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Coyote Springs #1
Taking a Stand
Homebuilder Jesse Amorado, and former Air Force Captain Tori Carr, come from the same Texas town but from very different worlds. When she returns home to Coyote Springs to help her father, a real-estate developer, turn the seediest neighborhood into an exclusive resort for the wealthy, Tori and Jesse immediately clash. He'll do whatever it takes to save his heritage, and she is caught up in proving herself to her father.
As personal tensions rise and local trouble begins to brew, Jesse and Tori fall in love-despite it all. They soon find, however, that they must not only confront vested interests and prejudices, they have to fight for their very lives.
As personal tensions rise and local trouble begins to brew, Jesse and Tori fall in love-despite it all. They soon find, however, that they must not only confront vested interests and prejudices, they have to fight for their very lives.
228 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 1998
20 people are currently reading
203 people want to read
About the author
Ken Casper
28 books20 followersKen Casper was born and raised in New York City. After graduating from Fordham University with a degree in Russian, he joined the Air Force, was stationed in the Far East, served in Vietnam, and lived five years in Germany. He also earned a Master's degree in Education from the University of Southern California. Ken retired from more than 33 years of government service in September '97.
Now a transplanted Texan. He and Mary, his wife of 34 years, own a horse farm in San Angelo. Along with their Border Collie, Chief, they have a Golden Retriever, Casey, two house cats, four barn cats and eight horses. They also board and breed horses and Mary teaches English riding. She's a therapeutic riding instructor for the handicapped, as well.
Life is never dull. Their two granddaughters visit several times a year and feel right at home with the Casper menagerie. Grampa and Mimi do everything they can to make sure their visits to Little Oaks Farm will be lifelong fond memories. After all, isn't that what grandparents are for?
Ken figures his writing career probably started in the sixth grade when he was ordered by a teacher to write a "theme" explaining his misbehavior over the previous semester. To his teacher's chagrin, he enjoyed stringing just the right words together to justify his less than stellar performance. Fortunately, she forgave him.
Since then, he's had short stories published in a popular men's magazine and was working on a mystery when his critique partners, three romance writers, suggested he try their genre. He had his doubts ("Me? Write romance? Are you kidding?), but he decided to give it a try, anyway. His first-chapter romance submission won honorable mention at the Southwest Writers' Workshop contest in 1993. Ken revised it...and revised it, then entered the Golden Triangle Writers' Guild contest in '95. This time he took first place in both mystery and romance. The romance entry later became his first sale to Harlequin Superromance. A MAN CALLED JESSE was published in October '98. Since then he's written more than a dozen other Superromances, including the First Family of Texas series, contributed to two trilogies, a six-book series set in the police department of Houston, Texas, and he's currently involved in a five-book series set in the beautiful hill country of central Texas. His October 2003 Super, THE WOMAN IN THE NEWS, was a Holt Medallion finalist.
Ken Casper previously wrote as K.N. Casper
Now a transplanted Texan. He and Mary, his wife of 34 years, own a horse farm in San Angelo. Along with their Border Collie, Chief, they have a Golden Retriever, Casey, two house cats, four barn cats and eight horses. They also board and breed horses and Mary teaches English riding. She's a therapeutic riding instructor for the handicapped, as well.
Life is never dull. Their two granddaughters visit several times a year and feel right at home with the Casper menagerie. Grampa and Mimi do everything they can to make sure their visits to Little Oaks Farm will be lifelong fond memories. After all, isn't that what grandparents are for?
Ken figures his writing career probably started in the sixth grade when he was ordered by a teacher to write a "theme" explaining his misbehavior over the previous semester. To his teacher's chagrin, he enjoyed stringing just the right words together to justify his less than stellar performance. Fortunately, she forgave him.
Since then, he's had short stories published in a popular men's magazine and was working on a mystery when his critique partners, three romance writers, suggested he try their genre. He had his doubts ("Me? Write romance? Are you kidding?), but he decided to give it a try, anyway. His first-chapter romance submission won honorable mention at the Southwest Writers' Workshop contest in 1993. Ken revised it...and revised it, then entered the Golden Triangle Writers' Guild contest in '95. This time he took first place in both mystery and romance. The romance entry later became his first sale to Harlequin Superromance. A MAN CALLED JESSE was published in October '98. Since then he's written more than a dozen other Superromances, including the First Family of Texas series, contributed to two trilogies, a six-book series set in the police department of Houston, Texas, and he's currently involved in a five-book series set in the beautiful hill country of central Texas. His October 2003 Super, THE WOMAN IN THE NEWS, was a Holt Medallion finalist.
Ken Casper previously wrote as K.N. Casper
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 27, 2012
I didn’t think I would like this book because I am not into the Mexican/American scene or property development, but I ended up enjoying this story. The plot moves along quickly so it doesn't get boring; I found the characters realistic and they enriched the story. Although I thought the mystery was rather easy to solve I found it very interesting and enjoyable. This book is well worth reading.
July 31, 2016
Received from Netgalley for review, thank you. I pounced on Taking a Stand on Netgalley as soon as I recognized the author's name: a little while back I received, and very much enjoyed, Ken Casper's As the Crow Dies from Netgalley. This is a new series, set in the present day rather than "Crow"'s 70's, but there will be overlaps: both are set in Coyote Springs, Texas, and in fact the characters in this have dinner in The Crow's Nest, the restaurant run by the family at the center of the other series.
Tori Carr, just honorably discharged from the Air Force and flying home in her own Twin Cessna, is a nicely built character. That is, of course she's gorgeous – a tall leggy blonde – but her construction on the page is equally well done. She is more than the pretty: she is committed to achieving her dream of flying for a living, which the Air Force did not provide her. In the meantime, she has come home to work with her father in the business he started, Carr Enterprises, a high level real estate developer. She goes straight to work on the Riverbend Project, the multi-million-dollar plan to take the Santa Marta district of town – the rundown and ramshackle Barrio – and develop the heck out of it into a high-priced community, golf courses and all.
Problem is, a decent sized chunk of the area on which Carr Ent. wants to build is owned by another company, Amorado Construction. Jesse Amorado, who inherited the company from his father, is of Mexican descent, as are the other inhabitants of the neighborhood (for he not only owns the area but lives there), and knows better than anyone how strong the ties of neighborhood can be. This is not something anyone in that district is willing to sell … although the inhabitants who live in homes that have been bought by Carr Enterprises, Jesse tells Tori, have been left with little choice. She is informed that her father's company has refrained from making even necessary repairs on the houses they rent to the inhabitants, leaving them little choice but to vacate. She can't believe it – that's not how her father operates … but she has to believe it. When she goes to the area to see for herself, it's in front of her face.
Naturally, since she is an attractive young woman and Jesse is an attractive young man, the antagonistic sparks between the two of them mutate into other kinds of sparks. Theirs is not the only romance developing, which is rather nice in one direction and unfortunate in another, unrequited, direction. I like the background characters, and I particularly like how the bad 'uns are written, although somewhat as in As the Crow Dies the climax is cinematically dramatic, somewhat much so for my tastes; still, the dollar amounts involved in the plot justify extreme action, the bad guy is very much a bad guy (though I hadn't thought he was that bad), and it gives the hero a chance to be a very good hero indeed without detracting from the abilities of the rescue-ee. It's a satisfying tale – well done.
Tori Carr, just honorably discharged from the Air Force and flying home in her own Twin Cessna, is a nicely built character. That is, of course she's gorgeous – a tall leggy blonde – but her construction on the page is equally well done. She is more than the pretty: she is committed to achieving her dream of flying for a living, which the Air Force did not provide her. In the meantime, she has come home to work with her father in the business he started, Carr Enterprises, a high level real estate developer. She goes straight to work on the Riverbend Project, the multi-million-dollar plan to take the Santa Marta district of town – the rundown and ramshackle Barrio – and develop the heck out of it into a high-priced community, golf courses and all.
Problem is, a decent sized chunk of the area on which Carr Ent. wants to build is owned by another company, Amorado Construction. Jesse Amorado, who inherited the company from his father, is of Mexican descent, as are the other inhabitants of the neighborhood (for he not only owns the area but lives there), and knows better than anyone how strong the ties of neighborhood can be. This is not something anyone in that district is willing to sell … although the inhabitants who live in homes that have been bought by Carr Enterprises, Jesse tells Tori, have been left with little choice. She is informed that her father's company has refrained from making even necessary repairs on the houses they rent to the inhabitants, leaving them little choice but to vacate. She can't believe it – that's not how her father operates … but she has to believe it. When she goes to the area to see for herself, it's in front of her face.
Naturally, since she is an attractive young woman and Jesse is an attractive young man, the antagonistic sparks between the two of them mutate into other kinds of sparks. Theirs is not the only romance developing, which is rather nice in one direction and unfortunate in another, unrequited, direction. I like the background characters, and I particularly like how the bad 'uns are written, although somewhat as in As the Crow Dies the climax is cinematically dramatic, somewhat much so for my tastes; still, the dollar amounts involved in the plot justify extreme action, the bad guy is very much a bad guy (though I hadn't thought he was that bad), and it gives the hero a chance to be a very good hero indeed without detracting from the abilities of the rescue-ee. It's a satisfying tale – well done.
November 20, 2012
I bought this book because it was like 2 dollars for the Kindle and my second book club was going to read it together. The book club seems to have dissolved after one meeting, but I was left with this book, which is not something I would have ever picked otherwise. I finished a book yesterday and haven't been to the library lately, so I figured I'd give this one a go. I'm about 10% in and I'm not sure I will make it to 100%.
My first "suspend your disbelief" moment was when the female character turns out to be color-blind. While technically possible, it is very rare for a woman. Not to mention that the plot of being color blind keeping you out of the air force was toootally done with the brother in Little Miss Sunshine. How cliche, haha.
Then she said she got a car with a vanity plate that said TORI. I call shenanigans. No way could she get a plate with a word that common. Just distracting.
And now I'm getting to the part about how she whines at all the men in her life for being sexist because they want her to do PR instead of something more manly. Clearly the world is just out to get this chick and I don't know how she's going to suffer all these injustices while she's living for free with her millionaire father.
This is going to be the fun kind of awful, I can tell already.
-----
Nov 20:
Trash, garbage, rubbish, crap. This book uses every cliché in the world. It probably only takes place over a week's time, but of course by the end, every loose end is neatly tied up. The bad guy confesses and goes to jail, the good guys all end up engaged to each other and they are going to save the barrio. Isn't making someone a PARTNER in your business kind of a big deal? These people add partners to the company like a 12 year old adds facebook friends.
My eyes were rolling so often I think they stuck that way. There were several serious dramatic moments that made me laugh out loud, which was awkward when I was reading while on the elliptical at the gym.
The author is a man and you can totally tell that the main character is his ideal fake woman. She's "independent" and "strong" but in the end, she has to be the damsel in distress being rescued by her manly man, and she just can't resist her womanly urges. They're all three-dimensional soap opera characters.
Not one original or intriguing thought in this book whatsoever.
My first "suspend your disbelief" moment was when the female character turns out to be color-blind. While technically possible, it is very rare for a woman. Not to mention that the plot of being color blind keeping you out of the air force was toootally done with the brother in Little Miss Sunshine. How cliche, haha.
Then she said she got a car with a vanity plate that said TORI. I call shenanigans. No way could she get a plate with a word that common. Just distracting.
And now I'm getting to the part about how she whines at all the men in her life for being sexist because they want her to do PR instead of something more manly. Clearly the world is just out to get this chick and I don't know how she's going to suffer all these injustices while she's living for free with her millionaire father.
This is going to be the fun kind of awful, I can tell already.
-----
Nov 20:
Trash, garbage, rubbish, crap. This book uses every cliché in the world. It probably only takes place over a week's time, but of course by the end, every loose end is neatly tied up. The bad guy confesses and goes to jail, the good guys all end up engaged to each other and they are going to save the barrio. Isn't making someone a PARTNER in your business kind of a big deal? These people add partners to the company like a 12 year old adds facebook friends.
My eyes were rolling so often I think they stuck that way. There were several serious dramatic moments that made me laugh out loud, which was awkward when I was reading while on the elliptical at the gym.
The author is a man and you can totally tell that the main character is his ideal fake woman. She's "independent" and "strong" but in the end, she has to be the damsel in distress being rescued by her manly man, and she just can't resist her womanly urges. They're all three-dimensional soap opera characters.
Not one original or intriguing thought in this book whatsoever.
February 8, 2012
Taking a Stand by Ken Casper
4 stars
It starts out grabbing your attention right away. Air Force Captain Tori Carr has resigned from service and is flying herself back home to Coyote Springs. When another plane suddenly is their. her plane is damaged and on fire.
Winslow Carr and his partner are planning to tear down the barrio and replace it with upscale developing. Their is only one hold out Jesse Amorado who owns a small construction company and owns six houses that are all in their way. He knows his part of town is in desperate need to fix up but he likes thier community and no matter how much money they offer him the answer is no.
Jesse brother who was gunned down in a drive by shooting has made a plan to fix his community. He likes how they pull together. Jesse is single and living in the family home. His mother, sister-in-law and her kids live on a ranch close by. Jesse has a lot of pride.
Tori has agreed to help her father with his business while she waits for a job offer from an airline. Tori first lover was Burton Hazlitt but she broke it off years ago. Tori is trying to find a compermise that will help her father and keep Jesse dream alive too.
Thier is more action,romance, some mystery to keep your attention. Good clean story. Looking forward to reading more from Ken Casper in the future.
I was given this ebook to read in exchange for honest review from Netgalley.
11/01/2011 PUB Bell Bridge Books
http://readalot-rhonda1111.blogspot.c...
4 stars
It starts out grabbing your attention right away. Air Force Captain Tori Carr has resigned from service and is flying herself back home to Coyote Springs. When another plane suddenly is their. her plane is damaged and on fire.
Winslow Carr and his partner are planning to tear down the barrio and replace it with upscale developing. Their is only one hold out Jesse Amorado who owns a small construction company and owns six houses that are all in their way. He knows his part of town is in desperate need to fix up but he likes thier community and no matter how much money they offer him the answer is no.
Jesse brother who was gunned down in a drive by shooting has made a plan to fix his community. He likes how they pull together. Jesse is single and living in the family home. His mother, sister-in-law and her kids live on a ranch close by. Jesse has a lot of pride.
Tori has agreed to help her father with his business while she waits for a job offer from an airline. Tori first lover was Burton Hazlitt but she broke it off years ago. Tori is trying to find a compermise that will help her father and keep Jesse dream alive too.
Thier is more action,romance, some mystery to keep your attention. Good clean story. Looking forward to reading more from Ken Casper in the future.
I was given this ebook to read in exchange for honest review from Netgalley.
11/01/2011 PUB Bell Bridge Books
http://readalot-rhonda1111.blogspot.c...
May 18, 2013
Romance Plus Suspense, May 17, 2013
By Lillian Ammann (Lillie) "Lillie" (San Antonio, TX USA)
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Taking A Stand (Kindle Edition)
I remember a workshop at a romance-writing conference. The instructor summed up the "formula" for the romance genre this way: Pit the most unlikely man and woman against each other, make them fall in love, then spend the rest of the book letting them resolve their conflicts until they achieve happily ever after. This story is a perfect example. If Tori's father's latest business venture fails, he and a lot of other people will go bankrupt. If his plans succeed, however, Jesse's business and family legacy will be ruined. Throw in some business shenanigans and risks to personal safety and even life, and you have a great romantic suspense.
Only one thing about the book disappointed: this was billed as Book 2 in the Jason Crow mystery series, but Jason Crow didn't even make a cameo appearance. The only connection to Jason Crow was the setting in Coyote Springs and a occasional mention of the Crow's Nest, the restaurant owned by the Crow family and a partner. I loved the character Jason in the first book and chose this book to read more about Jason. While this was an excellent stand-alone novel, it didn't fit in my mind as a part of the Jason Crow series.
By Lillian Ammann (Lillie) "Lillie" (San Antonio, TX USA)
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Taking A Stand (Kindle Edition)
I remember a workshop at a romance-writing conference. The instructor summed up the "formula" for the romance genre this way: Pit the most unlikely man and woman against each other, make them fall in love, then spend the rest of the book letting them resolve their conflicts until they achieve happily ever after. This story is a perfect example. If Tori's father's latest business venture fails, he and a lot of other people will go bankrupt. If his plans succeed, however, Jesse's business and family legacy will be ruined. Throw in some business shenanigans and risks to personal safety and even life, and you have a great romantic suspense.
Only one thing about the book disappointed: this was billed as Book 2 in the Jason Crow mystery series, but Jason Crow didn't even make a cameo appearance. The only connection to Jason Crow was the setting in Coyote Springs and a occasional mention of the Crow's Nest, the restaurant owned by the Crow family and a partner. I loved the character Jason in the first book and chose this book to read more about Jason. While this was an excellent stand-alone novel, it didn't fit in my mind as a part of the Jason Crow series.
November 15, 2013
I really enjoyed this book. After the Air Force denied Jesse the chance to fly for them she left her military life and returned home. She planned to spend time with her Dad while she searched for a job with an airline corporation. While visiting him she became involved with his company. She studied their their work ethics and felt her Dad was not seeing all that his partner was doing. The author is known as a romance writer and does a great job with that, but he's more than that in my eyes. This book also had some mystery which I thoroughly enjoyed. I will keep my eye opened for other books he's written.
April 26, 2012
An excellent novel that incorporates some contemporary social issues--immigrant populations, culture clashes, romance between people of very different backgrounds, political corruption, wealthy residents versus poverty stricken neighborhoods, etc. It is a love story, but there is a lot more here that will keep the reader moving forward through fascinating pages of reading. It's the kind of book a serious romance fiction fan can really seek the teeth into, and it comes all spiced up with some mystery and suspense and some pretty awesome bad guys. A terrific read!!
July 29, 2012
Very good story, it kept me reading to find out how it all worked out. Girl is a pilot just retired from the Air Force and comes home to fly for one of the airlines. Family business is in a fight for control of the vacant land around the town. Guy is working to make homes better for the low income people. Of course probems begin and it is fun to watch the love start and how it all comes together. Good Reading
January 10, 2012
It's nice to see some integrity in characters. I liked the way the common folks were portrayed in a way that wasn't belittling. There was just enough going on to keep your interested in what was going to happen next. Sounds like a typical small town!
August 10, 2022
Harlequin Romance. Quick read -- a few hours. Liked the characters.
October 2, 2016
This story grabbed my attention right at the beginning and I read it quickly! This was a moving story full of romance, mystery and suspense. I really liked it.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews