Fire Eyes

Highly recommended - a must read

I have had this book for a while and have read it more than once. I very good story with believable characters and action. This story has it all, action, romance and great characters. It is a book you can't put down until the very end. I am looking for more stories from this author.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Fiery, Indeed!

I've been on a quest the past couple of years to read current romances. With the dichotomy of the way romance sells the best and the way it's constantly put down, I wanted to do some research and try to understand why. Romance is not my normal read, so it's been an interesting ride.

The key, I believe, is that with so many I've read in the past two years or so, the stories are too governed by what publishers demand. I've interviewed authors about the why of certain things in their stories. It comes down, often, to what they have to do to be published.

When word count is severely restricted and language and writing style must be kept down to certain reading levels, books suffer. Amazingly, some of them shine through anyway.

Fire Eyes is one that shines through. When an author is limited to 300 pages or there-at, the hero and heroine don't have months to decide they have an attraction. In all honesty, I've seen many people in real life who take less than a week to decide he or she is THE one. Pierson somehow made me believe that Jessica and Kaed not only fell for each other quickly, but also did it over time and thoughtfully, with full knowledge that it's risky to fall so fast. They had moments of wavering, which I appreciated, and yet they are both true adventure seekers and decided to take the chance.

Jessica is the perfect romance heroine. She's strong and independent, and yet romantic in that she is searching for that one man who will be a true partner while he's making her toes curl. She believes she'll find him although she tries to deny it, and so she does.

Kaed is just adorable. Of course he's strong and courageous, as a Marshall in the old west would have to be, but he's also strong enough to be tender and giving and compassionate. He could easily have settled right into Jessica's arms after his horrific experience, but he doesn't. He's a Marshall and has a job to do and the reader respects him for it.

Fire Eyes is one of the most believable and most enjoyable current romances I've found out of the many I've read. Pierson is a talented writer and I'll enjoy watching where she goes. I almost never give 5 stars but if I find a romance in the future deserving of it, through the trudge of meeting publisher demands, I imagine Pierson might be one.

S. Murray

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

The Old-Fashioned Western Reigns

Think Old Western movie.Shane.Hondo.John Wayne and Gary Cooper.then think Fire Eyes. This story fits the Old West genre to a T. There's a brave marshal who's a loner with a secret sorrow, bent on revenge.a lonely young widow with sorrows of her own.friendly Indians.a lower-than-a-snake villain, and a posse of friends searching for two kidnapped young women.all the ingredients for a great action story and a gentle romance.

Kaed Turner didn't arrive in time to save Marshal Mitch Beckley from being murdered by outlaw Drew Fallon nor could he prevent the deaths of Choctaw chief Standing Bear's two granddaughters. He barely got away with his own life and if it hadn't been for the chief's help, he probably would've died. Taken by the Choctaw to the woman they call Fire Eyes, Kaed is in no condition to do anything but lie helpless as she attempts to keep him from dying. While he recovers, however, he finds himself with emotions other than gratitude for widow Jessica Munroe, emotions he'd told himself he had no right to feel and never expected to experience again.

Never one to lean on another, Kaed finds himself forced to accept Jessi's kindness. It's difficult for a strong man to be so helpless as to rely on a woman, to lean on her and draw on her own resolve to give him enough strength to recover. They are two lonely people, drawn together by pain and bereavement, reaching out to each other, and pretty soon, without even realizing it, Kaed is only in love with Jessi and she with him. Though both know he'll be leaving as soon as he's well, to once more track Fallon and his men, they begin a tentative and delicate love affair, binding them more closely than either expects.

When Kaed's lawmen friends-old army buddies and untried recruit Frank Hayes-arrive, having learned too late he's gone to help Marshal Beckley, they see quick enough how much in love with Jessi he is and envy him what's he found. Nevertheless, Kaed goes with them when they once more take up Fallon's trail and they don't try to talk him out of it. It's his duty as a lawman and his right as an honorable man to bring this cowardly killer to justice since Kaed's association with Fallon goes back many years, to the War between the States when both were soldiers. Now, however, Kaed has two goals in mind-to stop Fallon once and for all, and to live to begin a new life with Jessi. Kaed promises to return to Jessi when he's done what he has to do, and he rides away, not knowing he's leaving behind not only his woman but also his unborn child.

What follows is a saga of violence and death where good men die and bad men get their just desserts, heartbroken men learn to live again and young men become seasoned adults, friends are lost and things more precious are gained. Fire Eyes is a page right out of the Old West's history but it's not a trite cliché. It's a story of a love found in the midst of violence and of hope for the future for anyone who dares take a chance. Cheryl Pierson's story is an Eppie awards finalist and rightly so. I couldn't wait to read it and now I'm glad I did.

ONE GREAT READ! If you love western romance, check it out!

Here's what Got Erotic Romance? reviewer Olivia had to say in part about FIRE EYES, my debut novel!

This is the story you want to curl up by a fire with on a rainy day... The world building was wonderful, I had the whole story playing vividly in my mind. The hero and heroine's chemistry was believable, and I enjoyed 'watching' their love story unfold...it's a definite must read for any historical romance fan!

Thank you Olivia for this great 4.75 review (for the full review, see their website). I hope you all enjoy reading FIRE EYES!

The Fire is Dead

I am so glad to be done with this book! It is not like me to be harsh towards a story, but this time, I'm going to. Primarily, what bothered me the most out of everything in the book was how Kaed and Jessica fell in love so quickly; same goes for two other characters, Frank and Tori. I understand that the book is a work of fiction, but I also feel that a story--any fictitious story--should have SOME logic to it. (I don't think very many people, in real life, fall in love within three days and/or an hour.) Secondly, I simply didn't like Kaed very much. In fact, I liked the antagonist, Fallon, more than I liked Kaed. To me, there was nothing heroic about him, and all that seemed to cross his mind was having sex with Jessica! Speaking of Jessica, too many times did she pick up a gun and not use it; she may as well have not had a gun at all. Another little thing that bugged me was the stubborness of some of the characters. Maybe I'm being too bleak, but, oh well...Nonetheless, my favorite characters above all others were the Choctaws. They were the real heroes. I feel that they should have played an even bigger part in the story than what they did; there should have been more scenes with them in it. In addition, for some reason, I feel that Dave Fallon should have been the one to finish off his brother, not Kaed. That would've made the story even more dramatic, as well as given it a bit of a twist ending.

0 out of 4 people found this review helpful.