Book Review ~ Texas Promise by Celia Yeary

Texas Promise

Celia Yeary
Desert Breeze Publishing Inc.
Contemporary/History/Cowboy
Sensual.

Review:

There are good books, and then there are good books. The ones I’m talking about are the ones that when you reach the last page you feel as though you are losing contact with dear friends. That is how I felt when I finished Celia Yeary’s first book in her Cameron Sisters series, Texas Promise.

In the first two short paragraphs we’ve met and learned about Jo King, the heroine.

She’s a woman who overcome some hard personal knocks and grown strong. She’s caring and warm, and when she loves she gives her all. That’s a lot to learn in a few short words. And the author takes this skill and weaves it into every word she’s written in this story.

Even the secondary character, some we never meet, leap from the pages in their three dimensional form. Her sister True never plays a large part in this story and yet her influence on her older sister is immense. So when Jo’s past walks into her home True is there for her.

We meet the hero, Dalton King, when he is recovering from severe injuries. Ms Yeary reveals his past and the events responsible for his injuries in a series of flash backs, and if I have any nit with this book it is the information revealed, then forgotten, by Dalton while in recovery. By the time Dalton King returns home he’s a changed man, fuelled by betrayal.

What makes this story is the author’s ability to place her reader right beside her characters. You feel their pain, whether physical or emotional, you can smell the dirt tracks, as easily as you can smell sewing machine oil.

The evil slinks though the book like a rattler slithering across the desert sand (Oh my, maybe I got that wrong, not once was a snake mentioned although I did expect them to be, and was vastly relieved when they weren’t.) But what I did get strong and clear and true was the atmosphere of the country Jo and Dalton travelled through. The journey, their emotions and the responses of the people they met along the way were so vividly portrayed.

I liked that her heroine, Jo, had weaknesses that made her absolutely believable when she learned about ‘the Judge’. To say more would give away too much. The way the author dealt with Jo’s resistance was awesome.

Before I read the book fully I’d come across excerpts online so knew I’d fall in love with Ms Yeary’s writing style all over again, and I did.

By the time I turned the final page, Jo and Dalton had wormed their way into my heart and I felt a great sense of personal loss when their story ended.

You don’t need to be a lover of history to enjoy this book. You don’t need to know anything about Texas –I’m in the U.K.- to enjoy this book. But by the time you come to the end of this story, you’ll realise you’ve been gifted both.

This is a book I’d describe as a ‘keeper’. It will certainly stay on my e-shelf to be read again in the not too distant future. I will also be keeping my eye out for the sequel.

If you have not read Celia Yeary’s books I highly recommend you start now.

Reviewed by Sherry Gloag. 20-09-10