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Western Wind #2
Passions Wild and Free
Seeking revenge on the Epson Gang, the outlaws who killed her family, Randee Hollis recruits gunslinger Marsh Logan, but her desire for revenge melts into a longing for passion when she gazes into the virile stranger's eyes
512 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1988
4 people are currently reading
116 people want to read
About the author
Janelle Taylor
101 books244 followersThe legendary Janelle Taylor was born on June 28, 1944 in Athens, GA. In 1965, she married Michael Taylor with whom she had two children, Angela Taylor-MacIntyre and Alisha Taylor Thurmond. Ms. Taylor attended the Medical College of Georgia from 1977 to 1979 and Augusta State University from 1980-1981. She withdrew from the latter after she sold her first two novels. Today, she is the author of thirty-nine novels, three novellas, and many contributions to other collections. There are thirty-nine million copies of her works in print worldwide and she has made The New York Times Bestseller List eight times. Ms. Taylor's works have also been featured ten times on the "1 million +" bestseller's list at Publisher's Weekly.
Some of Ms. Taylor's most recent books include By Candlelight, Someday Soon, Lakota Dawn, and Lakota Winds (due out in paperback in May 1999). She has also made contributions to other books including The Leukemia Society Cookbook, Christmas Rendezvous, and Summer Love. In addition, readers can see her as co-host of the QVC/TV Romance Book Club Show.
Ms. Taylor's interests include collecting spoons, coins from around the world, ship models, dolls, and old books. She loves to fish, ride horses, play chess, target-shoot, travel (especially in her motorhome and out West), hunt for Indian relics, and take long walks with her husband. Reading, in particular books set before 1900 and current Biographies, Thrillers, Horror, or Fantasy novels, is also one of Ms. Taylor's favorite activities. She is also extremely active with charity work and was even featured on the cover of Diabetes Forecast in February of 1998.
She lives in the country on seventy-nine acres of woods and pasture with a lake and a catfish pond. She writes her novels in a Spanish cottage which overlooks a five-acre lake, a working water mill, gazebo, and covered bridge.
Some of Ms. Taylor's most recent books include By Candlelight, Someday Soon, Lakota Dawn, and Lakota Winds (due out in paperback in May 1999). She has also made contributions to other books including The Leukemia Society Cookbook, Christmas Rendezvous, and Summer Love. In addition, readers can see her as co-host of the QVC/TV Romance Book Club Show.
Ms. Taylor's interests include collecting spoons, coins from around the world, ship models, dolls, and old books. She loves to fish, ride horses, play chess, target-shoot, travel (especially in her motorhome and out West), hunt for Indian relics, and take long walks with her husband. Reading, in particular books set before 1900 and current Biographies, Thrillers, Horror, or Fantasy novels, is also one of Ms. Taylor's favorite activities. She is also extremely active with charity work and was even featured on the cover of Diabetes Forecast in February of 1998.
She lives in the country on seventy-nine acres of woods and pasture with a lake and a catfish pond. She writes her novels in a Spanish cottage which overlooks a five-acre lake, a working water mill, gazebo, and covered bridge.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 30, 2021
This review is of “Passions Wild and Free”, book #2 in the “Western Wind” series by Janelle Taylor.
The book begins in Wadesville, Texas, undisclosed time but after the Civil War. Randee Hollis, the heroine of the book, has plans to go after the Epson Gang, a ruthless band of killers who killed her aunt and uncle, Sara Elizabeth and Lee Carson, when the gang attacked their ranch. (Randee was the only survivor of the attack). She decides to hire a man to help her track down and kill the gang members. Randee finds resistance to her plans from Brody Wade, the sheriff of Wadesville-named after his family-who is in love with her and wishes to marry her.
Randee runs into-literally-Marsh Logan, the hero of the book, and hires him to work with her, believing that he is a notorious gunfighter named the Durango Kid. He’s not, but he is good with a gun and has his own reasons for wanting to find and kill the Epson Gang. As they track the gang, we learn why Randee left her family in Kansas, and she and Marsh give in to their attraction and become lovers.
As they systematically dismantle the Epson Gang, Randee and Marsh come to realize that the gang isn’t just a ragtag group of outlaws, but rather part of a bigger plan, led by someone who wants money and power.
In the end, the gang is brought to justice or killed, as is the big boss of the operation. The real Durango Kid-who is Marsh’s younger brother-appears on the scene. Randee’s family issues in Kansas are resolved. Randee and Marsh have their Happily Ever After.
Upside: Both Randee and Marsh are well-developed characters. Mrs. Taylor gives them depth and fills them in as real people. I liked the fact that Randee was a capable person in her own right and Marsh grew to respect her skills.
Downside: “Passions Wild and Free” is ostensibly a historical romantic suspense book. Mrs. Taylor only got one of the three right (The historical part). There is very little chemistry between Randee and Marsh, although they become lovers and adventure partners. There is also very little in the way of suspense; most of the suspense occurs “off-screen”. I was also quite annoyed with Mrs. Taylor’s overuse of the word “cunning”, which she uses in every book she writes. I wanted to scream several times in the reading of the book “why didn’t you use a freakin’ thesaurus, Mrs. Taylor?”. I found myself skipping pages because at times, “Passions Wild and Free” was simply boring. One other thing: this book is said to be part of a six-book series called “Western Wind”. No character from the first book in the “series”, “First Love, Wild Love”, appears in “Passions Wild and Free”. The only thing the two books so far in the “series” have in common is that both are set in Texas, which is not, in my eyes, a connection that warrants a “series” label.
Sex: The love scenes are either mostly quick or typical Taylor; in other words, more focused on the feelings of the act than the esoterics of it.
Violence: Most of the violence is “off-screen”. On screen violence includes: assault, battery, shootings and killings. The violence is not graphic in any way.
Bottom Line: Randee and Marsh deserved better than what they got from Mrs. Taylor in “Passions Wild and Free”.
The book begins in Wadesville, Texas, undisclosed time but after the Civil War. Randee Hollis, the heroine of the book, has plans to go after the Epson Gang, a ruthless band of killers who killed her aunt and uncle, Sara Elizabeth and Lee Carson, when the gang attacked their ranch. (Randee was the only survivor of the attack). She decides to hire a man to help her track down and kill the gang members. Randee finds resistance to her plans from Brody Wade, the sheriff of Wadesville-named after his family-who is in love with her and wishes to marry her.
Randee runs into-literally-Marsh Logan, the hero of the book, and hires him to work with her, believing that he is a notorious gunfighter named the Durango Kid. He’s not, but he is good with a gun and has his own reasons for wanting to find and kill the Epson Gang. As they track the gang, we learn why Randee left her family in Kansas, and she and Marsh give in to their attraction and become lovers.
As they systematically dismantle the Epson Gang, Randee and Marsh come to realize that the gang isn’t just a ragtag group of outlaws, but rather part of a bigger plan, led by someone who wants money and power.
In the end, the gang is brought to justice or killed, as is the big boss of the operation. The real Durango Kid-who is Marsh’s younger brother-appears on the scene. Randee’s family issues in Kansas are resolved. Randee and Marsh have their Happily Ever After.
Upside: Both Randee and Marsh are well-developed characters. Mrs. Taylor gives them depth and fills them in as real people. I liked the fact that Randee was a capable person in her own right and Marsh grew to respect her skills.
Downside: “Passions Wild and Free” is ostensibly a historical romantic suspense book. Mrs. Taylor only got one of the three right (The historical part). There is very little chemistry between Randee and Marsh, although they become lovers and adventure partners. There is also very little in the way of suspense; most of the suspense occurs “off-screen”. I was also quite annoyed with Mrs. Taylor’s overuse of the word “cunning”, which she uses in every book she writes. I wanted to scream several times in the reading of the book “why didn’t you use a freakin’ thesaurus, Mrs. Taylor?”. I found myself skipping pages because at times, “Passions Wild and Free” was simply boring. One other thing: this book is said to be part of a six-book series called “Western Wind”. No character from the first book in the “series”, “First Love, Wild Love”, appears in “Passions Wild and Free”. The only thing the two books so far in the “series” have in common is that both are set in Texas, which is not, in my eyes, a connection that warrants a “series” label.
Sex: The love scenes are either mostly quick or typical Taylor; in other words, more focused on the feelings of the act than the esoterics of it.
Violence: Most of the violence is “off-screen”. On screen violence includes: assault, battery, shootings and killings. The violence is not graphic in any way.
Bottom Line: Randee and Marsh deserved better than what they got from Mrs. Taylor in “Passions Wild and Free”.
February 27, 2018
One star seems generous for this book.
January 4, 2023
I have a lot of thoughts on this book. Randee Hollis a young woman who is left with bitter rage and a need for revenge after her Aunt and Uncle are killed by the infamous Epson gang. After running away from her home to escape her stepfather, Randee is finally done running from her past. In order to avenge the deaths of her loved ones, Randee puts out a search for a gunslinger who can help her put a stop to the Epson gang once and for all. Randee isn’t your average prairie woman, she can hunt, shoot and ride better than any man. And she wants nothing more than to be the one to enact justice on the group that wronged her. Marsh Logan is a man under many identities. His line of work has left him to be one of the most skilled gunman in the west. But above all he has a burning hatred for the Epson gang after they murdered his family. When Marsh reads about Randee’s inquiry for a partner he has no idea of the tantalizing woman who stands behind the offer. Together the two of them must work to stop the gang and get to the bottom of the criminals motives. However along the journey they discover the deep passion they feel for one another and realize their partnership maybe far more than platonic.
Listen. This book could’ve been so much better. I loved the storyline. A cowboy and a lady traveling together by horseback through the west?? Sign me up. It had all the elements to be great, especially the forced proximity that the plot created. However I did find the book lacking in a lot of ways. For starters it easily could’ve been 200 pages not 500. While I appreciated the long dialogue and extremely detailed plot line I found myself absolutely bored. After the first 100 pages it was a real challenge to persuade myself to finish it. And I really wanted to finish it! I mean I loved both Randee and Marsh, they were fantastic characters with depth and a sense of realism about them. The extended dialogues really painted a picture of who they were as people. But for about the next 300 or so pages I was unfathomably bored. Randee and Marsh would do the same things every chapter: Set up camp, compliment each other on their skills, make love, go to bed. AND DONT GET ME WRONG I usually like low conflict books but come on. Randee and Marsh had the healthiest communication I’ve ever seen from two characters in a historical fiction and it was WRONG LOL. Any time either character had a single thought that seemed like it could inspire a conflict down the line, they squashed that within the next few lines of dialogue. And while that made for a mighty stable relationship, it also made for a rather unexciting novel. The real action of the book takes place within the first 100 pages and the last 100 pages. Anything between then can be edited down greatly. While I have been complaining about the length of the book itself, it did tie up EVERY SINGLE loose end. Like any imaginable unresolved plot point was solved by the end. Also great plot twist, truly didn’t expect it. Which I would consider a positive. I like that Randee is a bad ass, and I enjoyed her being the main rescuer of the book as opposed to Marsh. So in conclusion while I liked the setting of the story and the idea of the plot, the execution could have been much better. I would recommend a shorter version of the story and slightly more conflict filtered throughout the book instead of just at the beginning and very end. It’s difficult to rate this because there are a lot of things I really enjoyed but when I have trouble picking up a book that usually is not a good sign. So…4 stars.
Listen. This book could’ve been so much better. I loved the storyline. A cowboy and a lady traveling together by horseback through the west?? Sign me up. It had all the elements to be great, especially the forced proximity that the plot created. However I did find the book lacking in a lot of ways. For starters it easily could’ve been 200 pages not 500. While I appreciated the long dialogue and extremely detailed plot line I found myself absolutely bored. After the first 100 pages it was a real challenge to persuade myself to finish it. And I really wanted to finish it! I mean I loved both Randee and Marsh, they were fantastic characters with depth and a sense of realism about them. The extended dialogues really painted a picture of who they were as people. But for about the next 300 or so pages I was unfathomably bored. Randee and Marsh would do the same things every chapter: Set up camp, compliment each other on their skills, make love, go to bed. AND DONT GET ME WRONG I usually like low conflict books but come on. Randee and Marsh had the healthiest communication I’ve ever seen from two characters in a historical fiction and it was WRONG LOL. Any time either character had a single thought that seemed like it could inspire a conflict down the line, they squashed that within the next few lines of dialogue. And while that made for a mighty stable relationship, it also made for a rather unexciting novel. The real action of the book takes place within the first 100 pages and the last 100 pages. Anything between then can be edited down greatly. While I have been complaining about the length of the book itself, it did tie up EVERY SINGLE loose end. Like any imaginable unresolved plot point was solved by the end. Also great plot twist, truly didn’t expect it. Which I would consider a positive. I like that Randee is a bad ass, and I enjoyed her being the main rescuer of the book as opposed to Marsh. So in conclusion while I liked the setting of the story and the idea of the plot, the execution could have been much better. I would recommend a shorter version of the story and slightly more conflict filtered throughout the book instead of just at the beginning and very end. It’s difficult to rate this because there are a lot of things I really enjoyed but when I have trouble picking up a book that usually is not a good sign. So…4 stars.
May 7, 2022
I give this story 4 1/2 stars! Author Janelle Taylor writes really great stories. I do love how she made the female character “Randee” with strength, smarts and the capability to handle her own.
Thus, we meet Randee Hollis who just witnessed the killing of her aunt and Uncle to a vicious gang of marauders who are killing/burning people off their ranches/homes. She is bent on revenge and justice. She puts an ad in the paper looking for a gunslinger to partner with. She literally runs into Marsh Logan who is really a U.S. Marshal disguised as a gunslinger. He happens to be hunting the same gang because of what they did to his parents and ranch. He accepts the job knowing Randee will be his partner and now their adventure begins. Enjoy!
Thus, we meet Randee Hollis who just witnessed the killing of her aunt and Uncle to a vicious gang of marauders who are killing/burning people off their ranches/homes. She is bent on revenge and justice. She puts an ad in the paper looking for a gunslinger to partner with. She literally runs into Marsh Logan who is really a U.S. Marshal disguised as a gunslinger. He happens to be hunting the same gang because of what they did to his parents and ranch. He accepts the job knowing Randee will be his partner and now their adventure begins. Enjoy!
March 21, 2023
Passions Wild and Free by Janelle Taylor (1988) was a long 500 page book that went on forever …. forever .., the heroine hired the hero, a gunslinger to track down the gang who murdered her family. Most of the book was spent describing their travels across west Texas tracking down and killing off gang members. Boring. The hero also kept calling the heroine “woman.” Annoying. The gorgeous cover probably by Elaine Duillo was the best part of this book. (Btw … I loved JT’s Grey Eagle series.)
April 19, 2022
A wonderful piece of fiction.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews