Ellen O’Connell’s WITHOUT WORDS – Fall in Love with a Bounty Hunter!

Set in 1871, beginning in Missouri, this is the story of Hassie Petty who just put her husband in his grave when bounty hunter Bret Sterling shows up to kill her stepson, a thief and a murderer wanted by the Army. Realizing Hassie has no food and is likely starving, Bret takes her with him when he leaves.

 

Both Bret and Hassie have been hurt in the past. Bret paid for his choice to fight for the North in the Civil War. His Southern family will take the bounty money he sends home but deprives him of his place as the eldest and heir. Due to an injury to her neck, Hassie cannot speak above a whisper, and when she does, no one understands her. No one save for Bret who seems to know what she is saying “without words.”

 

O’Connell knows how to serve up a magnetic hunk of a hero. Bret is a tough bounty hunter of noble character with a good heart. He even saves a half starved dog from a man who would take its life. A man who can shoot like he can but still has a soft spot for a girl who can’t speak and her dog (not to mention a horse passed its prime) is a man we can love. And Hassie, who is beautiful and has suffered the lustful advances of men, tries hard to please her savior. Along the way, a marriage of convenience turns into love. It’s a wonderful story of second chances, of love that wipes away bad memories.

 

O’Connell brings the West to life in this fast paced story as Bret and Hassie travel from Missouri to Wyoming in his search for wanted criminals, Hassie his partner in bringing them in. Rich in detail, great characters, exciting action, it’s a story that will warm your heart. The end scenes take place at Christmas so it’s a great holiday read.

 

Superb storytelling, highly recommended.

 

Ellen O’Connell’s SING MY NAME – A Superb and Tender Post Civil War Love Story

It’s 1867 and the Civil War is over. Young Matt Slade, the son of Texas settlers, fought for the South in some of the bloodiest battles—and he survived. Because he’s good at surviving. When two shady bounty hunters seize him for a crime he didn’t commit, he determines he’ll survive so they won’t take him dead, as in “dead or alive.”

 

While being transported with a group of calvary escorting some women to Fort Grissom, he encounters Sarah Hammond, the young daughter of passionate Massachusetts’s abolitionists, who is on her way to join her fiancé, a Yankee major, a man she does not love. Abhorring the abuse of Matt by the bounty hunters, Sarah intervenes to assure Matt is properly fed and no longer beaten. Shortly after, Comanches attack. Matt and Sarah survive only because of Matt’s resourcefulness. To get to the fort, they must depend on each other—and they grow close.

 

Finally at the fort, Sarah's fiancé learns that she has fallen in love with “Rebel trash," and he takes his revenge on the young lovers. And a fierce revenge it is. It will be 1875 before the story is over…

 

O’Connell has a way of putting you right in the action, of making you feel the emotion and of understanding what led the hero and heroine to be who they are. The tender budding love between Matt and Sarah is the genuine thing. But they will have many hurdles to cross before they can be together. Along the way, O’Connell will make you laugh and she’ll make you cry.

 

This is a story of sacrificial love and standing up to bias that says a fallen woman and a gunslinger aren’t worthy citizens (“What did you do with a man who loved you too much to love you?”). I absolutely love her writing! Simply put, O’Connell tells GREAT stories and she does it very well.

 

Ellen O’Connell’s INTO THE LIGHT – Charming, Authentic and Exciting!

Western month continues with the sequel to Beautiful Bad Man and, while it can be read as a stand-alone, I recommend reading Bad Man first. I loved that one, too! Together they form a single story of the Sutton family. There is a third, too—A Grand Race.

 

Set in Kansas in 1899, this is the story of Deborah Sutton, the prettiest of the three Sutton daughters, but with a scar in her past that keeps her from considering marriage with any man, and Trey Van Cleve, heir to a fortune he doesn’t want. The Suttons and the Van Cleves have been at war for decades (you get a good picture in BAD MAN). When Deborah and Trey first meet, it is in a darkened space and neither knows the other’s identity. But they enjoy each other’s conversation, so they meet again. Deborah, who is shy of men, finds his voice soothing; and Trey finds her interesting and intelligent. So when he decides to take over the local newspaper, of course he wants to hire Deborah as a reporter. And it doesn’t hurt he is drawn to the Sutton family because they possess a warmth his own does not.

 

I liked seeing Cal and Norah Sutton again. And Deborah’s sister Judith was a kick. The characters, as in O’Connell’s other books were wonderfully drawn. A quote I liked when

Deborah got advice from Norah: “I don’t think people ever get fixed,” Norah said thoughtfully. “Almost all of us are broken in some way, so we patch up the broken places and work around them.”

 

O’Connell based her novel on solid research which I so appreciate. She gives us a picture of a Kansas town at the turn of the century when automobiles were first being introduced, and the past was giving way to the future with unlimited possibilities.

 

The story is lighter than O’Connell’s earlier novels, but I enjoyed it all the same. It is a well-written saga that will definitely hold your interest. And there’s enough action with someone trying to murder Trey to keep you wondering what’s coming next.

 

Another great western from O’Connell!

 

 

Ellen O'Connell's SING MY NAME - A Superb Post Civil War Love Story from the Old West

 

It’s 1867 and the Civil War is over. Young Matt Slade, the son of Texas settlers, fought for the South in some of the bloodiest battles—and he survived. Because he’s good at surviving. So when two shady bounty hunters seize him for a crime he didn’t commit, he determines he’ll survive so they won’t take him dead, as in “Dead or Alive.” 

While being transported with a group of cavalry escorting some women to Fort Grissom, he encounters Sarah Hammond, the young daughter of passionate Massachusetts’s abolitionists, who is on her way to join her fiancé, a Yankee major, a man she does not love. 

Abhorring the abuse of Matt by the bounty hunters, Sarah intervenes to assure Matt is properly fed and beaten no longer. Shortly after, Comanches attack. Matt and Sarah survive only because of Matt’s resourcefulness. To get to the fort, they must depend on each other—and they grow close. When they finally arrive, and Sarah's fiancé learns that she has fallen in love with “Rebel trash," he takes his revenge on the young lovers. And a fierce revenge it is. It will be 1875 before the story is over…

O’Connell has a way of putting you right in the action, of making you feel the emotion and of understanding what led the hero and heroine to be who they are. The tender budding love between Matt and Sarah is the genuine thing. But they will have many hurdles to cross before they can be together. Along the way, O’Connell will make you laugh and she’ll make you cry. It’s about sacrificial love and standing up to bias that says a fallen woman and a gunslinger aren’t worthy citizens (“What did you do with a man who loved you too much to love you?”). I absolutely love her writing! Simply put, O’Connell tells GREAT stories and she does it very well.

I highly recommend this one and all her Western romances. So far, there’s EYES OF SILVER, EYES OF GOLD (with a part Cheyenne hero), and my personal favorite, DANCING ON COALS (with an Apache hero). I think you’ll like them all!

Ellen O’Connell’s DANCING ON COALS – Heartrending Story of an Apache Warrior and the Woman who Loved Him—Simply superb!

Set in Arizona Territory and Northern Mexico in 1881 (late in the time of the Apache wars), this one tells the story of Katherine Grant, who on her way home to New York, is saved from stagecoach bandits by a band of Chiricahua Apache. (The heroine’s sentiments: "I jumped from the frying pan into the fire. Before long I'll be dancing on the coals.") The bandits were the frying pan; the handsome young Apache who spoke English and saved her from them was the fire; and the coals were Gaetan, the Chiricahua brave who hated all whites and Mexicans for what they did to “the people.” He wanted her dead. But Gaetan promised his dying brother that he would care for the white woman, so he had no choice but to take her with him.

 

I absolutely loved Katherine. She was funny, courageous and an independent thinker. No whimpering, reticent female here. Raised on ships sailing the world with her father and brothers, she is a hellion who became a lady but never gave up her love of adventure and her willingness to take on any challenge. And she has lots of them following the Apache warrior, Gaetan. I was on the edge of my seat with attacks by outlaws, renegade Apaches, Mexican soldiers and miners.

 

As Katherine and Gaetan’s relationship developed, I came to care about what happened to them. My heart was committed to seeing them end up happy and together (thankfully this is romance and so you know you’ll see that in the end!).

 

It’s an absorbing story I did not want to put down. O’Connell said her story was inspired by the “very strong and very masculine” face of the Apache chief Victorio, who fought for his people in the late 1800s.

 

O’Connell does a superb job of portraying the Apache way of life and the impossible situation they faced, wedged between the Mexicans who wanted to annihilate them and the Americans who wanted to imprison them on reservations where they became “the dead.” And in the middle of all that were the two lovers who came together from different worlds, and though unlikely, were absolutely perfect for each other.

 

You won’t be disappointed in this one!

 

Buy on Amazon.

 

Ellen O’Connell’s EYES OF SILVER, EYES OF GOLD –Hard Bitten Hero and a Woman Whose Tenacious Love Will Not Let Him Go!

O’Connell is one of my favorite authors. She brings the Old West to life. This one is set in Colorado in 1885. It’s the story of Anne Wells, who at 28 may be a spinster but she’s not about to accept a man her father would force her to marry. In her escape from her home, she inadvertently runs to Cord Bennett’s small ranch.

 

Cord is the half-Cheyenne son of a wealthy rancher and considered by many to be the very devil. He lives alone raising horses and when Anne shows up, he’s delighted, until her father and some hired guns come looking for her. Her father's fury leads to violence against both Cord and Anne. Everyone, save Anne, believes the worst of Cord.

 

Cord is one of those heroes who no matter what life throws at him, and the horrible way people talk about him, he still manages to keep his honor and defend the weakest, even at great cost to himself.

 

O’Connell has a clever way of drawing us into Cord’s mind, seeing the world as he does—as his enemy. At one point in the story I thought to myself, if one more bad thing happens to him, I’m gonna scream. But I digress. Suffice it to say, he’s the kind of hero any “real” woman would love. Anne is feisty and courageous, a heroine worth cheering. Together they are a remarkable couple, but it takes them a long time to realize they are perfect for each other. O’Connell portrays them so well, it’s addictive. Oh yes, there are the “good citizens” of Mason, Colorado who do nothing and the really bad villains who do only evil.

 

Many of the action scenes in this story deal with raising and training horses and, in one case, an amazing race through difficult terrain. O’Connell describes it so well you feel like you’re riding the horse, following Cord’s brilliant strategy and urging him on. Obviously O’Connell knows horses and knows how a good man trains one. It was a delight to read this. Though instructive, it never took away from the romance developing between Cord and Anne.

 

One of my favorite passages in the story was a thought the heroine has: “…Anne believed she would in the end hear the words she, like all women, longed to hear, but if he never spoke of it, she would be content with this. He loved her, and she knew it, and he was capable of such tenderness it left her trembling, overwhelmed by her own love for him.” Ah…now that was well done!

 

It’s a great story, well told. You will love it, I promise.

 

 

Ellen O’Connell’s INTO THE LIGHT – Charming, Authentic and Exciting!

This is the sequel to Beautiful Bad Man and, while it can be read as a stand-alone, I recommend reading Bad Man first. I loved that one, too! Together they form a single story of the Sutton family. There is a third, too—A Grand Race.

Set in Kansas in 1899, this is the story of Deborah Sutton, the prettiest of the three Sutton daughters, but with a scar in her past that keeps her from considering marriage with any man, and Trey Van Cleve, heir to a fortune he doesn’t want. The Suttons and the Van Cleves have been at war for decades (you get a good picture in BAD MAN). When Deborah and Trey first meet, it is in a darkened space and neither knows the other’s identity. But they enjoy each other’s conversation, so they meet again. Deborah, who is shy of men, finds his voice soothing; and Trey finds her interesting and intelligent. So when he decides to take over the local newspaper, of course he wants to hire Deborah as a reporter. And it doesn’t hurt he is drawn to the Sutton family because they possess a warmth his own does not.

I liked seeing Cal and Norah Sutton again. And Deborah’s sister Judith was a kick. The characters, as in O’Connell’s other books were wonderfully drawn. A quote I liked when

Deborah got advice from Norah: “I don’t think people ever get fixed,” Norah said thoughtfully. “Almost all of us are broken in some way, so we patch up the broken places and work around them.”

O’Connell based her novel on solid research which I so appreciate. She gives us a picture of a Kansas town at the turn of the century when automobiles were first being introduced, and the past was giving way to the future with unlimited possibilities.

The story is lighter than O’Connell’s earlier novels, but I enjoyed it all the same. It is a well-written saga that will definitely hold your interest. And there’s enough action with someone trying to murder Trey to keep you wondering what’s coming next.

Another great western from O’Connell!

Ellen O’Connell’s EYES OF SILVER, EYES OF GOLD –Hard Bitten Hero and a Woman Whose Tenacious Love Will Not Let Him Go! A Keeper!

O’Connell is one of my favorite authors. She brings the Old West to life. This one is set in Colorado in 1885. It’s the story of Anne Wells, who at 28 may be a spinster but she’s not about to accept a man her father would force her to marry. In her escape from her home, she inadvertently runs to Cord Bennett’s small ranch.

Cord is the half-Cheyenne son of a wealthy rancher and considered by many to be the very devil. He lives alone raising horses and when Anne shows up, he’s delighted, until her father and some hired guns come looking for her. Her father's fury leads to violence against both Cord and Anne. Everyone, save Anne, believes the worst of Cord.

Cord is one of those heroes who no matter what life throws at him, and the horrible way people talk about him, he still manages to keep his honor and defend the weakest, even at great cost to himself.

O’Connell has a clever way of drawing us into Cord’s mind, seeing the world as he does—as his enemy. At one point in the story I thought to myself, if one more bad thing happens to him, I’m gonna scream. But I digress. Suffice it to say, he’s the kind of hero any “real” woman would love. Anne is feisty and courageous, a heroine worth cheering. Together they are a remarkable couple, but it takes them a long time to realize they are perfect for each other. O’Connell portrays them so well, it’s addictive. Oh yes, there are the “good citizens” of Mason, Colorado who do nothing and the really bad villains who do only evil.

Many of the action scenes in this story deal with raising and training horses and, in one case, an amazing race through difficult terrain. O’Connell describes it so well you feel like you’re riding the horse, following Cord’s brilliant strategy and urging him on. Obviously O’Connell knows horses and knows how a good man trains one. It was a delight to read this. Though instructive, it never took away from the romance developing between Cord and Anne.

One of my favorite passages in the story was a thought the heroine has: “…Anne believed she would in the end hear the words she, like all women, longed to hear, but if he never spoke of it, she would be content with this. He loved her, and she knew it, and he was capable of such tenderness it left her trembling, overwhelmed by her own love for him.” Ah…now that was well done!

It’s a great story, well told. You will love it, I promise.

Ellen O’Connell’s BEAUTIFUL BAD MAN – A Great Story of Second Chances from a Wonderful Author of Western Romance!

Set in Kansas in 1880 (except for the prologue set in 1866 and 1871), it tells the story of two people who met one night at a circled wagon train when they were young. He was a thief looking for food and she was his rescuer when some drunken men wanted to hang him. Neither forgot each other, but when they meet years later, all has changed.

Caleb Sutton has become a hardened gunslinger, good at killing men; and Norah Hawkins is a broken widow looking for death. When Cal realizes she is “the Girl” who saved him, he can’t leave her without helping. And she needs help, as a land grubbing rancher is using any despicable means he can to steal the settlers’ land.

O’Connell weaves a complex tale of second chances and redemption as lives affected by the evil actions of others are dealt with in the context of love. Cal is hardened and brutal (but still noble), haunted by the ghosts of his past. He believes he is “the devil’s spawn” as he was told as a boy. Though deep down he has a tender heart, he hides it from all but Norah. Norah is a courageous woman who only needs a reason to live. And Cal gives her one.

It’s a great story, well told and with richly developed characters. There’s lots of action, too, and the plot is cleverly woven, the dialog wonderful.

I highly recommend this and all O’Connell’s novels.

Review: Ellen O’Connell’s EYES OF SILVER, EYES OF GOLD –Hard Bitten Hero and a Woman Whose Tenacious Love Will Not Let Him Go! A Keeper!

This was my first by O’Connell and from then on, she was one of my “favorite authors.”

Set in Colorado in 1885, this is the story of Anne Wells, who at 28 may be a spinster but she’s not about to accept a man her father would force her to marry. In her escape from her home, she inadvertently runs to Cord Bennett’s small ranch. Cord is the half-Cheyenne son of a wealthy rancher and considered by many to be the very devil. He lives alone raising horses and when Anne shows up, he’s delighted, until her father and some hired guns come looking for her. Her father's fury leads to violence against both Cord and Anne and everyone, save Anne, believes the worst of Cord.

Cord is one of those heroes who no matter what life throws at him, and the horrible way people talk about him, he still manages to keep his honor and defend the weakest, even at great cost to himself.

O’Connell has a clever way of drawing us into Cord’s mind, seeing the world as he does—as his enemy. At one point in the story I thought to myself, if one more bad thing happens to him, I’m gonna scream. But I digress. Suffice it to say, he’s the kind of hero any “real” woman would love. Anne is feisty and courageous, a heroine worth cheering. Together they are a remarkable couple, but it takes them a long time to realize they are perfect for each other. O’Connell portrays them so well, it’s addictive. Oh yes, there are the “good citizens” of Mason, Colorado who do nothing and the really bad villains who do only evil.

Many of the action scenes in this story deal with raising and training horses and, in one case, an amazing race through difficult terrain. O’Connell describes it so well you feel like you’re riding the horse, following Cord’s brilliant strategy and urging him on. Obviously O’Connell knows horses and knows how a good man trains one. It was a delight to read this. Though instructive, it never took away from the romance developing between Cord and Anne.

One of my favorite passages in the story was a thought the heroine has: “…Anne believed she would in the end hear the words she, like all women, longed to hear, but if he never spoke of it, she would be content with this. He loved her, and she knew it, and he was capable of such tenderness it left her trembling, overwhelmed by her own love for him.” Ah…now that was well done!

It’s a great story, well told. You will love it, I promise.

On Amazon

New Review: Ellen O’Connell’s DANCING ON COALS – Heartrending Story of an Apache Warrior and the Woman who Loved Him—Simply superb!

June is Western month on the blog… stories from America’s West. I’m starting with one of my favorite authors and one of my favorite stories.

Set in Arizona Territory and Northern Mexico in 1881 (late in the time of the Apache wars), this one tells the story of Katherine Grant, who on her way home to New York, is saved from stagecoach bandits by a band of Chiricahua Apache. 

The heroine’s sentiments: "I jumped from the frying pan into the fire. Before long I'll be dancing on the coals." The bandits were the frying pan; the handsome young Apache who spoke English and saved her from them was the fire; and the coals were Gaetan, the Chiricahua brave who hated all whites and Mexicans for what they did to “the people.” He wanted her dead. But Gaetan promised his dying brother that he would care for the white woman, so he had no choice but to take her with him.

I absolutely loved Katherine. She was funny, courageous and an independent thinker. No whimpering, reticent female here. Raised on ships sailing the world with her father and brothers, she is a hellion who became a lady but never gave up her love of adventure and her willingness to take on any challenge. And she has lots of them following the Apache warrior, Gaetan. I was on the edge of my seat with attacks by outlaws, renegade Apaches, Mexican soldiers and miners.

As Katherine and Gaetan’s relationship developed, I came to care about what happened to them. My heart was committed to seeing them end up happy and together (thankfully this is romance and so you know you’ll see that in the end!).

It’s an absorbing story I did not want to put down. O’Connell said her story was inspired by the “very strong and very masculine” face of the Apache chief Victorio, who fought for his people in the late 1800s.

Victorio

O’Connell does a superb job of portraying the Apache way of life and the impossible situation they faced, wedged between the Mexicans who wanted to annihilate them and the Americans who wanted to imprison them on reservations where they became “the dead.” And in the middle of all that were the two lovers who came together from different worlds, and though unlikely, were absolutely perfect for each other.

You won’t be disappointed in this one! Buy on Amazon