Guest Post, Review and Giveaway ~Tame A Wild Heart by Cynthia Woolf

Tame A Wild Heart
by Cynthia Woolf

Paperback, 302 pages
Published September 16th 2011
ISBN: 0983937214 (ISBN13: 9780983937210)

review courtesy of Author 

He's not her brother, but Duncan thinks Catherine sure needs one. A woman has no business trying to run a ranch. Not in 1880s Creede, Colorado. Even though she's loved him forever, she swears she doesn't need his help, but in between stampedes, fires and a kidnapping, the ex-bounty hunter and gunslinger becomes determined to do more than protect the ranch. Working together to catch a dangerous outlaw might just be the best thing that ever happened to them both.

This story was filled with all those things that I love to find in a good western romance book: captivating plot, suspense, passion, strong family ties and tough as nails heroine and those tough, loyal and sexy cowboy!!

Duncan was perfect to take on the strong willed Cat. Duncan has had enough with being a bounty hunter and he is ready to go back to the only home he has known. Cat and Duncan have a past, but little was uncovered to let the reader know the intensity of the relationship. It was funny to read that Duncan, kept saying that Cat's father, James was his best friend.  It tend to make me think there was a huge age gap between Cat and Duncan, which wasn't the case.

The ranch has been dealing with mishaps, as the story unfolds we find there are two villians one after the ranch and one after Duncan. I was able to keep pace but there were a few times I had to go back and re-read some sections as there were some parts with sudden changes in subject and sharp transitions. Overall, I very impressed with the writing skills of Cynthia Woolf and the storyline overall.

I love the secondary characters, would like to see Cassie's story and that is the next book in the Wild Series, Tame A Wild Wind (Wild, #2).  If you love a good romance western with just enough spice and drama, pick this one up, you won't regret it.

Lost in the Wild West

by Cynthia Woolf

Settling the American West was neither glamorous or romantic for most of the people who came here. I live in Colorado. Part and parcel of the American West and this is where I’ve set my stories. For this blog I’m talking about the prairie in the areas East of the Rocky Mountains.

Imagine, if you will, traveling for months to get somewhere. Living in the wagon that you are traveling in for those months. The wagon carries everything you own. Your furniture, your clothes, your food. Kind of like a motor home without all the built in amenities, like running water and a bathroom.

Imagine having finally gotten to the piece of land that you bought. It’s vacant. No house. No well. Nothing but weeds, prairie dogs and if you got a really good piece lots of trees and a stream. You’re going to need them. You build your house, usually a one room house, made of logs with mud in between to try and keep out the dust and the cold.

Inside you have a kitchen with a stove and some shelves on one wall. There’s a fireplace in the center of the longest wall across from the door and the bed is opposite the kitchen. The children, if you have them and most likely you do, sleep on the floor on mats.

You have to gather buffalo chips to burn in the fireplace because there’s not enough trees to burn and build with. Buffalo chips are dung. Dried buffalo dung. You’re burning this to keep warm and to cook with. Can you imagine the smell in your house?

Imagine wash day. You take your beautiful, colorful clothes and go to the stream and beat them with a stick against the rocks until they are clean. This is hard on the material so it wears out and you patch it because it’s too expensive to get new material and make new clothes. Of course, if you’re lucky, you have tubs and you heat water on the stove until it’s boiling, add your clothes and chips of lye soap. Stir with a stick until it’s clean. Wring them out with your hands, the water still two hot, but your hands are so chapped that you hardly notice the pain any longer.

I’m just getting started. Life was hard and those people who chose that life were heroes. Without them our frontiers would still be wild and unsettled. But that’s not the stories that we like to read about. So we glamorize our western romances. Our heroes are always handsome, our heroines always beautiful and rarely do they have to get their hands dirty. I can’t imagine my heroine going out and gathering buffalo poop to burn in her fireplace.

I’ve set my stories in the mountains where there was enough timber for houses, barns and fires. I’ve given them just enough history to set the scenes without overwhelming with detail. The reason for this is because the detail isn’t romantic. Our imaginations are.

Cynthia loves to do giveaways... For this blog, she'll do two giveaways.  One winner will get a $5 Starbucks card and one winner will get a copy of any of my books, in any format they desire including paperback.  You heard her, two lucky winners this time.  

Let's make this easy, I will randomly pull two commenters who answer the question below... Remember to leave your email address.

What one 20th Century luxury/item would you miss if you lived in the Wild Wild West?