Rebecca Brandewyne’s LOVE, CHERISH ME: Captivating Saga of the American West

When I finished this book, it was so good, I found myself wanting a sequel. Alas, there is no sequel, but And Gold Was Ours gives us another glimpse of Storm and Wolf.

Who could not love Wolf (El Lobo)? He is a man haunted by his past in an era where bad men seized lands to impose cruel dictates. We don't learn the complete story of Wolf's past until the end, but it's worth the wait. As for the heroine, Storm Lesconflair, the belle of New Orleans, she starts out as an indulged 16-year-old given every advantage, but when her parents die, her life takes a plunge. Rising to every challenge, she becomes a beautiful woman of grace, intelligence and depth. And their love is the love of legends.

The romance is divided into five "books" and spans the time period 1848 to 1866. The first chapter shows us the present, 1866, and it's almost an epilogue that can be skipped till the end (I re-read it after I’d finished the book). Then we are back at the beginning, in 1848, and Storm is being forced into an arranged marriage with a rich, cruel Texas rancher she doesn't love. On her way to meet him, a gang of outlaws overtakes her stagecoach and Storm is taken captive. She is then won in a card game by the gunslinger they call El Lobo, thought to be a half breed Indian but a man all men fear and respect. The darkly handsome gunslinger, dressed in black and silver, seems to have honor and would give her freedom, but Storm prefers his company to the thieves and scoundrels in the bar. So she follows him...

The story unfolds as we travel from New Orleans high society of the mid 1800s to the Texas frontier to San Francisco and then back to Texas. Along the way, Brandewyne introduces us to some wonderful characters, including a group of Comanches who are Wolf's adopted family, and we get to learn about the Indian culture, which had much to suggest to the white man.

If you like romances that sweep you away and the story of love that conquers overwhelming odds, you will love this story. I highly recommend it.

 

Rebecca Brandewyne’s THE JACARANDA TREE – A Great Escape to 19th Century Australia

Brandewyne serves up a suspenseful tale of 19^th century Australia and a society that consisted of those trying to recreate London in the far continent, the Exclusivists, and those sent there against their will, primarily convicts, who struggled to survive, and once freed became the Emancipists, looking to better their lives.

Set in the period 1855-1870, this is the story of Arabella Darracott, a highborn young English lady, who while in Yorkshire was told by a Gypsy that she would one day experience a ship wreck on the “other side o’ the world” where she would become a prisoner and encounter a demon “neath a purple-bloomin’ tree.” Later, upon her father’s death, she sails to Australia to join her guardian. But her ship breaks up on the Great Barrier Reef and she finds herself rescued and nursed her back to health by a dark, handsome stranger named Lucien Sinclair. Unbeknownst to Arabella—when she falls in love with him—he is a wealthy former convict who was convicted of murdering his wife, Verity. To add to that, in Sydney, someone has been murdering prostitutes and calling them “Verity” as he slices them up Jack the Ripper style.

Brandewyne vividly portrays the lot of the women transported to Australia, often for petty crimes (or no crime at all) and forced into lives of prostitution. And she shows us the prejudice against those who were sent to Australia for ostensible crimes, which prejudice continues to this day. (People there are quick to assure you none of their ancestors were the ones transported.) Arabella is a wonderfully likable woman, a risk taker, who thinks for herself. Lucien is a man hardened by life’s blows yet he survives to overcome those who would oppose him and to take the woman he has claimed.

Brandewyne is a great storyteller and I have come to love her romance novels. This one is among them and I highly recommend it.

Rebecca Brandewyne’s LOVE, CHERISH ME: Captivating Saga of the American West

When I finished this book, it was so good, I found myself wanting a sequel. Alas, there is no sequel, but And Gold Was Ours gives us another glimpse of Storm and Wolf.

Who could not love Wolf (El Lobo)? He is a man haunted by his past in an era where bad men seized lands to impose cruel dictates. We don't learn the complete story of Wolf's past until the end, but it's worth the wait. As for the heroine, Storm Lesconflair, the belle of New Orleans, she starts out as an indulged 16-year-old given every advantage, but when her parents die, her life takes a plunge. Rising to every challenge, she becomes a beautiful woman of grace, intelligence and depth. And their love is the love of legends.

The romance is divided into five "books" and spans the time period 1848 to 1866. The first chapter shows us the present, 1866, and it's almost an epilogue that can be skipped till the end (I re-read it after I’d finished the book). Then we are back at the beginning, in 1848, and Storm is being forced into an arranged marriage with a rich, cruel Texas rancher she doesn't love. On her way to meet him, a gang of outlaws overtakes her stagecoach and Storm is taken captive. She is then won in a card game by the gunslinger they call El Lobo, thought to be a half breed Indian but a man all men fear and respect. The darkly handsome gunslinger, dressed in black and silver, seems to have honor and would give her freedom, but Storm prefers his company to the thieves and scoundrels in the bar. So she follows him...

The story unfolds as we travel from New Orleans high society of the mid 1800s to the Texas frontier to San Francisco and then back to Texas. Along the way, Brandewyne introduces us to some wonderful characters, including a group of Comanches who are Wolf's adopted family, and we get to learn about the Indian culture, which had much to suggest to the white man.

If you like romances that sweep you away and the story of love that conquers overwhelming odds, you will love this story. I highly recommend it.

Review: Rebecca Brandewyne’s ROSE OF RAPTURE - Superb Medieval Romance Steeped in War of the Roses History

I knew this story, set in the 15^th century, was going to make me cry when at the beginning Isabella, age 25, is saying goodbye to the ghosts that haunt her...all those who died in what would become known as the War of the Roses...all those she loved. And then we are sent back 20 years to where it began, when she was just a young child raised among the nobility.

With the death of her parents, she became the mistress of Rushden Castle. She and her treasured brother Giles, who is only a bit older than she and now Lord of Rushden, will have a "warden" appointed by the king to see to the young children's needs. But King Edward IV does not give them a kind man and so their youth is a hard one. Isabella's only solace is in her menagerie in the stables where she cares for and heals hurt animals.

The novel is divided into five "books": Against the Summer Sky, The Rose of Rapture, The Windswept Moors, Tears and Lonely Sojourn. Book one begins in 1490, then we're back to 1470, then back to 1453 as we experience the beginning of Warrick ap Tremayne, a half Welsh bastard of an English lord who grows up at his father's castle, Hawkhurst, to be a favored knight of Edward. When their first warden dies, the king makes Warrick the new warden of Rushden, and though he has no desire to marry, betroths him to Isabella, now 15. But she loves another...

This tale is rich in the history of the time, so much so that at times I had trouble holding all the names in my head as Brandyewyne weaves a complex tale of deception, intrigue, mystery and betrayal. The lives of all are influenced by the battle for the English throne that takes on the appearance of a game of musical chairs before it's done.

I'll warn you the ending is bittersweet, but it's a great love story...a well told tale of two worthy characters living in a tumultuous time. I highly recommend it.

New Review: Rebecca Brandewyne’s LOVE, CHERISH ME: Captivating Saga of the American West

Speaking of classics, have you ever read one of Rebecca Brandewyne’s deep, angst-ridden historicals? This romance, like Rose of Rapture, will carry you to another time and place. When I finished it, I found myself wanting a sequel. Alas, there is no sequel, but And Gold Was Ours gives us another glimpse of Storm and Wolf.

Who could not love Wolf (El Lobo)? He is a man haunted by his past in an era where bad men seized lands to impose cruel dictates. We don't learn the complete story of Wolf's past until the end, but it's worth the wait. As for the heroine, Storm Lesconflair, the belle of New Orleans, she starts out as an indulged 16-year-old given every advantage, but when her parents die, her life takes a plunge. Rising to every challenge, she becomes a beautiful woman of grace, intelligence and depth. And their love is the love of legends.

The romance is divided into five "books" and spans the time period 1848 to 1866. The first chapter shows us the present, 1866, and it's almost an epilogue that can be skipped till the end (I re-read it after I’d finished the book). Then we are back at the beginning, in 1848, and Storm is being forced into an arranged marriage with a rich, cruel Texas rancher she doesn't love. On her way to meet him, a gang of outlaws overtakes her stagecoach and Storm is taken captive. She is then won in a card game by the gunslinger they call El Lobo, thought to be a half-breed Indian but a man all men fear and respect. The darkly handsome gunslinger, dressed in black and silver, seems to have honor and would give her freedom, but Storm prefers his company to the thieves and scoundrels in the bar. So she follows him...

The story unfolds as we travel from New Orleans high society of the mid-1800s to the Texas frontier to San Francisco and then back to Texas. Along the way, Brandewyne introduces us to some wonderful characters, including a group of Comanches who are Wolf's adopted family, and we get to learn about the Indian culture, which had much to suggest to the white man.

If you like romances that sweep you away and the story of love that conquers overwhelming odds, you will love this story. I highly recommend it.

Review: Rebecca Brandewyne’s THE OUTLAW HEARTS – Post Civil War Story of Love’s Power to Heal

Set in Missouri in the years following the Civil War, beginning in 1870, this is the story of two people wounded in both spirit and body. Jenny Leigh Colter was a plain girl in a family of handsome men and beautiful women. It was a family she loved. But a brutal Yankee colonel took her sisters from her and the war took her brothers. Without funds and only her two former servants for companions, she answers an ad for a schoolteacher needed in the Ozarks.

On the way to her new position, the Morgan gang, former Confederate heroes who now make their as outlaws, robs Jenny’s train. However, one of them, Luke Morgan, returns all the money they took from those who served the South. Luke notices Jenny right away and her plainness does not repel him having been married to an unfaithful beauty, but he knows she has seen his face and can report him to the authorities. When he discovers she is the new teacher in town, he considers marrying her to prevent her testifying against him.

These two wounded souls help each other. It’s an endearing romance and a story of healing and hope. Luke is a worthy hero and Jenny a compelling heroine, a true survivor. She includes some great secondary characters, too. Brandewyne often tells the story from the perspective of the narrator. Be aware, the flashbacks to what happened in the war are vivid and brutal.

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