What do you think?
Rate this book
Jake Strait #1
Avenging Angel
LAWLESS LOVE
With her beautiful face profiled against the hot Missouri sky, Wynne Elliot was every inch a southern lady, but that didn't make the rifle in her hands any less deadly.
She had sworn vengeance on the handsome scoundrel who'd taken her inheritance and broken her heart. Following him west into a wild, dangerous frontier, she'd found a rugged stranger able to take her breath away with the blazing blue of his eyes ... to make her tremble with the searing caress of his lips. But Cole Claxton was the brother of the man who'd betrayed her ... and she had no weapons against the desire he ignited in her ... no defense in the battle between love and revenge now raging in her heart.
With her beautiful face profiled against the hot Missouri sky, Wynne Elliot was every inch a southern lady, but that didn't make the rifle in her hands any less deadly.
She had sworn vengeance on the handsome scoundrel who'd taken her inheritance and broken her heart. Following him west into a wild, dangerous frontier, she'd found a rugged stranger able to take her breath away with the blazing blue of his eyes ... to make her tremble with the searing caress of his lips. But Cole Claxton was the brother of the man who'd betrayed her ... and she had no weapons against the desire he ignited in her ... no defense in the battle between love and revenge now raging in her heart.
364 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 1987
1 person is currently reading
93 people want to read
About the author
Lori Copeland
195 books534 followersLori Copeland was born on 12 June 1941. She had a relatively late start in writing, breaking into publishing in 1982 when she was already forty years old. Over the next dozen years, her romance novels achieved much success, as was evidenced by her winning the Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award, The Holt Medallion, and Walden Books' Best Seller award. She has been inducted into the Missouri Writers Hall of Fame.
Despite her success in more mainstream romantic fiction, in 1995, she decided to switch focus. Her subsequent books have been in the relatively new subgenre of Christian romance. She has also collaborated with authors Angela Elwell Hunt or Virginia Smith on a series of Christian romance novels.
Lori and her husband of over forty years, Lance, live in Springfield, Missouri, surrounded by the beautiful Ozarks. They have three grown sons, three daughter-in-laws, and six wonderful grandchildren, and two great-granddaughters. She and her husband are very involved in their church, and active in supporting mission work in Mali, West Africa.
Despite her success in more mainstream romantic fiction, in 1995, she decided to switch focus. Her subsequent books have been in the relatively new subgenre of Christian romance. She has also collaborated with authors Angela Elwell Hunt or Virginia Smith on a series of Christian romance novels.
Lori and her husband of over forty years, Lance, live in Springfield, Missouri, surrounded by the beautiful Ozarks. They have three grown sons, three daughter-in-laws, and six wonderful grandchildren, and two great-granddaughters. She and her husband are very involved in their church, and active in supporting mission work in Mali, West Africa.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 13, 2024
I originally read this book (bought used) in the 90s, and of course had it in paperback. I loved the covers and remembered loving the books, so I kept them when filling books for a move, but hadn’t reread them since.
I was looking for a scene I remembered from some western for someone on Reddit, and thought it might be in here, so gave it a reread/skim. Alas, the scene was not in here.
This book is full of head-hopping and POVs that aren’t the two main characters, as was more common at the time it was published.
I sadly found the writing style for this book to be rather juvenile. The characters are flimsy, and the sex scenes were written with heavy metaphors/non-explicit. This one fared the worst out of the three Clayton brothers’ books.
I was looking for a scene I remembered from some western for someone on Reddit, and thought it might be in here, so gave it a reread/skim. Alas, the scene was not in here.
This book is full of head-hopping and POVs that aren’t the two main characters, as was more common at the time it was published.
I sadly found the writing style for this book to be rather juvenile. The characters are flimsy, and the sex scenes were written with heavy metaphors/non-explicit. This one fared the worst out of the three Clayton brothers’ books.
January 19, 2021
right...uhhh. oddly paced, for one. our caricature of a “independent” woman owns a cotton plantation in georgia, maybe you can see where i’m going with this. i can excuse subpar writing, but i think i have to draw the line when our protagonist owned slaves. i understand this was written decades ago but a lot of the social narrative coming from wynne was tone deaf and unnecessary. the plot was almost nonexistent, the characters were two dimensional; i know it’s a 350-page romance novel but i would like a little more substance in what i’m reading.
May 7, 2025
This review is for the western historical romance by Lori Copeland.
Slowest burn ever, only the end of the book was interesting, the rest I had to fight to keep reading.
The heroine comes across childish, not strong as you would think by reading the book description.
No emotions, no romance, just boring. Although the story idea is good.
Slowest burn ever, only the end of the book was interesting, the rest I had to fight to keep reading.
The heroine comes across childish, not strong as you would think by reading the book description.
No emotions, no romance, just boring. Although the story idea is good.
February 24, 2020
l like series stories, this one
is a good start.
is a good start.
December 18, 2010
It's 2031 and the Party controls everything. Jake Strait is one of the Bogeymen, in common parlance, a licensed bounty hunter. The one thing he won't do is political warrants. They pay well, but he disagrees with most of the Party's policies and most are just people that offend them.
That's why he's sitting in his office, wondering how he'll get the rent, how to pay his answering service(they refuse to take any more calls until he pays up), or even where his next meal will come from.
So when the rich couple from up on the hill come in with a execution without trial warrant worth $5,000 credits, he doesn't think to ask too many questions. The subject sells crack, cocaine, heroin, has murdered and raped. Not at all a nice person.
He fills the contract, cuts the hand off for ID(everyone has a chip implanted for ID and banking information)and when he stops off at an auto fuel station to fill up the car, he uses the hand on the pay scanner.
That's when things got weird.
The man had two accounts. Jake goes to the local and transfers the 46 credits left to his account. Then he goes looking for an upscale bank where the second account is located. To his surprise, there's a quarter of a million in that one, which quickly disappears into his own.
Feeling smug, he goes to the local SPF office(Security and Protective Force)to claim the reward for the warrant and learns he's been had. The man was simply a harmless poet with an arrest warrant out on him.
Now Jake has the possibility of a murder charge hanging over his head.
After a drunken night, he gets mad and sets out to find out why he was set up and what exactly is going on. Add a homicidal beauty and a hit squad after him.
Told in the first person, this one reads like your classsical PI novel.
That's why he's sitting in his office, wondering how he'll get the rent, how to pay his answering service(they refuse to take any more calls until he pays up), or even where his next meal will come from.
So when the rich couple from up on the hill come in with a execution without trial warrant worth $5,000 credits, he doesn't think to ask too many questions. The subject sells crack, cocaine, heroin, has murdered and raped. Not at all a nice person.
He fills the contract, cuts the hand off for ID(everyone has a chip implanted for ID and banking information)and when he stops off at an auto fuel station to fill up the car, he uses the hand on the pay scanner.
That's when things got weird.
The man had two accounts. Jake goes to the local and transfers the 46 credits left to his account. Then he goes looking for an upscale bank where the second account is located. To his surprise, there's a quarter of a million in that one, which quickly disappears into his own.
Feeling smug, he goes to the local SPF office(Security and Protective Force)to claim the reward for the warrant and learns he's been had. The man was simply a harmless poet with an arrest warrant out on him.
Now Jake has the possibility of a murder charge hanging over his head.
After a drunken night, he gets mad and sets out to find out why he was set up and what exactly is going on. Add a homicidal beauty and a hit squad after him.
Told in the first person, this one reads like your classsical PI novel.
March 8, 2021
There's only one person I would actually recommend this book to, and that's conflict journalist & podcast host Robert Evans.
I *hate* the main character, I think the writing is self-important (though it's first-person, so maybe the main character is just self-important), I like the setting a lot actually but it falls flat at actually fleshing out the interesting political implications of the various events that occur or are described to have previously occurred. The ending is... lackluster, almost silly, in fact.
I hope the second one is better - that *did* happen with the Sandman Slim series. If not, well... there are only 4 of these, so I won't have *too* much to torture myself with.
I *hate* the main character, I think the writing is self-important (though it's first-person, so maybe the main character is just self-important), I like the setting a lot actually but it falls flat at actually fleshing out the interesting political implications of the various events that occur or are described to have previously occurred. The ending is... lackluster, almost silly, in fact.
I hope the second one is better - that *did* happen with the Sandman Slim series. If not, well... there are only 4 of these, so I won't have *too* much to torture myself with.
January 5, 2023
Avenging Angel is severely underrated. It's a brilliant action adventure story set into a background of a post collapse dystopian future.
Now I don't mean to say this is some literary masterpiece, but it's fun. Not all books have to be masterpieces just like not all movies have to win the Oscar. Some can just be a fun weekend popcorn movie, or in this case, book.
Now I don't mean to say this is some literary masterpiece, but it's fun. Not all books have to be masterpieces just like not all movies have to win the Oscar. Some can just be a fun weekend popcorn movie, or in this case, book.
May 1, 2011
Guess I picked up this book by mistake. This story reminds me of Robocop on a grand scale. It seems to be written a little better than the usual shoot-shoot novels I pick up. I finished the book and it might be worthwhile for people who enjoy action/adventure stories.
November 2, 2012
Pretty far fetched idea but the adventure was fun and her clumsy but stubborn character was something I identified with. Integrating the James brothers into the story was a great twist. I had a hard time putting this book down and read it in quick time.
November 18, 2012
Not sure why this series has been condemned to the male adventure genre. Book 1 was good, and it is so hard to find an adult dystopian, post-apocalyptic book these days. So although it took me awhile to hunt down all four, I hope the rest will be as good.
April 28, 2013
It's hard to find this book in print! But please do. 5+ stars. This has 3 books in the series and this is my favorite of the 3 although the other 2 aren't that far behind. My favorite books in the whole world! I love this book. 20+ stars for my review.
January 13, 2017
Hard drinking, wise cracking "Bogeyman", a licensed enforcer of the future gets tangled up in a messy job and political intrigue. Not a bad book. It's a bit different from the rest of the Gold Eagle library. The book sort of goes off course from time to time. It works out pretty well in the end.
November 7, 2012
Great main character and book, plenty of action and funny moments. Read the whole series you won't be disappointed.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews