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Bighorn, Wyoming #2

Silver Bells: Man of Ice / Heart of Ice

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Man of Ice

After a less than magical one-night stand, cynical Dawson Rutherford needs the help of the woman he considers seduced him. Barrie Bell, still reeling from their encounter, is ambivalent about aiding his scheme. She's kept a secret from Dawson…one that could free them both to love again!

Heart of Ice

Knowing she dislikes him down to his arrogant bones, Egan Winthrop invites Kati James to his ranch to research her next novel. He assumes she knows everything about love. But when passion flares between them, Egan is surprised at how Kati's heat just might be able to melt his heart of ice….

480 pages, Hardcover

First published September 25, 2012

6 people are currently reading
203 people want to read

About the author

Diana Palmer

1,040 books3,097 followers
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Diana Palmer is a pseudonym for author Susan Kyle.

(1)romance author
Susan Eloise Spaeth was born on 11 December 1946 in Cuthbert, Georgia, USA. She was the eldest daughter of Maggie Eloise Cliatt, a nurse and also journalist, and William Olin Spaeth, a college professor. Her mother was part of the women's liberation movement many years before it became fashionable. Her best friends are her mother and her sister, Dannis Spaeth (Cole), who now has two daughters, Amanda Belle Hofstetter and Maggie and lives in Utah. Susan grew up reading Zane Grey and fell in love with cowboys. Susan is a former newspaper reporter, with sixteen years experience on both daily and weekly newspapers. Since 1972, she has been married to James Kyle and have since settled down in Cornelia, Georgia, where she started to write romance novels. Susan and her husband have one son, Blayne Edward, born in 1980.

She began selling romances in 1979 as Diana Palmer. She also used the pseudonyms Diana Blayne and Katy Currie, and her married name: Susan Kyle. Now, she has over 40 million copies of her books in print, which have been translated and published around the world. She is listed in numerous publications, including Contemporary Authors by Gale Research, Inc., Twentieth Century Romance and Historical Writers by St. James Press, The Writers Directory by St. James Press, the International Who's Who of Authors and Writers by Meirose Press, Ltd., and Love's Leading Ladies by Kathryn Falk. Her awards include seven Waldenbooks national sales awards, four B. Dalton national sales awards, two Bookrak national sales awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award for series storytelling from Romantic Times, several Affaire de Coeur awards, and two regional RWA awards.

Inspired by her husband, who quit a blue-collar manufacturing job to return to school and get his diploma in computer programming, Susan herself went back to college as a day student at the age of 45. In 1995, she graduated summa cum laude from Piedmont College, Demorest, GA, with a major in history and a double minor in archaeology and Spanish. She was named to two honor societies (the Torch Club and Alpha Chi), and was named to the National Dean's List. In addition to her writing projects, she is currently working on her master's degree in history at California State University. She hopes to specialize in Native American studies. She is a member of the Native American Rights Fund, the American Museum of Natural History, the National Cattlemen's Association, the Archaeological Institute of Amenca, the Planetary Society, The Georgia Conservancy, the Georgia Sheriff's Association, and numerous conservation and charitable organizations. Her hobbies include gardening, archaeology, anthropology, iguanas, astronomy and music.

In 1998, her husband retired from his own computer business and now pursues skeet shooting medals in local, state, national and international competition. They love riding around and looking at the countryside, watching sci-fi on TV and at the movies, just talking and eating out.

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5 stars
74 (33%)
4 stars
73 (33%)
3 stars
48 (22%)
2 stars
11 (5%)
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12 (5%)
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
Profile Image for Tash.
1,294 reviews106 followers
December 11, 2012
Reviewed for Confessions From Romaholics

To see review at Confessions

I put off posting the review for Silver Bells as it a Christmas themed book and I wanted to save it for the holiday period, namely now, as it is a perfect time to promote this book and this serves as a perfect starting point to get into the holiday themed books that have been released for this year’s Christmas. Diana Palmer has rereleased two of her classics as one volume for the lead up to Christmas. This collection features Man of Ice and Heart of Ice and the heroes in each are cowboys, so it will appeal to those cowboy lovers as much as it did for me.

In Man of Ice, Barrie and her stepbrother Dawson have always had loved each other but five years ago things went wrong and they haven’t been civil to each other since. Barrie moved on with her life and is now living in Tucson and Dawson is in emotional turmoil with personal issues regarding sex. When he comes calling on Barrie you would think that the man would be a mess, however, Dawson is not and but he does need her help. He wants her to play his fiancée to get a widower off his back and talking business instead. Now Barrie does not like Dawson much because she has issues regarding herself as a woman and he’s the reason for it and Dawson hates himself over this as it reminds him of his father’s shortcomings in himself. Barrie reluctantly agrees to it as Dawson explains that her inheritance is on the line but it is not easy convincing her to help him.

So she is back home where she has to convince her friends and the widower that she is engaged to Dawson but they all know she doesn’t get along with him and the widower knows what she wants and thinks it is a ploy.

The story is about the up and downs in relationships, especially between the stepsiblings. It a common issue and Dawson has been struggling with it ever since Barrie and her mother came into his life. He thinks that Barrie is a carbon copy of her mother: a flirt and man chaser to get what she wants. So he believes Barrie is the perfect foil for the widower and he has treated her this way because of her mother. Will they be able to have a civil relationship and rediscover themselves and fix the root of their problems that are haunting the family and can they sort out their attraction to each other whilst pretending everything is okay?

Those are the questions, and to get the answers you have to read the story for yourself to find out what happens to the Man of Ice and his girl.

In Heart of Ice, Katriane and Egan have always fought like cats and dogs and neither can stand each other. They rub each other the wrong way and and Egan’s sister, Kati’s best friend Ada, hates it. So when Ada invites Egan for Christmas to their apartment she livid because of their fractious relationship. Ada won’t take no for answer because it’s the first Christmas since their mother died and she thinks Egan is lonely.

As if! He is up to usual behaviour and manages to keep himself entertained whilst in the city with a girl and Kati is disgusted. You would think she is a prude when it comes to romantic relationships when you see her reaction, but she isn’t: she’s a romance writer and her lasts novel is set on a ranch. Egan likes Kati and rubs her the wrong way because he believes that Kati is like the woman in the romance books. Well, he in for a shock.

He invites Kati out to the ranch so she can do research for her new book and it becomes a chance for him to get Kati where he wants and personally get to know her, if you know what I mean. But he doesn’t expect that Kati might thaw his Heart of Ice.

Remember those halcyon days when there was hardly any erotica and these kinds of reads were the staple of romance lovers out there since there wasn’t much variety being published? I collect the old editions of these books and laugh at some of the storylines that they have. In this one we get a sexy tale without any sex. It has sexual detail without getting raunchy. Egan tries to get Kati in his bed and it is amusing as she turns the tables upside down and Egan gets frustrated over both this and the fact his heart is thawing.

This is another of the oldies that is a fun romance that delves into deeper issues and is perfect for the holidays. 4 couples.
Profile Image for Debbie Maskus.
1,566 reviews15 followers
October 19, 2012
During the holiday season, I attempt to read new seasonal books. This book seemed interesting, but I was mistaken. The book contains two novellas that are best described as trashy romance stories. I completed one of the stories, Man of Ice, and that was too much. The story involves the feelings and passion between a stepbrother and stepsister, with each hungry for sex for one another. Not much development of characters or setting or plot in the novel, and a waste of time, plus I never encountered Christmas in the story.
Profile Image for Bianca Punzal.
99 reviews2 followers
December 8, 2017
I read the manga version of Man of Ice and decided to check the novel version. The manga version cut all some of the prospect of the story and it was nice seeing Dawson version of the story. I dived into reading this knowing that its going to be unrealistic. Both main guys has a temper and anger issue. They both treated the female characters so horribly and I can't believe they fall in love with such kind of guy. But then again this story is very unrealistic. Some of parts of the story can be cheesy and cringey for me. But its still a good read.
Profile Image for JoAnne.
3,152 reviews32 followers
February 8, 2013
Two nice stories in one book - both set in the west on ranches with lots of love and hate. The characters in both books were headstrong and misunderstood but both had nice closure and happily ever afters although I wish they both went on for a few more chapters since there was more story to tell.
Profile Image for Judy.
1,270 reviews
December 12, 2013
This book which was published in 2012 as a holiday book contains two of Palmer's earlier category romances. One is a Christmas story and one is not. They are both light, enjoyable reads with Wyoming ranchers as the alpha males.
3,517 reviews
January 13, 2013
Silver Bells has two great stories about ranchers from Wyoming. Both are heartwarming stories where the characters finally realize they have love for each other.
Profile Image for Brandy.
755 reviews6 followers
November 23, 2014
This was a great read and I could not put this down for anything.
Profile Image for Megan Brown.
18 reviews2 followers
December 3, 2020
These books were not for me. If you are into men controlling and making all the decisions in a relationship and having the dysfunction of not being strong enough to stand up for yourself, that is alright. For me, this was really had to relate to and turned me off of this author. Reading this made me feel as if I were watching a car crash, as horrible as it is, I just couldn't take my eyes off of it.
Profile Image for Vicki Chicago-Marsh.
804 reviews11 followers
December 20, 2019
I actually liked this book, despite how sappy some of it was; in this book the heroines are virgins with the men thinking otherwise until nearly the end of the book! I don’t normally like this type of book, but this one had two stories, and I liked both of the main content. This book is a light romantic holiday read & perfect for this time of year.
270 reviews
December 28, 2022
Loved these two stories. I love Christmas books. In Man of Ice, loved that Dawson and Barrie were stepbrother and sister and finally found their way to their happiness.

Heart of Ice - typical love/hate relationship that turns into love around the holidays, with lots of trials and tribulations, stubborness, etc. Yay for Egan and Kati.
Profile Image for K.
167 reviews1 follower
October 18, 2012
Great book ! I actually liked the 2nd story best.
Profile Image for Megan Buckley.
38 reviews8 followers
Read
November 15, 2012
The first book Ice Man was good and I enjoyed it. The 2nd book was boring and I just wanted to get it over with.
Profile Image for Carol.
1,439 reviews34 followers
December 19, 2012
Just read the first book. Didn't see much about the Holidays.
139 reviews1 follower
July 3, 2013
This is the first book I have read by her, actually this was 2 in 1. I will be looking for more.
Profile Image for Amanda .
155 reviews16 followers
February 7, 2017
The two stories in this book were both rushed, unrealistic and confusing. I didn't like how horrible the men treated the women. They were both duds for me.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews

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