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Heart #2
Restless Heart
He craved her like the earth craved the rain. . .
Sam Carver had the kind of body that turned a woman's head, and the kind of eyes that had seen more than his share of trouble. But he couldn't get enough of the mysterious, ethereal beauty who had showed up in his little Wyoming town, working at the Blue Plate, keeping to herself.
He knew Angeline Hunter was running scared, pursued by a fanatic who threatened her life. But no matter what it took, Sam would convince his angel to put her trust in him, to put the painful past behind her and learn just how pleasurable the present could be. . ..
Praise for Restless Heart
"A thrilling, sexy journey into the Old West, where hot passion and perils run high. Don't miss this one!" --Denise A. Agnew, award-winning author of Male Call
"A fresh voice and engaging characters. . .kept me reading late into the night." --Tina Leonard, bestselling author
"Emma Lang is always on my must-read list." --Cynthia Eden, award-winning author
"Emma Lang writes the western romance as it should be written, with passion and heart!" --Lucy Monroe
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
16 people are currently reading
256 people want to read
About the author
Emma Lang
23 books133 followersEmma Lang is the pseudonym of author Beth Williamson. She is an award-winning, bestselling author of both historical and erotic romances.
Born and raised in New York, she holds a B.F.A. in writing from New York University. She lives just outside of Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband and two sons.
Born and raised in New York, she holds a B.F.A. in writing from New York University. She lives just outside of Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband and two sons.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
February 9, 2011
I have to make a confession. I absolutely LOVED Ruthless Heart. It one of my all-time-favorite books, and it resides permanently on my kindle for moments of stress, illness or airport delays.
Restless Heart is the story of the other sister, the one nearly shot in Ruthless Heart.
I really love the way Emma Lang/Beth Williamson writes, but I love her steam scenes the best of all. They are incredibly well-written and super-hot, but still realistic and stay in the period, and this is absolutely true in this book. I loved the steamy bits, and was quite glad I wasn't reading them on the train home from the office, since my kindle probably would have started smokin'..
Having said that, there were some things which I didn't like quite so much:
- There are too many secondary characters and too much stuff going on. When the romance between the hero and heroine is so strong, I don't personally like it when other storylines get in the way. There was just too many things going on, and too many other people involved. To be fair, most of them had some part to play, but I'm not convinced it was enough to justify their existence
- One of the things that totally sucked me into Ruthless Heart (apart from the fabulous hero and heroine) was the feeling of an ultimate target. No matter how much the journey meandered or twisted and turned, there was always a goal in the distance drawing the plot and the main characters forward, onward. I didn't feel that this book had that, and it was lacking as a result. There was a crisis towards the end, but there was too much other stuff in the way, and it wasn't always lurking there in the background, overshadowing the story, something I really liked in Ruthless Heart.
What I did like was
- The steamy bits... what more can I say?..
- The basic story is very strong, and the romance is very strong. The hero and heroine both have compelling backgrounds, and they are revealed gradually.
- The whole story starts out so sweet. It's absolutely wonderful to read a steamy book with a plot where the hero and heroine aren't playing hide-the-sausage within 5 minutes of meeting, and are convincing in why they aren't playing hide-the-sausage despite overwhelmingly wanting to.
So, 3 stars, I liked it.
Restless Heart is the story of the other sister, the one nearly shot in Ruthless Heart.
I really love the way Emma Lang/Beth Williamson writes, but I love her steam scenes the best of all. They are incredibly well-written and super-hot, but still realistic and stay in the period, and this is absolutely true in this book. I loved the steamy bits, and was quite glad I wasn't reading them on the train home from the office, since my kindle probably would have started smokin'..
Having said that, there were some things which I didn't like quite so much:
- There are too many secondary characters and too much stuff going on. When the romance between the hero and heroine is so strong, I don't personally like it when other storylines get in the way. There was just too many things going on, and too many other people involved. To be fair, most of them had some part to play, but I'm not convinced it was enough to justify their existence
- One of the things that totally sucked me into Ruthless Heart (apart from the fabulous hero and heroine) was the feeling of an ultimate target. No matter how much the journey meandered or twisted and turned, there was always a goal in the distance drawing the plot and the main characters forward, onward. I didn't feel that this book had that, and it was lacking as a result. There was a crisis towards the end, but there was too much other stuff in the way, and it wasn't always lurking there in the background, overshadowing the story, something I really liked in Ruthless Heart.
What I did like was
- The steamy bits... what more can I say?..
- The basic story is very strong, and the romance is very strong. The hero and heroine both have compelling backgrounds, and they are revealed gradually.
- The whole story starts out so sweet. It's absolutely wonderful to read a steamy book with a plot where the hero and heroine aren't playing hide-the-sausage within 5 minutes of meeting, and are convincing in why they aren't playing hide-the-sausage despite overwhelmingly wanting to.
So, 3 stars, I liked it.
January 14, 2015
Book of the perpetual eye roll! They fell in love in the first 50 pages! Had sex by page 58. Really. The book just went downhill from there. The author was rushing things along way too fast for a historical romance and honestly, it had the feel of a contemporary romance but was set in the 1800's. Not very impressive. The plot had SO much potential. Girl runs away from abusive husband and illegal marriage. Boy helps her learn to love. Big battle with the cruel husband (bigamist). Boy and girl save the day and live happily ever after. The actual story fell flat. I mean SEX IN THE FIRST 58 PAGES! REALLY?!? No… just no…
December 7, 2016
This definitely wasn't what I expected from a book set in 1873. Did they really say fuck back then? The hero was jerking off and saying fuck and even the heroine seemed out of place in this one. I liked the plot but these things just pulled me out of this "historical" romance.
May 29, 2011
This book was a pretty big disappointment for me. I LOVED Ruthless Heart by the same author, but this book seemed...much less than what I expected. With her history of abuse from a sadistic husband, I found it hard to believe that she so willingly embraced her sexuality with Sam with little to no hesitation or reservations. While I can understand her wanting to take charge of her life, it just didn't "feel" right.
I also wish more of the book would have focused on the indoctrinations of her religion that ruled her life. She easily abandoned them, for a dutiful daughter. I guess I wish more of the book would have revolved around Angel's coming to terms with the person that she was, and the new woman that she became after all she went through. Most of that seemed to have already happened by the time the book started.
I wish less time would have been spent on Sam and his Carver family. And I didn't really feel that the two deaths in the book were necessary to make the story better, instead it made the story a bit gloomy for me. While I would wholeheartedly recommend the previous book in this series, Ruthless Heart, sadly I can't say the same for Restless Heart.
I also wish more of the book would have focused on the indoctrinations of her religion that ruled her life. She easily abandoned them, for a dutiful daughter. I guess I wish more of the book would have revolved around Angel's coming to terms with the person that she was, and the new woman that she became after all she went through. Most of that seemed to have already happened by the time the book started.
I wish less time would have been spent on Sam and his Carver family. And I didn't really feel that the two deaths in the book were necessary to make the story better, instead it made the story a bit gloomy for me. While I would wholeheartedly recommend the previous book in this series, Ruthless Heart, sadly I can't say the same for Restless Heart.
April 3, 2013
That was one of the "what the hell did I just read" books. I know I read and finished it, but I did not enjoy it in the slightest. Why did I continue reading? I don't know, I prefer to finish books, and also I wanted to see if it would improve closer to the end. It did not. The characters were weak, flat, the plot cliche and predictable. It was sort of like reading fanfiction, and I'm guilty of writing fanfiction myself, but you don't expect much from fanfiction, I guess I should not have laid big hopes on a romance novel, either. So one star from me.
January 26, 2011
Happy sigh. It was so good being back with Emma Lang. I've been looking forward to reading Angeline's story. To see what she was going through and how she grew as a woman. This is another homerun for me.
Emma Lang is definitely an author I will go back to over and over again. Its so intriguing reading about a time period in the United States that I can sit and reflect on. A time that was simpler and the foundations for the places we live. To see the trials they went through to survive.
Emma Lang is definitely an author I will go back to over and over again. Its so intriguing reading about a time period in the United States that I can sit and reflect on. A time that was simpler and the foundations for the places we live. To see the trials they went through to survive.
November 21, 2019
This book was a little bit of a surprise.
May 26, 2025
3.5 stars
March 9, 2016
Sweet story but a little bit stressful. This author must not like Mormons, or something. Angeline ran away from her (forced) polygamous marriage with one of her sister wives. Ever since then, they've been dodging hitmen who've been hired by their disgusting husband to track them down. They manage to settle in a nice little town and find work at the local restaurant. Angeline catches the eye of Sam, who became a carpenter after returning home injured from the civil war. He lives with his dad, who has worsening dementia. The other thing about Sam is that he's one quarter Native American, so some people are really mean to him because of it.
So Sam starts courting Angeline and the two experience serious sparkly sparks and fall head over heels in love. They get married but three hours after the ceremony, Sam's father accidentally dies and it's all really sad, except a few weeks later, this lawyer shows up at their house and tells them that Sam's father's father owned this huge multi-million dollar company and that it now belongs to Sam. So Sam and Angeline go and visit Sam's paternal family - they're nice and all, but Sam and Angeline don't want to live spoiled pampered lives so they sign everything over to his aunts and uncle and go back home (this made me want TO SCREAM!!). Everything's going pretty well, but of course, Angeline has this problem with her past and her polygamous husband and all. He comes calling and things come to a head and everything is resolved and everyone lives happily ever after (except for the disgusting polygamous husband, of course). The end.
Not too much to this story, some irritating parts (like handing over a gazillion bucks when you could barely afford nails just screams STUPID to me). I gave it 3 stars because it was a nice story even though the characters were somewhat dim.
So Sam starts courting Angeline and the two experience serious sparkly sparks and fall head over heels in love. They get married but three hours after the ceremony, Sam's father accidentally dies and it's all really sad, except a few weeks later, this lawyer shows up at their house and tells them that Sam's father's father owned this huge multi-million dollar company and that it now belongs to Sam. So Sam and Angeline go and visit Sam's paternal family - they're nice and all, but Sam and Angeline don't want to live spoiled pampered lives so they sign everything over to his aunts and uncle and go back home (this made me want TO SCREAM!!). Everything's going pretty well, but of course, Angeline has this problem with her past and her polygamous husband and all. He comes calling and things come to a head and everything is resolved and everyone lives happily ever after (except for the disgusting polygamous husband, of course). The end.
Not too much to this story, some irritating parts (like handing over a gazillion bucks when you could barely afford nails just screams STUPID to me). I gave it 3 stars because it was a nice story even though the characters were somewhat dim.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 28, 2016
I really wanted to give this book more of 2 and a half star rating but went with 3 stars because the actual book isn't that bad. I think I just went in with high expectations after reading Ruthless Heart (I LOVE Ruthless Heart, 5 stars for me), even though I had read other reviews that stated that this book was not as good. I did like the way both books ended with the same scene and in this circumstance I favored the lack of an epilogue. I did appreciate the hero having an occupation that you don't see frequently in western historical romance (I get tired of everyone being a rancher) but was annoyed with the fact that the book states that the hero's father was born in 1820 in Denver, nearly four decades before it was actually founded. I know, I know, it is fiction and I don't mind the bending or stretching of the facts to fit a story, but it just seemed so obviously over the top and blantant. It could have been just as easily written the family originated in St Louis and later migrated to Denver, it would not have changed the story in the least. Okay, sorry rant over. I also did like the heroine, I think as a young woman she would have been easily capable of moving on after her abusive marriage, especially since it was so brief.
August 1, 2019
Angeline Hunter has cobbled a life to settle into in Wyoming as a waitress after she and sister-wife, Lettie ran away from the Mormon lifestyle and their common husband, Josiah. Aware her marriage prevents her from encouraging suitors, Angeline is flustered and ready to leave town when local carpenter, Sam Carver sends her a gift.
Back from the war, bored but busy Sam can't figure out why he came back to Forestville until he sees Angeline and is sure she was meant for him. Though Angeline had no idea who Sam was until after she'd gotten his gift but when she does Angeline wants to refuse him but the last thing she wants on her mind are the problems she left behind in Utah.
For this reader, Ruthless Heart left enough questions about Angeline to arouse curiosity for this outing though I struggled to finish both, I was glad they were answered. But the inconsistencies in too modern speech and some of their actions annoyingly took it out of the historical romance genre and raised doubt about finishing the trilogy.
Rating 3stars
Back from the war, bored but busy Sam can't figure out why he came back to Forestville until he sees Angeline and is sure she was meant for him. Though Angeline had no idea who Sam was until after she'd gotten his gift but when she does Angeline wants to refuse him but the last thing she wants on her mind are the problems she left behind in Utah.
For this reader, Ruthless Heart left enough questions about Angeline to arouse curiosity for this outing though I struggled to finish both, I was glad they were answered. But the inconsistencies in too modern speech and some of their actions annoyingly took it out of the historical romance genre and raised doubt about finishing the trilogy.
Rating 3stars
June 21, 2012
The story had to be told as it was. The questions left from Ruthless Heart had to be answered. What happened to mean first husband Joshiah? Did Angeline grow a spine? Did she get over her first love Johnathan? Who did she end up with? Did she ever see her sister again? All these and more were answered in this book. There just was too much info crammed into the pages.
On the other hand, the story moved quickly both in plot line and location. The character development was very good. I loved the hero Sam Carver. He knew what he wanted from the very first of the book. And he did what he had to to get there. He became a bit wishywashy toward the end when the Denver story came into play. Angel how ever stepped up and supported him. My favourite character was the hero Sam and the hobo Jessup. An enjoyable read. I will be reading Endless Heart next because I want to know about what happens to Lettie. I worry about her.
On the other hand, the story moved quickly both in plot line and location. The character development was very good. I loved the hero Sam Carver. He knew what he wanted from the very first of the book. And he did what he had to to get there. He became a bit wishywashy toward the end when the Denver story came into play. Angel how ever stepped up and supported him. My favourite character was the hero Sam and the hobo Jessup. An enjoyable read. I will be reading Endless Heart next because I want to know about what happens to Lettie. I worry about her.
April 6, 2013
I wasn't sure what would happen with this book from Emma Lang, but there was alot of anticipation as to what would happen next.
Angela has escaped from an abusive husband and is on the run with Lettie. They are being hunted by a bounty hunter. Her sister follows and befriends the bounty hunter and then seduces him and they fall in love. He agrees to leave Angel alone. Angel is afraid to love again, but with some events that help that along...
Sam lives in the town that Angel and Lettie escape to. He lives with his father and they run the newspaper in town. He has returned from the war and because he was injured, doesn't think that anyone will want him.
Events evolve in this story and there is alot of anticipation as to what will happen and will the abusive husband find them.
This is an awesome read. Looking forward to Lettie's story.
Angela has escaped from an abusive husband and is on the run with Lettie. They are being hunted by a bounty hunter. Her sister follows and befriends the bounty hunter and then seduces him and they fall in love. He agrees to leave Angel alone. Angel is afraid to love again, but with some events that help that along...
Sam lives in the town that Angel and Lettie escape to. He lives with his father and they run the newspaper in town. He has returned from the war and because he was injured, doesn't think that anyone will want him.
Events evolve in this story and there is alot of anticipation as to what will happen and will the abusive husband find them.
This is an awesome read. Looking forward to Lettie's story.
May 28, 2012
I was very disappointed with this sequel to Ruthless Heart, which was a much more entertaining story. Unfortunately, Restless Heart was bogged down with a hero I couldn't connect with, a heroine who was too young, and a plot that meandered overlong. There wasn't a whole lot of emotional investment here to these cardboard characters. Historical westerns are one of my favorite genres, so that, along with a heroine on the run from an abusive husband plot, showed lots of promise. It's too bad it ended up being such a bland tale. This one's a big yawn. 2.8 stars
June 19, 2012
As I stated in my brief review of Ruthless Heart I received a copy of this from the author after I started asking questions on twitter. Thank you :).
The hero was certainly the strong silent type. He was extremely patient as he worked to gain Angeline's trust. He also had his own issues between his father's mental illness and his mixed heritage. I loved seeing them heal together. Like book one this deals with some themes and stereotypes that might make people uncomfortable.
I am looking forward to reading book 3.
The hero was certainly the strong silent type. He was extremely patient as he worked to gain Angeline's trust. He also had his own issues between his father's mental illness and his mixed heritage. I loved seeing them heal together. Like book one this deals with some themes and stereotypes that might make people uncomfortable.
I am looking forward to reading book 3.
September 26, 2011
3 1/2 stars.
Not as good as the previous book Ruthless Heart but a good read just the same. I did not feel the immediate "love" between the h and H. In Ruthless Heart, we saw h/H fall in love slowly, in this book, it just states that they were courting, but we didn't see it.
The best was seeing the bad guy get his due. He was also the bad guy in the previous book.
February 18, 2011
4.5 stars. So good!
April 4, 2012
Angeline and Sam's story is the second story in this trilogy. More of a love story than the adventure that the first book took me on. Great bunch of characters to liven up the story.
June 15, 2012
Wasnt as good as Ruthless heart. I felt like the author is using this book to take a stand against Mormon church.
April 5, 2013
Oh My Freaking Gawd. I at first couldn't exactly remember what this book was about then it hit me like a MACK Truck. This is an exciting and thrilling story that I Loved through the entire time.
March 21, 2014
This one wasn't quite as good as the first one but did finally get better toward the end now on to the third book
June 13, 2015
It was a good story.
October 8, 2015
Good read, I enjoy Emma Lang but for the second book it seemed a little lacking as compared to reckless heart. I don't tend to go for historical romance but I did enjoy these by emma lang.
September 19, 2021
Nice Story
I liked the first one better but this one got better as it went along. Now iam on to the third one.
I liked the first one better but this one got better as it went along. Now iam on to the third one.
May 7, 2011
Liked it. It wrapped up a series, kind of. Sweet but not over the top.
March 20, 2014
I hated this book, and almost couldn't finish it. I think I'll skip the third book of this series.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews