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Panorama of the Old West #4
Bandit's Embrace
When her scheming future stepmother forces Amethyst Durango to enter a convent, the headstrong heiress swears to live life to the fullest before entering, even if it means taking up with a Texas drifter
446 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
21 people are currently reading
102 people want to read
About the author
Georgina Gentry
48 books106 followersGeorgina Gentry is a former Ford Foundation teacher who married her Irish-Indian college sweetheart. They have three grown children and seven grandchildren and make their home on a small lake in central Oklahoma. Georgina is known for the deep research and passion of her novels, resulting in two Romantic Times Lifetime Achievement awards for both Western and Indian Romance. Often a speaker at writers’ conferences, Georgina has also been inducted into the Oklahoma Professional Writer’s Hall of Fame. She holds the rare distinction of winning two back-to-back Best Western Romance of the Year awards for To Tame A Savage and To Tame A Texan. When she’s not writing or researching, Georgina enjoys gardening and collecting antiques.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 31, 2025
This is the kind of story I like. Twists. Turns. Mysteries. Intrigue. And it all ends happily. I really enjoyed the storyline. And it was written well. I think there were a few things that could have been edited out - like the army scenes. But I do think it was readable and a page turner and a good old fashioned bodice ripper.
I wish the author and delved more into the Lidah/her mother storyline so we had a little more detail there. But it was a good story.
I wish the author and delved more into the Lidah/her mother storyline so we had a little more detail there. But it was a good story.
May 7, 2021
This review is “Bandit’s Embrace”, book #3 of “The Durango Family” sub-series and #4 overall in the “Panorama of the Old West” series by Georgina Gentry.
The book begins with the heroine, Amethyst Maria Consuelo Durango, the heroine of the book, being delivered to a convent in Mexico. (This is not Amethyst’s decision, but rather that of her stepmother, Monique, who wants Amethyst gone for personal reasons). Amethyst tries to stop this plan by finding someone who will help her. Meanwhile, in Bandera, Texas, a drifter named Bandit, the hero of the book, is participating in a card game. Among the other players is the notorious Oklahoma Kid. When Bandit accuses the Kid of cheating, gunfire erupts, and Bandit kills the Kid. He escapes with the Kid’s horse, then realizes that he has something he didn’t bargain for; a stolen Army payroll. Bandit hightails it to Mexico, where he and Amethyst meet for the first time. She offers to pay him for the horse; he refuses. (He needs the horse to escape the other members of the Kid’s gang, and possibly the Army, who might be pursuing him). Later, Amethyst and Bandit have sex.
While Amethyst is being pushed into a convent, Bandit’s life is going differently; he agrees to pretend to be Tony Falcon, the long-lost son of wealthy Mexican rancher Enrique Falcon (This is part of a scheme by Falcon’s evil foreman, Romeros, to obtain money and power). While Bandit is somewhat happy to be part of a family, he is less happy to discover that Enrique has affianced Tony to his friend Gomez’ daughter. That feeling changes, however, when, at a party, Bandit discovers that his fiancee is Amethyst. At that same party is Gomez and the aforementioned future stepmother, his fiancee, Monique Dupre, whom Amethyst doesn’t like, for various reasons. It turns out that Monique and Bandit have a history, and that she is also in a conspiracy with Romeros, this one to steal Gomez’ fortune. We also learn that “Monique”, like Bandit, isn’t who she says she is.
As the book goes on, we learn more about Bandit’s childhood and past with his mother, Lida Anson; it’s not pretty or happy. When he hears that the three other members of the Oklahoma Kid’s gang are trying to find him, Bandit leaves Mexico, hoping to not get the Durango and Falcon families involved in his fight. That hope will not be realized.
The three surviving members of the Oklahoma Kid’s gang kidnap Amethyst and hold her, hoping to ambush Bandit and get the money back. Bandit goes to rescue her, and he will get some unexpected help doing so. A group of Mescalero Apache Indians find the outlaws and kill them, and Bandit discovers part of his heritage.
After escaping the outlaws, Bandit returns to the Falcon ranch, where he confronts Romeros. A violent fight ensues, and Romeros and “Monique” are both killed. Bandit learns another life-changing fact, he and Amethyst marry, and have their Happily Ever After.
Upside: In many ways, Ms. Gentry’s books are like a big flow chart. Everyone in the books is connected to each other; in some ways tangentially, in others by blood.
Bandit is the titular character, and by far, the most interesting person in the book. We learn about his past-it’s sad and not pretty-and understand his reasons for becoming a gunslinger.
Downside: Sadly, Ms. Gentry doesn’t provide the same depth to Amethyst. She checks off all the “romance novel heroine” boxes: she’s beautiful, she’s sexy-but she also lacks depth, and I found I didn’t care for her as much as I wanted to. In her previous book, “Comanche Cowboy”, Ms. Gentry did a much better job balancing depth between her hero and heroine; here, the lean is almost exclusively to Bandit. I didn’t feel a whole lot of chemistry between Amethyst and Bandit; lust, for certain, but not a lot of loving chemistry.
Sex: Ms. Gentry’s love scenes are what I call “soft erotic”; that is, they are slightly steamier than most mainstream historical romance love scenes (in terms of sexual positions, acts, etc.), but do not come close to approaching what would be classified today as erotica.
Violence: The early books in the “Panorama of the Old West” series are quite violent, and “Bandit’s Embrace” follows that trend; violent scenes here include assault, battery, rape, stabbings, shootings and killings. There are also torture scenes and one character is killed by a bull which gores him.
Bottom Line: “Bandit’s Embrace” is not as good as it could have been. I felt like Ms. Gentry left a lot on the table here.
The book begins with the heroine, Amethyst Maria Consuelo Durango, the heroine of the book, being delivered to a convent in Mexico. (This is not Amethyst’s decision, but rather that of her stepmother, Monique, who wants Amethyst gone for personal reasons). Amethyst tries to stop this plan by finding someone who will help her. Meanwhile, in Bandera, Texas, a drifter named Bandit, the hero of the book, is participating in a card game. Among the other players is the notorious Oklahoma Kid. When Bandit accuses the Kid of cheating, gunfire erupts, and Bandit kills the Kid. He escapes with the Kid’s horse, then realizes that he has something he didn’t bargain for; a stolen Army payroll. Bandit hightails it to Mexico, where he and Amethyst meet for the first time. She offers to pay him for the horse; he refuses. (He needs the horse to escape the other members of the Kid’s gang, and possibly the Army, who might be pursuing him). Later, Amethyst and Bandit have sex.
While Amethyst is being pushed into a convent, Bandit’s life is going differently; he agrees to pretend to be Tony Falcon, the long-lost son of wealthy Mexican rancher Enrique Falcon (This is part of a scheme by Falcon’s evil foreman, Romeros, to obtain money and power). While Bandit is somewhat happy to be part of a family, he is less happy to discover that Enrique has affianced Tony to his friend Gomez’ daughter. That feeling changes, however, when, at a party, Bandit discovers that his fiancee is Amethyst. At that same party is Gomez and the aforementioned future stepmother, his fiancee, Monique Dupre, whom Amethyst doesn’t like, for various reasons. It turns out that Monique and Bandit have a history, and that she is also in a conspiracy with Romeros, this one to steal Gomez’ fortune. We also learn that “Monique”, like Bandit, isn’t who she says she is.
As the book goes on, we learn more about Bandit’s childhood and past with his mother, Lida Anson; it’s not pretty or happy. When he hears that the three other members of the Oklahoma Kid’s gang are trying to find him, Bandit leaves Mexico, hoping to not get the Durango and Falcon families involved in his fight. That hope will not be realized.
The three surviving members of the Oklahoma Kid’s gang kidnap Amethyst and hold her, hoping to ambush Bandit and get the money back. Bandit goes to rescue her, and he will get some unexpected help doing so. A group of Mescalero Apache Indians find the outlaws and kill them, and Bandit discovers part of his heritage.
After escaping the outlaws, Bandit returns to the Falcon ranch, where he confronts Romeros. A violent fight ensues, and Romeros and “Monique” are both killed. Bandit learns another life-changing fact, he and Amethyst marry, and have their Happily Ever After.
Upside: In many ways, Ms. Gentry’s books are like a big flow chart. Everyone in the books is connected to each other; in some ways tangentially, in others by blood.
Bandit is the titular character, and by far, the most interesting person in the book. We learn about his past-it’s sad and not pretty-and understand his reasons for becoming a gunslinger.
Downside: Sadly, Ms. Gentry doesn’t provide the same depth to Amethyst. She checks off all the “romance novel heroine” boxes: she’s beautiful, she’s sexy-but she also lacks depth, and I found I didn’t care for her as much as I wanted to. In her previous book, “Comanche Cowboy”, Ms. Gentry did a much better job balancing depth between her hero and heroine; here, the lean is almost exclusively to Bandit. I didn’t feel a whole lot of chemistry between Amethyst and Bandit; lust, for certain, but not a lot of loving chemistry.
Sex: Ms. Gentry’s love scenes are what I call “soft erotic”; that is, they are slightly steamier than most mainstream historical romance love scenes (in terms of sexual positions, acts, etc.), but do not come close to approaching what would be classified today as erotica.
Violence: The early books in the “Panorama of the Old West” series are quite violent, and “Bandit’s Embrace” follows that trend; violent scenes here include assault, battery, rape, stabbings, shootings and killings. There are also torture scenes and one character is killed by a bull which gores him.
Bottom Line: “Bandit’s Embrace” is not as good as it could have been. I felt like Ms. Gentry left a lot on the table here.
February 4, 2017
My favorite historical romance author, not my favorite book.
Georgina Gentry has always been my favorite historical romance author. However, this book was okay, but not my favorite. I have to say to say it was too busy for my taste.
Bandit, aka Texas, aka Tony, fell in live with Amethyst right off. He considered himself a saddle bum and Amethyst came from a rich background. He followed her across the country side.
What I didn't Luke about this book is the grammar, punctuation, and spelling mistakes. It was way too busy for me to want to keep up with. There were a Lot of characters to follow. I felt I was reading two books in one.
There were the main characters, their families, the bad guys, the Indians, the Calvary and this also included the stories being told by a relative of Bandit's family history. Sorry Ms. Gentry, but this one wasn't for me.
Georgina Gentry has always been my favorite historical romance author. However, this book was okay, but not my favorite. I have to say to say it was too busy for my taste.
Bandit, aka Texas, aka Tony, fell in live with Amethyst right off. He considered himself a saddle bum and Amethyst came from a rich background. He followed her across the country side.
What I didn't Luke about this book is the grammar, punctuation, and spelling mistakes. It was way too busy for me to want to keep up with. There were a Lot of characters to follow. I felt I was reading two books in one.
There were the main characters, their families, the bad guys, the Indians, the Calvary and this also included the stories being told by a relative of Bandit's family history. Sorry Ms. Gentry, but this one wasn't for me.
May 2, 2018
Another lovely western historical romance by Gentry. This one stands out after all these years..read it in the early 1990s. A great work of historical romance!
December 26, 2015
great book glad he found out who his family was...
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews