Customer Reviews

Cactus Flower (Five Star Expressions)

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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.

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