Prodigal Gun

Want to read a book with incredible dialogue and descriptions so detailed you feel as if you're living the story?  This is way more then a romance.  It's Texas history.  It's a range war...sheep, cattle,  barbed wire...gunmen...a whisper of Gettysburg....I loved this book!!!

Following the Civil War, Jessie Caine has been raising her daughter alone at the Hard Eights, a ranch in Texas. She's both tough and heartbroken. When the reason for that despair appears on her doorstep--Mason Caine, the man she's always loved and her husband's brother--she's stunned. Believing Mason was dead, she must now come to terms with this new version of the man to which she once gave her heart. But Mason has secrets of his own, not the least of which is an alias known as Calhoun, a hired gun with a reputation that threatens his safety at every turn. Loving Jessie and staying with her are options he's hard-pressed to resolve. This is a novel with a full western tilt, along with a steamy romance sure to please. This is Ms. Adams' first novel-length story and it doesn't disappoint. While the descriptions and historical detail are well-researched, it's the redemption of bad-boy Mason at which Adams excels. You'll be rooting for him at the end, and for the peace that he can only find with Jessie.

From the first page to the last the author gives you one tail spin of a read. Misunderstanding leads a good man bad or does it? One man fights to put his past behind him as a woman does the same. So many ghosts to overcome, so many lies to hide between this couple. Jessie finds the only man she ever loved isn’t dead but he is not the men she loved, he has too many secrets he is hiding behind as does she. I totally loved this read the author gives a compelling story of love lost which might be too late to get back. A family broken through lost, betrayal can love live again, come along and take a ride as this family tries to put their life back together before it is to late. Each most go through a lot before they can even think about being one. Jessie buried her childhood love in a grave without his body, married his brother and had a child. Many years later her husband is dead, her sweetheart returns wanting answers she cannot give. There are trying times ahead as she goes through trying to work out her feelings, life with gunslingers, cattlemen with hot tempters who want to bring down a sheep farmer and a lawman who wants her heart. Calhoun bitter by his brother betrayal gets shot and goes home to a surprise Jessie who thought he was dead. His life hasn’t been easy and is about to get tougher as he sees the only women he ever loved. It is to late to be the man he once was he can only try to protect the lady he loves. He has a job to do as a hired gun and do it he will at all cost but one Jessie will have what she needs and then he will leave broken hearted for sure. I loved the twists and turns the author gives us with a few surprises. Her writing style is easy to follow. This was a book I had trouble putting down. She knows her history well as she tells a story that could have been right out of the history pages. The author paints a story so real you can almost smell the flowers and hear the birds. You feel the emotions of some wonderful characters they almost feel real. Lawman to outlaw you are going to love them. There are wonderful support characters these are people who fight to keep what is theirs and the men who take what they want. As I read I cheer for so many and are torn between who will win Jessie hand. This story has a touching ending that will almost bring tears to your eyes. The author gives you so much heartbreak, pain and sorrow that you wonder if things will work out. Then she gives you a wonderful HEA but you still wonder if it would have went the other way how things might have ended. Ms. Adams has me hooked for the first page to the last leaving me with a few OHs and a lot of smiles and laughs along the way. I look forward to reading more of her wonderful work. If you haven’t read any of her books you are missing out with a wonderful powerful story of long ago which is a pretty clean read.

Reviewed by Tina Gibbons for Readers' Favorite Kathleen Rice Adams brings to life a heartwarming tale and action packed suspense in Prodigal Gun. Jessie Caine earned her right to the ranch she loved more than anything in the world - and not only because she married Will, the wrong Caine brother. She worked hard as any man to keep the ranch going and even bred a new line of cattle. She believed the hope of marrying her true love, Mason Caine, had died on a battlefield sixteen years earlier but she was wrong. Mason lived and a bitterness grew inside him, nurtured by a sense of his brother's and Jessie's betrayal. He could waltz in and take over; he owned the place. But, he wouldn't put Jessie in the crossfire of all the guns pointing at him. With tension rising over a range war and the secrets unfolding about the past, Jessie and Mason clash and come together with equally potent force. Jessie Caine is one of the strongest female characters I've ever encountered. Mason Caine is one of the most serious and angry. When they come together, it's like touching a lit match to paper; boy, do they burn. The story of their beginning and the misunderstanding that lies beneath the surface boils under Mason's skin. That anger flashes and sparks into desire, longing, need, and love. Theirs is a romance truly unlike another, and I highly enjoyed that element of the story. The setting is beautiful; Ms. Adams has a knowledge that allows her to weave a scene with words that make me believe I'm standing in it. She cleverly adds twists that keep my enjoyment and interest piqued throughout the entire story line. I was highly entertained by Prodigal Gun. I recommend it as a captivating read and Kathleen Rice Adams as a talented author.

I was glued to the pages as soon as I started reading Prodigal Gun. This is the first book of Kathleen’s I’ve read, and her ability to put the reader right ‘there’ in the story, where you can smell the prairie flowers, taste the biscuits, and feel the Texas heat, well it’s brilliant! It really is the best western book I’ve read in a while. This is why I love westerns!! Thank you Kathleen ♥ You can be sure I'll be reading more of her books.

COMING HOME AT LAST This is a captivating mystery and love story with a plot full of twist and turns that will keep the reader in suspense and the pages turning. Widow Jessie Caine struggles trying to keep the family ranch running, yet it has gone into disrepair over the years. Working with neighboring rancher, Noah, raising Langus cattle, an Angus and Longhorn mix. Coming face to face with the love of her life, Mason Caine, who had been reported dead during the war between the states in April 1861 is the beginning of a mystery. This story has so many redeeming features, and detailed descriptions of strong people with a love of their land, family and ranch, heroes and heroines, but also has evil that lurks and brings about destruction, a good man who loves a woman, but she doesn't love him back. There is something about a first love, even after sixteen years that still hasn't died. But sometimes one must walk away to protect what they love. Greed is so consuming, when is enough, enough? How many deaths before your past catches up with you? Being a legend is not always a good thing, especially when it places a target on you. Yes, I love when the good guy wins and gets the girl.  This story does have some moderately steamy sex scenes in it, but nothing overly graphic. Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts, opinions and ratings are my own. 

I'm in a book slump..came across this book , did my research on different sites...all 5 stars, perfect book with action, passion good romance...so I gave it a try...the book starts really good..kinda slowed a little In the middle...there was only 1 love scene and this book didn't have a great passion..it was lacking for me...it feel the book should have been centered more on there romance and forgive Ness and more love scenes than riding the property's checking fences...this writer had so lb much more potential ...parts just fell flatt for me...it's a romance book and the great love of your life rides up 16 years later and he is mad as hell you married his brother and had a kid....hello..she should have told him in the beginning it was all a lie...also didn't care for uppity Lilly ...snotty little witch..also they should of told Lilly the truth....really she is old enough to get married and have a baby at 15, but not old enough for the truth.. the book is a good read if your more into ranch life, a few accidents, 1 love scene wich was lacking for me. This book was more like a 3.5

This isn't a "cowboy" type, this is powerful romantic western with a lot of suspense, mystery and roller coaster rides. I loved it and it was very well written. I was laughing, crying, holding my breath and my heart and loved the twist and turns it had in it. The details in it made it so real you could smell the lavender and hear the mockingbirds. You could also cringe at the fear that a few of the characters threw at you and also feel the love the emotion that others had to share. This would make a beautiful exciting movie that would have you on the end of your seat with a box of tissues by your side. Jessie is a strong beautiful woman that has held the love in her heart for a man that has been dead for 16 years, or has he? She is trying to hold a ranch together in a man's world with a heart that aches from memories of a past love. Calhoun, a gunslinger, with cold eyes and heart from the war and all the killing that happened. His heart isn't dead though, he had left that with a woman years ago . Will it still be safe or is he to hard and cold to ever know the smell of lavender and the sound of mockingbirds again. Will fate return their heart back to them or will they be gone forever in The Prodigal Gun?