Category: Romance Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
ISBN-10: 1601548605
Pages: 352
Copyright: November 12, 2010
He swore to bring her to justice, but only she can heal his wounded heart.
Haunted by flash backs, Deputy U.S. Marshal Richard Bennick carries a warrant for the feisty outlaw, Johnny Bodine, who disguises her femininity and dreams of a loving family. As they travel through the Indian Territory, Richard and Johnny must trust each other in order to survive, forming a bond of love that can only be broken by the justice of the hangman's noose.
“God, it looks like a damn battlefield.”
He shook his head. “No. We’re only two days from McAlester. Help me wrap the bodies, and we’ll send them home on the train.” He blew out a weary breath. “And give me back my damn rifle.”
She passed over the Winchester, the familiar letters, R-A-B, carved in the stock. “Found it yonder where ya dropped it. Now ya can point it at me an’ threaten to shoot me iffin I don’t do like ya say.”
His dark brown eyes narrowed. “Are you ridiculing me?”
Johnny stared at him, her brow furrowed in concentration. She shifted her feet, glancing down as she swatted at the tips of grass with her manacled hands. “Don’t reckon I know what re-dic-u-cule means.”
He blew out a long sigh. “It means to make sport of someone.”
She shrugged.
He tried again. “I wondered if you were laughing at me, outlaw?”
This time her shoulders snapped back, and she lifted her chin to squarely meet his dark eyes. “I reckon iffin I had call to be a-laughin’ at ya, I’d be a-doin’ it right in yer face, so there’d be no wonderin’ about it.” Spinning around, she stomped off.
Richard couldn’t stop the grin that tugged the left corner of his mouth. Despite the pain in his leg, despite the grief pressing against his heart, despite the tenuous grip he held on his sanity, that obnoxious little outlaw could still make him laugh.
“And it’s ridicule!” he yelled.
A clod of dirt came hurling out of the blue and landed with a thunk against the toe of his left boot. For a moment his laughter rang out to mingle with Johnny’s sputtering curses
RT Book Reviews
4 STARS
"Flawed characters in need of healing find each other in this emotionally charged tale of a rugged time where men shoot first and never ask questions. The action is fast paced and the story is full of interesting twists."
Reviewed by Donna M. Brown
Here is the link to the complete review, though there is a spoiler alert.
The Long and the Short Of It Reviews
Johnny Bodine's secret and her not-so-secret terror ties her to a life with outlaws--a life of abuse and experiences that scarred her psyche and soul. But she is a survivor and in spite of all the trauma, her sense of humor and feisty ways emerge as she is forced to deal with U. S. Deputy Marshal Richard Bennick.
Richard Bennnick is a by-the-book lawman who is trying to redeem himself for his part in the Civil War where he was a sharpshooter and often called a murderer. He suffers from what is now called post-traumatic stress disorder. His flashbacks get mixed with the gun battles and places he deals with as a deputy marshal, making it impossible for him to separate present actions from past actions. The horrors he experienced block his memory and put him at risk of going to prison for things he did not do.
Lawman and outlaw bond with an affinity few could understand. Neither of them expects much from life, but the love and loyalty that motivate Johnny show a strong, young woman who faces down all comers to keep her word to the lawman who had turned her over to the authorities to be tried by Judge Parker (the hanging judge).
Kathy Otten's skill with dialect and her use of expressions like "...bossy like you think you're God's own cousin", "... mules must come to you for stubborn lessons", and "...born tired and raised lazy" make Lost Hearts irresistible reading. Her graphic descriptions and life-like characterizations create a memorable story about a resilient woman and the redemption of a tortured soul in what seems like an impossible situation for love to overcome astronomical obstacles.
Lost Hearts grabs one's attention and holds on to the very end.
Originally posted at the Long and Short of It Romance Reviews
Reviewed by J. Thomas
This is a sentimental and epic story about a young man, injured in the Viewnam War, who returns to Dallas, Texas, in 1964, and begins rebuilding his life. Set against the rock and roll era of the early 1960’s, when casual sex and recreational drugs w
