book 2 of a western theme.
October 30, 2017
Old western just sucks me into a time warp. I love the Dean Martin or Clint Eastwood like characters but found it difficult most times maintaining that these men like characters are women.
But asides this I must commend Radclyffe on how she verbalizes emotions...I have read some of her Paranormal series and enjoyed them for their intense erotica but this book....this book caused me to highlight many of the ways love was turned into words and I wonder how that is even possible.
But asides this I must commend Radclyffe on how she verbalizes emotions...I have read some of her Paranormal series and enjoyed them for their intense erotica but this book....this book caused me to highlight many of the ways love was turned into words and I wonder how that is even possible.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews