Audra Pearsall has very good reasons for not allowing the railway to put tracks across her land. However Ethan Hardesty is determined to get the railway through - even though someone is vandalising the track. ( )

Behind His Blue Eyes is the first of the historical romance series, Heroes of Heartbreak Creek, but you need to have read The Runaway Brides series first. Most of those characters are in this book as soon as the hero and heroine arrive in Heartbreak Creek, and much of the story is about them. The first half of the book, after the intro, is quite dry. The serial killer plot livened things up towards the end. The epilogue is not about the main characters (they are mentioned) but rather one of the other couples, which is indicative of how odd this read was.
Do not judge a book by this (hard)cover though, it looks like a contemporary romance with a very contemporary looking guy (hair and clothes) and the title "Behind His Blue Eyes" doesn't seem to fit either. ( )

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Audra Pearsall is running from her home in Baltimore to give her ailing father a better chance. Audra, her father and their two servants end up in a small town called Heartbreak Creek. On their arrival they are repeatedly rescued by someone else running from his past, Ethan Hardesty. Unfortunately it would seem that Ethan wants the only home they have and Audra is not willing to give it to him. Then bad things start happening. Is this the work of Mr. Hardesty trying to get their land or something much more threatening going on?

Opening Sentence: “Another letter come today.”

The Review:

Audra Pearsall’s entire life is falling apart. Her father is ailing and there is no money to take care of her household which includes her, her father and their two elderly servants, Winnie and Curtis. To save her household from starving Audra takes a risk that could put her in jail, leaving no one to watch her father besides Winnie and Curtis. When it seems her secret will be found out Audra packs everything up and moves them all to a little nothing town called Heartbreak Creek. Things are about to change in this quiet little town though when the railroad decides to come through the town and wants to come right past her front door. When the handsome man from the railroad comes to buy her out she refuses him even though he makes her weak in the knees. Unfortunately, someone is out to stop the railroad at any cost – even murder. Ethan Hardesty goes from wanting to buy Audra out to wanting to protect her from everything, including himself.

I loved Audra, she was the type of woman I have always wanted to be. She is strong, smart, loyal and fearless. When her father becomes sick and it is up to her to take care of him she does not crumble or just marry the first man to come along. Instead she takes over her father’s job in secret and is able to put food on the table at the cost that if she is found out she could be arrested. Then when she moves her household and it seems nothing can go right she calmly asks Ethan who she has just met to shoot her. She does not cry or beg for help. Many people would have put their father in a home if they were in a similar position, but Audra would rather take care of him even when he is having a bad day than see him separated from those he knows. Then when her home is destroyed she picks herself up again and keeps on going. The best part about her though is she is willing to step in to save a Chinese boy from being whipped even when it means that the man whipping him would turn his anger onto her.

Ethan is many women’s dream man. He is tall, good looking in a fair sense, has a sense of humor and can be boyish and charming when he wants to be. He does have a secret that still haunts him three years after the fact in both his dreams and in his real life. The disaster that occurred to leave him with his secret has also made him want to avoid woman, especially Audra who always seems to be getting into some trouble or the other. No matter what his intentions when it turns out that Audra owns the last bit of land he needs to get the railroad through that he works for they are thrust together over and over again. Audra may be the key to saving Ethan from the past or the reason he goes past the point of no return.

This book was really good. It is a western, a romance and a mystery all in one. The author, Kaki Warner, is very good at combining the three in a way that really draws you in. I usually do not care for westerns and will only read certain mysteries but this worked so well together that I couldn’t wait to see what happened next. Usually with mysteries, I can figure out pretty early on who is the bad guy but in this one I did not figure it out until the author decided to reveal it. I recommend this book to adults who enjoy all different genres. Also, I liked this book so much I think I am going to go read the series she wrote before this one, The Runaway Brides Series.

Notable Scene:

Alarmed, Audra sought out Mr. Driscoll and asked what was amiss.

“Another fire, the harried man said, tossing a long canvas pipe with a portable hand pump into the back of a wagon filled axes, shovels, rakes and leaking water barrels. “A big one. Better be ready to run if the wind pushes it down the canyon into town.”

FTC Advisory: Berkley/Penguin provided me with a copy of Behind His Blue Eyes. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )

Overall Rating: 2.85 // Action: 3.0 / Emotion: 3.0 / Romance: 3.0 / Sensuous: 0.5 / Suspense: 4.0 // Historical Flavor: 4.0 // Laughter: 2 / Grins: 4 // Tears: 0 / Teary: 0

Important Note:
This review is based upon the "Advanced Reader Copy".

Updated this review (08-11-13) because I gave it an extra point simply to be kind to an author that writes beautifully and comes across as extremely personable. It was impossible to let the 3.85 rating stand because it was not honest -- it was gratuitous. After thinking about the many gratuitous and Public Relations reviews that have caused me to dismiss such reviews as being invalid -- not something to use as a guide about whether the book is truly worth reading -- I decided to be authentic.

Behind His Blue Eyes: 2.85:
Another of Kaki Warner's well-written, entertaining books. However, the storyline was slow moving and lacked that intense emotional connection to the protagonists that makes for a truly excellent read. This is not Warner's best work.

Hero: 3.0:
Ethan Hardesty: It was difficult to understand where Ethan was coming from, thus difficult to form a cohesive connection with him. Yes, it was wonderful to read about a handsome honorable hero who wanted to make things right and to look after the people in his care, but the lack of background information about Ethan before his disastrous encounter with Eunice Eckhart three years ago left behind a feeling of incompleteness.

Heroine: 3.0:
Audra Pearsall: Did not feel a connection to this spunky, forthright heroine who was given a very full plate to handle. She {1} was the sole support of four, {2} was not willing to institutionalize her father who was suffering from dementia, {3} was falling in love with a railroad man, and {4} was learning how to become friends with the women of Heartbreak Creek.

Story Line: 4.0:
Very intricate, detailed story line featuring {1} a man who suffered a debilitating blow during his first venture into love, {2} a Baltimore woman who must move her unique family to the almost ghost town of Heartbreak Creek, Colorado, and {3} a villain who is trying to stop the railroad from laying track through the area.

Action: 3.0:
There was not an over-abundance of the wild, wild west kind of action taking place. The book featured a more sedate, but steady pace of the everyday occurrences that were happening in currently bedeviled efforts to build a railway line through Heartbreak Creek Canyon.

Emotion: 3.0:
Sadly neither Ethan nor Audra inspired that deep emotional connection between reader and character that makes for an excellent read.

Romance: 3.0:
The romance that developed between Ethan, who was feeling unworthy, and Audra, who was more concerned with taking care of her family was nicely interwoven throughout the tale.

Sensuous: 0.5:
As expected, this book features more innuendo than sensuality. No spice or sizzle in the love scene.

Suspense: 4.0:
Warner included a variety of different intriguing threads in the story that increased the suspenseful nature of the plot; namely, {1} a vindictive former suitor, {2} a slowly-revealed story about a former lover, {3} a villain's efforts to stop the railroad, {4} a whip-wielding foreman, and {5} a biased newspaperman.

Secondary Characters: 3.0:
Warner did an admirable job of developing certain secondary characters to such a degree that they inspired laughter (Doctor Boyce) and an interest in reading their story (Rayford "Rafe" Jessup). On the other hand, there were certain other key characters that felt under-developed and under-described (Professor Pearsall, Curtis and Winnie Abraham). The inclusion of characters that were introduced in Warner's 'The Runaway Brides Trilogy' added a 'back home' flavor to the story.

Historical Flavor: 4.0:
Warner does an excellent job of describing the Colorado countryside and featuring the problems railroad men faced during the construction process. Warner successfully took readers back to 1871, but there were times when actions and words from the characters felt a bit modern.

See Wolf Bear Does Books (http://goo.gl/c5oz6j) for a more in-depth, detailed review of Behind His Blue Eyes. ( )