Bound for Glory by Tess LeSue – Review, Excerpt & Giveaway
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Description:
An unwilling legend and the woman who made him one face off in this epic conclusion to the Frontiers of the Heart series.
He has many names. They call him Deathrider, White Wolf, The Plague of the West. He’s the ice-eyed killer of the plains; the ghost of the trail; the restless spirit who haunts the frontier from California to Missouri, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. They say he seeks vengeance for his murdered people; they say he never sleeps; they say he moves silently through the night and changes form to run with the wolves. And that he is as beautiful as Lucifer.
At least, so they say. Ava Archer wouldn’t know; she’s never seen him. But that doesn’t stop her from writing about him. The Plague of the West is her bread and butter, and after more than a dozen dime novels, she thinks she probably knows Deathrider better than he knows himself, even if she wouldn’t recognize him on the street. If only rumors of his death would stop getting in the way of a good story….
Those damn stories make Nathaniel Rides With Death’s life an absolute misery. Thanks to his unwanted notoriety, he’s hunted like an animal by an endless stream of gunslingers looking to make a name for themselves. When someone close to Nate is shot by one of the gunslingers, Nate decides it’s time to hunt down the novelist at the root of all his troubles. He has a plan to end this farce once and for all….
Review:
Bound for Glory by Tess LeSue is the 4th and final book in her western historical romance Frontiers of the Heart series. We meet our heroine, Ava Archer, who is a famous author, who writes about the wicked west and her tales of the infamous, Deathrider or Plague of the West. Ava has written many tales in her books about the dangerous Deathrider, who kills at will, and even rapes women along the way. But Ava bases her stories on the gossip of others, and has never really met him. Deathrider (Nathaniel), whose life is a mess, based on the untrue stories written by a woman who has ruined his life, with her false stories about him; constantly running from those hunting him.
Ava finds herself in the middle of a hunt, that will bring all the criminals to win a large monetary prize, if they bring back the real Deathrider. Ava is pushed to also join the hunt, especially when a true evil man, Kennedy Voss, wants her. As she tries to avoid him, she comes across a naked man, who is in bad shape and blind. Despite her need to move on, Ava agrees to help the desperate man to get him to the next town. Unbeknown to both of them, they will be surprised when their true identities is revealed. The injured man is Deathrider, whom Ava thinks is an apache, and Nathaniel, has no idea she is the woman who has caused all his grief. When Kennedy Voss catches up with them, he forces Ava to join hands with him and pretend that ‘apache” is Deathrider (which he truly is), and they can claim the prize. There were many comical parts during this adventure, especially when they both discover who the other is.
What follows is a fun adventure with some danger, excitement and the humorous banter between Nathanial and Ava. I really liked them together, even though we did not think they could their relationship would ever work. Will Deathrider ever be able to forgive Ava?
I do not want to give spoilers, as it is a fun sotry that you need to read. It was a very exciting and intense but satisfying conclusion. Bound for Glory was a sweet fun historical western that was adventurous, romantic and humorous, with a great couple. The adventure was not only wild crazy, but a lot of humor along the way. When they meet dangerous criminals during their travels, the situation becomes tense, and they manage to escape. Though their relationship grows, Nathaniel discovers more about Ava that threatens to ruin any possibility of them being together. But Tess LeSue writes a wonderful conclusion, also giving us a glimpse at the previous books couples. Very well done.
Reviewed by Barb
Copy provided by Publisher
Ava Archer knew trouble when she saw it, and this was trouble with a capital T. She was alone in the desert, her horse was played out, her canteen was bone-dry, and she was out of bullets. This was no time to be running into natives. Even a solitary one. If she had any sense at all, she would turn right around and run in the other direction . . . but Kennedy Voss was in the other direction, and Kennedy Voss was a mean son of a bitch. Besides, she was desperate for water, and maybe this Indian had some.
She’d thought she’d known thirst before—but this was something else again. She felt made of grit and sand, her every pore a desert in miniature, her tongue thick and swollen in her cottony mouth; even her eyes and nose had dried out. And every thud of her horse’s hooves on the ground made a drumbeat: Water. Water. Water. Water.
So Ava kept on toward the man, pulled by the hope of water. As she plodded closer, she reassured herself that at least there was only one of him, and from what she could see, he was in bad shape: he was squatting under the screamingly bright September sun, naked from the waist up, his body a patchwork of bruises, and both of his eyes swollen shut. Ava doubted he could see her. But he knew she was there, because he rose to his feet at the sound of her tired horse dragging his way.
Oh dear. He wasn’t mostly naked, she saw as he stood: he was completely naked. He was also tall, wide, and terrifyingly powerful. A warrior. He was the color of rosewood, his muscles as hard as if he’d been carved from a tree. And he was covered in tattoos, including a sprawling, intricate pattern in the shape of a bird, which stretched its wings the breadth of his thickly muscled chest. His hair was long, loose, and coated in dust; it fell down his back in tangles to his shoulder blades. He was bruised all over, she realized as her gaze drifted down, wincing as she took in the black blotches on his legs. There was a particularly nasty one on his hip, right next to . . .
Ava tore her gaze away. Hell. She was alone in the desert with a naked man. A big, powerful, wounded naked man. And she was heat struck and ill with thirst, barely able to think straight.
She couldn’t have stumbled onto a little old lady instead? Or a nice family, with a pack of kids? A pack of kids and an icy-cold barrel of water . . .
Ava rubbed her hand across her dry mouth. She felt skin flakes come away on her fingers and winced. She needed to get hold of herself. She was growing delirious. This here was just an injured man. Probably an Apache, considering she was somewhere near the Apacheria. Probably. Maybe. Who knew where the hell she was, to be honest. Purgatory seemed likely. Little old ladies and nice families didn’t go wandering around Purgatory—this was the best she could hope for. She should have been grateful that he was just one beat-up Apache and not a whole party. And at least he wasn’t Kennedy Voss. Without even realizing she was doing it, she glanced over her shoulder, as though thinking about Voss might summon him. That man gave her the willies. Voss was likely to be somewhere nearby (she hadn’t had that much of a head start on him), and here she was about to die of thirst right in his path. She didn’t have time to be distracted by naked strangers.
Tess’s publisher is offering a paper copy of BOUND FOR GLORY to ONE (1) lucky commenter at The Reading Cafe.
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