****A grateful and enthusiastic thanks to Jill for the recommendation!****3.5 Stars, rounded up because I think the objective quality was greater than my subjective enjoyment of it.It was a treat to leave Regency England long enough to visit the American west, and based on my admittedly limited sample size, I found myself agreeing with those who feel that this is the time and place about which the author was born to write. The descriptions were lush and vivid and in an impressive wow-you-really-feel-like-you're-there sort of way, and much of the prose was gorgeous---and only occasionally overwrought ;) Similarly, the main characters were vibrant and real. I didn't always love them, but I never doubted that they were authentic, three-dimensional people to whom the author had given a lot of thought. There's a twist in the book that's either exciting or preposterous, depending on one's perspective. Between that and the believable but rather endless angst revolving around the all-important, future-defining land, I found myself getting a little impatient with both characters and their myriad conflicts. Another yeah-I-know-it's-just-my-own-personal-preference issue is that the book emphasized the "steamy" physical relationship between the H and h so heavily that at times it overshadowed their emotional connection. I'm someone who grows very easily weary of long, explicitly detailed sex scenes, though, so those who love steam more than I do will likely find this aspect of the book more of an asset than drawback! It did hit on a major pet peeve of mine that's found with alarming frequency: The hero can't declare his love for the heroine until we're nearing the very end of the novel, but he has no trouble declaring his desire to have lots and lots of sex with her. I get that that's realistic, and certainly Grayson has reasons for being emotionally guarded. But I'm finding more and more that when it comes to loving someone before having tons of sex with them, I like my historial romances to be just a little more...romantic. :) My own personal preferences aside, this really is a well-written book that I think fans of the genre and the author will enjoy quite a lot. I hope this was helpful!
This is the second book by Lorraine Heath that I've read and I contuinue to be impressed. I love her writing style, they way she make the characters feel real, and can completely discribe how hard it was to be a cotton farmer in Texas in 1865.Abbie (h) had lost her husband to the war it's up to her to see that the family cotton farm was harvested on time. With only her, her 3 children, sister and sister-in-law (all of the men were away at war/or haven't come back yet)they needed to hire some help. When a local man sugested that he could hire some men they agreed.Gray (H) had no idea what was awaiting him at the end of his journey. What he was told was that the second son's of the English lords could come to America and find their fortune, that America would give them opportunities that they could never have in England. So he and two of his friends went on what they had thought would be an amazing journey. Once they reached Texas, the driver kept telling them that "fortune awaits them". They were in for a major shock when the wagon stoped at some dusty old farm in a town called Fortune Texas. Their "amazing journey" was to earn a living picking cotton for a bunch of widows. They had no choice but to stay long enough to earn enough money to move on. However the more time Gray spent with Abbie and her children the more he could picture himself staying.Usually when an author has children written in the story I don't like it, I don't find that they were written as a child/children their age would really act. As I said before this is the second book by LH that I've read and both had children in the mix and,imo, she really pulls it off. I feel that they actually add to the story rather than distract me from it with unrealistic actions/language for a child of what ever age the author has them at. Also reading about the coulture shock that Gray and his cohorts go through, going from the privilaged English to a Texas cotton picker was great.
What do You think about A Rogue In Texas (1999)?
This was a nice read, overall. It came to me in stages: the beginning - middle half of the book was a joy to read. I loved getting to know the heroine, Abbie and her three children. I also enjoyed Gray and his very entertaining English-ness in a place that has no room for it. What was difficult to enjoy was the backdrop - picking cotton was Abbie's family way of making money. I found it a terribly boring task to read about, and there was A LOT of description in that regard. The secondary characters (Harry and Kit, who have their own novels in this series) weren't intriguing enough to make me wish to read their stories. Maybe if I will pick them up if I want a very, very light read. And that was what this novel was. It was halfway into being a novella (in its lack of detail) and a novel (in its length). A very odd combination. It seemed like an interesting read at first glance, but it left me wanting more. I don't really know how to describe it. I was forcing myself to finish reading it by the end just for the sake of it. It was a very predictable ending. Overall, an enjoyable read that seemed to stretch on for some reason. I just couldn't get into the story or make a connection with the characters.
—Caroline
What happens when Englishmen find their way to a Texas farm? I found it halarious when this book starts off with a group of well-bred English gentlemen that get sent by their families to find "fortune" in Texas...not realizing until too late that Fortune is actually a poor farming town in Texas that needed men to pick cotton. Suprisingly, they end up making the best of it, and even bring back a bit of spark to a town whose hopes were destroyed by the Civil War. You'll fall in love with the Englishmen, with Abbie and her family, and even become attached to characters you thought you'd hate. A great read I would suggest to anyone who loves old west love stories.
—Sarah
5 stars – Frontier/Western Historical RomanceI loved Lorraine Heath’s Scoundrels of St. James Victorian historical romance series and contemporaries, Hard Lovin' Man and Smooth Talkin' Stranger, and they made me want to read her entire backlist. This is the first book in her Rogues in Texas series, and it’s a sweet, emotional, touching romance of a duke’s son, an English rogue, who finds himself completely out of his element on a Texas cotton farm, working for a widow with three children. While enduring the hardships of rural life and grueling manual labor in the cotton fields, Grayson Rhodes finds that which he never expected: purpose, peace, a sense of belonging, pride, profound happiness, pure joy...and most shocking of all, love. There’s just something about Heath’s writing that tugs the heartstrings, and Gray and Abbie’s beautiful, poignant, and passionate love story is no exception. Gray’s tenderness and gentle affection towards Abbie and her children was sigh-inducing and swoon-worthy...I just loved him! It’s a wonderful, moving romance, and pretty steamy, too! 5 stars!
—Shawna
