Diana Palmer

 

 

Heartless

Author: Diana Palmer

Series Connection: Long Tall Texans

ISBN: 9780373774500

Publisher: Harlequin

 

4 Hearts

 

Diana Palmer's, Heartless is out in paperback this month. I was actually pretty excited about reading the story about step-brother and sister Jason and Gracie. We've heard of Jason Peddleton and his step-sister's Gracie and Glory in other books. Glory had her own book called Fearless.

 

Jason and Gracie have been circling around each other for years, at least that is what all their friends believe. Gracie doesn't think she has any chance with Jason because when she was young she had a bad experience and some bad advice about men. When Jason acts on his feelings for Gracie in the heat of passion she runs from him. He doesn't know anything about her past bad experience and takes it as a rejection.

 

Feeling sorry for himself Jason in turns does something stupid, and then to get his revenge against Gracie uses it against her. Making a mess out of both their lives. When he comes to his senses Jason doesn't know how to make things right. When he finally takes action Gracie is kidnapped and he may lose her for good.

 

This is one of the best of the critically acclaimed Long, Tall Texans series that Diana has written in a while. There are a lot of books in this series and many times characters who are in previous books are brought back to play roles in the new stories. It is really like a long running soap opera. Some people don't like series where you have to read each book to understand who the people are in the current book. Heartless has the same qualities, but there aren't as many characters from older books and it isn't necessary to read the whole series to understand who the players are even though she does reference some others throughout this book.

 

If you like sweet romance, with a western theme, give Diana Palmer's Long, Tall Texans a chance. You'll learn quickly if you like her style or not. Just be warned that there are a lot who don't because she is a bit of an old fashioned writer with old fashioned romantic views. That isn't always a bad thing in romance. She writes a good honest story about strong male figures with generally shy, but spirited women. It is a style that has worked for many years with a lot of successful books.

 

One last word. . .I can't figure out why they call this book Heartless as neither Jason or Gracie are without heart throughout the whole story. Even when Jason hurts Gracie with his actions, he is still doing it because he feels heartbroken. The whole book has a lot of emotion content.

 

Description:

Secrets abound on a Texas ranchÉ

 

As a teenager, Gracie worshipped her stepbrother, Jason, a strong, silent cowboy who left home early to seek his fortune. Now the wealthy owner of Comanche Wells ranch, Jason has finally come back home and discovered that the little girl he knew is all grown up.

 

In a moment of unbridled passion, Jason realizes that he's falling for Gracie. But Gracie harbors a shameful secret that makes her deeply afraid to love. Stung by her rejection, Jason leaves, ready to put the past—and the one woman he can't have—behind him once more.

 

Gracie thinks she's lost Jason forever. But when danger threatens her she can only hope that her long, tall Texan will come blazing home to save her.

 

Tough To Tame

Author: Diane Palmer

Series Connection: Long Tall Texans

ISBN: 978-0373176496

Genre: Cowboy/ Western Romance

Publisher: Harlequin

 

5 Heart

 

Diana Palmer has been one of my longtime favorite authors. Her Long Tall Texans series has become quite a franchise over the years with over 30 books to it's credit. Reading reviews of Diana Palmer's books shows that readers either love or hate her but rarely in between. In her Long Tall Texans series she has a formula on how the book are written.

 

Her heros are often rugged, and not always handsome in looks, but sexy in body. These men have lived hard lives, either with bad childhoods, lived their lives as mercenaries or have had bad relationships with women or their mother causing them to become women haters.

 

The heroines are often at least 10 to 15 years younger than their male counterparts and often are young enough to still be virgins. They are either shy and easily intimidated, except for with the hero, or they are tomboy characters who push the envelop.

 

The Long Tall Texans series takes place in a small fictional town in South Texas, called Jacobsville, where there are a lot of ranches, cowboys, cops and drug dealers. The dialog is often country hick, but not ignorant, just not worldly. The characters often offer long explanations on everything from professions to far away places to current events. Sexual situations are generally light to moderate and usually take place after the hero and heroine get married.

 

In Tough To Tame, brings back local veterinarian Bentley (not Ben) Rydel who has not been in a good mood at work lately. Ever since new veterinarian assistant Cappie (short for Capella) Drake (interesting character names in this book) started working at his clinic Rydel has been an ogre to her. She  doesn't have any idea why he doesn't like her. All she knows is that if he looks at her he is generally yelling at her. At first Bentley really doesn't know anything about Cappie, but when he gets to know her, he begins to like what he sees.

 

Cappie and her brother Kell have recently moved to the town next door to Jacobsville from San Antonio. Kell thought it would be a good idea to get Cappie out of town after she has a bad relationship with a man she has put away for assult. Kell has problems of his own. He was recently shot and has a bullet lodged in his spin and he is paralyzed. The Drakes are a bit down on their luck now relying only on Cappie's salary to get by. A lot of the story is spent talking about Cappie and Kell and their bad luck, with the rest exploring the relationship between Cappie and Bentley.

 

Generally this story is right on formula. This particular story is kind of a little more down than others, dealing with hard issues, similar to Regan's Pride. I liked Cappie and the way to handles Bentley's temper. A future story featuring Kell's character would be interesting.

 

The other part of this story was giving readers more of a look at Kilraven the local police officer or actually FBI Agent, who will be explored further later this year in Dangerous where they will tell the story of Kilraven and Winnie Sinclair.  

 

Description:

A spellbinding new installment in the Long, Tall Texans series!

 

New York Times bestselling author Diana Palmer welcomes you back to Jacobsville to become reacquainted with Bentley Rydel. He lives hard and loves fiercely—but sometimes it takes the right woman to make a man a hero. This rugged Texan is going to be Tough to Tame!

 

The Maverick

Author: Diana Palmer

Series Connection: Long, Tall Texans/ Silhouette Desire¨ #1982

ISBN-13: 978-0373769827

Genre: Contemporary Romance/ Western

 

4 Hearts

 

It was really hard for me to come up with a rating for this book because I've seen other reviews and honestly on one hand I agree with those who panned this book, but on closer inspection it actually isn't as bad as reviewers have penned it.

 

Diana Palmer has made a franchise out of the Long, Tall Texan series. There are over 30 related books to the series that she has written over the course of her career. She has a crossover series of Soldiers of Fortune that are introduced throughout the series as well.

 

As with most series she has a formula. The series takes place in the fictional town of Jacobsville, Texas. She also has a formula of how each of the characters are presents and voiced. Someone could do a whole thesis on why this series has been a success over the years. Even though the romance market has changed drastically since Palmer started writing in the 1970s, she has stayed true to her theme on this series. In most cases all of the heros are older and the heroines are younger. There is usually the conflict of the age difference or family connections.

 

She also has a habit of giving out details of professions, history or some hobby that is very old school, but still she has her fans. In the case of The Mavericks all that is true. Palmer continues to build her story in the same light and I will admit there are some things that aren't too original throughout the story.

 

The worst of which is the whole business about the heroine, Alice, asking early on in her meeting with Harley to marrying her. That, Palmer has done before in another book.

 

On the other hand, I think she has made changes to the series in this book by starting a murder mystery in the County jurisdiction of Jacobsville and offering a chance to build subsequent books on the plot. For those who complained that this was more Kilraven's book then Harley's seemed to have missed the point that the author was building on a short series within her series.

 

In the first book of any series the author introduces all the key players, while in the background introduces a hero and heroine of the first story. In this case that would be Harley and Alice. Many times there is no conflict for these characters because there is too much other business going on in the book.

 

What Palmer did in this book is all chapter and verse to an ongoing mystery series. It is expected that the mystery isn't solved. Only bits of information is placed before the reader so that they will buy the next book, which we hope will be released soon, and then the next. In this case Palmer has three books planned for the "mini-series". The next one will feature Kilraven and then next his stepbrother Jon Blackhawk. (This information was listed in the front of the book in the author's note to the readers.)

 

All that being said, I think the book deserved high marks because the mystery behind the story was interesting and developing as it should. The place where I was a little disappointed was with Palmer's choice for Harley's heroine. I liked Alice's character as a whole and I think that Palmer made her work well with Harley, but there were several issues of concern. One, of course, being she was too young to have seen as much as they make it seem she has seen in her career. At her age she would barely be able to be out at a crime scene without a supervisor, much less have the experience the author makes her have. Since Harley isn't as old as some of the other Long, Tall Texans, he's probably no more than 30 himself, she couldn't make the female character that much older though.

 

Also, I agree on the whole business that the investigator in Alice should have realized there was a relationship between Harley in the Senator in some way, especially because they had the same last name, long before she did in the book.

 

For a long time I was a fan who waited for Harley's story. I was disappointed that Palmer didn't pick one of the local Jacobson girls. She had a good prospect in the Marilee, the girl who was Janie's friend in Lionhearted who tried to take Leo away from Janie. There would have been a great conflict there, but since I don't get to make those decisions we have Alice and Harley.

 

So in conclusion I would say, read the book if you are a fan of Diana's books and if you like western murder mysteries. It is tame compared to most Silhouette Desire¨ books and even though it is the start of a murder mystery, very sweet natured. And try not to think so much when reading one of Diana's books. Reading romance is for entertainment, not to be expected to be the same as what you would see in real life.

 

Description:

Always in the middle of trouble, be it during roundup or at Jacobsville county dances, Harley Fowler emerges unscathed. Until he meets whirlwind, top-notch investigator Alice Jones, who is trying to solve a murder involving the one family Harley doesn't want to talk about—his own. Suddenly he's in the midst of mayhem—and all he can think about is protecting Alice. But the stubborn woman is unappreciative of his efforts. What's a confirmed maverick to do? Is seduction the solution?

 

Her Kind of Hero

Reissue on two Diana Palmer stories

Author: Diana Palmer

Re-issue of two books: The Last Mercenary and Matt Caldwell: Texas Tycoon

ISBN-13: 978-0373773817

Genre: Contemporary romance

 

3 Hearts

 

Description:

The Last Mercenary (originally published in Silhouette Special Edition #1417, 09/01)

Micah Steele was all set to retire his gun—until a woman from his past was kidnapped by his sworn enemy. Traveling far and wide to rescue Callie Kirby was less daunting than trying to combat his potent desire for her. The trust between them had been shattered years before, but given a second chance, Micah knew his greatest wish was to convince Callie to forget the past, and surrender her heart.

 

Matt Caldwell: Texas Tycoon (originally published in Silhouette Special Edition #1297, 01/00)

Though countless women had tried to lasso Jacobsville's most-sought-after bachelor, none had managed to catch Matt Caldwell's eye. But the mysterious Leslie Murry was about to change all that. Despite the fact that his new employee roused his temper as no one had before, she also brought out his every protective instinct. The innocent Leslie clearly ached for a man's tender touch, and Long, Tall Texan Matt Caldwell was ready to make it his top priority to sweet-talk Leslie into becoming his bride.

 

My View:

Neither of these books were my favorites from Diana Palmer. Although I'm a big fan of her work the heros in both of these books leave a lot to be desired.

 

In The Last Mercenary, Micah blames Callie for something she shouldn't have been blamed for in the first place. He was still holding it over her head six years later. At the time of the incident he was 30 and she was 16. He was old enough to know that what happened was his own fault and not Callie's but where would the conflict in the story be if not for that. While many of Diana Palmer's heros are alpha males and very rough around the edges I usually like them. Micah just didn't quite have the same charm as many of the others. Callie's character was a little better although I would have wished her to be a little stronger and more put out by Micah's actions.

 

I liked the story line behind the heroine in Matt Caldwell: Texas Tycoon. It made for a good background for the book itself. The only problem was I felt that Matt Caldwell's character fell a little bit short. I thought the idea behind the two having a conflict because of a misunderstanding in the beginning was good, but went too far. All the hints were there many times that Leslie had been hurt in some way and just when it seemed that Matt understood that he did something stupid again. His actions just didn't fit the mold of a man who dated actresses and princesses. I really liked Matt's cousin's character and wished that Diana would have made a book around him.

 

Even though I wasn't completely satisfied with these books the author gets three hearts because when it comes down to it I just love her work and just couldn't give her anything less.

 

Long Tall Texans Book 33

Winter Roses

Author: Diana Palmer

Series: Long Tall Texans Book 33

ISBN: 978-1-4268-0828-9

Genre: Western contemporary romance

 

3 Hearts

 

Description:

Handsome, eligible ranch owner Stuart York was not one to mince words. Ivy Conley, his younger sister's best friend, found out the hard way. During a night's stay at his Jacobsville ranch, Ivy wound up in Stuart's arms. The resulting fireworks singed them both . . . and knowing she was too young, Stuart closed his heart to her.

 

Now, years later, Ivy is determined not to be treated like a little girl anymore. Although still innocent, Ivy knows she has to fight her own battles, but for some reason Stuart is always fighting them for her, keeping her from harm. And safe in Stuart's arms Ivy feels like a woman . . . a woman who belongs to him.

 

My View:

Diana generally has a formula for the Long Tall Texans that she's kept going for 33 books and while some readers may be tired of the cookie cutter plot line it hasn't seemed to hurt sales over the years. There are still plenty of readers out there who like the men and women of Jacobsville, Texas and their ways.

 

In Winter Roses we first meet Ivy when she's 18 years old and dealing with the death of her father. Her older drug addicted sister is giving her a bad time about settling their father's estate, when her best friend contacts her and coaxes her to spend the weekend with her. Ivy is leary of going because she knows her friends brother, Stuart, our hero, isn't pleased with the girls' friendship. Thinking Stuart will be away for the weekend she goes and while she help sooth Stuart's impression of her, he still worries she's too young and blows her off.

 

Rather than give up on life we next meet Ivy two years later, just a little older but a lot wiser. She's still having problems with her drug addict sister and things are about to get worse. Ivy's story follows Long Tall Texans and Diana's Mercenary series into the world of Jacobsville never ending problem with drug dealers and sets the stage for her next Mercenary series book.

 

All and all this was just one of Diana's run of the mill books. Not bad, it just doesn't stand out like some of the others. If you like the men of Jacobsville go out and find a copy. Diana is still worth the read no matter what.