A Heart Divided

by Megan Chance

Sarilyn Travers trembled when she spotted the lone rider crossing the high Colorado plains. Conor Roarke was back. It had been only a year since he'd loved her and used her to betray her husband and brother. Now, as a woman alone, she could take no chances with a man who could make her forget family ties, consequences, and the truth that lay just behind his sweet words and tender smile. Conor would not give up his search for Sari's brother. Michael Doyle had killed the one person Conor had ever depended on -- his father. Now the trail led him back to Sari's ranch, to the woman he had loved and left a year before. He planned to charm her with false kisses and easy lies, avenge his father's murder, then walk away again. But he never counted on her fury - or his passion. Conor Roarke had one emotion burning in him as real as his hatred for Sari's his desire for her.

Genres: Romance, Westerns, Historical, Historical Fiction

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 2, 1996

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Megan Chance is the bestselling, critically acclaimed author of several novels. Booklist calls her writing “Provocative and haunting.” Her books have been chosen by Amazon's Book of the Month, Borders Original Voices and IndieNext. A former television news photographer with a BA from Western Washington University, Megan Chance lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband. Visit her at www.meganchance.com

Reviews

[Lyuda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can an overwhelming need for revenge be stopped by forgiveness? Conor Roarke, a fine Pinkerton agent, used his acting skills to infiltrate the Molly Maguires, a secret group of Irish immigrant miners, who fought against the mining company with sabotage and murder. Along the way, he also seduced Sarilyn Travers (Sari), wife of one the group members. His fine work let authorities to capture nineteen group members and his testimony let to their conviction and subsequent hanging. The escaped members, including Sari's brother Michael, avenged the death of their comrades by blowing up Conor's house. He survived the assault but his adopted father, the only person who he truly loved, did not. And now, Conor wants a revenge. He wants to find Michael and kill him. And what is the better place, he think, for Michael to run if not his sister's? Sari ashamed by the role she unwittingly played, scorned by the town, was forced to leave her Pennsylvania mining town with her uncle for open prairies of Colorado. And that where Conor goes to seek revenge. This was a very difficult story for me to rate. On one hand, it's beautifully written, has a writer's trademark of imperfect, far from black and white characters, it's nuanced, it raises interesting questions about loyalty, duty, revenge, and forgiveness. On the other hand, I could not pass the fact that heroine had repeatedly cheated on her husband with the hero. Yes, her marriage was difficult, although what exactly was wrong with it had not been truly explained, but it diminished her in my eyes. Also, the ending was too abrupt.

[Sanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is so sad, full of quiet despair, but beautifully written. There are no good or bad characters, they are all so human, greyish... the heroine - unloved wife cheating on a husband, the hero - an agent lying to everyone, her brother whom she loves - a muderer... And you can't help but ask yourselves - how can these two have a happily ever after? Yet, they do.
I give it a very high 4 stars, but only because I gave "The Portrait" 5. And nothing comes near that book :)

[Danyelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half of the book was a little slow, but it really picked up in the second half! I wish there would have been more details for Conor and Sari before she moved to Colorado. I loved the slow burn romance in this novel!

[Alan Porter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not one of her best....couldn't finish it unfortunately 😔....