Judith’s review of Behind His Blue Eyes (Heroes of Heartbreak Creek #1) by Kaki Warner
Hoping to escape his past, Ethan Hardesty left a career as an architect and went to work for the railroad. Only two things impede his desire to transform Heartbreak Creek into a thriving town once again—a vandal bent on stopping the railroad, and the beautiful but hardheaded woman who won’t sign over the final right-of-way through the canyon.
Audra Pearsall has good reason for not allowing a train to pass within yards of her home, no matter how persuasive the handsome Mr. Hardesty can be. But when vandalism escalates to murder and fear stalks the canyon, Audra doesn’t know who to turn to—until the man she thought was her friend proves to be an enemy, and the man she wouldn’t allow herself to trust becomes her reluctant hero.
There was a time, not too many years ago, when my idea of “historical romance” was set in 19th century England. Then I discovered the books of John Jakes and several other writers who planted their stories in the American Pioneer West, and I began my love affair with cowboys and American historical romance. This is an extension of a previous trilogy set in the little town of Heartbreak Creek and bringing in a hero who has left his primary career as an urban architect in San Francisco and is now an advance man for the railroad. The heroine is a hardnosed and independent woman taking care of a father who is suffering from dementia. (Most people don’t realize there are three other forms of dementia besides Alzheimers disease) Their encounters are anything but cordial and Audra keeps Ethan at arms length throughout the story. I got the feeling that there was more going on with her than what the story really revealed.
Suffice it to say that this is an adversarial story and it does not resolve itself until well into the narrative. I can’t say that this was an aspect of the story I liked. I think I am burned out on novels or novellas where the hero and heroine are going at each other for a good percentage of the story. I’m just tired of all that wrangling. But one good thing though, is that Ethan Hardesty, even with all his secrets, is a man of honesty and integrity and who wants to see his job done well and wants to insure that the railroad construction can insure the safety of the machinery aswell as the railroad workers and passengers. I just found the mystery enough engaging to keep me in the story, but I couldn’t work up a great deal of enthusiasm for the story as a whole. It wasn’t a long read so I didn’t feel as if I had committed a great deal of time to read through it. I will say, however, that the historical aspects of the story were interesting and I thought that Ethan Hardest as a character was interesting as well. A wounded Alpha male is always interesting.
I was a bit disappointed in this book. I have read other Warner works and felt they were just better–put together better, characters who seemed more real, etc. I think Warner fans will be disappointed in this. The prior trilogy from which this new trilogy grows is just better all around.
I give this book a rating of 2.5 out of 5
You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.
This title is available from Berkley. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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