Elaine Barbieri

Don't believe the brief description that is written above for this book. It really does not give you any idea what Love's Fiery Jewel is like. This is definitely an old school bodice ripper, with a certifiable, womanizing 'hero'. This book has several 'ick' factors for me: the hero is 23 and the heroine 9 when they meet. The hero(now about 33 yrs) sees her again when she is 16 and considers her ripe for the plucking, although still calling her a child at times. The hero seduces(too nice a word for it) the barely conscious 16 year old heroine, while bedridden, recovering from a very serious, vomitous fever illness. He says, "I must have you" and then just does, without any agreement from the heroine. And then he does it again a little while later. He is completely controlling, manipulative and ends up drugging the barely recovered heroine and kidnapping her, taking her on his ship to America. He plans on having her as long as he wants, never mentions marriage (initially)and plans to do whatever he wishes with whomever he wishes. He slaps her viciously a couple of times because of his unreasonable jealousy. This just goes on and on. The heroine finally gets a little backbone towards the end and the hero finally(!)does something for her without thinking of himself. I felt the writing was well done, but just couldn't take such an awful hero. The heroine was not very smart and definitely naive, but I attributed that to her young age. 1.5/5 stars… (mais)

I liked the story line and the sweet innocence of Lacey Stewart. Watching the love between the two main characters turn into romance was also enjoyable.

Saloon owner Jake Scully has grown up in a rough frontier town. He protected Lacey Stewart when her Grandpa was killed 10 years ago by sending her away to a face ladies school back East. Now Lacey has returned to face her fears and nightmares about what happened to her Grandpa all those years ago. But Lacey has a mind of her own and Jake does too, so it is fun to watch these two 'go at it' with each other. Jake still wants to protect this "lady" and Lacey wants to learn to stand on her own. But danger lurks around the corner as someone is following Lacey and wants information from her.

This story doesn't take that long to read, but is a full and satisfying story.… (mais)