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Reckless Angel
Katherine Bennett was returning to her Texas home an elegant young woman, after spending three years at an eastern boarding school. Yet her thoughts as she stepped off the train were anything but ladylike. For she was prepared to wrest control of Three Creeks Ranch from its new foreman, Jason Cain.
Jason was a man of mystery. No one knew where the handsome cowboy came from, only that he was fast with his fists and faster with a gun. Dark and dangerously attractive, he treated Katherine with a teasing indifference that set her blood to boiling and only strengthened her resolve to expose his past and get him off her father's ranch, permanently.
Yet Katherine should never have tangled with this hardheaded cowboy. He'd use any weapon, even the force of her own blossoming desire to tame her. With velvet kisses this scoundrel set her passions aflame and won her tender heart.
*note - Elizabeth Awbrey was a pseud used by Elizabeth Stuart
Jason was a man of mystery. No one knew where the handsome cowboy came from, only that he was fast with his fists and faster with a gun. Dark and dangerously attractive, he treated Katherine with a teasing indifference that set her blood to boiling and only strengthened her resolve to expose his past and get him off her father's ranch, permanently.
Yet Katherine should never have tangled with this hardheaded cowboy. He'd use any weapon, even the force of her own blossoming desire to tame her. With velvet kisses this scoundrel set her passions aflame and won her tender heart.
*note - Elizabeth Awbrey was a pseud used by Elizabeth Stuart
463 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
75 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Awbrey
1 book2 followersAka Elizabeth Stuart
Elizabeth spent her childhood on an Arkansas farm surrounded by animals. Later, she spent ten years in Louisiana working in hospital management. She enjoys horseback riding (reflected in her novels) and has traveled in Europe. When last heard of she was residing in St. Louis.
Unfortunately for her readers (but fortunately, I’m sure, for her family), she stopped writing in 1995 to raise a family.
Source: Regan Walker
Elizabeth spent her childhood on an Arkansas farm surrounded by animals. Later, she spent ten years in Louisiana working in hospital management. She enjoys horseback riding (reflected in her novels) and has traveled in Europe. When last heard of she was residing in St. Louis.
Unfortunately for her readers (but fortunately, I’m sure, for her family), she stopped writing in 1995 to raise a family.
Source: Regan Walker
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 4, 2020
Look, this book is a whole mess. And this is aside from the exclamation points
I believe the hero kissed the heroine the first time in anger and intimidation. And they hated each other for a good portion of the book. In 463 pages, they really didn't exhibit vulnerability and despite all the wild adventures and murder and rape attempts there was very little actual dialogue that wasn't antagonistic. They have so few interactions it's baffling.
Then they suddenly love each other. There's this scene...The heroine lashes the hero. And then there's an actual physical altercation between the two of them where she throws a book at him, and she attempts to get away from him and this results in ten spankings. Not the sexy kind. The abuse kind.
I almost stopped reading. For some reason I continued.
"But this isn't real between us. You think you love me because I'm different from the men you knew back East. And because I was the first to make you feel like a woman, he added quietly. "That's not love, Kat, it's something else entirely." Oh sexy, tell me more about my feelings. And also, srsly?
This isn't even the worst of it. The worst of it is after all this-after physical intimidation, emotional neglect and abusive interactions...the Jase tells Kat he thought he was in love once?
What happened? He broke her neck.
Kat quickly responds that she had it coming...she's sure of it. Jase can't believe how she loves him and he feels so validated and they fuck.
Jase has a temper, but apparently this wild west woman is sure to tame it...or ya know, end up dead.
Will I read the author again, sure! I did a weird thing and bought them all. But I'll only read one more with exclamation points and abuse (and I won't finish it!)
I believe the hero kissed the heroine the first time in anger and intimidation. And they hated each other for a good portion of the book. In 463 pages, they really didn't exhibit vulnerability and despite all the wild adventures and murder and rape attempts there was very little actual dialogue that wasn't antagonistic. They have so few interactions it's baffling.
Then they suddenly love each other. There's this scene...The heroine lashes the hero. And then there's an actual physical altercation between the two of them where she throws a book at him, and she attempts to get away from him and this results in ten spankings. Not the sexy kind. The abuse kind.
I almost stopped reading. For some reason I continued.
"But this isn't real between us. You think you love me because I'm different from the men you knew back East. And because I was the first to make you feel like a woman, he added quietly. "That's not love, Kat, it's something else entirely." Oh sexy, tell me more about my feelings. And also, srsly?
This isn't even the worst of it. The worst of it is after all this-after physical intimidation, emotional neglect and abusive interactions...the Jase tells Kat he thought he was in love once?
What happened? He broke her neck.
Kat quickly responds that she had it coming...she's sure of it. Jase can't believe how she loves him and he feels so validated and they fuck.
Jase has a temper, but apparently this wild west woman is sure to tame it...or ya know, end up dead.
Will I read the author again, sure! I did a weird thing and bought them all. But I'll only read one more with exclamation points and abuse (and I won't finish it!)
April 5, 2017
A Keeper of a Western Historical!
This was Awbrey’s (aka Elizabeth Stuart) first novel, published in 1988, and the only Western. She wrote four more before retiring in 1995 to raise a family. ALL of her novels have garnered 5 stars from me; one won the RITA award.
Set in Texas in the late 1800s, RECKLESS ANGEL tells the story of Katherine (“Kat”) Bennett, an independent beautiful young woman raised by her father, Judge Bennett, a respected rancher. Sent to Philadelphia to become a lady, she returns home years later, anxious to resume her involvement in the family ranch, “Three Creeks,” that will one day be hers. While she was away, her father hired a new ranch hand, now her father’s right arm—a gunslinger named Jason Cain (“Jase”). Jase bears many scars from a tortured past but he’s a fair man and loves Kat’s father, who treats him like a son. When Kat and Jase meet, the chemistry and the conflict are immediate. Kat resents Jase’s place in her father’s heart and she believes Jase has nothing but disdain for her. She is so wrong.
Awbrey is a superb storyteller and weaves in historical information so seamlessly you do not even realize you’ve traveled in mind back to the period she is writing about. Her characters are richly drawn and each one unique. Jase is an interesting man, a strong, tortured hero yes, but also intelligent, charming and endearing. Kat is a girl trying to find her way in a world in which she does not feel at home—neither a lady nor a tomboy, but somewhere in between. What amazed me is that I was totally engrossed in this story and yet I never traveled far from the Three Creeks Ranch and the nearby town. The detail in speech and descriptions is so meticulous you don’t realize how much work went into crafting this tale. Only a master storyteller can do that.
Trust me when I say you won’t regret getting this author’s whole backlist, including this Western historical—novels to curl up with on a rainy day…all keepers!
Here’s the list of novels she wrote as Elizabeth Stuart, save for the first:
RECKLESS ANGEL (1988, under the pen name Elizabeth Awbrey)
HEARTSTORM (1989)
WHERE LOVE DWELLS (1990, winner of the RITA Award for Best Historical 1991)
WITHOUT HONOR (1994)
BRIDE OF THE LION (1995, winner of Romantic Times’ best Medieval Historical Romance)
This was Awbrey’s (aka Elizabeth Stuart) first novel, published in 1988, and the only Western. She wrote four more before retiring in 1995 to raise a family. ALL of her novels have garnered 5 stars from me; one won the RITA award.
Set in Texas in the late 1800s, RECKLESS ANGEL tells the story of Katherine (“Kat”) Bennett, an independent beautiful young woman raised by her father, Judge Bennett, a respected rancher. Sent to Philadelphia to become a lady, she returns home years later, anxious to resume her involvement in the family ranch, “Three Creeks,” that will one day be hers. While she was away, her father hired a new ranch hand, now her father’s right arm—a gunslinger named Jason Cain (“Jase”). Jase bears many scars from a tortured past but he’s a fair man and loves Kat’s father, who treats him like a son. When Kat and Jase meet, the chemistry and the conflict are immediate. Kat resents Jase’s place in her father’s heart and she believes Jase has nothing but disdain for her. She is so wrong.
Awbrey is a superb storyteller and weaves in historical information so seamlessly you do not even realize you’ve traveled in mind back to the period she is writing about. Her characters are richly drawn and each one unique. Jase is an interesting man, a strong, tortured hero yes, but also intelligent, charming and endearing. Kat is a girl trying to find her way in a world in which she does not feel at home—neither a lady nor a tomboy, but somewhere in between. What amazed me is that I was totally engrossed in this story and yet I never traveled far from the Three Creeks Ranch and the nearby town. The detail in speech and descriptions is so meticulous you don’t realize how much work went into crafting this tale. Only a master storyteller can do that.
Trust me when I say you won’t regret getting this author’s whole backlist, including this Western historical—novels to curl up with on a rainy day…all keepers!
Here’s the list of novels she wrote as Elizabeth Stuart, save for the first:
RECKLESS ANGEL (1988, under the pen name Elizabeth Awbrey)
HEARTSTORM (1989)
WHERE LOVE DWELLS (1990, winner of the RITA Award for Best Historical 1991)
WITHOUT HONOR (1994)
BRIDE OF THE LION (1995, winner of Romantic Times’ best Medieval Historical Romance)
July 11, 2022
Fun, fast-paced, and entertaining!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews