Friday, May 10, 2013

Heiress Bride by Cynthia Woolf ~*~ Review, Guest Post & Tour Giveaway ~*~

Title:  Heiress Bride
Author:  Cynthia Woolf`
Series: Matchmaker & Co. #2
Published:  March 15/13
Page Count:  252
Genre:  Historical Western Romance
Shelf: Review Copy
Rating:  ★★★★

Book Blurb:

Heiress Ella Davenport survived a carriage accident that killed her father. Her life saved in exchange for savage scars marring her beautiful face. Her friends, socialites, showed their true colors, casting Ella from the social circles and leaving her a social pariah. Even her wealth can’t buy her the kind of marriage she wants. Desperate to find a husband who can accept her despite her scars and, without knowing about her money, she seeks to become a mail order bride. Matchmaker & Co. has a new client.

Nathan Ravenclaw was run out of town by the father of the girl he was courting once he discovered Nathan’s Arapaho Indian heritage. It didn’t matter he was a successful rancher, businessman and a positive member of society. The white community suddenly saw only a half-breed. Even his money couldn’t buy him a wife. That was ten years ago. He moved and rebuilt everything that cold rancher took from him except a wife. Matchmaker & Company can get him a wife. But Nathan is not expecting the beauty that waits for him on the train platform. Though he still lacks the ability to trust, he determines that she will be the wife and mother he needs.

Can these two people find love and healing together? Or are their scars too deep to bridge the gap between trust and acceptance?

Adult-content rating: This book contains content considered unsuitable for young readers 17 and under, and which may be offensive to some readers of all ages.

Excerpt:

She arrived in Denver on April 6, 1868. A date she would forever remember as the start of her life. It was almost like another birthday.

The weather was cold with the wind off the plains toward the mountains. The buildings weren’t as tall as in New York, but the wind still whistled between them and over the platform where she stood. She was glad of her good wool coat and lined boots. They kept her warm while she waited for Mr. Ravenclaw to find her. There wasn’t anyone else wearing a veil so she didn’t think he’d have much problem identifying her.

She wasn’t really sure what she expected, but it wasn’t the tall, devastatingly handsome man that approached her. He had a square jaw shaved clean and a tiny dimple in his chin. Black eyebrows slashed over his eyes, the color of which was hidden by the shadow from his hat, pulled low on his head. For once she was glad of her veil. He wouldn’t be able to see her mouth hanging open, gawking at him.

“Miss Davenport?”

“Yes. Are you Mr. Ravenclaw?”

“I am.”

She held out her hand. “Ella Davenport.”

He removed his glove and enveloped her hand in his big one. His fingers brushed the skin of her wrist just above her glove. The tingle that traveled clear to her toes was unexpected and her gaze snapped up to his. She looked up into the most beautiful blue eyes. They seemed to question what was happening between them as much as she did.

He held her hand for what seemed like a lifetime and they simply starred at each other.

“Miss Davenport….”

“Ella. Please.”

“Ella. I would like for you to lift your veil.”

“Are you sure you want to do this in public. It can be…shocking.”

“I’m sure.” He squeezed her hand and then let go.

“Very well.” She lifted the heavy lace, prepared for him to be taken aback by the ugliness of it. She wasn’t prepared for him to lift his hand and gently trace the scar all the way from her left eye over her cheek and down her neck to the top of her collar.

There was no disdain on his face. His blue eyes took in everything and accepted it, but even so he said the last thing she expected.

“You are a very beautiful woman.”

She stood there with her mouth open until he raised her chin with his knuckle.

“Why are you surprised? Surely you have heard the compliment before.”

She shook her head to clear it and find her tongue. “Not since the accident, except from my brother. But he’s biased. He loves me.”

“He but states the obvious. Your scars do not detract from your beauty.”

“I must thank you because good manners dictate it. However, I believe we should see about getting you some glasses.”

He laughed. A rich, deep baritone. “I’m glad you have a sense of humor.”

She stared back at him, incredulous, “Who was joking?”

My Review:

What a very captivating novel. It is so well and clearly written that you can easily lose yourself in its pages. I can’t believe how completely and utterly I submersed myself in this novel. It was breathtaking. I’d love to live the life presented in this novel, hardships and all.

It’s very unique to see the decisions running down both sides of the relationship, and to be able to see where the misunderstandings are coming from. Everything is so clearly laid out that as a reader, you feel completely immersed in this world. That said, it is also very captivatingly written. It’s hard to fathom living in a relationship such as this. It’s also gratifying to see two people who deserve each other so fully overcome hardships to be together.

The characters in this novel were phenomenally well developed. Every one of them had their own life and their own personality that they brought to the story. The characters also complimented each other. Although they were their own person, they melded together to create a realistic and heart-warming family. The characters were also spot on for the time period. It was gratifying to see a novel with characters who were not only real humans, but periodically correct.

This very intriguing novel keeps you coming back for more and hoping that it will never end. So much happens that you can’t help but get caught up in the action. This novel also makes you wonder what online dating was like before the world of ‘online’ or ‘dating.

Buy your copy online here!


From the Author - Writing in two genres and other ramblings
My books are historical western romance and scifi romance. Two very different genres. Or are they.

When you think of a western, what do you think of? Cowboys. Settlers crossing the prairie in covered wagons. Saloons. Showdowns in the street. Cattle drives. You get the idea. These are the images we have from our modern media. TV, films and even books. Essentially brave people settling an untamed land

When you think of sci-fi what do you think of? Space pilots. Space ships. Ray guns and phasers. Our media images are Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Gallactica and, in my case, Firefly. I love that show. Anyway what you have, essentially is brave people settling untamed space and planets.

Not so very different are they?

I started writing westerns first. My first book, TAME A WILD HEART, was written because I fell in love with the story of how my parents met on a ranch in Southern Colorado. Mom was from Texas and up there as a nursemaid (nanny) to a young boy with asthma. Dad was a cowboy who worked on the ranch.

I found the idea of ranch life fascinating and decided to write a story about it. That’s all I had to begin with. Just an idea. Now I’m not a plotter. I’ve tried and tried to plot my books. I’ve tried using GMC, the hero’s journey, the W plot. You name it I’ve tried it. The problem is when I get the book plotted, I don’t want to write it anymore. To me it’s already been written. Now it’s just fill in the blanks. As a pantser (a non plotter) the book unfolds before me much as it does you when you read it. It’s a surprise.

My current western, HEIRESS BRIDE, is about mail order brides. Without them, without women in general, the west would never have been settled. Men needed the feminine hand and home making skills as well as the companionship.

My second book, CENTAURI DAWN, came about because of a dream I had when I was fifteen. My mother and I were going through a rough patch. My dad died when I was five and Mom was both mother and father to me. It was tough on her, as a selfish kid I didn’t think about that. But I digress. We were having a difficult time as most teenagers have with their parents. During the time, I had a dream. I was a princess from Alpha Centauri. I’d been sent to Earth as a baby in order to save my life. Bad men wanted to kill me. But now it was time to go home and my people had come for me.

That was the premise of my second book. This one had a space captain not a cowboy flying to the rescue of the princess not a ranch owner.

I guess what I’m trying to show is that these two genres are not so very different. A different place and different time but still the same type of story. Battlestar Gallactica is just a retelling of the old TV show Wagon Train. Star Trek is the old show Gunsmoke, where the sheriff (Matt Dillon or Captain Kirk) attempts to keep the peace in their town or universe.

What it comes down to, is write what you love whether western or sci-fi or romantic suspense or romantic comedy. They all have some elements that are the same if they are romance and all of mine are. They must have a happy ending. The guy in the white hat (good guy) always wins. The hero always gets the girl. Always.

About the Author:

Cynthia Woolf was born in Denver, Colorado and raised in the mountains west of Golden. She spent her early years running wild around the mountain side with her friends.

Their closest neighbor was one quarter of a mile away, so her little brother was her playmate and her best friend. That fierce friendship lasted until his death in 2006.
Cynthia was and is an avid reader. Her mother was a librarian and brought new books home each week. This is where young Cynthia first got the storytelling bug. She wrote her first story at the age of ten. A romance about a little boy she liked at the time.

She worked her way through college and went to work full time straight after graduation and there was little time to write. Then in 1990 she and two friends started a round robin writing a story about pirates. She found that she missed the writing and kept on with other stories. In 1992 she joined Colorado Romance Writers and Romance Writers of America. Unfortunately, the loss of her job demanded she not renew her memberships and her writing stagnated for many years.

In 2001, she saw an ad in the paper for a writers conference being put on by CRW and decided she'd attend. One of her favorite authors, Catherine Coulter, was the keynote speaker. Cynthia was lucky enough to have a seat at Ms. Coulter's table at the luncheon and after talking with her, decided she needed to get back to her writing. She rejoined both CRW and RWA that day and hasn't looked back.

Cynthia credits her wonderfully supportive husband Jim and the great friends she's made at CRW for saving her sanity and allowing her to explore her creativity.

Connect with the Author online:

Twitter - @CynthiaWoolf


And now... Enter the giveaway!


7 comments:

  1. Hi Jonel. Thank you so much for having me here today and thank you for the wonderful review. I appreciate both very much. I look forward to hearing from your readers. I'll be bopping in off and on during the day and will answer any questions they might have.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Cindy. And thanks for writing such a great book. And for the all round awesomeness.

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  2. Thanks for having Cynthia today! I loved your review!

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  3. This sounds like such an intriguing book. I've always thought, like you, Cindy, that science fiction romance is just a western romance in space. Love adventures on the frontier--whether 1800s America or in space.

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  4. Thanks Diane. It's nice to know that someone else thinks like me. :-)

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  5. The premise of heiress bride sounds really intriguing, I look forward to reading it.
    Good luck with the book.
    sasha

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