Book Review: Captive Heart by Michele Holmes

I was excited to read Captive Heart by Michele Holmes because the backliner intrigued me and the first chapter didn’t disappoint. The book starts off with a train robbery and young women being kidnapped from the train. One young lady tries hard not to be noticed and when she is, and is being forced from the train, she fights for her life. And such begins a quirky, fun, and very emotional journey for our main characters.

The thing I liked best about this book is that it would seem to be a predictable western romance, but the author has several twists and turns that had me wondering where exactly she was going to take it. I really enjoyed the depth of both her hero and her heroine with the experiences they’d both been through to lead them to this point. There was one situation that really had my mouth hanging open and the author plays it well, engendering pity, outrage, and sorrow for what has happened to a young family.

This book is a perfect blend of great characters and a well-written plot, combined with a unique setting that adds just the right touch. The only thing I didn’t like about it (and it was a teeny tiny personal thing) was that the epilogue goes a bit further than I wanted it to. Without giving anything away, I wanted to see an event that had been hinted at throughout the story, but the epilogue goes beyond that by about a year. With that said, however, the book ends with a great sense of closure and it’s the kind of book that makes you smile once it’s done. I highly recommend it.

Here is the backliner for it:

Emmalyne Madsen sends a desperate plea heavenward as a band of lawless men makes their way up the aisle of the railcar. When one hauls her roughly from the seat, threatening and cursing, Emmalyne fears her adventure out West has just turned into a nightmare.

Thayne Kendrich has an urgent need for a school teacher, and he’s not above doing whatever it takes to get one — including forcing her at gunpoint across the scorching prairie. But the teacher he chooses turns out to be a little tougher — and softer — than he anticipated, and before long he finds himself battling emotions he vowed to never feel again.

Emma, too, struggles with feelings she knows she ought not be having toward Thayne. He’s an outlaw, after all — or is he? As the days pass and their destination — the Black Hills — draws nearer, Emma realizes that out West, the line between right and wrong is sometimes blurred. Might the man she believed to be on the wrong side of the law have acted with the purest intentions? If so, her greatest danger may be in her own heart, as he holds her captive in more ways than one.



And if you want the chance to win a copy of this amazing book, you can enter the LDSWBR Countdown to Summer 2011 Contest here! It’s totally worth a try with all the great prizes being offered. But hurry, all the fun ends this Friday!