Reckless Wind

by Bonnie K. Winn

WANTED -- A HUSBAND

Jem was a tomboy with no interest in marriage. But she had to find a husband--fast--or she'd lose the family ranch ...

MARRIAGE OR JAIL

Reese was a drifter without a penny to his name. Then he was bailed out of jail by a total stranger--a beautiful woman with a strange proposition...

RECKLESS WIND

It all happened so fast--a whirlwind marriage that saved Jem's ranch and offered Reese another chance. They had nothing in common. But the sparks that flew between them ignited a secret, flame of desire. Like it or not, the mismatched newlyweds were in for the wildest honeymoon the West had ever seen!

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Westerns, Historical, Historical Fiction, Western Romance

307 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1993

About the author

Bonnie K. Winn is the author of 34 published novels, most of which have been translated into over twenty languages. Fourteen-million copies of her books are in print. Currently, Bonnie is one of the top ten bestselling authors in Harlequin’s highly successful Steeple Hill/Love Inspired inspirational fiction program.
Named as one of the top ten romance authors in America by Affaire de Coeur, Bonnie K. Winn began her career with the launch of her Wildflower series in the early 1990s. Her first novel, Summer Rose, climbed to the top of three national bestseller lists. Her historical novel, Forbidden Fire, won Affaire De Coeur's Best Overall Historical Romance of 1994. That same year, she was named Utah Writer of the Year. Newlywed Game, lauded by Romantic Times as "a great talent making a smashing contemporary debut," was her first Harlequin American romance book. The Accidental Mrs. MacKenzie, which hit number one on the Walden Books and B. Dalton romance bestsellers lists, was nominated by Romantic Times for best contemporary romance of 1999. Her first Silhouette Intimate Moments release, The Hijacked Wife, appeared on numerous bestseller lists as well.
Besides writing novels, Bonnie also lends her talents to screenwriting, and her screenplay Heroes placed as a finalist at the Sundance U.S. Film Festival. Formerly a public relations executive, Bonnie devotes her time exclusively to writing. She resides in the foothills of the Rockies with her husband and dogs, and with her grown son nearby.

Reviews

[Troy Dye · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reckless Wind by Bonnie K. Winn

If you like strong, stubborn female characters who are more certain that they are right when everyone and even her own heart tells her that she is wrong - well, here's a book for you. For my taste, it's way too long, since I saw the whole story coming about thirty-nine chapters before it finally rolled into the station. - - A woman bails out a man who is sleeping of a drunk because her family name is lower than mud, because the man she really loves took a flyer, and she needs a front man husband to get ranch business done.

[Bukcrz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could have loved this book, since the created world and characters are a comfort zone for me. Unfortunately, the heroine spends the whole of the book longing, and waiting for someone undeserving. Even after she slept with the hero, she still longs for another man even before the sheets cool down.
So the heroine grew up to be different from other girls. She rides horses better than her father's cowhands, she wears breeches rather than dresses, and the result is a very competent rancher but a very awkward girl towards men and with no female friends. Her strength repulse females because they can't understand her manly pursuit, and men stay away from her because her competence (and arrogance) threatens their manhood. So the first guy who shows attention to her, she believes his lies even though everyone around her tells her he's not a good man. She's so pitiful in her tenacious hold of the wrong man's attention that she don't want to listen and see the signs of a man who's just using her for financial gain.
The hero is a drifter with his own demon. He has a dream he believes would earn him a comfortable living - if only he has enough funds to finance its launch. That's where the heroine's offer made sense to him. He'll marry the heroine for a year and depart soon after with more than enough funds.
So these two came together, feel their strong attraction, and act on it. They argue and they have s3x, and then they are sweet together only to argue again. Through it all, this heroine keeps longing and comparing the hero and the other guy. Which, I can understand at first because its normal for a person to compare love interest. But to keep hanging on to an untested 'dream lover' over a proven one throughout the book is tiring, old and repetitive.

In her belief that she is right she befriended and continues to defend a bad guy (a cowhand and spy for the villain) and even invites a killer (her first love) in the midst of those around her because she is certain she's right and the rest of the world are just out to get her.
Too bad, another woman - a good one - paid for this heroine's foolishness because her dream guy killed the husband of the only woman in this book who was nice to this pitiful heroine. Oh, and by the way, he also killed her father because they are all in his way of acquiring her land.
Well written book though.

[Karen Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Good

This is a story about a woman who runs a ranch after the death of her father. She needs another name for her ranch so she marries a man who is in jail. They eventually fall in love, the bad guy is discovered and all ends well. Good story with well written characters.

[Foxfire · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been reading a lot of western historical romance recently and it's been a bad run, partly because a lot of it has been indie published books.

I can handle some typos and grammatical errors, but I don't have much patience for flat prose and dull dialogue and repetitive, pointless scenes which neither move the story forward nor give insight to the characters.

This book was a nice surprise. Despite a fair number of awkward sentences (so flowery it was hard to decipher their meaning) and errors in syntax or misused words, the writing has energy and verve. The dialogue in particular flows well.

However, I didn't enjoy the book for two reasons:

The story drags on. There are several sections where the couple gets stuck in a rut and things become repetitive. This is easily done in a story which spans a full year - some days and weeks are alike but perhaps they could have been skipped.

And worse, I didn't really like the heroine. Often in romance, to create conflict, one of the characters needs to act in an unreasonable manner, and in this instance it is the heroine, Jem.

In order to save her ranch, Jem hires Reese to act as her husband for a year. They strike a deal, and then Jem does everything she can to stop Reese from doing what she's hired him to do. She belittles him in public, she argues against him, she throws tantrums.

Jem loses her temper a lot (there are frequent references to "red haze of rage" and "anger breaking its confines" etc). When Jem doesn't get her way, she shouts at people. She keeps telling Reese: "I'm the boss and you do as I say". She also publicly accuses other people in the community of crimes, including murder, without any evidence at all, just her gut feeling.

The reason we are given for her behaviour is that she has been an outcast all her life, forced to develop a tough exterior to protect her feelings because she is "different".

And yet, it is clear that she is an outcast by choice. She has always rebuffed offers of friendship from other women, thinking they are simpering fools. She chooses to dress and behave like man (and then she has the audacity to complain that people don't treat her like a woman). She likes to insult other people, but if someone says a cross word to her, she gets upset.

Aggression stemming from uncertainty is the behaviour of a bully, and such behaviour is no more acceptable in a woman than it is in a man. Jem's uncertainty stems from the fact that she is too tall and skinny and not as pretty as her mother who was a renowned beauty.

If every woman dissatisfied with their body shape or falling short of the standard of ideal beauty took that sense of inadequacy as a licence to be horrible to other people, the world would be a terrible place, with 99% of women impossible to live with.

Further, Jem's attitude to the physical side of marriage left me baffled. In the early part of the book, she becomes particularly nasty towards Reese because she starts lusting after him. I assumed her anger was based on her worry that she might allow him to seduce her, which would create complications with ending the marriage at the end of the year.

But that's not it...in fact, Jem seems happy to consummate the marriage, but she wants it to be an unpleasant chore from her part, not something she is a willing participant in. I couldn't understand this at all. If they have sex, how are they going to terminate the marriage, particularly as regular sex over the course of a year is highly likely to result in pregnancy?

One more thing I disliked about Jem is how she thinks about Reese. She thinks he has sold his soul and emasculated himself by entering into the fake marriage with her. Why would that be? They made a deal which benefits both parties. If anyone is selling her soul, surely that is Jem, who is prepared to offer bedroom services as part of the bargain to keep her ranch?

There is a nice suspense element about who killed Jem's father, but it is slightly spoiled by the solution being obvious to the reader from early on, and from Jem being so vocal about accusing the wrong people.

So, in summary, this could have been a great book if the author had speeded things up a bit and toned down the character of the heroine, and made the suspense plot a little less obvious.

[Jennifer Guffey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reckless Wind (Reckless #1)
By: Bonnie K. Winn
5/5 stars


Jem Whitaker is unlike most ladies residing in the Wyoming Territory in the 1870s. She’s unmarried, and run’s her late father’s ranch, the Bar W. But she has a problem that requires a husband. Her father had been accused of cattle rustling and the ranch was blacklisted, meaning they couldn’t fulfill any contracts they currently had & couldn’t take the cattle to be sold. Thus causing her ranch to go bankrupt, and lose it all. Then most of her aging ranch hands would not have a job and because of their age, would have troubles finding a new job. But one thing could fix all these problems: a husband. If she were to marry and take on a new name and her husband was able to make the new contacts; her ranch would get off the blacklisting and they could resume business as usual, preserving their way of life.

Reese McIntire is a drifter, never staying put for very long, running from the demons in his past that continually haunt his present and more than likely, will always haunt his future. Since he was in his mid-teens, he never wanted to stay in any one place at all. After being thrown in jail for being drunk, he wakes up on a ranch and is offered a proposition by a boyish looking woman: $3,000 in gold coins to be her husband for a year and working to get her ranch off the blacklist and to turn a profit once again and then he’ll be free to go and pursue his dreams.

Falling in love was never a part of the deal, and really, neither were “marital duties.” In all, it takes several months of marriage before they cover that. Jem still believes herself to be in love with her first fiancé, Charles, who was also her father’s ranch foreman. During this time period, it was absolutely unheard of and a major social faux pas for a female ranch owner to marry anyone else who wasn’t a ranch owner. In fact, that act alone could cause the ranch to become blacklisted. But Charles left after Jem’s father was murdered and she still pines for him. But her new feelings of passion and lust for her husband are extremely confusing for her. Since she was a tomboy who never fit in, she has no courtship experience and no real experience with any of the feelings that she felt, not only for Charles, but also for Reese.

Jem is an extremely hard-headed and stubborn heroine who thinks that she pretty much knows everything and is never wrong. This gets annoying, especially when she doesn’t take the advice of not only her trusted housekeeper, Della, but also her married friend, Abigail Fairchild. I did love Abigail and the true, purely honest friendship that she offered Jem. I’m also glad that she has her own book, Reckless Hearts. I really liked how strong of a heroine that Jem was. For a woman to own a ranch and run it, during the 1870s, was practically unheard of.

The story may have been somewhat predictable, but it was the learning of true love, that made this story a great one! I truly loved Jem, Reese and all the people at the Bar W and Abigail and Michael Fairchild. I got this free from Amazon & already bought & read Reckless Hearts because this one was so good and I was intrigued for Abigail’s story.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Reckless Wind is by Bonnie K. Winn. This book takes place in Wyoming Territory in 1870. It is a romance and reads quickly. The characters are realistic and beautifully portrayed. I really liked this book and hope to read Forbidden Fire and Restless Hearts.
Jem Whitaker was in a quandary. With her Father being accused of being a cattle rustler, his death, and the prospect of losing her ranch, Jem has finally made her decision. She needed to get married so her husband could join the cattle drive and could make sure they made a military contract. Then he could leave in a year with a divorce and $5000 richer. Where could she get this man? There was no one in the area who would do this without telling the reason. She needed to hold on to the ranch as much for memories as for the welfare of the elderly workers on the ranch. She decided to bail out the man the sheriff had in jail and offer him the proposition.
Reese McIntire was riding through town and got drunk and disorderly so he spent the night in jail. He was not happy at being shanghaied. He had no idea how he came to be on the ranch. He was more than caught off guard by Jem’s proposition; but the money he would make would enable him to fulfill his dream of starting a freighting business. Could he stand being married and one married, who was the boss?
As if trying to keep her poise when the two of them were together, host parties and go to them, behave and dress like a woman, and not fall in love with Reese, now they had to put up with rustlers and someone wanting to kill Jen or Reese or both of them.

[Luli · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seré muy breve.
Esta ha sido una historia de malentendidos, uno detrás de otro, ninguno se soluciona porque los protagonistas van a hablar pero al final no hablan y lo resuelven dándose un revolcón. Y la protagonista, la pobre, es digna de lástima: es la única persona en toda la historia que no tiene ni idea de qué está pasando, porque nadie le cuenta nada, claro, con lo cual queda de estúpida y sus decisiones dejan mucho que desear…
Una pena, porque al principio, cuando sólo había uno o dos malentendidos, la historia era tolerable e incluso tenía buena pinta, pero después se vuelve aburrida y predecible.
Todos los personajes (incluso el lector) intuyen o saben quiénes son los malos menos la protagonista y para colmo de males, hasta el 93% del libro se lleva suspirando por su amado, un tio que la dejó tirada cuando su padre murió y del que no ha sabido nada desde entonces…un poco ridículo, y cansino…
Con lo cual, si te gusta las historias con mucha angustia y malos entendidos y una protagonista que no sabe si está en Marte o en la tierra…este es tu libro.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started strong & piqued my interest. For the most part two strong characters wrestling each other to be heard, understood & accepted. Great twist at the end with a devistating revelation.

The bit I found irritating was a strong competent woman was her timidity of feminine pursuits & her emotional immaturity.

Love the vibrant cover.