A Kiss to Die for

Rating:
Summary: Great romantic suspense set in historical Abilene KS
Review: AKTDF is a great suspense and romance book. It has just enough of both to make the book interesting. I have always thought that Dain was a good but uneven writer. In AKTDF, Dain's writing is at her best. Her tendency toward repetition is not as noticeable. Her prose isn't overwrought. She does have the same type of over the top, dramatic ending, but she laid a sufficient basis that it was almost necessary to have the characters give a dramatic gesture.

Anne Ross is a young woman (18) living with her mother, aunt and grandmother. She is unmarried and dreams of leaving Abilene KS for somewhere else. Her grandmother, Daphne, rules their household. Anne, after years of strict upbringing, lacks a bit of grit. She is not uncertain about what she wants though. She sees Jack Skull and likes him immediately. Jack Skull/Scullard is a bounty hounter that brings a wanted man to Abilene. Bounty hunters are despised and feared. Jack says that he is hunting a killer of young women all the way up to Abilene. Abilene is where the trail ends. There is one line at the end of the chapter after Jack finds another body in which Dain says that death is coming to Abilene. It was chilling. There are scenes in which the deaths are described, the bodies are described, but rather than being gratuitous or ugly, each description advances the story.

Anne really isn't spineless but comports herself as you would expect a proper young woman to comport herself. She and Jack are immediately taken with each other - so much so that Anne and Jack kiss on the train platform in front of the train station attendant. The trail of gossip that ensues is hilarious as we follow the train station attendant to the saloon wherein he reports that Jack is kissing Anne! Of course, the bartender tells the next person that walks in who tells someone else and so forth. The justification that each person gives him or herself for spreading the gossip is delicious.

The suspense isn't just who discovering the killer, but also the reason for Jack's reticence and Anne's trips to meet the train as it comes into Abilene. The romance was sweet and worked well within the confines of the story. You never felt that the characters should be worried about the killer, rather than their relationsip because the balance was so perfectly drawn.

Jack talks and acts like a man, not a woman's version of a man. Anne is a lesser character but not so much that I was irritated by it. Dain does a great job in the imagery of the story, so much so that my mouth felt dry and dusty when I was reading it. This is a book that even contemporary suspense readers who haven't ever read a historical book would enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Great romantic suspense set in historical Abilene KS
Review: AKTDF is a great suspense and romance book. It has just enough of both to make the book interesting. I have always thought that Dain was a good but uneven writer. In AKTDF, Dain's writing is at her best. Her tendency toward repetition is not as noticeable. Her prose isn't overwrought. She does have the same type of over the top, dramatic ending, but she laid a sufficient basis that it was almost necessary to have the characters give a dramatic gesture.

Anne Ross is a young woman (18) living with her mother, aunt and grandmother. She is unmarried and dreams of leaving Abilene KS for somewhere else. Her grandmother, Daphne, rules their household. Anne, after years of strict upbringing, lacks a bit of grit. She is not uncertain about what she wants though. She sees Jack Skull and likes him immediately. Jack Skull/Scullard is a bounty hounter that brings a wanted man to Abilene. Bounty hunters are despised and feared. Jack says that he is hunting a killer of young women all the way up to Abilene. Abilene is where the trail ends. There is one line at the end of the chapter after Jack finds another body in which Dain says that death is coming to Abilene. It was chilling. There are scenes in which the deaths are described, the bodies are described, but rather than being gratuitous or ugly, each description advances the story.

Anne really isn't spineless but comports herself as you would expect a proper young woman to comport herself. She and Jack are immediately taken with each other - so much so that Anne and Jack kiss on the train platform in front of the train station attendant. The trail of gossip that ensues is hilarious as we follow the train station attendant to the saloon wherein he reports that Jack is kissing Anne! Of course, the bartender tells the next person that walks in who tells someone else and so forth. The justification that each person gives him or herself for spreading the gossip is delicious.

The suspense isn't just who discovering the killer, but also the reason for Jack's reticence and Anne's trips to meet the train as it comes into Abilene. The romance was sweet and worked well within the confines of the story. You never felt that the characters should be worried about the killer, rather than their relationsip because the balance was so perfectly drawn.

Jack talks and acts like a man, not a woman's version of a man. Anne is a lesser character but not so much that I was irritated by it. Dain does a great job in the imagery of the story, so much so that my mouth felt dry and dusty when I was reading it. This is a book that even contemporary suspense readers who haven't ever read a historical book would enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: A good read
Review: I have not read a Dain book in awhile and did not know what to expect. As the other reviewer, I am not one for Westerns, but did enjoy this one. The characters were well developed, even though I spent a good part of the book being annoyed at the dependent personality of Anne. Good devlopment of the secondary characters, and this important since the story takes part in a small dying town in Kansas. Loved the hero, Jack. The mystery was pretty good too. Was worth it to read.

Rating:
Summary: A kiss to live for!
Review: I really enjoyed Claudia Dain's TO BURN, but A KISS TO DIE FOR is light-years beyond that. Very strong in creating characters, leads and supporting, Claudia score of powerhouse knock out with this Western. And when you compared the two heroines it is amazing. In TO BURN, her heroine is a warrior woman in spirit, willing to die rather than be conquered. Anne Ross is precisely the opposite.

Dain's writing is mesmerizing. Let's say I am not a big fan of Westerns. Give me a Highlander in a Kilt or a Knight in Amour and I am one happy lassie. From the start, this book hooked me and would not let me go. I would get SO exasperated with Anne's "yes, ma'am"s that it about made me scream, but Dain balanced Anne's timid mouse with a gamma rouge of Anne Stuart's bad boy league quality: a bounty hunter the whole town of Abilene shuns. Jack Scullard was such a marvelous character that he kept me reading even when Anne ticked me off. Anne lets the whole town treat her like some half-wit, her grandmother demoralize her and browbeat her, so I wanted to smack her. But Anne slowly starts to change, as does the whole town, after Jack comes to stay, and her slow transformation from a milquetoast to a grown woman who will fight for what she wants keeps you spellbound to the end.

Anne Ross meets every train that comes to Abilene, watching, waiting. So she is there when Jack Scullard comes to town, shoving his latest bounty prisoner before him. The whole town is ready to jump and blame Jack for everything happening in the town, and he does little to correct this reputation. When it slowly becomes knowledge there is a serial killer following the old cattle trail, killing young beautiful women as he goes, suspicions falls on Jack. Or is it Bill doing the killing, the sly land dealer who courts Anne when he comes to town?

Anne lives in a house of abandoned women. Her grandfather left her grandmother, though we could hardly blame him. Her father left her mother; a lawman that turned bad and became an outlaw. Her uncle left her aunt, driven off by a woman too weak to stand up to her mother. And Anne, a beautiful woman too timid of her own shadow, watching the trains coming and going in her life, waiting, hoping for someone to come or to someday get enough spine to run away from a house of abandoned women, from a town that was dying.

At first, she hopes to use Jack to scare Bill away from proposing marriage, but she is drawn to Jack. But she knows to love a man is to watch him leave and never come back, to grow old before your time. Jack is on the trail of the killer and will not rest until him catching him. Jack knows he is not the kinds of a man a woman like Anne wants, but that does not stop him from wanting her, and from being determined to protect her.

Anne and Jack will take over your heart. The mystery is strong enough, but does not overpower the romance. The writing is vivid, rich in historical details, provocative, moving, mesmerizing, and once again, shows Dorchester Publishing has some of the best writers around and gives them the freedom to produce works from the heart that are fresh and original.

Rating:
Summary: engaging Western romance
Review: Legendary bounty hunter Jack Skull arrives in Abilene seeking a serial killer stalking women in the area. To Anne Ross, Jack is the MAN, as he seems so exciting. Anne especially notices the way people healthily avoid Jack and that when he forces interaction, most people are uncomfortable around him until they can safely get away from him. Knowing that failed marriages run throughout her family and she doesn't want to add to the family legacy, Anne believes he can keep her from marrying someone she refuses to spend her life with.

Jack has enough on his plate tracking the murderer who has killed young ladies' all over the state. He has no time for this innocent miss, but also feels he needs to keep the feisty Anne safe from his prey as she fits the victims' profile. However, insuring her safety from a killer seems mild compared to keeping her protected from him.

This is an engaging Western romance that stars two delightful lead protagonists who the audience will cherish. Jack is an intriguing hero who believes he has crossed the line too often for Anne to love him. Anne is an intrepid individual who loves deeply but does not trust in forever. Though the final emergency seems improbable, readers will relish this charming story.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: engaging Western romance
Review: Legendary bounty hunter Jack Skull arrives in Abilene seeking a serial killer stalking women in the area. To Anne Ross, Jack is the MAN, as he seems so exciting. Anne especially notices the way people healthily avoid Jack and that when he forces interaction, most people are uncomfortable around him until they can safely get away from him. Knowing that failed marriages run throughout her family and she doesn't want to add to the family legacy, Anne believes he can keep her from marrying someone she refuses to spend her life with.

Jack has enough on his plate tracking the murderer who has killed young ladies' all over the state. He has no time for this innocent miss, but also feels he needs to keep the feisty Anne safe from his prey as she fits the victims' profile. However, insuring her safety from a killer seems mild compared to keeping her protected from him.

This is an engaging Western romance that stars two delightful lead protagonists who the audience will cherish. Jack is an intriguing hero who believes he has crossed the line too often for Anne to love him. Anne is an intrepid individual who loves deeply but does not trust in forever. Though the final emergency seems improbable, readers will relish this charming story.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Engrossing
Review: This book kept me up until 2 AM, I just couldn't put it down. I don't usually read westerns and I've never read Ms. Dain before, so this was wonderful surprise. Though Anne's character was often frustrating, it was believable and well done--and it also made possible the efforts of an amazing hero, determined to make her stand up for herself and defend herself if it's the last thing he does. This is one of those books that really has it all--a good plot, complex characters, and lyrical writing. I'm dying to read some more of Ms. Dains books to see if she captures medieval England as well as she did the old west. Though I read and enjoy historical romances frequently, I rarely come across romances that deliver more than escape and enjoyment--this book ranks up there with Laura Kinsale and Connie Brockway in that it delivers much more than a simple escape--but a wonderful story and characters that stick with you long after the story is over.