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Tender Is the Touch
ICE AND FIRE
Headstrong Sydney Delandy never let being female in the 1880s stop her from pursuing her dreams. So with an employment contract in hand, she strikes out for the frozen North -- to present herself in person to her astonished new boss.
Mike MacAllister thought he had hired a man -- not the bewitching miss who now stands before him. Alaska, however, is no place for a woman -- and the dashing entrepreneur resolves to do whatever it takes to send Sydney scurrying back to a warmer and safer clime.
But the stubborn young beauty is determined to prove herself equal to this perilous and breathtaking land -- and, in the process, melt the icy heart of her handsome employer with passion's fire ... and a love that blazes brighter than the Northern Lights.
Headstrong Sydney Delandy never let being female in the 1880s stop her from pursuing her dreams. So with an employment contract in hand, she strikes out for the frozen North -- to present herself in person to her astonished new boss.
Mike MacAllister thought he had hired a man -- not the bewitching miss who now stands before him. Alaska, however, is no place for a woman -- and the dashing entrepreneur resolves to do whatever it takes to send Sydney scurrying back to a warmer and safer clime.
But the stubborn young beauty is determined to prove herself equal to this perilous and breathtaking land -- and, in the process, melt the icy heart of her handsome employer with passion's fire ... and a love that blazes brighter than the Northern Lights.
384 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1994
36 people want to read
About the author
Ana Leigh
39 books27 followersWisconsin natives, Ana Leigh and her husband, Don, have three children and five grandchildren. From the time of the publication of her novel, LOVE'S LONG JOURNEY, by Leisure Books in 1981, Ana successfully juggled her time between her chosen career and her hobby of writing, until she officially retired in September of '94 to devote more time to her "hobby." In the past she has been a theater cashier (who married the boss,) the head of an accounting department, a corporate officer, and the only female on the Board of Directors of an engineering firm.
This best selling author (New York Times and USA Today bestsellers lists) received a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award nomination for Storyteller of the Year in 1991, the BOOKRAK 1995-1996 Best Selling Author Award for her May release, THE MACKENZIES: LUKE, the Romantic Times 1995-1996 Career Achievement Award for Western Historical Romance, and the Romantic Times 1996-1997 Career Achievement Award for Historical Storyteller of the Year. Ana still considers her proudest achievement as that of homemaker.
This best selling author (New York Times and USA Today bestsellers lists) received a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award nomination for Storyteller of the Year in 1991, the BOOKRAK 1995-1996 Best Selling Author Award for her May release, THE MACKENZIES: LUKE, the Romantic Times 1995-1996 Career Achievement Award for Western Historical Romance, and the Romantic Times 1996-1997 Career Achievement Award for Historical Storyteller of the Year. Ana still considers her proudest achievement as that of homemaker.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 25, 2011
I LOVE this book. The tension between Mike and Delaney was awesome and I read it every couple of months. It's that good!!
July 1, 2020
tender is the touch 1994
—determined virgin 🙄 -> lusty virgin
—hero has tortured past and vast sexual experience 🙄
—hero thinks this is all purely physical
—advocate: Claire (local madam) and Sydney herself is a matchmaker
—literacy: her father’s books, flirtatious quotations
—committed to the hook up instead of just jumping to sex. 👍
themes:
—appropriateness
—toughness (mental & physical)
—civilization vs wildnerness
—personal/professional relationships
—small town
—rage
—roles of women in business (sydney’s education v. claire’s place in town)
—hero overcoming traumatic past
things to remember:
—prostitute who isn’t ostracized! shout out to Claire and her warm friendship with the hero!
—parrot says “sydney’s right! sydney’s right!” somehow hasn’t gotten old, and is still funny.
—seattle & russia’s places in the history of alaska (some fraught russian characters)
—pet name: Syd, Delaney
—no parents in the picture
—weird ending. marriage is in the air, but not completed. sex in final scene is only a rushed paragraph. what is concluded is his admission that he needs her, which he has said before. 🤷♀️
—truly interesting history
on the plot:
the main crux of the relationship was whether he believed she could make it in alaska. she did almost nothing to make him feel secure that she could handle herself. didn’t take guns seriously, didn’t get the clothes he asked for. nothing. made no attempt to grow into the wild world. and in the end that was fine because she handled a bad situation despite zero wilderness situation. so. weird. i felt the promise of a wedding and then the calling off was like such a weird tease and i didn’t feel satisfied emotionally with their reconciliation.
also really weird shoehorn of an argument of syd messing up poacher politics?! like such a weird thing to throw in at the end, that she would accidentally betray him. i don’t see why the author chose to repeatedly have sydney prove she doesn’t belong on purpose? like i just don’t follow what the point of the book was then, like what am i getting from this? just being stubborn is enough? in the end she belongs in alaska because she belongs with him, but i never see her bond with alaska.
and also did she lose her thousand bucks with her bookstore investment and passage back to alaska?? like what??
OO
—determined virgin 🙄 -> lusty virgin
—hero has tortured past and vast sexual experience 🙄
—hero thinks this is all purely physical
—advocate: Claire (local madam) and Sydney herself is a matchmaker
—literacy: her father’s books, flirtatious quotations
—committed to the hook up instead of just jumping to sex. 👍
themes:
—appropriateness
—toughness (mental & physical)
—civilization vs wildnerness
—personal/professional relationships
—small town
—rage
—roles of women in business (sydney’s education v. claire’s place in town)
—hero overcoming traumatic past
things to remember:
—prostitute who isn’t ostracized! shout out to Claire and her warm friendship with the hero!
—parrot says “sydney’s right! sydney’s right!” somehow hasn’t gotten old, and is still funny.
—seattle & russia’s places in the history of alaska (some fraught russian characters)
—pet name: Syd, Delaney
—no parents in the picture
—weird ending. marriage is in the air, but not completed. sex in final scene is only a rushed paragraph. what is concluded is his admission that he needs her, which he has said before. 🤷♀️
—truly interesting history
on the plot:
the main crux of the relationship was whether he believed she could make it in alaska. she did almost nothing to make him feel secure that she could handle herself. didn’t take guns seriously, didn’t get the clothes he asked for. nothing. made no attempt to grow into the wild world. and in the end that was fine because she handled a bad situation despite zero wilderness situation. so. weird. i felt the promise of a wedding and then the calling off was like such a weird tease and i didn’t feel satisfied emotionally with their reconciliation.
also really weird shoehorn of an argument of syd messing up poacher politics?! like such a weird thing to throw in at the end, that she would accidentally betray him. i don’t see why the author chose to repeatedly have sydney prove she doesn’t belong on purpose? like i just don’t follow what the point of the book was then, like what am i getting from this? just being stubborn is enough? in the end she belongs in alaska because she belongs with him, but i never see her bond with alaska.
and also did she lose her thousand bucks with her bookstore investment and passage back to alaska?? like what??
OO
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 19, 2022
Wow so much happened in this book.. the romance was entertaining enough
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews