Cactus Flower (Five Star Expressions) [Hardcover]

Alice Duncan (Author)

Book Description

Series: Five Star Expressions | Publication Date: September 2006

When a desperate Eulalie Gibb comes to Rio Penasco to escape a murderous maniac, no one, least of all Eulalie herself, believes she'll find the love of her life there.

Eulalie, who grew up with her sister Pasty in her family’s traveling theatrical company in New York City, is almost prepared for life in Wild West—until she meets Nick Taggart. Then she’s pretty sure she’s come to the wrong place entirely.

As for Nick—who barely escaped a family full of managing females with his hide intact—even if he believed in true love, which he doesn’t, he can’t imagine his personal love being the prickly Eulalie Gibb. He likes his life the way it is: living with his jolly old uncle Junius and being a blacksmith in the uncivilized and blessedly remote town of Rio Penasco.

They both have a lot to learn.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Five Star (ME) (September 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594144567
• ISBN-13: 978-1594144561
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,036,931 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

In an effort to avoid what I knew I should be doing with my life (writing'it sounded so hard), for several years I expressed my creative side by dancing and singing. I belonged to two professional international folk-dance groups. Dancing made for a lousy living, but it was certainly fun. I also sang in a Balkan women's choir. I got to sing the tenor drone, for the most part. My first book, ONE BRIGHT MORNING, was published by HarperMonogram in 1995. What's more, it won the HOLT Medallion for Best First Novel. It was a good start, but my career has been . . . rocky, is the best word for it, I guess. Publishing's a brutal business, but I've got more persistence than brains so the publishing gods haven't killed me yet, although they seem to be trying awfully darned hard, curse them. In September of 1996 my herd of wild dachshunds and I moved from Pasadena, CA, to Roswell, NM, where my mother's family settled fifty years before the aliens crashed. We love it here. No smog, no crowds, no money, but I had no money in California, either, and you don't need so much of it here.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'Cactus Flower' a Delightful Adventure, October 16, 2009

By 

Jim Hull "Jim Hull" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cactus Flower (Kindle Edition)

Alice Duncan has done it again with her novel "Cactus Flower", which brings a dry wit to the arid Southwestern frontier town of Rio Penasco (read: early Roswell, New Mexico). Eulalie Gibb and friends stumble their way through various humorous adventures, but love is ever on the horizon. Fans of romance, westerns, and humor will have their hands full -- imagine Louis L'Amour penning a humorous love story and you'll get an idea of the fun in store. Ms. Duncan's trademark droll phrasings have matured over the years, and with this opus she's achieved true mastery. Recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent western romance, October 14, 2006

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cactus Flower (Five Star Expressions) (Hardcover)

In Rio Penasco, New Mexico Territory, blacksmith Nick Taggart was enjoying his tryst with Violet Watson when he heard the whoop and scream. He knew the whoop means Uncle Junius is chasing a woman and the scream is from the female he caught. He races outside to end the incident before Sheriff Wallace either tosses them out of town or locks up his relative, but instead the fragile female whacks Uncle Junius in the head with her valise. It turns out that Eulalie Gibb, a singer, has come to town to work at the opera house, known for its other activities.

Nick and Junius fled a family of stepsisters and their mom by coming to this wild western town. He has vowed never to marry, but soon finds himself reconsidering as the thorny ferocious female midget makes him desire her; something he cannot understand. However, her past arrives from New York City; delightfully her beloved sister Patsy joins her, but so does dangerous murderous stalker Gilbert Blankenship. Nick vows to keep both siblings safe as he loves them; insanely he thinks he wants the acerbic one as his mate and the gentle kin one as a sister.

CACTUS FLOWER is an apt description of the heroine. The fast-paced story line is action-packed, but contains both humor and danger. The lead couple is a superb pairing as he cannot comprehend how he fell in love with a woman who goes out of her way to rip his skin off. Though Gilbert is perhaps too dark and evil of a sociopath, readers will enjoy Alice Duncan's excellent western romance.

Harriet Klausner