Promising Hearts

As usual, Radclyffe delivers a great book. This one is better than usual tho. Her writing just keeps getting better and the storyline of this book is new and refreshing. She does a good job with westerns, hope there are more to come. Love the way the characters are not so wimpy. Frankly, I'm quite tired of books where at least one of the strong characters is always breaking into tears and having to be comforted by the other. Also glad to see that there is no big emphasis on the elderly, sweet caregiver that always "understands" everything. For some odd reason almost every lesbian book out there has to have this character. Additionally, I like having 4-main characters fully developed and the action is plentiful. I just wish we could have more stories where the main people already know and love each other and are partners in the action, without having to spend 3/4ths of the book enduring the typical "does she love me?" and the ever popular "I'm not good enough for her" themes. Our author always has a gifted way of hitting the mark with deeper sensual/sexual emotions and actions that most authors just skim over or miss altogether. She also manages to throw in some lesbian relationship humor that makes us all relate. This story is no exception and will not disappoint. Good job on this book. I was right there in old west Montana with them the whole time.

Radclyffe has done it again! I loved this book! This book has everything a good book should have: plot, great characters, humor, romance, and as Radclyffe does best sex. Jessie and Kate are as great together in this book as in the first and I also loved Mae the first time around. I was glad to see that she finally got what was coming to her! The introduction to Vance was a wonderful addition. I hope that there is more story for these 4 amazing women...as I am sure you will see the possiblities for future books as I have! Radclyffe always leaves you hoping for more...

It's the late 1800's. The country is at war with itself. Brother fights against brother, sister against sister. In the midst of heavy fire, Doctor Vance Phelps is trying desperately to save just "one more soldier". Her desperation proves to be an act that costs her dearly. Mae is a woman working in what some call "the oldest profession." Two women from opposite ends of life come together under the most unusual of circumstance. Vance, looking for a place to heal, arrives in town for a job assisting the local doctor. There she meets Mae, along with Jessie Forbes and Jessie's lover, Kate Beecher, who were first introduced to readers in the dramatic book, Innocent Hearts. Soon the four women find themselves involved in something that poses danger to two of the women, but which two? When they band together to confront the danger, will they be able to stop it before it costs them everything? Amidst the turmoil, hope arises for Vance as she realizes her feelings for Mae have changed. She knows Mae and Jessie share a history, but does she really care? Vance had never planned on finding someone to share her life with having resolved herself to a solitary life. For the very first time, she dares to hope. Will Mae, who has learned to separate her emotions from the "duties" of her work, allow herself to accept Vance's feelings with all that she is and all that she isn't? They say time heals all wounds. Will promises of a new love be enough to heal their wounds, the ones inside as well as out? Will they find that "one" reason to hope and latch onto it? Radclyffe, the author of more than 20 books, has long ago proven she is a force to be reckoned with in giving readers dynamic, action-packed, and thoroughly dramatic stories. In telling the story of Vance and Mae, who despite the odds stacked against them, dare to take a stand, Promising Hearts is another tremendous example of why this author's work remains on the bookshelves of many a reader!

Utterly romantic Fabulous reading - so many wonderful moments. I have always loved westerns and this novel and it's earlier published companion novel Innocent Hearts are a treat. The depiction of the horror of war and it's aftermath are very moving. The surgery in one of the scenes was like a thriller - edge of your seat reading. The start of Jessie & Kate's life together, their actions and emotions are spot on realistic and absolutely lovely. Mae & Vance what a connection! They are so passionately tender. The scoundrel Phineas Drake was scary and intimidating. The love scenes are both erotic and romantic at once. The writing is luscious - "... she knew she'd only skimmed the surface of passions buried so deep it might take a lifetime to search them out." From the publisher's web site - The Montana frontier of the 1860s might be dangerous, but only if you have something to lose. Dr. Vance Phelps lost everything in the War Between the States--her professional future, her place in Philadelphia society, and her faith in herself. She travels to New Hope, Montana with no hope of happiness and no desire for anything except forgetting. Mae is a frontier madam, used to standing alone. She fiercely guards the well-being of the lost young women who come under her care--she just never expected one of them to be a doctor, wounded in body and soul. Can two outcasts find refuge in one another's hearts?

Time after time, Radclyffe's books touch the heart and fill our imaginations. Promising Hearts is no exception, and that is what makes this book one of her most compelling and exciting to date. Set at the end of the bloodiest war on American soil, Promising Hearts by Radclyffe gives the reader what she craves most, an inspiring romance filled with more than one heroine. It picks up immediately where Innocent Hearts leaves off. It is 1866 in the Montana territory, and Kate Beecher is now living with Jessie Forbes on her ranch outside of New Hope. Mae is still the town's madam, attending to her girls. Dr. Vance Phelps is added to this trio, having just arrived from Philadelphia after spending three of the last four years on the front lines of the Civil War. Radclyffe's prose persuades the reader to believe in her characters. It doesn't matter whether it is 1866 Montana or 2006 Philadelphia, their stories are realistic, fascinating, and have us hanging onto every word. She has an intuitive sense of who her characters are and does not hesitate to share that with us. In Promising Hearts, Vance is battle weary, aloof and broken. She watched her best friend and colleague die on the battlefield during the last days of the war and could not save him because of her own injuries. She travels to Montana to forget the destruction and to possibly salvage her career. She surely does not expect to find much more until she meets the town's madam, Mae, a woman with integrity and a heart of gold. This brave and honorable woman is also alone, fighting the day to day battles of a frontier brothel, until Vance steps into her life. The two seem an unlikely coupling, but through Radclyffe's astute storytelling, we come to understand their similarities and what makes them kindred spirits. With many romances to choose from each month, Promising Hearts is an easy choice. Radclyffe grasps the language of love, its subtleties as well as its potency. With minimal words and a clear strong voice, she captures the emotions of her characters perfectly, and we can imagine the moment. Her restraint fuels the story's passion. The language is authentic; the dialogue revealing. Without the detailed display of the physical aspects of lovemaking, these scenes are tender and filled with devotion and desire. It is a powerful exchange of love that fills the pages of this story. Promising Hearts is more than a western. It is more than a love story. It is a celebration of our history through fiction, making us proud that these are our stories as well.