Shirl Henke’s BROKEN VOWS – Superb Storytelling!

 

Set in Nevada in the late 19^th century (beginning in 1870) during the silver boom on the Comstock Lode, Henke delivers a superb tale of young love, prejudice (against the Irish among others), deception, treachery and love’s second chances. I highly recommend it.

 

Rebekah Sinclair, a small town preacher’s daughter, and Rory Madigan, an impoverished Irish immigrant who worked his way West as a prizefighter, meet and quickly fall in love. In a night of passion, they vow to love each other forever and Rory asks Rebekah to marry him assuring her he will find a way to make enough money to win her parents’ respect. However, an evil rich man who wants Rebekah on his arm as he rises in politics conspires to keep Rory from her; his efforts are aided by the bigotry of Rebekah’s family. As a result Rory and Rebekah are separated, each believing they were betrayed by the other. Rory and Rebekah meet again years later when Rory is rich and influential and bent on revenge. But true love will have its day….

I could not put it down and my emotions were truly engaged. I ended up reading it through much of the night, it was that good. Her wonderful characters are richly drawn and her plot weaves an intriguing story.

 

Henke gives us a taste of the West when it was still wild enough that murder and corruption went without retribution, when powerful men used others for their own greed and lust. Then, too, living in America now, we forget the Irish were not just persecuted by the English in Ireland; they were persecuted here as well. Though Rebekah was poor, her family would never consider an Irish Catholic an acceptable husband, no matter how much she loved him. Thank God it’s a romance and all comes right in the end.

 

You won’t regret getting this one!

Shirl Henke’s LOVE A REBEL, LOVE A ROGUE – Superb Dual Romance Set in the days of the Revolutionary War!

 

First in Henke’s Blackthorne trilogy (Love A Rebel, Love A Rogue, Wicked Angel and Wanton Angel) this one is set during the years 1780-1782 in the Georgia Colony at the time of the Revolutionary War and tells of two heroes, one a patriot and one a loyalist. As always, Henke serves up a tale rich in history with a winding plot that will hold you captive ‘ till the end.

 

Quintin Blackthorne despised his father and the secret he was forced as a child to keep but he knew he would need an heir and for that he had to marry. He cared little about who the woman might be as long as she wasn’t beautiful so that other men might want her for he mistrusted all women. Madelyne Deveaux, the daughter of his father’s friend, seemed plain and biddable enough, though when he first saw her she was covered with dirt. When she travels to Blackthorne Hill in Savannah as his betrothed, he is furious at the beauty revealed and her feisty manner. Worse, she is a loyalist and he a secret revolutionary. He is cold and arrogant to her, often embarrassing her in front of others. Still, Madelyne wants to earn his affection.

 

Quintin’s cousin, Devon Blackthorne, is part Indian, part white and all charm. He lives with his mother’s people, the Muskogee, and is an agent for the Crown, working with the soldiers coordinating the Indian allies. He knows nothing of his cousin’s support for the rebels. Unlike Quintin, Devon feels no pressure to take a wife and has no intention of doing so. But then he rescues the shipwrecked and haughty Lady Barbara Caruthers who has been banished to the Colonies and her brother from London by her mother for her willful and wasteful ways—and because the beautiful blonde was competition. Despite their disparate worlds, Devon and Barbara soon fall in love.

 

I didn’t realize until I read this story that the Indians fought on the side of the Crown, or that they had reason to prefer the British to the Colonists who would take their land. I love learning history while reading a great romance. My favorite couple was Devon and Barbara. (Madelyne was a bit too accommodating of Quintin’s cold and sometimes cruel manner). But I thought Henke wove the two stories together very well, all the while letting us see the conflicting emotions as the war saw friends and family on opposite sides. It’s a great way to gain a new perspective on the Revolutionary War—and it’s a good story, a very worthy read!

 

 

Shirl Henke’s A FIRE IN THE BLOOD – Enthralling Classic from Wyoming Cattle Baron Days

June is western month on the blog. The American West is one of my favorite settings. I hope you love these stories. First up is a good one.

 

Not many romance authors would start their story with a black moment but Henke does it here and does it well. This is an absorbing story, very well told, of a hero who thought he’d never belong and a heroine who had everything but him. Meticulously researched, Henke serves up a worthy love story from the days of the cattle barons, the powerful cattlemen of the Cheyenne Club who ruled over Wyoming Territory in the late 1800s.

Jess Robbins and his father, though Texans, fought with the Union in the Civil War. Jess also did a stint with the French Foreign Legion. By the spring of 1881, he had a fast gun and a talent for spying out cattle thieves. So it was no surprise Wyoming rancher Marcus Jacobson hired Jess as a stock detective to find out who was stealing hundreds of his cattle from the sprawling J Bar ranch.

 

The first time Jacobson’s only daughter and heir, Lissa, caught sight of Jess Robbins, she was drawn to the man. A mixture of white man, Mexican and Indian, Jess was exotically handsome, virile and very sure of himself. Lissa had many suitors, including an older man her father wanted her to marry, but she wanted Jess. Though each was forbidden to the other, they could not stay away.

Henke captures the nuances of a relationship that was forged in passion but held something deeper, a lasting bond that would not be denied. Lissa grows up and her strength comes to the foreground as Jess realizes he cannot live without this woman. How it all comes together is fascinating and held my attention right to the sweet ending.

You’ll like this one. It’s a keeper!

Shirl Henke’s A FIRE IN THE BLOOD – Enthralling Classic from Wyoming Cattle Baron Days

Not many romance authors would start their story with a black moment but Henke does it here and does it well. This is an absorbing story, very well told, of a hero who thought he’d never belong and a heroine who had everything but him. Meticulously researched, Henke serves up a worthy love story from the days of the cattle barons, the powerful cattlemen of the Cheyenne Club who ruled over Wyoming Territory in the late 1800s.

Jess Robbins and his father, though Texans, fought with the Union in the Civil War. Jess also did a stint with the French Foreign Legion. By the spring of 1881, he had a fast gun and a talent for spying out cattle thieves. So it was no surprise Wyoming rancher Marcus Jacobson hired Jess as a stock detective to find out who was stealing hundreds of his cattle from the sprawling J Bar ranch.

 

The first time Jacobson’s only daughter and heir, Lissa, caught sight of Jess Robbins, she was drawn to the man. A mixture of white man, Mexican and Indian, Jess was exotically handsome, virile and very sure of himself. Lissa had many suitors, including an older man her father wanted her to marry, but she wanted Jess. Though each was forbidden to the other, they could not stay away.

Henke captures the nuances of a relationship that was forged in passion but held something deeper, a lasting bond that would not be denied. Lissa grows up and her strength comes to the foreground as Jess realizes he cannot live without this woman. How it all comes together is fascinating and held my attention right to the sweet ending.

You’ll like this one. It’s a keeper!

Shirl Henke’s CAPTURE THE SUN – Superb Western Classic with a Wonderful Half Cheyenne Hero!

Shirl Henke serves up richly detailed Western romances that will keep you up late at night, I promise. This is another winning tale of hers from the old West with an intricate plot reflecting thorough research. The story captivated me from the beginning; I couldn’t put it down.

 

First published in 1988, and set in Montana in the late 1800s, Capture the Sun was unique because it involved a half-breed Cheyenne hero who had been well educated in the finest Eastern schools. Hawk Sinclair straddled two worlds, not feeling at home in either, until he finds his destiny in the arms of a beauty from St. Louis he called Firehair.

 

Carrie Patterson was raised in St. Louis and had loving parents until they died and she was forced to live with her aunt and uncle and treated more like a servant. Her aunt resented her beauty for her daughters paled in comparison. When Carrie turns 18, her aunt buys Carrie’s fiancé for one of the plain daughters and Carrie is forced to marry the aunt’s cousin, a cruel old rancher named Noah Sinclair. He takes her to his ranch in Montana, the Circle S, where she learns he’s had two wives before her, including his first who was a beautiful Cheyenne girl who gave him his only son, Hawk Sinclair, an educated half breed who will never inherit the ranch if Carrie gives him a white heir. Carrie comes to hate Noah even as she is falling in love with his son, Hawk.

 

My first reaction to the story was one of revulsion as the beautiful young heroine, Carrie Patterson, was forced into marrying the despicable Noah Sinclair. Noah’s frequent, mechanical and brutal exercise of his “marital rights” made me cringe. He was the wrong man for the right woman; he took her innocence and I hated him for it. Carrie was a bit disappointing at first as she resigned herself to the role of broodmare. But as she becomes more familiar with life on the Montana frontier, she gains strength and the respect of all around her. 

 

Henke’s portrayal of ranch life and the challenges of the Cheyenne as the white man encroached onto their way of life are vividly detailed. Her dialog is rich, capturing the personalities of her characters, even their speech, which varies from the wise Cheyenne chief, to the old Texas cowhand, to the self-righteous citizens who were so quick to judge. I highly recommend this one!

 

The Cheyenne trilogy:

 

Capture the Sun

The Endless Sky

Sundancer

 

Shirl Henke’s BROKEN VOWS – Superb Storytelling and an Irish Hunk to Love!

Set in Nevada in the late 19^th century (beginning in 1870) during the silver boom on the Comstock Lode, Henke delivers a superb tale of young love, prejudice (against the Irish among others), deception, treachery and love’s second chances. I highly recommend it.

 

Rebekah Sinclair, a small town preacher’s daughter, and Rory Madigan, an impoverished Irish immigrant who worked his way West as a prizefighter, meet and quickly fall in love. In a night of passion, they vow to love each other forever and Rory asks Rebekah to marry him assuring her he will find a way to make enough money to win her parents’ respect. However, an evil rich man who wants Rebekah on his arm as he rises in politics conspires to keep Rory from her; his efforts are aided by the bigotry of Rebekah’s family. As a result Rory and Rebekah are separated, each believing they were betrayed by the other. Rory and Rebekah meet again years later when Rory is rich and influential and bent on revenge. But true love will have its day….

I know I’m reading a 5 star novel when I cannot put it down and my emotions are truly engaged. In this case, I also ended up reading it through much of the night, it was that good. Her wonderful characters are richly drawn and her plot weaves an intriguing story.

 

Henke gives us a taste of the West when it was still wild enough that murder and corruption went without retribution, when powerful men used others for their own greed and lust. Then, too, living in America now, we forget the Irish were not just persecuted by the English in Ireland; they were persecuted here as well. Though Rebekah was poor, her family would never consider an Irish Catholic an acceptable husband, no matter how much she loved him. Thank God it’s a romance and all comes right in the end.

 

You won’t regret getting this one!

Shirl Henke’s A FIRE IN THE BLOOD – Enthralling Classic from Wyoming Cattle Baron Days

Not many romance authors would start their story with a black moment but Henke does it here and does it well. This is an absorbing story, very well told, of a hero who thought he’d never belong and a heroine who had everything but him. Meticulously researched, Henke serves up a worthy love story from the days of the cattle barons, the powerful cattlemen of the Cheyenne Club who ruled over Wyoming Territory in the late 1800s.

Jess Robbins and his father, though Texans, fought with the Union in the Civil War. Jess also did a stint with the French Foreign Legion. By the spring of 1881, he had a fast gun and a talent for spying out cattle thieves. So it was no surprise Wyoming rancher Marcus Jacobson hired Jess as a stock detective to find out who was stealing hundreds of his cattle from the sprawling J Bar ranch.

 

The first time Jacobson’s only daughter and heir, Lissa, caught sight of Jess Robbins, she was drawn to the man. A mixture of white man, Mexican and Indian, Jess was exotically handsome, virile and very sure of himself. Lissa had many suitors, including an older man her father wanted her to marry, but she wanted Jess. Though each was forbidden to the other, they could not stay away.

Henke captures the nuances of a relationship that was forged in passion but held something deeper, a lasting bond that would not be denied. Lissa grows up and her strength comes to the foreground as Jess realizes he cannot live without this woman. How it all comes together is fascinating and held my attention right to the sweet ending.

You’ll like this one. It’s a keeper!

 

Shirl Henke’s LOVE UNWILLING – Old California masterfully brought to life through the loves of two brothers!

This was Henke’s second book in the Old California Couplet (Golden Lady was her first). Love Unwilling is really two romances in one and Henke presents them very well, entwining the lives and loves of two brothers who make very different choices.

Set in 1848-1853, it tells the story of David and Miguel Kane, heirs to the sprawling Cien Robles (Hundred Oaks) ranch in Southern California. Their parents’ marriage had been one of necessity in order for the Alvarez family to infuse money into their Spanish land grant after California became a part of the US and subject to Yankee laws. 

The marriage was so divisive that David was named and claimed by his father, the rich Yankee sea captain, and Miguel by his mother the Californio aristocrat (who’d planned for him to become a priest). Years later, when David gets into trouble, killing a man after a card game and flees with an Irish lass he has deflowered named Kate, Miguel’s father claims him as heir and tells him he’ll marry the neighboring rancher’s daughter, Ellie St. Clair, originally intended for David. 

David and Kate flee to gold country where David supports them on his gambling winnings and Kate keeps house, soon falling in love. The other brother, Miguel, stays home to take on the ranch and finds he loves it, but he’s not interested in marrying the St. Clair girl and she doesn’t want him either.

We’ve all seen the family where the oldest son is expected to be the one to assume control of the father’s business, but what if it wasn’t so? What if it were the younger son? (Or, these days, a daughter?) Well, this story shows what can happen when the apple cart is thrown off the intended course. It’s about choices and second chances and making your own life, not just fleeing the bad choices your family might force on you. I have to say my favorite character was Kate…she had the strength of Irish womanhood and was beautiful as well.

The brothers were both cads for much of the book, and for all his faults, David was faithful to Kate. Miguel, on the other hand, had a bad habit of visiting whores before and during his marriage to Ellie. And he believed a cattle rustler over his loving wife. Argh!

Kudos to Henke who sets this story in the Old West at an interesting historical time when the Californio rancheros were fading and their culture losing out to the Americans who were flooding into the state. Meticulously researched, Love Unwilling brings this time to life with great characters, engaging dialog and wonderful descriptions.

Henke is truly a master storyteller. I recommend it!

Shirl Henke’s CAPTURE THE SUN – Superb Western Classic with a Wonderful Half Cheyenne Hero!

Shirl Henke serves up richly detailed Western romances that will keep you up late at night, I promise. This is another winning tale of hers from the old West with an intricate plot reflecting thorough research. The story captivated me from the beginning; I couldn’t put it down.

First published in 1988, and set in Montana in the late 1800s, Capture the Sun was unique because it involved a half-breed Cheyenne hero who had been well educated in the finest Eastern schools. Hawk Sinclair straddled two worlds, not feeling at home in either, until he finds his destiny in the arms of a beauty from St. Louis he called Firehair.

Carrie Patterson was raised in St. Louis and had loving parents until they died and she was forced to live with her aunt and uncle and treated more like a servant. Her aunt resented her beauty for her daughters paled in comparison. When Carrie turns 18, her aunt buys Carrie’s fiancé for one of the plain daughters and Carrie is forced to marry the aunt’s cousin, a cruel old rancher named Noah Sinclair. He takes her to his ranch in Montana, the Circle S, where she learns he’s had two wives before her, including his first who was a beautiful Cheyenne girl who gave him his only son, Hawk Sinclair, an educated half breed who will never inherit the ranch if Carrie gives him a white heir. Carrie comes to hate Noah even as she is falling in love with his son, Hawk.

My first reaction to the story was one of revulsion as the beautiful young heroine, Carrie Patterson, was forced into marrying the despicable Noah Sinclair. Noah’s frequent, mechanical and brutal exercise of his “marital rights” made me cringe. He was the wrong man for the right woman; he took her innocence and I hated him for it. Carrie was a bit disappointing at first as she resigned herself to the role of broodmare. But as she becomes more familiar with life on the Montana frontier, she gains strength and the respect of all around her. 

Henke’s portrayal of ranch life and the challenges of the Cheyenne as the white man encroached onto their way of life are vividly detailed. Her dialog is rich, capturing the personalities of her characters, even their speech, which varies from the wise Cheyenne chief to the old Texas cowhand, to the self-righteous citizens who were so quick to judge. I highly recommend this one!

The Cheyenne trilogy:

Capture the Sun

The Endless Sky

Sundancer

Shirl Henke’s LOVE A REBEL, LOVE A ROGUE – Superb Dual Romance Set in the days of the Revolutionary War!

July is American Patriotic Romances month and I'm starting with a good one.

First in Henke’s Blackthorne trilogy (Love A Rebel, Love A Rogue, Wicked Angel and Wanton Angel) this one is set during the years 1780-1782 in the Georgia Colony at the time of the Revolutionary War and tells of two heroes, one a patriot and one a loyalist. As always, Henke serves up a tale rich in history with a winding plot that will hold you captive ‘ till the end.

Quintin Blackthorne despised his father and the secret he was forced as a child to keep but he knew he would need an heir and for that he had to marry. He cared little about who the woman might be as long as she wasn’t beautiful so that other men might want her for he mistrusted all women. Madelyne Deveaux, the daughter of his father’s friend, seemed plain and biddable enough, though when he first saw her she was covered with dirt. When she travels to Blackthorne Hill in Savannah as his betrothed, he is furious at the beauty revealed and her feisty manner. Worse, she is a loyalist and he a secret revolutionary. He is cold and arrogant to her, often embarrassing her in front of others. Still, Madelyne wants to earn his affection.

Quintin’s cousin, Devon Blackthorne, is part Indian, part white and all charm. He lives with his mother’s people, the Muskogee, and is an agent for the Crown, working with the soldiers coordinating the Indian allies. He knows nothing of his cousin’s support for the rebels. Unlike Quintin, Devon feels no pressure to take a wife and has no intention of doing so. But then he rescues the shipwrecked and haughty Lady Barbara Caruthers who has been banished to the Colonies and her brother from London by her mother for her willful and wasteful ways—and because the beautiful blonde was competition. Despite their disparate worlds, Devon and Barbara soon fall in love.

I didn’t realize until I read this story that the Indians fought on the side of the Crown, or that they had reason to prefer the British to the Colonists who would take their land. I love learning history while reading a great romance. My favorite couple was Devon and Barbara. (Madelyne was a bit too accommodating of Quintin’s cold and sometimes cruel manner). But I thought Henke wove the two stories together very well, all the while letting us see the conflicting emotions as the war saw friends and family on opposite sides. It’s a great way to gain a new perspective on the Revolutionary War—and it’s a good story, a very worthy read!

Shirl Henke’s A FIRE IN THE BLOOD – Enthralling Classic from Wyoming Cattle Baron Days

Not many romance authors would start their story with a black moment but Henke does it here and does it well. This is an absorbing story, very well told, of a hero who thought he’d never belong and a heroine who had everything but him. Meticulously researched, Henke serves up a worthy love story from the days of the cattle barons, the powerful cattlemen of the Cheyenne Club who ruled over Wyoming Territory in the late 1800s.

Jess Robbins and his father, though Texans, fought with the Union in the Civil War. Jess also did a stint with the French Foreign Legion. By the spring of 1881, he had a fast gun and a talent for spying out cattle thieves. So it was no surprise Wyoming rancher Marcus Jacobson hired Jess as a stock detective to find out who was stealing hundreds of his cattle from the sprawling J Bar ranch.

The first time Jacobson’s only daughter and heir, Lissa, caught sight of Jess Robbins, she was drawn to the man. A mixture of white man, Mexican and Indian, Jess was exotically handsome, virile and very sure of himself. Lissa had many suitors, including an older man her father wanted her to marry, but she wanted Jess. Though each was forbidden to the other, they could not stay away.

Henke captures the nuances of a relationship that was forged in passion but held something deeper, a lasting bond that would not be denied. Lissa grows up and her strength comes to the foreground as Jess realizes he cannot live without this woman. How it all comes together is fascinating and held my attention right to the sweet ending.

You’ll like this one. It’s a keeper!

Shirl Henke’s CAPTURE THE SUN – Superb Western Classic with a Wonderful Half Cheyenne Hero!

Shirl Henke serves up richly detailed Western romances that will keep you up late at night, I promise. This is another winning tale of hers from the old West with an intricate plot reflecting thorough research. The story captivated me from the beginning; I couldn’t put it down.

First published in 1988, and set in Montana in the late 1800s, Capture the Sun was unique because it involved a half-breed Cheyenne hero who had been well educated in the finest Eastern schools. Hawk Sinclair straddled two worlds, not feeling at home in either, until he finds his destiny in the arms of a beauty from St. Louis he called Firehair.

Carrie Patterson was raised in St. Louis and had loving parents until they died and she was forced to live with her aunt and uncle and treated more like a servant. Her aunt resented her beauty for her daughters paled in comparison. When Carrie turns 18, her aunt buys Carrie’s fiancé for one of the plain daughters and Carrie is forced to marry the aunt’s cousin, a cruel old rancher named Noah Sinclair. He takes her to his ranch in Montana, the Circle S, where she learns he’s had two wives before her, including his first who was a beautiful Cheyenne girl who gave him his only son, Hawk Sinclair, an educated half breed who will never inherit the ranch if Carrie gives him a white heir. Carrie comes to hate Noah even as she is falling in love with his son, Hawk.

My first reaction to the story was one of revulsion as the beautiful young heroine, Carrie Patterson, was forced into marrying the despicable Noah Sinclair. Noah’s frequent, mechanical and brutal exercise of his “marital rights” made me cringe. He was the wrong man for the right woman; he took her innocence and I hated him for it. Carrie was a bit disappointing at first as she resigned herself to the role of broodmare. But as she becomes more familiar with life on the Montana frontier, she gains strength and the respect of all around her. 

Henke’s portrayal of ranch life and the challenges of the Cheyenne as the white man encroached onto their way of life are vividly detailed. Her dialog is rich, capturing the personalities of her characters, even their speech, which varies from the wise Cheyenne chief, to the old Texas cowhand, to the self-righteous citizens who were so quick to judge. I highly recommend this one! It’s the first in the Cheyenne trilogy:

Capture the Sun

The Endless Sky

Sundancer

Shirl Henke’s BROKEN VOWS – Superb Storytelling and an Irish Hunk to Love!

December is the month where I share my favorite heroes and heroines from the romance novels on my best lists. I’m starting with a great Western romance by gifted storyteller Shirl Henke.

Set in Nevada in the late 19^th century (beginning in 1870) during the silver boom on the Comstock Lode, Henke delivers a superb tale of young love, prejudice (against the Irish among others), deception, treachery and love’s second chances. I highly recommend it.

Rebekah Sinclair, a small town preacher’s daughter, and Rory Madigan, an impoverished Irish immigrant who worked his way West as a prizefighter, meet and quickly fall in love. In a night of passion, they vow to love each other forever and Rory asks Rebekah to marry him assuring her he will find a way to make enough money to win her parents’ respect. However, an evil rich man who wants Rebekah on his arm as he rises in politics conspires to keep Rory from her; his efforts are aided by the bigotry of Rebekah’s family. As a result Rory and Rebekah are separated, each believing they were betrayed by the other. Rory and Rebekah meet again years later when Rory is rich and influential and bent on revenge. But true love will have its day….

I know I’m reading a 5 star novel when I cannot put it down and my emotions are truly engaged. In this case, I also ended up reading it through much of the night, it was that good. Her wonderful characters are richly drawn and her plot weaves an intriguing story.

Henke gives us a taste of the West when it was still wild enough that murder and corruption went without retribution, when powerful men used others for their own greed and lust. Then, too, living in America now, we forget the Irish were not just persecuted by the English in Ireland; they were persecuted here as well. Though Rebekah was poor, her family would never consider an Irish Catholic an acceptable husband, no matter how much she loved him. Thank God it’s a romance and all comes right in the end.

You won’t regret getting this one!

Shirl Henke’s THE RIVER NYMPH – A Riverboat Adventure!

Set in St. Louis and on the Missouri River in 1876, this is the story of Delilah Raymond, a Civil War widow and a formidable gambler who takes Clint Daniels, owner of the River Nymph sternwheeler, in his own game and comes away with his boat! Alas, when Delilah tries to change the gambling boat into a cargo transport, she finds she can’t hire a crew as no one will work for her because she left Clint buck naked (he lost the wager for his clothes). So, Delilah is forced to take the southern lothario (her word) on as a partner. Clint is intrigued by the chestnut-haired beauty with nerves like steel and bewitching green eyes and decides to accept her offer.

And so begins a riverboat adventure up the Missouri River through Indian country to the miners in the Dakotas. This is Henke at her best: wonderfully descriptive, witty dialog, well researched and a sexy. A story of two strong-willed people, both distrusting, but meant for each other. Clint is a southerner with ties to the Sioux Indians. Delilah hates the smug man because she is a northerner who still has scars from the war. But there is more to the sexy blond gambler than Delilah can see.

There is a fair amount of the Plains Indians’ viewpoint in this one, and though not shown, a reference to the folly of Custer. But most of the story is centered on the trade on the river and the hazards of taking a sternwheeler up north. The secondary characters are well drawn (I loved her Uncle Horace!). An entertaining read.

This is the first in the Nymph trilogy:

The River Nymph

Pale Moon Stalker

Chosen Woman

Shirl Henke’s GOLDEN LADY – Masterfully Written tale of the Old West!

This was Henke’s first novel, published in 1986. It’s book #1 in the Old California Couplet (Love Unwilling is the other). The eBook version (which I read) may have changed slightly from the original since I know Henke has updated her backlist titles as she publishes them in ebook format. No matter the edition you read, it’s a grand story, impeccably researched and well told.

The story begins in 1848 as 19-year-old Esteban Santadar views the devastation from war torn Mexico City where the forces of Santa Anna have lost to the Americans. Wounded, he goes home to Sonora to heal and to resume his life among his aristocratic family. At the same time, 13-year-old Amanda Whittaker’s father dies on a wagon train headed west, leading her mother to marry a hard man just to survive. Four years later, Esteban is coming into his own as a merchant trader and horse breeder working with his Irish uncle but being pressured by his family to take a worthy Mexican bride. A world away, Amanda is raped by her stepfather and she flees to San Francisco where she goes to work in a brothel, first as a maid and then, under pressure to help another, as one of the prostitutes. Amanda hated it, and at the first opportunity, left to find a better life.

One night in the brothel Amanda had seen a man (Esteban) who captured her young heart. Years later, when Amanda has been freed from the bordello and adopted by a rich German as the daughter he never had, she encounters Esteban once again, this time in connection with his beautiful golden palomino horses. He is taken by Amanda’s beauty and her ability with horses, and, of course, he pursues her. She tells Esteban lies about her past, even as she knows his family and his culture would insist he take only a pure bride. She doesn’t want a man to accept her as a “reformed whore” (her words), so she marries him even as her friends tell her she is building a house of cards that will one day fall.

I love that Henke brings you into the early days of San Francisco and the different cultures and attitudes that came together in that amazing city. I wasn’t too keen on the rape and prostitution of the heroine, but Henke did a good job of redeeming her. Amanda is a very likeable heroine, and while I could understand her not wanting a man she loved to know of her past, it was clear the lies she told would eventually lead to her downfall. Henke brought us to that point in masterful fashion, as she did Esteban’s change of heart. There are also some wonderful secondary characters, too, including Esteban’s Irish uncle and his wife, the old man “Hoot” who helped the runaway Amanda, and of course the German who made her his daughter.

It’s a great story and I recommend it.

Shirl Henke’s NIGHT WIND’S WOMAN – Superb Storytelling in this Classic Love Story from the Old West!

Set in 1787 in the north of Mexico and New Mexico, this is the story of a half Apache-half white renegade, Night Wind (his Apache name), who as a child was taken captive by the Spaniards and forced to work in the mines, a virtual death sentence.

Keenly intelligent, Night Wind escaped and was raised and educated by the Catholic fathers. As an adult, he regained his Apache roots and works to free Indian prisoners and take vengeance on the Spanish conquerors. His hated enemy is an Irish mercenary who is now the Governor.

Night Wind decides to take the governor’s son captive and raise him as an Apache. Instead, by mistake he captures the governor’s stepdaughter, Orlena Valdez, a beautiful golden-haired Spanish Castilian. Orlena is no shrinking noblewoman. She is educated, outspoken and willing to fight for fair treatment for the Indian prisoners. It never occurred to her that sneaking out in boys’ clothes to view a festival would land her in the arms of Night Wind.

In her well-researched, intricately detailed novels, Henke captures the feel of the Old West as she weaves a wonderful story of cruelty, injustice and revenge—revenge that is conquered by both goodness and love. She brings us into the time when Spain dominated not only Mexico, but what would one day become the Southwestern United States, a time when both the Apache and the Comanche were preyed upon and sought their revenge on the white man. As Henke recognizes in her Author’s Note, there were good and bad men in both camps.

I highly recommend this trilogy!

The Santa Fe Trilogy:

Night Wind's Woman

White Apache's Woman

Deep As The Rivers

Review: Shirl Henke’s A FIRE IN THE BLOOD – Enthralling Classic from Wyoming Cattle Baron Days

Not many romance authors would start their story with a black moment but Henke does it here and does it well. This is an absorbing story, very well told, of a hero who thought he’d never belong and a heroine who had everything but him. Meticulously researched, Henke serves up a worthy love story from the days of the cattle barons, the powerful cattlemen of the Cheyenne Club who ruled over Wyoming Territory in the late 1800s.

Jess Robbins and his father, though Texans, fought with the Union in the Civil War. Jess also did a stint with the French Foreign Legion. By the spring of 1881, he had a fast gun and a talent for spying out cattle thieves. So it was no surprise Wyoming rancher Marcus Jacobson hired Jess as a stock detective to find out who was stealing hundreds of his cattle from the sprawling J Bar ranch.

The first time Jacobson’s only daughter and heir, Lissa, caught sight of Jess Robbins, she was drawn to the man. A mixture of white man, Mexican and Indian, Jess was exotically handsome, virile and very sure of himself. Lissa had many suitors, including an older man her father wanted her to marry, but she wanted Jess. Though each was forbidden to the other, they could not stay away.

Original cover

Henke captures the nuances of a relationship that was forged in passion but held something deeper, a lasting bond that would not be denied. Lissa grows up and her strength comes to the foreground as Jess realizes he cannot live without this woman. How it all comes together is fascinating and held my attention right to the sweet ending.

You’ll like this one. It’s a keeper!

Review: Shirl Henke's A FIRE IN THE BLOOD - Enthralling Love Story from Wyoming Cattle Baron Days

Not many romance authors would start their story with a black moment but Henke does it here and does it well. This is an absorbing story, very well told, of a hero who thought he’d never belong and a heroine who had everything but him. Meticulously researched, Henke serves up a worthy love story from the days of the cattle barons, the powerful cattlemen of the Cheyenne Club who ruled over Wyoming Territory in the late 1800s.

Jess Robbins and his father, though Texans, fought with the Union in the Civil War. Jess also did a stint with the French Foreign Legion. By the spring of 1881, he had a fast gun and a talent for spying out cattle thieves. So it was no surprise Wyoming rancher Marcus Jacobson hired Jess as a stock detective to find out who was stealing hundreds of his cattle from the sprawling J Bar ranch.

The first time Jacobson’s only daughter and heir, Lissa, caught sight of Jess Robbins, she was drawn to the man. A mixture of white man, Mexican and Indian, Jess was exotically handsome, virile and very sure of himself. Lissa had many suitors, including an older man her father wanted her to marry, but she wanted Jess. Though each was forbidden to the other, they could not stay away.

Henke captures the nuances of a relationship that was forged in passion but held something deeper, a lasting bond that would not be denied. Lissa grows up and her strength comes to the foreground as Jess realizes he cannot live without this woman. How it all comes together is fascinating and held my attention right to the sweet ending.

You’ll like this one. It’s a keeper!

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Favorite Author Shirl Henke: The Interview

Today, my guest is Favorite Author Shirl Henke, author of wonderful Western historical romances. Shirl lives in St. Louis where she enjoys gardening in her yard and greenhouse, cooking holiday dinners for her family and listening to jazz. In addition to helping brainstorm and research her books, her husband Jim is “lion tamer” for their two wild tomcats, Pewter and Sooty, geniuses at pillage and destruction. Sooty's repertoire would be considered more impressive by many gardeners than Shirl's--he averages around a hundred mole kills a year.

Shirl has been a RITA finalist twice, and has won three Career Achievement Awards, an Industry Award and three Reviewer’s Choice Awards from Romantic Times.  In 2013, Shirl was designated by Romantic Times as one of the "pioneers" of the modern romance novel.

“I wrote my first twenty-two novels in longhand with a ballpoint pen—it’s hard to get good quills these days,” she says. Dragged into the twenty-first century by her son Matt, a telecommunication specialist, Shirl now uses two of those “devil machines.” Another troglodyte bites the dust.

The Interview:

Regan, I'm thrilled and honored that you have asked me for this interview. I hope my answers will pique your reader's interest in my novels.

You have written many Westerns, Shirl. Is that your favorite period in which to set a story? If yes, why?

For me, the most fascinating place to set a story is the West.  I've been intrigued by it since childhood when I watched all those wonderful TV westerns. "Have Gun Will Travel" was a favorite. It wasn't until I was in high school that I learned Paladin actually meant "knight errant." I was delighted with the sense of humor and cleverness of the writers. But it wasn't until I became a history major in college that I realized the West was far more.

The West (with a capital "W") is a thing of the imagination, a promise for a better life, as limitless as each individual's dream. The idea of West shifted borders over time. The first settlers who crossed the Cumberland Gap called it Kentucky. Men crossing the Sabine called it Texas. Dirt farmers found it in Kansas. To gold seekers it glittered in California, then rode on Nevada's zephyr winds and beckoned under Montana's Big Sky. Later the grandeur of the Rockies and finally the ice palaces of Alaska held that promise of western freedom.

What an incredible cast of characters a writer can find on the frontier, where every ethnic, racial and religious group converged. All encountered the Native Americans, about whom I have written nearly a dozen books, particularly focusing on heroes or heroines of mixed blood, caught between red and white worlds, belonging to neither.

Who were these diverse and intrepid people lured by the mystic of the West? First to arrive were the Spanish. Then came Appalachian settlers, Czarist Russians, French fur trappers, and the so-called "cattle barons" who were often titled noblemen from the Germanies, England and Poland. Welsh and Irish dug canals and Chinese built railroads. Newly freed African-Americans escaped the bloody carnage of civil war to become farmers, gunmen and the famous "Buffalo" soldiers. No city in the west was without a Jewish community. I've found a treasure trove of heroes, villains and colorful supporting actors.

All of these men and women traveled west to explore the unknown, to seek their fortunes for good or for ill.

The West is as spiritual as it is material, the stuff of primal myth. I don't think it's accidental that the "Star Trek" franchise has become as much a classic as John Ford's westerns. The opening line of that first TV series says it all: "Space, the final frontier..." Marshall Dillon and Captain Kirk have a lot more in common than Hollywood ever imagined.

How could any writer wanting to combine romance and adventure and to create bold, fearless protagonists resist weaving stories from this rich tapestry?

Do you have a favorite among your stories?

Of well over thirty books I've had published, my favorite single title remains one of my earliest, Love Unwilling, set in Old California where a New England sea captain married into a wealthy Hispanic family. He had two sons, brothers, whose double love stories still touch my heart in ways no others have.

David is the lucky golden elder brother who throws away his inheritance when he wins an Irish saloon girl in a card game. Miguel is the shy, bookish younger brother, studying to become a priest when he is summoned home to make a dynastic marriage with an American girl to save the family's vast land holdings. Impoverished and eager to better herself, Katie has David teach her to read and write. Ellie is young and spoiled, a rich girl forced into a marriage with the second son who she believes does not want her. Ah, yes, the conflicts and twists of their tales and how they intertwine still fascinate me.

Your original covers were awesome… is there one you liked more than the others?

Yes, actually I have two, one painting I purchased from the artist many years ago. Max Ginsburg is a gifted artist as well as cover illustrator and I am honored to call him my good friend. When I told him I wanted Hawk Sinclair to look like Nick Mancuso did in the movie Night Wing, he actually rented the film and then painted Hawk perfectly, to go with the female model I'd selected from his vast collection of cover illustrations. I looked at his rendering of her face and said, "That's Carrie!" Capture the Sun's cover was so perfect that I received permission from Max to use it on my e-book edition.

The second cover I really felt captured the protagonists and theme of the book was Pale Moon Stalker's cover. I bought the rights to the painting from the illustrator Franco because I loved it almost as much as Capture The Sun. It graces both print and ebook editions, too.  Oh yes, if I don't mention this Jim will kill me:  on the River Nymph cover, he is the guys pulling off the ruffled gambler's shirt. 

When writing...do you put yourself in the heroine’s role?

That would drive me crazy. I'm not bold and adventurous enough to be a heroine. I'm a storyteller who works until I can see the hero and heroine as well as the setting and plot before I begin to write. While I'm writing, I get inside the heads of the heroine, the hero and, perhaps more importantly, the villain. No story works without a really good, or if you will, a very bad villain.

I also don't follow the "rules of writing" by remaining in only one point of view during a scene. I "head hop" but make very certain that whoever is thinking, feeling or saying something is clearly identified. I've never been able to have a good rousing fight scene--not to mention a love scene--without moving back and forth, whether it's between heroine-hero, or protagonist-villain.

 

What’s the first thing you do when you finish writing a book?

My husband says I have a German anal-retentive type personality, so the first thing I feel compelled to do (after having a glass of champagne) is clean my office! You can't imagine a worse disaster than my workspace when I've completed a book project. Every desk, chair and most of the floor are buried in notes, books, papers and maps. I gather all the usable reference notes together and create a file folder for that book. I replace reference books and maps in my cabinets or on my bookshelves or return books (always well overdue) to the library. Then, it's off to begin another book and the mess starts all over again...

If you could interview one person (and it doesn’t have to be a writer) who would it be?

No doubt, Sam Houston. Ever since I read John Kennedy's Profiles In Courage, I had admired Houston. While I was getting my M.A., I was assigned a research paper on Otto von Bismarck, Germany's Iron Chancellor. He was a brilliant political manipulator who played a long game. When I started writing my Texas Trilogy with Cactus Flower, Houston was the general of the Texas army who won independence from Mexico and created the Texas Republic where he became the first president. My fictional hero Jim Slade was a spy for Houston.

Originally, I had not thought to go further with Houston's character, but the more I researched and wrote on that first book in the series, the more his brilliant real-life machinations playing England and France against the United States impressed me. He, too, played a long game. I thought, "What a "Bismarckian" politician!" Then I realized that Houston maneuvered his Texas Republic into the American Union nearly forty years before Bismarck unified Germany! The Iron Chancellor was a Houstonian politician! Houston's bombastic, larger than life figure strides through Moon Flower and Night Flower as a United States senator and governor of the state. He was one of the most brilliant minds of the nineteenth century.

What do you do to unwind and relax?

I cook. I love reading cookbooks and clipping recipes from newspapers and magazines, as well as being in my kitchen. For those interested in what I've produced, please go to my website and click on the recipes page at the top right for a selection of nearly forty recipes I've "adjusted" to my specs from various sources. Nothing quite like smelling delectable aromas coming from the kitchen to soothe and relax anyone.

I know your husband Jim is a partner in bringing your backlist to ebooks… what is his role?

Actually, Jim began helping me with my writing long before ebooks ever made their appearance. He started as my "fight choreographer" for action scenes (on the way to a Ph.D he was a professional judo instructor) as well as my gun expert. Gradually, he began to edit and then to offer me story ideas, even to sketch out whole plots. The River Nymph, Pale Moon Stalker and Yankee Earl are good examples of books to which he's contributed heavily. Not only is he a retired English professor, but also possesses a razor-sharp wit that is great when I'm stuck for a good come-back line for one of my protagonists.

What are you working on now?

I'm just putting the finishing touches on a big sprawling new Western romance, The Cherokee, set in 1872-73 that moves from Virginia City, Montana Territory to the Nations in what is now Oklahoma. This is another of my "half-breed hero" books with Ross Chisholm being one quarter Cherokee. He is highly educated, even having studied at the Sorbonne in France. But when my heroine Carolina Randolph meets him, he is a hired gunman working for her father's competition during the gold rush.

Caro is spoiled and rich, but also very well educated—in France. Imagine her surprise when the fascinating but "crude" gunman embarrasses her by translating her curses from French to English! Both are highly vulnerable people who have grown up without family love, lonely and rootless in a world that in one way or another rejects them...until her father hires Ross to become her bodyguard...two lost souls find each other.

I hope to have the book complete and on sale as an ebook original in January. Please check my website to read an excerpt of The Cherokee.

Regan, again, my thanks for giving me this opportunity to connect with the many followers on your outstanding site.

You are most welcome, Shirl! And for my followers, here’s your chance to ask Shirl a question. One lucky commenter will win the ebook of Love Unwilling.

Keep up with Shirl via her website, Facebook and Amazon.