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Leo Guild #2
Death Ground
When bounty hunter Leo Guild fails to protect an old nemesis from assassination, he takes up a search for the killer and finds a fear-struck town run by the outlaw, Kriker, and filled with horrors that reawakened his own past
- GenresWesterns
149 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
10 people are currently reading
40 people want to read
About the author
Ed Gorman
469 books121 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Edward Joseph Gorman Jr. was a prolific American author and anthologist, widely recognized for his contributions to crime, mystery, western, and horror fiction. Born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Gorman spent much of his life in the Midwest, drawing on that experience to set many of his novels in small towns. After working over two decades in advertising, political speechwriting, and industrial filmmaking, he published his first novel, Rough Cut, in 1984 and soon transitioned to full-time writing. His fiction is often praised for its emotional depth, suspenseful storytelling, and nuanced characters. Gorman wrote under the pseudonyms Daniel Ransom and Robert David Chase, and contributed to publications such as Mystery Scene, Cemetery Dance, and Black Lizard. He co-founded Mystery Scene magazine and served as its editor and publisher until 2002, continuing his “Gormania” column thereafter. His works have been adapted for film and graphic novels, including The Poker Club and Cage of Night. In comics, he wrote for DC and Dark Horse. Diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2002, he continued writing despite his illness until his passing in 2016. Critics lauded him as one of the most original crime writers of his generation and a “poet of dark suspense.”
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Edward Joseph Gorman Jr. was a prolific American author and anthologist, widely recognized for his contributions to crime, mystery, western, and horror fiction. Born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Gorman spent much of his life in the Midwest, drawing on that experience to set many of his novels in small towns. After working over two decades in advertising, political speechwriting, and industrial filmmaking, he published his first novel, Rough Cut, in 1984 and soon transitioned to full-time writing. His fiction is often praised for its emotional depth, suspenseful storytelling, and nuanced characters. Gorman wrote under the pseudonyms Daniel Ransom and Robert David Chase, and contributed to publications such as Mystery Scene, Cemetery Dance, and Black Lizard. He co-founded Mystery Scene magazine and served as its editor and publisher until 2002, continuing his “Gormania” column thereafter. His works have been adapted for film and graphic novels, including The Poker Club and Cage of Night. In comics, he wrote for DC and Dark Horse. Diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2002, he continued writing despite his illness until his passing in 2016. Critics lauded him as one of the most original crime writers of his generation and a “poet of dark suspense.”
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
January 28, 2013
Let me introduce you to Leo Guild, star of Ed Gorman's "Guild" series. Leo is 54, trying to earn a living as a bounty hunter in a time when the Territories are becoming more civilised, he is haunted by mistakes from his past bringing on an air of dark and brooding melancholy, he is cynical and tough but with a soft spot for the simple beauty in life and humanity. He isn't a black hat, a white hat, a hero, a villain, he's an every man who has been through too much and simply wants to do his job to the best of his ability.
Death Ground is the second Leo Guild book but you do not need to read these in order, there is no real arc or character development from book to book, simply the adventures of Guild, a hardboiled man in the old west. In Death Ground he is hired as a bodyguard for a fellow bounty hunter, on his day off his client is killed and so is his newly hired assistant. Guild doesn't know who killed them but he has a hunch and that's all he needs before heading off in to the wilderness with justice on his mind.
This is not a typical western, it is historical drama with a noir flavour, utilising enough of the traditional genre tropes and wrapping them around a hardboiled attitude. Nothing is truly black & white in Gorman's West, in addition to Guild the novel is populated with interesting characters who break the chains of stereotype and caricature, hookers who more often than not can't bring themselves to have sex, cardsharps who find God, law men with diplomas and law men who bend the law, murderers who are filled with doubt and guilt, mountain men who dream of growing old in fields surrounded by a legion of children and grandchildren and priests who find their faith, it's all here, tightly packed in to a short entertaining read.
I had a good time with this one, brief though it was, as once more Ed Gorman demonstrates his abilities as a fine storyteller and highlights the criminal nature of his lack of recognition, which he surely deserves.
This is not a western for those with delicate sensibilities, Gorman doesn't shrink from painting a dark picture, you have been warned.
“Then he started digging snow up with both hands, and he covered them good, the two of them, and then he stood up and looked out on the unfurling white land. There was blue sky and a full yellow sun. Warmer now, there was even that kind of sweetness that comes on sunny winter days. It made him think of pretty women on ice skates, their cheeks touched perfect red by the cold, their eyes daring and blue.”
Death Ground is the second Leo Guild book but you do not need to read these in order, there is no real arc or character development from book to book, simply the adventures of Guild, a hardboiled man in the old west. In Death Ground he is hired as a bodyguard for a fellow bounty hunter, on his day off his client is killed and so is his newly hired assistant. Guild doesn't know who killed them but he has a hunch and that's all he needs before heading off in to the wilderness with justice on his mind.
This is not a typical western, it is historical drama with a noir flavour, utilising enough of the traditional genre tropes and wrapping them around a hardboiled attitude. Nothing is truly black & white in Gorman's West, in addition to Guild the novel is populated with interesting characters who break the chains of stereotype and caricature, hookers who more often than not can't bring themselves to have sex, cardsharps who find God, law men with diplomas and law men who bend the law, murderers who are filled with doubt and guilt, mountain men who dream of growing old in fields surrounded by a legion of children and grandchildren and priests who find their faith, it's all here, tightly packed in to a short entertaining read.
I had a good time with this one, brief though it was, as once more Ed Gorman demonstrates his abilities as a fine storyteller and highlights the criminal nature of his lack of recognition, which he surely deserves.
“I'm gonna put that gun as far up his ass as it'll go, then I'm just gonna keep loadin' and reloadin' till my arms get tired.”
This is not a western for those with delicate sensibilities, Gorman doesn't shrink from painting a dark picture, you have been warned.
May 16, 2013
Started this outstanding 2nd entry in the "Guild" series on May 12 & finished it on the 13th.
I can't recommend this one highly enough.
Dark and noirish with plenty of action and violence.
Gorman is a brilliant poet of the Noir Western genre.
I can't recommend this one highly enough.
Dark and noirish with plenty of action and violence.
Gorman is a brilliant poet of the Noir Western genre.
April 1, 2017
I like this second book in the Guild series as much as the first. Gorman doesn't fool around with his prose or plots, no wasted words or subplots, just a propulsive and well told story that kept me enthralled from beginning to end. I'm looking forward to reading the third book in the series Blood Game.
March 7, 2010
So I was poking around and reading some reviews when Ed Gorman's name popped up. He was getting uniformly good reviews of both his westerns and mysteries, so I downloaded a couple to my Kindle.
I read a lot of westerns decades ago, going through a phase. Max Brand, Louis' L'Amour, others whose names I can't remember; they all defined the genre. The story lines were basically the same, the scenery similar, and the good guys (oh they might have some minor flaw to provide a semblance of introspection) always shoot straighter and faster. Gorman breaks out of this mold.
Leo Guild is trying to make a living as a bounty hunter. He's just turned 54, the prostitute he's hired as a birthday gift to himself doesn't want to do it, and the guy he's subcontracted to do some bodyguard work, so he could take the day off, has just been killed. He is haunted by his accidental killing of a young girl.
Father Healey is not a priest. An ex-conman wanted by authorities in Chicago for murder, he wormed his way into the good graces of Kriker's "settlement," a collection of sod houses that has grown oveer the years into a small community of outcasts. Gradually he has come to be accepted by them as a priest as he acts the part.
Kriker is an old mountain man, amoral, but haunted by a young girl, the only survbivor of one of his raids on a wagon train where he and his men had killed everyone except this little girl, including her parents. She has been mute ever since. Now she is dying of cholera, and Kriker is desperately trying to save her life using the traditional methods of "granny" an old indian woman. He won't permit any doctors as one failed to save his wife and child. But feeding the hearts of rattlesnake and little birds in boiled milk isn't helping either.
Two deputies, Thomas and James Bruckner, are conspiring to retrieve money Kriker had stolen from a bank. Guild realizes the two were the killers of the two bodyguards whom he feels responsible for. James is defined by his scarred face, badly burned as a child from when his brother, Thomas, poured kerosene all over him and then tossed in a lit match. James has since followed his brother around, constantly cowed in his presence, and Thomas is just plain evil.
The descriptions of Guild and James trekking through a blizzard to get the money in order to ransom Kriker's girl is so realistically portrayed I wished I had read it in July under a baking sun. There are some marvelous evocative descriptions.
I saw glimmers of the hope coupled with despair present in Cages, one of Gorman's truly depressing novellas. This is really a very good book that transcends the shallow boundaries of the genre.
I read a lot of westerns decades ago, going through a phase. Max Brand, Louis' L'Amour, others whose names I can't remember; they all defined the genre. The story lines were basically the same, the scenery similar, and the good guys (oh they might have some minor flaw to provide a semblance of introspection) always shoot straighter and faster. Gorman breaks out of this mold.
Leo Guild is trying to make a living as a bounty hunter. He's just turned 54, the prostitute he's hired as a birthday gift to himself doesn't want to do it, and the guy he's subcontracted to do some bodyguard work, so he could take the day off, has just been killed. He is haunted by his accidental killing of a young girl.
Father Healey is not a priest. An ex-conman wanted by authorities in Chicago for murder, he wormed his way into the good graces of Kriker's "settlement," a collection of sod houses that has grown oveer the years into a small community of outcasts. Gradually he has come to be accepted by them as a priest as he acts the part.
Kriker is an old mountain man, amoral, but haunted by a young girl, the only survbivor of one of his raids on a wagon train where he and his men had killed everyone except this little girl, including her parents. She has been mute ever since. Now she is dying of cholera, and Kriker is desperately trying to save her life using the traditional methods of "granny" an old indian woman. He won't permit any doctors as one failed to save his wife and child. But feeding the hearts of rattlesnake and little birds in boiled milk isn't helping either.
Two deputies, Thomas and James Bruckner, are conspiring to retrieve money Kriker had stolen from a bank. Guild realizes the two were the killers of the two bodyguards whom he feels responsible for. James is defined by his scarred face, badly burned as a child from when his brother, Thomas, poured kerosene all over him and then tossed in a lit match. James has since followed his brother around, constantly cowed in his presence, and Thomas is just plain evil.
The descriptions of Guild and James trekking through a blizzard to get the money in order to ransom Kriker's girl is so realistically portrayed I wished I had read it in July under a baking sun. There are some marvelous evocative descriptions.
I saw glimmers of the hope coupled with despair present in Cages, one of Gorman's truly depressing novellas. This is really a very good book that transcends the shallow boundaries of the genre.
February 5, 2017
DEATH GROUND is the second book in the Leo Guild series by the late Ed Gorman, and follows Guild's continued efforts to find peace of mind and redemption for his role in the accidental death of a young girl described in the first novel. Guild is still a bounty hunter, and finds himself committed to saving a young girl dying from cholera in a kidnap-for-ransom at the hands of a criminal duo that are brothers. Racing against time and weather, Guild is relentless in his pursuit with hopes of restoring stability in the community affected by sickness that she's been taken from.
I'd have no problem recommending this book to anyone is a fan of westerns in general, and Ed Gorman in particular. Next up in the series is Blood Game.
I'd have no problem recommending this book to anyone is a fan of westerns in general, and Ed Gorman in particular. Next up in the series is Blood Game.
August 22, 2021
Theo has lived a sheltered life as the one who sacrifices for the family. In exchange for not having a season, not being taught the finer arts and not being encouraged to find her beauty, she has reached the rounded age of thirty without the three things she wants the most: a household of her own, a husband and children of her own. As a stabilizing influence while her brother grew their prospects as a banker and earned a knighthood, Dorothea is always the aunt/basically servant and never the mother.
She does however have HEATED desires… namely for a prizefighter by the name of Oak/Griffin, a man, who unbeknownst to her, is seeking a lady to guide his 14 year old daughter, and a banker for all of the money he has made by fighting and owning inns. He finds both of these with the Harts. However, this does not mean things will go smoothly.
An indiscretion at Theo’s birthday party FINALLY gives her a shot at what she has always dreamt about… but there a few things standing in her way, namely:
- Louise, the ex-wife, the reason Griffin believes and insists ‘all women are harlots’;
- Griffin being an jackass;
- Rowena being adverse to change, strange people and wanting her father’s love;
- Past issues that won’t stay down;
- The attraction they both fight/avoid in VERY bizarre and awkward ways…
- And the secrets regarding Louise that threaten into 85% of the book.
If you like your heroes brutish and fumbling and your women naive and sheltered, this may be for you.
She does however have HEATED desires… namely for a prizefighter by the name of Oak/Griffin, a man, who unbeknownst to her, is seeking a lady to guide his 14 year old daughter, and a banker for all of the money he has made by fighting and owning inns. He finds both of these with the Harts. However, this does not mean things will go smoothly.
An indiscretion at Theo’s birthday party FINALLY gives her a shot at what she has always dreamt about… but there a few things standing in her way, namely:
- Louise, the ex-wife, the reason Griffin believes and insists ‘all women are harlots’;
- Griffin being an jackass;
- Rowena being adverse to change, strange people and wanting her father’s love;
- Past issues that won’t stay down;
- The attraction they both fight/avoid in VERY bizarre and awkward ways…
- And the secrets regarding Louise that threaten into 85% of the book.
If you like your heroes brutish and fumbling and your women naive and sheltered, this may be for you.
August 20, 2021
Emily Royal’s “The Prizefighter's Hart” is book 4 in the Headstrong Harts Series. Emily Royal tackles some deep subjects with finesse and grace, rendering an extraordinary story.
The characters are real, flawed and well written. There are aspects of the story that are intense and disturbed me but I couldn’t stop reading. I had to see if Thea could turn her circumstances around.
Dorothea Hart had resigned herself to the life of a spinster. She’s spent a lifetime longing for a family of her own to love and care for. Told she was too old and not pretty enough her whole life, she seemed to accept her fate. But then being caught in a compromising position she end up marrying Griffin, the object of her dreams. She has always admired Griffin and hoped for the best as she finds herself in a marriage of convenience with him.
Griffin Oake, known as the "Mighty Oak is widower who made his fortune in the ring. Try as he might, he’s made a good bit of money and wise investments but he can’t buy respectability nor gain standing in society for his daughter. He has no wish to marry again, after a disastrous marriage he mistrust all women. After being caught in a compromising position he married Thea. He cared for his daughter Rowena and wanted her to have a place in society. He married Thea hoping she could turn his wild daughter into a lady of society.
I didn’t like Griffin at first at all and couldn’t see what Thea saw in him. He was rude, arrogant, distant and even threatened bodily harm to both Thea and Rowena. He was an angry and wounded man by his first wife’s betrayal. He did love his daughter and want a better life for her. He seems overwrought by his feelings for Thea. But he does come to realize her worth as a woman and a wife. Thea was kind and wonderfully patient with Rowena. At times she showed the strength to overcome her circumstances. She was determined to have her dream become a reality and found the strength and courage to change things.
This was an exceptionally well written, emotional story filled with a mystery, suspense, lies, tragic circumstances, grit, honor, longing, patience and love. The romance and this relationship with Rowena and Griffin were both a slow burn. Thea had such a beautiful, forgiving heart. The dialogue was great and worked well with this story. I couldn’t put it down and even found compassion for Griffin! A beautiful love story two wounded souls. The epilogue was excellent!
Thank you so much Ms. Royal for such an intriguing, engrossing and beautiful love story.
The characters are real, flawed and well written. There are aspects of the story that are intense and disturbed me but I couldn’t stop reading. I had to see if Thea could turn her circumstances around.
Dorothea Hart had resigned herself to the life of a spinster. She’s spent a lifetime longing for a family of her own to love and care for. Told she was too old and not pretty enough her whole life, she seemed to accept her fate. But then being caught in a compromising position she end up marrying Griffin, the object of her dreams. She has always admired Griffin and hoped for the best as she finds herself in a marriage of convenience with him.
Griffin Oake, known as the "Mighty Oak is widower who made his fortune in the ring. Try as he might, he’s made a good bit of money and wise investments but he can’t buy respectability nor gain standing in society for his daughter. He has no wish to marry again, after a disastrous marriage he mistrust all women. After being caught in a compromising position he married Thea. He cared for his daughter Rowena and wanted her to have a place in society. He married Thea hoping she could turn his wild daughter into a lady of society.
I didn’t like Griffin at first at all and couldn’t see what Thea saw in him. He was rude, arrogant, distant and even threatened bodily harm to both Thea and Rowena. He was an angry and wounded man by his first wife’s betrayal. He did love his daughter and want a better life for her. He seems overwrought by his feelings for Thea. But he does come to realize her worth as a woman and a wife. Thea was kind and wonderfully patient with Rowena. At times she showed the strength to overcome her circumstances. She was determined to have her dream become a reality and found the strength and courage to change things.
This was an exceptionally well written, emotional story filled with a mystery, suspense, lies, tragic circumstances, grit, honor, longing, patience and love. The romance and this relationship with Rowena and Griffin were both a slow burn. Thea had such a beautiful, forgiving heart. The dialogue was great and worked well with this story. I couldn’t put it down and even found compassion for Griffin! A beautiful love story two wounded souls. The epilogue was excellent!
Thank you so much Ms. Royal for such an intriguing, engrossing and beautiful love story.
August 12, 2021
Wyatt Stanton served as a spy for Wellington until he receives word of his brother’s death. Reluctantly, he returns to England as the Duke of Amesbury and to Amberwood, a place he was banished from after his brother falsely accused Wyatt of burning down the family stables with over two dozen horses inside.
Meadow Grant’s father sold her to Lord Selfridge so he could pay his gambling debts. Once he possessed her, Selfridge lost interest and moved on to other things. Now a widow, the resilient Meadow is ready to make her own choice this time and find a husband who yearns for children as much as she does. Though attracted to the Duke of Amesbury, he is far too arrogant and conceited for her tastes, even if he does kiss well. Meadow wants to be courted, though, and Wyatt is up to the challenge, relentless in his pursuit, even liking how Meadow makes him work to earn her favor. Will these 2 end up happily forever?
This is book 2 in the series and I haven't read the first one. It is a stand-alone so I don't think that I am missing much although there seems to be some minor reference to the first book at times.. Overall, it's a fun book. I like the characters. Their backgrounds are interesting and adds to the drama. I like the ending. Looking forward to reading the next one in the series.
Thanks to the publisher for providing an ARC.
Meadow Grant’s father sold her to Lord Selfridge so he could pay his gambling debts. Once he possessed her, Selfridge lost interest and moved on to other things. Now a widow, the resilient Meadow is ready to make her own choice this time and find a husband who yearns for children as much as she does. Though attracted to the Duke of Amesbury, he is far too arrogant and conceited for her tastes, even if he does kiss well. Meadow wants to be courted, though, and Wyatt is up to the challenge, relentless in his pursuit, even liking how Meadow makes him work to earn her favor. Will these 2 end up happily forever?
This is book 2 in the series and I haven't read the first one. It is a stand-alone so I don't think that I am missing much although there seems to be some minor reference to the first book at times.. Overall, it's a fun book. I like the characters. Their backgrounds are interesting and adds to the drama. I like the ending. Looking forward to reading the next one in the series.
Thanks to the publisher for providing an ARC.
August 13, 2021
If you were ever the nerdy, uncool girl in high school with an unrequited crush on the football star, this is the book for you.
This is the fourth book in the series following the Hart family. Poor Thea is about to turn 30 and has unexplainable feelings for Griffin Oake when she sees him fight. She is the spinster aunt. The sister who handles everything and everyone. Griffin doesn't trust women but really just wants love. Griffin only cares about one thing in life and that is his hellion daughter Rowena. He wants her to grow up to be a lady and respectable, which is why he offers marriage when there is an inconvenient ruination.
There were two different instances in the book where Griffin threatens to strike or hit his daughter or wife, and honestly it turned me off. Especially from someone of his size and the ability he would have to do true harm. With that being said, I love the complex and detailed relationships of all the Hart's and their interactions. Thea's relationship with Rowena was as much as a slow burn as Thea's relationship with Griffin, which made for a great read with emotional attachment.
The tropes are spinster heroine, class difference, widower and there should be a trigger warning for child abuse by a non-family member.
This is the fourth book in the series following the Hart family. Poor Thea is about to turn 30 and has unexplainable feelings for Griffin Oake when she sees him fight. She is the spinster aunt. The sister who handles everything and everyone. Griffin doesn't trust women but really just wants love. Griffin only cares about one thing in life and that is his hellion daughter Rowena. He wants her to grow up to be a lady and respectable, which is why he offers marriage when there is an inconvenient ruination.
There were two different instances in the book where Griffin threatens to strike or hit his daughter or wife, and honestly it turned me off. Especially from someone of his size and the ability he would have to do true harm. With that being said, I love the complex and detailed relationships of all the Hart's and their interactions. Thea's relationship with Rowena was as much as a slow burn as Thea's relationship with Griffin, which made for a great read with emotional attachment.
The tropes are spinster heroine, class difference, widower and there should be a trigger warning for child abuse by a non-family member.
December 3, 2022
The Prizefighter’s Hart is the fourth book in the Headstrong Harts series and focuses on Dorothea Hart, a thirty-year-old spinster who finds herself in a compromising situation with widower and prizefighter Griffin Oake. Griffin knows he will never be accepted into polite society, but he agrees to marry Dorothea in the hopes that she will help his daughter become a proper lady. Dorothea recognizes that this is not a love match, but hopes that something can develop from it.
The book features a step-daughter who is a hellion, a husband that goes out of his way to avoid her and the mystery of what happened to Griffin's first wife. Dorothea was an excellent character. She is a strong, intelligent woman, who has the uncanny ability to make everyone in her company feel comfortable. I loved the relationship that Dorothea was able to forge with Rowena. At times I did not care for Griffin, but overall I enjoyed their romance. The book features well-developed characters, that are intriguing and capture the reader's interest. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well-written historical romance.
I was provided an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The book features a step-daughter who is a hellion, a husband that goes out of his way to avoid her and the mystery of what happened to Griffin's first wife. Dorothea was an excellent character. She is a strong, intelligent woman, who has the uncanny ability to make everyone in her company feel comfortable. I loved the relationship that Dorothea was able to forge with Rowena. At times I did not care for Griffin, but overall I enjoyed their romance. The book features well-developed characters, that are intriguing and capture the reader's interest. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well-written historical romance.
I was provided an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
August 16, 2021
Deflecting the Duke is the second in a series about 5 friends who are disinherited and blamed for a family trauma.
Wyatt Stanton inherits the Dukedom of Amesbury after his evil brother dies in a drunken accident. While initially reluctant, he very quickly adjusts and begins his pursuit of Meadow, a virgin widow.
I didn't love Wyatt and Meadow's initial interactions, they were sort of awkward and not in the hero meets heroine way. But after some initial arguing, they fall into a courtship. I loved that Meadow rejected Wyatt and made him work for her. That was honestly the best part of the book.
Also, the villain storyline was different and definitely well-deserved. Overall, I really liked this book. It was also nice to see Miles and Emery from book 1 and how their HEA is progressing.
Wyatt Stanton inherits the Dukedom of Amesbury after his evil brother dies in a drunken accident. While initially reluctant, he very quickly adjusts and begins his pursuit of Meadow, a virgin widow.
I didn't love Wyatt and Meadow's initial interactions, they were sort of awkward and not in the hero meets heroine way. But after some initial arguing, they fall into a courtship. I loved that Meadow rejected Wyatt and made him work for her. That was honestly the best part of the book.
Also, the villain storyline was different and definitely well-deserved. Overall, I really liked this book. It was also nice to see Miles and Emery from book 1 and how their HEA is progressing.
August 18, 2021
This is the second book in the series, and I'm still in love with all the boys/ men.
I have been waiting for this book, I fell in love with the series right off the bat and have to know each of the five boys stories. This one is about Wyatt, who was a spy during the war along with being a second son, and how he became a duke searching for his duchess. Meadow is a widow who was not in a love match at all for her first marriage and is looking forward to being courted and finding a man to share her dreams with. I loved that both characters are strong but show more feelings than the normal 'ton' people. I was so happy that the characters from the first book were also included, I love Emery and was happy to read more of her story. A great all around read, and looking forward to the next in the series.
I have been waiting for this book, I fell in love with the series right off the bat and have to know each of the five boys stories. This one is about Wyatt, who was a spy during the war along with being a second son, and how he became a duke searching for his duchess. Meadow is a widow who was not in a love match at all for her first marriage and is looking forward to being courted and finding a man to share her dreams with. I loved that both characters are strong but show more feelings than the normal 'ton' people. I was so happy that the characters from the first book were also included, I love Emery and was happy to read more of her story. A great all around read, and looking forward to the next in the series.
August 22, 2022
Alexa Aston is one of my favorite authors and I've received many of her books on NetGalley to read in advance and post a review. I didn't realize that I hadn't posted my reviews on several of her books that I read previously and am rectifying that now. I did not end of downloading this book from NetGalley because I decided to purchase it from Amazon Kindle instead. I love her books so much that I have purchased all of them for my personal library. Highly recommended series are Lawmen of the West and Hollywood Name Game. Deflecting the Duke is the story of Meadow and Wyatt. While I did enjoy this book, it wasn't my favorite. Meadow didn't quite live up to my high standards for an h, but I did really like Wyatt. I give 4 stars.
November 16, 2021
Another wonderful addition to the Hart series. Dorothea, plain spinster daughter, is compromised and forced into a marriage of convenience with Griffin "The Mighty" Oake, a prizefighter that she has secretly been enamored of for quite some time. She is shuttled off to the country where Griffin's daughter causes mischief and strife for Dorothea. The characters were intriguing and the story engrossing. Wonderful read!
Thank you Emily Royal, Dragonblade Publishing and NetGalley for allowing me an advance copy for my honest feedback.
Thank you Emily Royal, Dragonblade Publishing and NetGalley for allowing me an advance copy for my honest feedback.
August 12, 2021
This was an okay story, I feel like Emily Royal could have given a little bit in the story, like a development between Griffin and Thea. Yes, I love the unconventional way they meet, she falls a few times, but the awkwardness could have grown into relentless, but this is just my option only. I do like that the hero loves his daughter but he didn't know her, much like his wife. He didn't know her that much in the beginning. It was an okay read.
September 1, 2021
I really enjoyed this marriage of convenience story. Dorothea and Griffin are an interesting couple. We have the bad boy fighter and the prim spinster, so it makes for good banter and sexual tension. Definitely have some steamy scenes. I also liked the interactions with Dorothea and Griffin's daughter Rowena. I just really liked their relationship. Overall, really enjoyable story. Will have to read more from this author.
August 14, 2021
Unexpectantly becoming a duke, Wyatt heads to London to find a wife to give him heirs. After being married to an elderly man, widow Meadow, heads to London to have a season she never had. Instantly attracted to each other, they must fight off their insecurities to find true love. I received an ARC from NetGalley and Dragonblade Publishing for my honest review.
September 8, 2021
This is my first read of the series, although I had no trouble following along. The subject matter was hard to digest at times, but I found the story very engrossing. Most importantly it was an original idea that I hadn't encountered before, which doesn't happen often in this genre. I'm very much looking forward to reading more from this author.
August 16, 2021
I loved this! I loved Wyatt's story and development. Meadow was a little annoying at first but I came to enjoy her pretty quickly. I will definitely be going back to read the first book in the series and will read the rest as they come out too.
December 30, 2021
This a very good, very gritty western.
Bounty Hunter Leo Guild goes after a bank robber.
It's winter and the weather is harsh. And a cholera outbreak is making matters worse.
In many ways, this is a bleak story. But the writing is fantastic.
I love Ed Gorman, and miss him.
Bounty Hunter Leo Guild goes after a bank robber.
It's winter and the weather is harsh. And a cholera outbreak is making matters worse.
In many ways, this is a bleak story. But the writing is fantastic.
I love Ed Gorman, and miss him.
March 17, 2020
For the popsugar reading challenge, I read a western. I chose this book because it dealt with cholera. However, in the end it read much like an episode of Bonanza.
September 23, 2013
Just about the most intense Western I've read in a while, this second book in Gorman's series about bounty hunter Leo Guild is a great example of Western Noir, full of characters neither entirely good or bad, some running from horrible tragedies (like Guild himself), others rushing headlong into new fresh mistakes that there's no coming back from. It's a somber, downbeat novel, the last half of it making me rush through in breathless anxiety about how it was all going to end. Brilliant work from a master of the craft. I'll be seeking out the other Leo Guild books, as well as anything else by Gorman.
June 29, 2009
Always reliable author. Guild in this one is hired as a bodyguard for another bounty hunter. While off duty, his client and the young man filling in are killed by a mountain man named Kriker. At least that's the official verdict.
Looking into it for the mother of the young man he'd hired to help, he finds there much more going on than the "official" verdict.
Looking into it for the mother of the young man he'd hired to help, he finds there much more going on than the "official" verdict.
September 3, 2012
A good western with most of the characters having no redeeming qualities, or at least,only a few. No major heroics here although Leo Guild does get the job done. Recommended to lovers of realistic, gritty westerns.
May 6, 2008
another Gorman western. this one i keep taking to the beach, twice after havingread it. not my favorite gorman.
July 23, 2008
The second in the Leo Guild series.
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