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Outlaw's Embrace
His savage Kiss awakened her flesh...His tender touch aroused her spirit. In the untamed frontier of the West, women married when they were young girls. So at the ripe age of 21, Beth Tyrell was nearly an old maid. But the wheat-haired Sheriff's daughter possessed a proud, gentle spirit that could not be compromised. She would marry only for deep, abiding love - and would settle for nothing less.
Not for Adam Buchanan, the town's new physician - whose boyish face and laughing eyes were openly adoring...Not for Avery Carlile - with whom she'd shared so much when they were younger...Not for the sake of her father - who wanted nothing more than his daughter to find the happiness he had lost.
Then Logan Tanner rode into town - a gunslinger seeking revenge. His burning blue eyes pierced her soul - and made her ache... For no blaze burns so hot, nor glows so bright, as the flame kindled by desire.
Not for Adam Buchanan, the town's new physician - whose boyish face and laughing eyes were openly adoring...Not for Avery Carlile - with whom she'd shared so much when they were younger...Not for the sake of her father - who wanted nothing more than his daughter to find the happiness he had lost.
Then Logan Tanner rode into town - a gunslinger seeking revenge. His burning blue eyes pierced her soul - and made her ache... For no blaze burns so hot, nor glows so bright, as the flame kindled by desire.
330 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1986
About the author
Francine Rivers
60 books21.8k followersNew York Times bestselling author Francine Rivers continues to win both industry acclaim and reader loyalty around the globe. Her numerous bestsellers include Redeeming Love, A Voice in the Wind, and Bridge to Haven, and her work has been translated into more than thirty different languages. She is a member of Romance Writers of America's coveted Hall of Fame as well as a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW).
www.francinerivers.com
www.facebook.com/FrancineRivers
Twitter: @FrancineRivers
www.francinerivers.com
www.facebook.com/FrancineRivers
Twitter: @FrancineRivers
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
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April 19, 2023I was actually planning on giving this book five stars, but I found the ending so incredibly disturbing that I just can't anymore. Having your male lead
I would still recommend this novel because Francine Rivers is a great author and her older work is particularly well-written (I really really wish she would consider republishing her bodice rippers), but the overall message of this novel didn't sit completely right with me, even though I found the rest of this story engrossing and romantic.
No rating.
TW: non-graphic murder, brief dub-con, self-harm
I would still recommend this novel because Francine Rivers is a great author and her older work is particularly well-written (I really really wish she would consider republishing her bodice rippers), but the overall message of this novel didn't sit completely right with me, even though I found the rest of this story engrossing and romantic.
No rating.
TW: non-graphic murder, brief dub-con, self-harm
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July 22, 2015Francine wrote this before she became a Christian. Her style of writing, choice of genre, and over all message is significantly different after she became a Christian. I personally prefer her writing now than what it was when she wrote this book. For me, it wasn't worth reading. Glad she's changed her writing style.
February 13, 2024
a very heavy handed anti-violence message that came outta nowhere in the third act kinda ruined the mood of the story, otherwise I would’ve liked it more, but the ending was nice minus one unnecessary instance of self-mutilation…3 stars, 2 sex scenes, 1 Jesus Christ quote (nice try, Francine)
October 16, 2011
Ahhh, Just what I was hoping for....Mature characters, intelligent and
Very good writing of a well told story
Do I love gunslingers? Oh Yeah....
This author captured perfectly that look that comes in Logan Tanner's (H) eyes when he's in the throws of blood lust...just like Johnny:
Very good writing of a well told story
Do I love gunslingers? Oh Yeah....
This author captured perfectly that look that comes in Logan Tanner's (H) eyes when he's in the throws of blood lust...just like Johnny:
December 5, 2022
I’ve read this book a dozen times since it was published and I have always put it back on my bookshelf because the themes it invokes are as applicable today as they were in 1986 and it’s a wonderful story. As humans we are all motivated by our own circumstances and nothing is ever black or white but many shades of gray and it is our faith and our conscience that rules our actions. Beth is a young Christian woman devoted to her father and her community when a stranger arrives in town and changes her entire world. Her mild mannered sheriff father becomes angry and short tempered toward Logan Tanner who has hatred in his heart and is fast with his gun. But Beth sees more to Logan and the more her father hates him the more Beth believes in redemption. Caught between the two men she can only follow her beliefs and her heart despite the hatred, rejection and prejudice that surrounds her and her story is courageous, heartbreaking, redemptive and spiritually uplifting. I highly recommend it.
August 12, 2016
*A very generous 3 stars*
Francine Rivers wrote roughly a dozen love stories before publishing Christian romances. Most of the earlier stories were written in the 1980s. OUTLAW'S EMBRACE is one of them. It takes place roughly fifteen years after the Civil War in the actual town of Kilkare Woods, California.
Logan Tanner, a gunslinger, has come to town. He hasn't revealed what his mission is but it doesn't matter. Everyone is hostile towards him with the exception of the sheriff's daughter, Beth Tyrell. Still living at home, the twenty-one-year-old has always been a sweet and biddable daughter. Beth senses there is more to the loner and dismisses her father's curt order to stay away from him. At first, neither understands but they are both attracted to one another.
After a rough misunderstanding, Logan does his best to stay away from Beth. She has her own problems with a young doctor trying to court her. He wants to marry her but she feels nothing romantic towards him. There is also an old friend that keeps pestering her even though he is very-much married.
Always good-hearted Beth ties the story together. Long before the end you will figure out why Logan finds Kilkare Woods so important.
Similar to so many romances from 1980's, there is some minor slang that is used by several of the male characters and a couple of mild sex scenes between the hero and heroine. Are there better older romances out there? Yes. Should current fans of Mrs. Rivers read this book? No. Though the author refers to God, going to church, and the bible this is not Christian romance. As for me...it was alright; it satisfied my curiosity to view her earlier style of writing which is why I read it in the first place.
Francine Rivers wrote roughly a dozen love stories before publishing Christian romances. Most of the earlier stories were written in the 1980s. OUTLAW'S EMBRACE is one of them. It takes place roughly fifteen years after the Civil War in the actual town of Kilkare Woods, California.
Logan Tanner, a gunslinger, has come to town. He hasn't revealed what his mission is but it doesn't matter. Everyone is hostile towards him with the exception of the sheriff's daughter, Beth Tyrell. Still living at home, the twenty-one-year-old has always been a sweet and biddable daughter. Beth senses there is more to the loner and dismisses her father's curt order to stay away from him. At first, neither understands but they are both attracted to one another.
After a rough misunderstanding, Logan does his best to stay away from Beth. She has her own problems with a young doctor trying to court her. He wants to marry her but she feels nothing romantic towards him. There is also an old friend that keeps pestering her even though he is very-much married.
Always good-hearted Beth ties the story together. Long before the end you will figure out why Logan finds Kilkare Woods so important.
Similar to so many romances from 1980's, there is some minor slang that is used by several of the male characters and a couple of mild sex scenes between the hero and heroine. Are there better older romances out there? Yes. Should current fans of Mrs. Rivers read this book? No. Though the author refers to God, going to church, and the bible this is not Christian romance. As for me...it was alright; it satisfied my curiosity to view her earlier style of writing which is why I read it in the first place.
August 22, 2022
This was a good story, but I can't say I approved of the way the H, Logan Tanner planned to use the h, Beth Tyrell in his revenge plan against her father. I also didn't like the way Beth decided to get her own revenge by getting engaged to another man, though I can understand her wanting to forget Logan, whom she thought didn't really care for her. She had every reason to mistrust him and not believe he was repentant and sincere, but that doesn't excuse planning to marry a man you don't love and trying to convince yourself that you do, when you can barely tolerate his kisses.
The OM, Dr. Adam Buchanan, was the suitor her father had encouraged Beth to accept, in an effort to steer her away from Logan, whom he knew was up to no good. (Ironically, he has a change of heart right after Beth gets engaged.) Adam was a good person, but rather pompous, as he pursues Beth even though he knows of her feelings for Logan, and magnanimously tells her it doesn't matter that she gave herself to Logan, though he should have been her first. (What rule book was that written in?) He also comes across as a bit conceited, like when he tells Beth she'll learn to respond to him, because, being a doctor, he knows all about a woman's body and how to make her respond. (I hate to think what goes on his exam room when his patient is female.) It got really irritating when, the more it became obvious Beth still loved Logan, the more insistent Adam became that he and Beth get married soon, as he'll make her forget him. Yeah, right.
The whole I love him/I hate him/I can't forget him/I must forget him thing went on for too long and started to get on my nerves.
There was an interesting side story, that I wish had gotten more attention. It involved Avery Carlisle, Beth's childhood sweetheart, and his jealous wife, Edwina, as well as Avery's overbearing mother. I would have liked a separate book about them.
This isn't a bad story, but I've read plenty that were better.
The OM, Dr. Adam Buchanan, was the suitor her father had encouraged Beth to accept, in an effort to steer her away from Logan, whom he knew was up to no good. (Ironically, he has a change of heart right after Beth gets engaged.) Adam was a good person, but rather pompous, as he pursues Beth even though he knows of her feelings for Logan, and magnanimously tells her it doesn't matter that she gave herself to Logan, though he should have been her first. (What rule book was that written in?) He also comes across as a bit conceited, like when he tells Beth she'll learn to respond to him, because, being a doctor, he knows all about a woman's body and how to make her respond. (I hate to think what goes on his exam room when his patient is female.) It got really irritating when, the more it became obvious Beth still loved Logan, the more insistent Adam became that he and Beth get married soon, as he'll make her forget him. Yeah, right.
The whole I love him/I hate him/I can't forget him/I must forget him thing went on for too long and started to get on my nerves.
There was an interesting side story, that I wish had gotten more attention. It involved Avery Carlisle, Beth's childhood sweetheart, and his jealous wife, Edwina, as well as Avery's overbearing mother. I would have liked a separate book about them.
This isn't a bad story, but I've read plenty that were better.
March 2, 2024
“There’s a new man in town.” Logan Tanner has “never killed a man who didn’t deserve to die.” He hasn’t been in town twenty-four hours and already there was trouble between the sheriff who harbors a vendetta against him and the sheriff’s daughter who is quickly falling head over heels in love with him. But “her inexperience made her a poor opponent to his own needs and will.”
“Logan had brought many women to crisis…Reason had mated with passion before…Yet past experience clouded and disappeared as this innocent girl taught Logan of surrender…Tenderness. Warmth. Love as he had never seen it. Trust.” But “Passion isn’t love…A solid foundation of friendship and common interests and shared laughter and learned trust has to come first before passion can really mean anything.”
The affection blossoming between the outlaw and the sheriff’s daughter threatens to expose a secret that could sever the bond between father and daughter forever. “I’ve never lied to you, but I’ve never told you all the truth, either. So it’s just as bad as a lie, I guess.” Betrayal. Revenge. “As long as there are men…who live by their guns and for nothing but violence, there’s never going to be any people for the rest of us…I’d rather live with a man who saved lives than with one who takes them.”
Men may have their pistols but we women wield our parasols. When Beth is caught in the middle of the violence she so abhorred and left fighting for her life, the whole community discovers a transformative truth: “Killing and putting an end to things had always come easier than living fully, opening himself wide…The battle is harder for some of us. Easier if it isn’t fought alone…A man thought he had to stand alone, but in truth he never really did. No one did, if they could but see.”
“Logan had brought many women to crisis…Reason had mated with passion before…Yet past experience clouded and disappeared as this innocent girl taught Logan of surrender…Tenderness. Warmth. Love as he had never seen it. Trust.” But “Passion isn’t love…A solid foundation of friendship and common interests and shared laughter and learned trust has to come first before passion can really mean anything.”
The affection blossoming between the outlaw and the sheriff’s daughter threatens to expose a secret that could sever the bond between father and daughter forever. “I’ve never lied to you, but I’ve never told you all the truth, either. So it’s just as bad as a lie, I guess.” Betrayal. Revenge. “As long as there are men…who live by their guns and for nothing but violence, there’s never going to be any people for the rest of us…I’d rather live with a man who saved lives than with one who takes them.”
Men may have their pistols but we women wield our parasols. When Beth is caught in the middle of the violence she so abhorred and left fighting for her life, the whole community discovers a transformative truth: “Killing and putting an end to things had always come easier than living fully, opening himself wide…The battle is harder for some of us. Easier if it isn’t fought alone…A man thought he had to stand alone, but in truth he never really did. No one did, if they could but see.”
July 18, 2024
Re-read. Still 5 stars, except now, I got an ick near the end of the book, when the H self mutilated to keep himself from using his gun (he was a gunslinger). My teenage heart found it romantic, but grown me found it depressing. Still not enough to deduct a star though.
Read this when I was 15. My mom had a copy of it that got lost and I have been trying to find it but so far so good, no luck. I really liked it. Not sure how I would feel about it as an adult but I would really love to reread this.
This was premium Francine Rivers before she became a devout Christian.
My teenage self gave this 5 stars. I would love to see if me now would do the same 😊
Read this when I was 15. My mom had a copy of it that got lost and I have been trying to find it but so far so good, no luck. I really liked it. Not sure how I would feel about it as an adult but I would really love to reread this.
This was premium Francine Rivers before she became a devout Christian.
My teenage self gave this 5 stars. I would love to see if me now would do the same 😊
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews