What can you do when you must always be a lady, proper and demure
when what you really want is to be as wild as the country around you.
Amelia Howard is stuck in that dilemma as she is being forced to
secure an engagement with one of the Culhane brothers. They moved
to be closer to her brother, who is a Texas Ranger, and it's then that her
father decides the best thing for them all is to become part of the
Culhane Dynasty.
Unfortunately, it is the silver-eyed King Culhane that she has always
worshiped, and not the mild-mannered younger brother, Alan. And King
despises her for being what he thinks she is. A relationship in his past
had tainted his belief in women like her to the point that he always
believes the worst. He has no way of knowing that an accident had
changed her father into a tyrant who could explode at any time and to
keep him calm she plays the obedient daughter. This puts Amelia in a
bind because though she contemplates a match with Alan, King tries to
thwart it at every turn.
AMELIA is author Diana Palmer at
her historical western best. Amelia is only trying to survive in a very
tough situation, but it seems at every turn something or someone
wants things to be different. Life for a woman in the early 1900s was
not easy but she had a couple of situations that were causing her more
trouble than they might have been worth. First her father, due to a head
injury, would at times fly off the handle and be abusive so she
developed the good girl persona to keep him calm. Then there is King
(and don't get me started on the nickname because I had a dog that
was nicer than this guy) who is a jerk. He is angry at the world and of
course, takes it out on her. Yes, there is a reason for his anger against
women, but that is still no excuse. Especially after he found out she is a
spirited, lovely young woman who deserves better.
Don't get me wrong, I love Diana Palmer and her writing ability is
superb. Her characters come alive, have big personalities and seem so
real. Maybe that is why her readers can be angry at one chauvinistic
jerk and still be happy that the woman in question finds love with him.
Ms. Palmer often adds a subplot to some of her books and in this one,
Amelia's brother, the Texas Ranger, had fallen in love with a notorious
bandit's (who plays quite a part in King's anger) daughter, and how that
plays out is very intriguing. I'll give you a hint, King shows a softer side,
but for more on that, you'll have to read AMELIA.
Amelia Howard cherishes her desert country. The dazzling
colors, white heat, and rough sensuality of west Texas stir
her very soul. But there’s a serpent in her paradise: King
Culhane. A towering sunburned cowboy with silver eyes that
miss nothing, he’s a man she’s come to despise—no matter how
much she had worshiped him when she was younger.
As her father pushes her to secure a marriage proposal from
King’s mild-mannered brother in order to marry into the
Culhane dynasty, Amelia assumes the mask of a demure young
lady, always correct and obedient. It’s a posture that King
holds in contempt. Yet when she reveals the true force of
her feelings, she unleashes a smoldering passion that cannot
be denied. And everything—propriety, filial duty, even
love—will be scorched in the wake of such all-consuming desire.