Customer Reviews

The Gunslinger's Untamed Bride (Harlequin Historical)

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The Gunslinger's Untamed Bride is my favorite in a long line of gritty, action-packed westerns by Stacy Kayne.

Lily Carrington lived an ideal childhood until a teenaged-gunslinger gunned down her father, and her mother died of a broken heart. Taken from the wilds of Missouri and forced to fit into San Francisco society, Lily refused to fit the mold demanded by her high-society uncle and took over the family business. Although she dresses in the finest gowns and sips hot chocolate served by her personal maid, Lily is a tough, intelligent and capable business woman who makes millions for her company, L. P. Carrington Industries, using her initials to hide that she is a woman. While reviewing the employee register of a lumber camp she has recently taken over with her delightful cousin Regi, she discovers the name of the gunslinger who ruined her life--Juniper Barns.

Juniper Barns was forced into gun fights as a boy. In Kayne's Bride of Shadow Canyon, Juniper finds a home. As a young man, his past comes looking for him and, after a gunfight in front of his adopted sisters, he rides away. He finds a temporary home and job as the Sheriff of a lumber camp in Pine Ridge. The camp has been sold and the workers are suffering while they await their back pay.

Lily arrives at her newly purchased lumber camp and is knocked out cold in an accident. Juniper rescues her to discover she had more than business on her mind--she intends to kill him. Their journey to save the lumber camp places them in one dangerous or humorous situation after another while Lily learns to forgive the man she has come to see as more than a ruthless gunfighter.

More importantly, Juniper forgives himself.

As always, Kayne delivers action in a realistic, historic western setting. I learned a thing or two while enjoying a hunky gunslinger pitted against an intelligent heroine deserving of her happy-ever-after.

I love Stacey Kayne's books. She writes in such a way that you really get to know the characters, each of them dear to your heart in their own way. When the story's over it's almost as though you are losing friends. Though each of her books has a totally different story line, they are also wonderfully familiar. Her books will be some of the very few I keep around. As always with Stacey--highly recommended!

ANOTHER OF STACY KAYNES GREAT BOOKS THAT I REALLY ENJOYED. I USUALLY GIVE THE BOOKS AWAY THAT I HAVE READ BUT I AM KEEPING HERS SO I CAN REREAD THEM AGAIN LATER.

This, like every Stacey Kayne book I've read has really well fleshed out characters. Even the secondary characters are "real people". Juniper has lead a life no boy or man should have had to endure. And he came out a complex, loving, dangerous man. He was delicious! Lily has had more that her share of rough times as well, even though the last years have been in a gilded cage. At least she came out owning and running the "family" business. She has just cause to hate Juniper, so, of course, she finally ends up loving him. Some of June's actions were a bit less well thought out than I would have expected for a man of his experience. But then, Lily pulled a few crazy stunts of her own. It's fast action, well researched, can't put it down writing. Another Stacey Kane winner!

Set in the 19th Century out West, this is a really great story, of an heiress, battling to be accepted as a business woman in a man's world, and a gunslinger who regrets much of his past. There is a great romance here, but also a really great story. I got so involved with the characters that I just had to finish the book to find out what happened - but was then sad to say goodbye to all my new-found friends! I am looking forward to reading some more stories by this author.

I've just finished The Gunslinger's Untamed Bride and my heart aches because it's over. I absolutely loved this story and will likely read it again. Lily Carrington is a woman that gets things done but sometimes she's so engrossed in herself that she forgets to see the whole picture.
Juniper Barnes is a an outlaw with a heart. There's no other way to describe him. Forced into a life he didn't choose, he spends his days living in his past. He shut himself off from life's little joys like family. But when Lily walks into the logging camp and he misjudges her, and sends her packing, Lily makes her presence known immediately. But she gets kidnapped, rescued and as well as a myriad of other things, and suddenly the man who'd killed her father isn't as bad as she'd first imagined. Together the two of them discover they both need to make some changes in their lives.
This was a well crafted story with wonderfully developed characters and a solid plot. Ms Kayne has become an auto buy for me. Looking forward to more.