Book Review-The Renegades:Rafe

Rafe
The Renegades (3)
Genell Dellin
Avon
376 Pages
Published June 2001
Paperback
American West
ISBN 0-380-810549-3

Synopsis
The Renegade
Half-Choctaw Rafe Aigner is no man to trifle with: dark and dangerous, he's survived by his wits and the turn of the cards. But now he has a young son who needs him, so the time has come to settle down. Fate has brought him to Texas, and Lady Luck has won him the San Antonio Star. But when Rafe discovers that the woman running his newspaper is the woman who once owned his heart, he's shocked -- and furious.

The Woman
If she hadn't believed Rafe was dead, Madeleine Calhoun never would have married the fool who lost her beloved San Antonio Star -- and then his life -- in a card game. Now Rafe is back -- changed by a harsh world into a dangerous stranger the young widow barely recognizes. Yet her heart still knows him and her traitorous body feels weak with wanting him. Will she ever be able to win back his betrayed trust...and get him to wager his hardened heart on their love once more?

MY REVIEW 

Summary:
Madeline Calhoun, runs a newspaper called the "San Antonio Star" having  recently settled in San Antonio and made a life for herself. Madeline has a passion for discovering the truth and writing about it. Now her husband, whom she thought she may have loved at one time, has now lost him and her newspaper in a card game, and the new owner is a man she fell in love with when she lived in New Orleans, but thought that he had died in Mexico, but now is faced with the one man that once had her heart. Rafe is furious with her, and Madeline is overwhelmed to see him again. Rafe is furious to see Madeline again, but so is Madeline with Rafe for not ever letting her know that he was alive when she believed him dead. So even though these two are at odds with one another, there is still a raw passion that awakens, and a love that is rekindled...

The Hero 
Rafe Aigner, half choctaw, grew up and fell in love with Madeline in New Orleans, but lost her once and has become a dangerous and hardened man. Now things have changed much for him since he once knew her. He has a son that he has a responsibility for, and brings him to San Antonio. Now he has won a ranch, and a newspaper and is at odds with Madeline, the one woman who hurt him the most. Rafe is unpredicable, and on the surface seems to have a tough exterior, but beneath all that, is a tender heart aching to learn to trust again...

The Heroine 
Madeline Calhoun, never believed that the idiot that she married lost her newspaper and his own life for a game, she never would have married him in the first place. Now she is stunned to discover the man that she has lost her newspaper to, is the one man that she loved once, but believed him to be dead. Furious that he kept that knowledge that he was alive all this time, when she mourned him deeply, and almost died herself from the grief alone, is overwhelmed with the emotions he draws out in her. And despite the chaos that surrounds them, her body still aches for his touch...

My Thoughts 
Rafe is the third installment in the Renegade series by Genell Dellin. I have only couple books from this author, but I found Rafe to be a compelling story. The story takes place in San Antonio Texas, where two people that once knew the meaning of the phrase "to have loved and lost" now comes face to face with each other, and tempers and emotions are very high, but there is a desire between them that has never died, and has awakened again now that they have worked out a compromise, that will only have their hidden love to come alive brighter than ever. Rafe and Madeline are endearing characters and their interaction with one another is will be entertaining to say the least. Throughout the whole of the story, there was one surprise after another, unsuspecting and full of emotion and intensity. So if you are a lover of romance this is one you don't want to miss out on.....

My Favorite Quote 
"You're a fair man, Rafe, and you're being treated monumentally unfairly. You're an honorable man and you're being treated with reprehensible dishonor. I will not let that happen as long as I have a breath in my body."

My Grade On This Book 
4 Blossoms

Other Books In The Series 
Cole
Nick

Book Review-The Renegades:Nick

The Renegades:Nick
The Renegades Series
Genell Dellin
Avon
379 Pages
Published April 2000
American West Historical Romance

Synopsis:
The Woman


For the sake of her unborn child, Callie Sloane is willing to endure the hardships of this wild Western land—-but not her attraction to an untamed half-Cherokee renegade. She lost everything to love once before, and she's not making that mistake twice. While outlaw Nick Smith may be the most handsome man she's ever seen, he's also the most dangerous.


The Renegade


Nick watches in shock as a determined woman rides out of the dust clouds to plant her flag on his ancestral lands in the Great Oklahoma Land Run. The hardened loner vows not to help this stubborn female survive, but finds himself drawn time and again to protect her. And soon Nick has to protect himself from his own desire...for the innocent enchantress tempts him beyond anything he's ever known.

MY REVIEW 

Summary:
Callie Sloane, alone and pregnant and kicked out by her father, she decides to fulfill her past love's dream and go the Cherokee Strip and set up a homestead there, despite all the hardship she knows she will face. But right when she is about to stake her claim, a handsome renegade comes insisting that she is on his claim. Nick half Cherokee but no one knows that he is indian, or he would never be able to have this land, that is very precious to him. So when he comes across a lone widow claiming his land, he forces her to claim another piece of land, but what he never expected was to be drawn to this fiery woman who takes his breath away, despite how he keeps saving her, and starts being her protector, and finds that she is a temptress who entices him more than any other woman has.

The Hero 
Nickajack, is very protective of the land that he has claimed, as his own mother is buried there, and has great plans for it, and will let no man or woman take his land from him, so he must let no one know of his identity as half Cherokee. He is furious that before he knows it the "strip" that is his home, will be invaded by white man. Nickajack is a loner and a renegade. He treasures his privacy and cares not for neighbors or their interfering ways. Nickajack is stubborn, strong willed, but is tormented by his past after being betrayed by a woman he once loved. And is determined to never fall in love again, for in his mind women bring betrayal. However once he saves Callie Sloane, he is determined to stay from her, but finds himself to stay near her as much as possible, because he can't find it in himself to tear himself away.

The Heroine 
Callie Sloane, is part of a feud, even though she doesn't even know how it started, she is forbidden to ever associate with the family on the other side of the feud. But then she falls in love with a man from the other side, and is pregnant, and then her lover passes away, and his dream was to settle and have a homestead, so after he dies she decides to fulfill his dream. So she heads west, claiming to be a widow (even though they hadn't been married before he died) and gets herself a wagon and a crazy team of mules and heads to makes her claim. Callie is a strong willed, very stubborn, wanting to never be owing anyone anything. She is pregnant and vulnerable and is determined to let no one know it until she starts showing. She lost almost everything when she fell in love, and knows she can never fall in love ever again, for she never wants to betray her past loves memory and what they felt for one another.


My Thoughts
Nick is the second installment in the Renegade series. This is a story about two people that have both been hurt when it comes to the matter of the heart. Although their pasts are very different, they both know pain, and need each other more than either of them fully realize. I found the plot to be strong and full of excitement. I really liked the characters in this book, they were very likable, and both so alike, they just fit perfectly. I did feel through most of the book like there was something missing from the story and from their relationship as well. There was definitely a sensuality about their relationship, and a tender love story, however especially toward the end, I felt like there should have been something more in it. However overall it was a an entertaining adventure, and I had a fun time reading Nick's story.


My Favorite Quote:
Then she cradles his face in her hands again and kissed him in such a way that he forgot everything he's ever known, even his own name.


My Grade On This Book 
4 Blossoms


Other Books In The Series 
Cole
Rafe