CACTUS FLOWER
ALICE DUNCAN
ISBN: Currently Unavailable
December 2006
Five Star Publishing
295 Kennedy Memorial Drive, Waterville, ME 04901
Hardbound
$26.95
224 pages
Western Historical Romance
Rating: 5 Cups

Nick Taggart has his share of problems, including his partner in the blacksmith shop serving Rio Penasco, New Mexico. The older man is fond of liquor. He gets wild and crazy when he is drunk. On top of everything else in his life, Nick does not need woman trouble. He prefers those he can bed and forget with no commitments. When he attempts to rescue a spitfire from his partner’s unwelcome embrace, he releases a tangled mess of complications.

Eulalie Gibb has come a long way to settle where she can send for her sister and escape the vicious thug who almost beat her sister to death. She finds work, which is scarce for single women on the frontier. Singing in the town’s finest saloon will suffice, if she can keep the job. She flaunts herself in sexy costumes but the customers can only look, not touch. A protector would help, and Nick Taggart might serve if she can only keep him in his place. Problem is, he has her whole body humming with arousal.

Cactus Flower does not glamorize the harsh life on the frontier but lets the reader feel the heat, the wind and the dust along with Eulalie. She is a spunky but vulnerable heroine, fiercely determined to reach her goal. Nick is a marvelous hero, not the usual cowboy, sheriff or outlaw but a blacksmith! He is endearingly dumb about women but naturally kind, caring and chivalrous. They make a perfect couple, if only they will recognize it in time.

This is my first book by Ms. Duncan, but it will not be my last. Cactus Flower is refreshing and entertaining, humorous yet laden with emotion. Only a gifted author can rise above cliché in a western romance. Finding it delivers a new slant on that tradition, I recommend this book highly.

Alegria
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance
Reviewer for Karen Find Out About New Books