Colorado Dawn (Runaway Brides Romance Series #2)

A keeper!

Englishwoman Maddie Wallace had high hopes when she married dashing Scottish cavalry officer, Angus Wallace but after only two letters and one visit during their six-year marriage, Maddie has had enough. Tired of being looked down upon by the Wallace family for being English, virtually abandoned by her husband and feeling alone in the world, when Maddie returns to England to settle her parents' affairs following their sudden deaths she decides to follow her passion for photography and embark upon a new life. Posing as a widow, she accepts an assignment from a London paper to photograph the American West, leaving her absent husband and her old life far behind.

All Angus (Ash) Wallace has ever wanted is to be a soldier but when a serious injury forces him out of the military after a long career he returns home to Scotland to discover that everything he left behind has changed. He's now heir to an earldom he never wanted and the sweet wife he expected to welcome him home with open arms has decamped to another continent. Determined to reclaim her, Ash sails to America then tracks his wife to Heartbreak Creek, Colorado, confident in his ability to bring Maddie home to Scotland and set about siring some heirs. After all, he's commanded military troops for years. How much trouble can one wife be? As we come to discover in this story, quite a bit! What he finds is an independent woman, surrounded by a "family" of her own making while pursuing the career that gives her life meaning in a wild, challenging, soul-inspiring land. His quest to reclaim his wife is suddenly fraught with complications Ash could never have envisioned.

As the two spend time together, sharing thoughts and dreams that they never had time to talk about before and revealing secrets that change each of their perspectives on the early years of their marriage they gradually come to realize that the feelings they held for one another have not gone away. In fact, they've grown stronger but the issues that keep them apart still remain. Will Ash be able to earn Maddie's trust that he won't abandon her again? Will they be able to reconcile Maddie's bone-deep need for her photography with Ash's duty to the earldom? Once Ash sees for himself how much Maddie's photography means to her and feels the emotions conveyed through her unique talent, will he be able to bring himself to take that away from her by insisting they return to Scotland even though duty to his family demands just that?

Set against the ruggedly majestic backdrop of the Colorado Rockies, Kaki Warner has written a stellar addition to her Runaway Brides historical western series. Filled with passion, adventure, heartbreak and humor, COLORADO DAWN is a story that had me sighing, crying, holding my breath and laughing out loud. Warner has the ability to pull me into her stories, making me care for her characters; investing my emotions in their happiness.

If you love sweeping, character-driven stories set in the American West that are filled with adventure, humor and deeply satisfying emotion then any book by Kaki Warner is the book for you. I highly recommend HEARTBREAK CREEK (Book #1) and COLORADO DAWN (Book #2). Since the second book builds upon the first, I strongly encourage readers to read them in order.

PJ Ausdenmore
The Romance Dish

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Her Best Yet

I love it when an author adds humor to her romances. When it’s the hero with the sense of humor, it makes him that much more irresistible. Angus Wallace is now one of my favorite heroes, and that’s saying something when he’s in the company of Drustan and Daegus MacKeltar and Jamie Fraser.

The fact Angus has come to America in search of his wife, thinking only to take her home to Scotland where she can deliver a few heirs for him but instead falls in love with Maddie and the magnificent Colorado wilderness, well, that’s a man after my own heart. You see the change in Angus – now Lord Ashby, slowly take place as he watches his wife enjoy her passion of photography, revel in the new, deep-seated friendships she’s found, and, lastly, comes to realize she’d give all of that up just for him.

Maddie’s life takes huge turns when she meets career soldier Angus Wallace. She marries him and then loses him to his military service almost instantaneously. She receives very little contact from him in the years she’s in Scotland. When she returns home to England to bury her parents, she talks herself into a new life and goes after it with guns blazing. Her interest in photography takes her to the American wild west, where she finally settles in Colorado, happy in that new life.

Angus’ life also goes through some unexpected turns. He’s seriously wounded in battle and his military days are over. He returns home to find his wife gone and his life changed further with the death of his older brother. It’s through her photographs that Ash, along with his loyal friend, Tricks, an Irish wolfhound, is able to trace Maddie across the American continent, locating her at last on her way home to Heartbreak Creek after a successful photographic mission. Thus begins their dance of reacquainting themselves with each other, their feelings, their love, their duty, their lives – all so different than before.

Unknown sadness on both sides is revealed, making each of them look at their anger and perceptions differently from what they’ve known before, hence making them realize more care of the other should have been taken so they wouldn’t end up where they are today. But life has taken them on this journey, and now one of them must sacrifice all for the other. Will Maddie be able to leave her new, hard-won life behind, never to take another picture again, something a noble woman would never do? Can Ash turn his back on his duty, say no to the one thing he never thought would be his anyway? Does he even have that choice?

These are two very multi-layered characters, both charming and flawed. It takes everything Maddie’s got to strike out on her own. Just when she finds her place, the one and only thing that can endanger that happiness is the person she never thought to see again. Ash is as honest and honorable as the day is long, he takes his duty seriously, whether to Maddie or his family – and he comes to realize that’s the same thing in his heart. No matter how hard life is, now or then, these two exemplify what it is to sustain a relationship after mucking it up the first time around. Granted, they have matured a few years and have gone through so much to get to that place, but when they do, it’s wonderful to see.

I love Kaki Warner’s writing, her characters, her storylines, everything about her books. You go through every emotion imaginable and then some. She portrays the American west vividly and accurately.

Complete review at goodbadandunread.c

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Great Book!

Truth be told I liked the first book in this series- Heartbreak Creek- just a smidgen more. But it is still a great story. Interesting characters and some different plot twists. You won't be disappointed in this book.

Don't miss out on this one!

Once again Kaki has put another Outstanding book out there for us to read. Those of you that have not experienced her intriguing writing are missing out on some wonderful reads.Get on the stick and get this new one,you will not regret it!

Love Kaki Warner!!!!!

I read this book in one day...Love her writing!!!! I can't wait for the next one

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