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A review by rjordan19
Texas Destiny by Lorraine Heath
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋 (I really want more developed scenes for sex – more details, more emotions – but some of the kisses were really sweet)
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥
Humor: Yes, a bit
Perspective: Third person from both the hero and heroine, and a bit from Dallas and Austin (side characters – the hero’s brothers)
More character focused or plot focused? character
How did the speed of the story feel? medium
When mains are first on page together: almost immediately, chapter 1 of 21
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: No
Format: read an e-book through the library (Hoopla)
Why I chose this book: ‘Cowboy romance’ was suggested in our Vintage Romance group and I wanted to try some – this was one from the list
Mains: This is a M/F relationship between a cishet hero and heroine
Should I read in order?
This is the first of Heath’s Texas trilogy.
Basic plot:
When Houston’s brother breaks his leg, he goes in his place to fetch his mail order bride.
Give this a try if you want:
- late 1800s, America – 1872
- Texas setting
- mail order bride
- forbidden love – the heroine is betrothed to the hero’s brother, who was sent to get her and bring her to the homestead
- longing from the hero – like so, so much pining
- one horse
- size difference – the heroine’s head doesn’t reach his shoulder
- close proximity
- opposites attract – sunshine and quiet
- road trip
- other man – she’s engaged to his brother
- disability rep – hero has lost an eye in the Civil War (and his face is quite scarred)
- he nurses her back to health (and some light her nursing him)
- low steam – a number of kisses but only one short and vague scene within the last 2 pages of the story
Ages:
- heroine is 19, I think hero is around 28
First line:
His was not a face that women carried with them into their dreams.
My thoughts:
The first half of this book was perfection to me! It was so, so sweet. I loved the close proximity of Houston and Amelia on the trail – I loved the strong pining from the hero. I loved how opposite they were – sunshine and talkative, shadows and silence – and how Amelia pulled Houston out of his shell. It was so good!
The latter half lost me a bit because they weren’t together as much and we started getting a frequent amount of Dallas’ POV – I always get whiny about that (get in your own book Dallas!). Also – I think the last like 4 or 5 books I read by Heath were love triangle 😆 and I can like love triangle but something about Heath is she seems to really drag it out allllll the way to the last page and it drives me kind of batty. This one I didn’t like how far it went between Amelia and Dallas before getting resolved.
I knew going into this it was low steam but this was even lower than I thought. It was just a short scene that was quite vague in the very last 2 pages of the story. The kisses were very sweet though! I’ll probably continue this series at some point – I enjoyed a lot about this novel!
Few random reading stats for this author
# of books read: 12
Average rating from me: 3.75
Favorite book: Lord of Wicked Intentions
Quotes any typos are my own! I am bad with typos, I apologize
Dear God, but she was lovely, like a spring sunrise tempting the flowers to unfurl their petals. Her pale lashes rested on her pink-tinged cheeks. Her lips, even in sleep, curved into the barest hint of a smile.
He had spotted her right off, as soon as she’d arrive at the door of the railway car. Beneath that godawful ugly hat, the sun had glinted off hair that looked as though it had been woven from moonbeams.
The smile she had given the porter as he’d helped her down the steps – even at a distance – had knocked the breath out of Houston.
He still wasn’t breath right. Every time he looked at her, his gut clenched as though he’d received a quick kick from a wild mustang.
She wasn’t at all what he’d expected of a heart-and-hand woman. He’d expected her to look like an old shirt, washed so many times it had lost its color and the strength of its threads. He knew women like that. Women who had traveled rough roads, become hard and coarse themselves, with harsh laughter and smiles that were too bright to be sincere. Women who knew better than to trust.
But Amelia Carson did trust. She was a heart-in-her-eyes woman. Everything she thought, everything she felt reflected clearly in her eyes. In her green, green eyes.
The warm depths reminded him of fields of clover he’d run through as a boy. Barefoot. The clover had resembled velvet caressing his rough soles. For a brief moment, he actually relished the thought of holding her gaze.
His brown eye could serve as the soil in which her green closer took root.
---
“Once, when I stopped by a stream to wash the dust off, I laid my hat beside me. A raccoon carted it away.” He ground his jaw back and forth. “If you were to take off your hat while you were washing up, some critter might haul it away.”
“I’m so grateful you shared that with me. I’ll make certain I guard the hat well.”
She thought he grimaced before he turned away.
---
“You don’t like my hate,” she stated in as flat a tone as she could manage.
He visibly stiffened, his hands stilling. “No, ma’am.” He removed his hat and met her gaze. “I think it’s the most godawful ugly thing I’ve ever seen.”
Amelia released a tiny squeal and covered her mouth.
Regret reshaped his features. “My apologies, Miss Carson. I had no right -”
“No!” She held up a hand to stay his apology nd moved her other hand away from her face to reveal her smile.
---
When she lowered her arms, she began to remove the pins from her hair. He watched as the shadow of her hair tumbled over her shoulders and along her back.
His hands clenched, and he was powerless to look away. She reached into her bag and withdrew her brush. Slowly, she pulled the brush through her hair.
He counted the strokes.
And envied the brush.
And envied his brother, who would have the privilege of watching the woman with no canvas cloth separating them.
---
“Miss Carson, you need to step outside and slap me again. The side you hit is mostly dead. You need to hit the other side of my face so I can feel it like I should.”
He could hear nothing but the heavy pounding of his heart. He could see nothing but a vast emptiness filling the coming days. Dear God, what words could atone for what he’d done?
“Miss Carson, I know what I did was wrong. It was shameful, and I regretted it even as I did it, but dear Lord, woman, I swear to God, I’ve never seen a sweeter shadow than yours...and that’s all I saw. Just your shadow.”
---
He stood stiffly beside the fire, his clothes bunched before him offering him some protection from her wandering gaze.
The firelight played over his flesh like a lover’s caress. He had additional scars on his left shoulder, healed flesh that trailed down his chest toward his stomach and finally blended into oblivion. Old wounds the water may have kissed on its journey.
He shifted his stance, and his muscles rippled with the slight movement. He appeared much stronger than she’d imagined. She lowered her gaze as his hands tightened their hold on his clothing. She could see the veins and muscles in his arms straining with the force of his grip.
“Git inside the tent,” he growled in a low, warning voice, “or you’re gonna see a lot more than my shadow.”
---
“Wasn’t it nice of Beth to give me a bonnet?”
Houston kept his opinion on that to himself. All he could see was the tip of her nose and as cute as it was, it wasn’t enough.
---
“You’ll need to wear this.”
Her eyes widened. “But that’s your hat.”
“I know, but I can’t find Austin’s hate or your bonnet, and the sun will turn your pretty skin into leather. It can’t hurt mine much.” He grimaced as a tear trailed along her cheek. “Don’t start crying on me.”
Content warnings: These should be taken as a minimum of what to expect. It’s very possible I have missed some.
- mention of the hero fighting for the Confederate side of the Civil War in America
- possible feelings of infidelity – the heroine is betrothed to the hero’s brother but they haven’t met yet and never interacted other than letters (no intimacy between the heroine and her betrothed)
- the heroine does slap the hero for watching her undress and wash in the tent (it’s shadows but she felt violated)
- snake bite with venom the heroine has to recover from (hero sucks the venom out)
- remembrances of war and parental death
- heroine has claustrophobia after being put in her father’s coffin with him to save her when deserters came after the war – implied rape of heroine’s mother and sisters, murder of her sisters
- remembrance of physically abusive father
Author content warnings? Didn’t see any
Locations of kisses/intimate scenes, safe sex aspects, consent, pregnancy/child in the story:
Safe sex: No
How’s the consent? It’s good
Pregnancy/children in story? No children or pregnancy here – it’s expected and talked about that the heroine will have children some day
Chapter 10 – kisses
Chapter 11 - kisses
Chapter 12 – kisses
Chapter 15 – a kiss between Amelia and Dallas (hero’s brother and her betrothed)
Chapter 17 – kisses
Chapter 21 – very short/vague sex scene
Total chapters: 21
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋 (I really want more developed scenes for sex – more details, more emotions – but some of the kisses were really sweet)
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥
Humor: Yes, a bit
Perspective: Third person from both the hero and heroine, and a bit from Dallas and Austin (side characters – the hero’s brothers)
More character focused or plot focused? character
How did the speed of the story feel? medium
When mains are first on page together: almost immediately, chapter 1 of 21
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: No
Format: read an e-book through the library (Hoopla)
Why I chose this book: ‘Cowboy romance’ was suggested in our Vintage Romance group and I wanted to try some – this was one from the list
Mains: This is a M/F relationship between a cishet hero and heroine
Should I read in order?
This is the first of Heath’s Texas trilogy.
Basic plot:
When Houston’s brother breaks his leg, he goes in his place to fetch his mail order bride.
Give this a try if you want:
- late 1800s, America – 1872
- Texas setting
- mail order bride
- forbidden love – the heroine is betrothed to the hero’s brother, who was sent to get her and bring her to the homestead
- longing from the hero – like so, so much pining
- one horse
- size difference – the heroine’s head doesn’t reach his shoulder
- close proximity
- opposites attract – sunshine and quiet
- road trip
- other man – she’s engaged to his brother
- disability rep – hero has lost an eye in the Civil War (and his face is quite scarred)
- he nurses her back to health (and some light her nursing him)
- low steam – a number of kisses but only one short and vague scene within the last 2 pages of the story
Ages:
- heroine is 19, I think hero is around 28
First line:
His was not a face that women carried with them into their dreams.
My thoughts:
The first half of this book was perfection to me! It was so, so sweet. I loved the close proximity of Houston and Amelia on the trail – I loved the strong pining from the hero. I loved how opposite they were – sunshine and talkative, shadows and silence – and how Amelia pulled Houston out of his shell. It was so good!
The latter half lost me a bit because they weren’t together as much and we started getting a frequent amount of Dallas’ POV – I always get whiny about that (get in your own book Dallas!). Also – I think the last like 4 or 5 books I read by Heath were love triangle 😆 and I can like love triangle but something about Heath is she seems to really drag it out allllll the way to the last page and it drives me kind of batty. This one I didn’t like how far it went between Amelia and Dallas before getting resolved.
I knew going into this it was low steam but this was even lower than I thought. It was just a short scene that was quite vague in the very last 2 pages of the story. The kisses were very sweet though! I’ll probably continue this series at some point – I enjoyed a lot about this novel!
Few random reading stats for this author
# of books read: 12
Average rating from me: 3.75
Favorite book: Lord of Wicked Intentions
Quotes any typos are my own! I am bad with typos, I apologize
Dear God, but she was lovely, like a spring sunrise tempting the flowers to unfurl their petals. Her pale lashes rested on her pink-tinged cheeks. Her lips, even in sleep, curved into the barest hint of a smile.
He had spotted her right off, as soon as she’d arrive at the door of the railway car. Beneath that godawful ugly hat, the sun had glinted off hair that looked as though it had been woven from moonbeams.
The smile she had given the porter as he’d helped her down the steps – even at a distance – had knocked the breath out of Houston.
He still wasn’t breath right. Every time he looked at her, his gut clenched as though he’d received a quick kick from a wild mustang.
She wasn’t at all what he’d expected of a heart-and-hand woman. He’d expected her to look like an old shirt, washed so many times it had lost its color and the strength of its threads. He knew women like that. Women who had traveled rough roads, become hard and coarse themselves, with harsh laughter and smiles that were too bright to be sincere. Women who knew better than to trust.
But Amelia Carson did trust. She was a heart-in-her-eyes woman. Everything she thought, everything she felt reflected clearly in her eyes. In her green, green eyes.
The warm depths reminded him of fields of clover he’d run through as a boy. Barefoot. The clover had resembled velvet caressing his rough soles. For a brief moment, he actually relished the thought of holding her gaze.
His brown eye could serve as the soil in which her green closer took root.
---
“Once, when I stopped by a stream to wash the dust off, I laid my hat beside me. A raccoon carted it away.” He ground his jaw back and forth. “If you were to take off your hat while you were washing up, some critter might haul it away.”
“I’m so grateful you shared that with me. I’ll make certain I guard the hat well.”
She thought he grimaced before he turned away.
---
“You don’t like my hate,” she stated in as flat a tone as she could manage.
He visibly stiffened, his hands stilling. “No, ma’am.” He removed his hat and met her gaze. “I think it’s the most godawful ugly thing I’ve ever seen.”
Amelia released a tiny squeal and covered her mouth.
Regret reshaped his features. “My apologies, Miss Carson. I had no right -”
“No!” She held up a hand to stay his apology nd moved her other hand away from her face to reveal her smile.
---
When she lowered her arms, she began to remove the pins from her hair. He watched as the shadow of her hair tumbled over her shoulders and along her back.
His hands clenched, and he was powerless to look away. She reached into her bag and withdrew her brush. Slowly, she pulled the brush through her hair.
He counted the strokes.
And envied the brush.
And envied his brother, who would have the privilege of watching the woman with no canvas cloth separating them.
---
“Miss Carson, you need to step outside and slap me again. The side you hit is mostly dead. You need to hit the other side of my face so I can feel it like I should.”
He could hear nothing but the heavy pounding of his heart. He could see nothing but a vast emptiness filling the coming days. Dear God, what words could atone for what he’d done?
“Miss Carson, I know what I did was wrong. It was shameful, and I regretted it even as I did it, but dear Lord, woman, I swear to God, I’ve never seen a sweeter shadow than yours...and that’s all I saw. Just your shadow.”
---
He stood stiffly beside the fire, his clothes bunched before him offering him some protection from her wandering gaze.
The firelight played over his flesh like a lover’s caress. He had additional scars on his left shoulder, healed flesh that trailed down his chest toward his stomach and finally blended into oblivion. Old wounds the water may have kissed on its journey.
He shifted his stance, and his muscles rippled with the slight movement. He appeared much stronger than she’d imagined. She lowered her gaze as his hands tightened their hold on his clothing. She could see the veins and muscles in his arms straining with the force of his grip.
“Git inside the tent,” he growled in a low, warning voice, “or you’re gonna see a lot more than my shadow.”
---
“Wasn’t it nice of Beth to give me a bonnet?”
Houston kept his opinion on that to himself. All he could see was the tip of her nose and as cute as it was, it wasn’t enough.
---
“You’ll need to wear this.”
Her eyes widened. “But that’s your hat.”
“I know, but I can’t find Austin’s hate or your bonnet, and the sun will turn your pretty skin into leather. It can’t hurt mine much.” He grimaced as a tear trailed along her cheek. “Don’t start crying on me.”
Content warnings: These should be taken as a minimum of what to expect. It’s very possible I have missed some.
- mention of the hero fighting for the Confederate side of the Civil War in America
- possible feelings of infidelity – the heroine is betrothed to the hero’s brother but they haven’t met yet and never interacted other than letters (no intimacy between the heroine and her betrothed)
- the heroine does slap the hero for watching her undress and wash in the tent (it’s shadows but she felt violated)
- snake bite with venom the heroine has to recover from (hero sucks the venom out)
- remembrances of war and parental death
- heroine has claustrophobia after being put in her father’s coffin with him to save her when deserters came after the war – implied rape of heroine’s mother and sisters, murder of her sisters
- remembrance of physically abusive father
Author content warnings? Didn’t see any
Locations of kisses/intimate scenes, safe sex aspects, consent, pregnancy/child in the story:
Safe sex:
How’s the consent?
Pregnancy/children in story?
Chapter 10 – kisses
Chapter 11 - kisses
Chapter 12 – kisses
Chapter 15 – a kiss between Amelia and Dallas (hero’s brother and her betrothed)
Chapter 17 – kisses
Chapter 21 – very short/vague sex scene
Total chapters: 21