Once An Outlaw by Diana Bold

Once An Outlaw (novella)

Diana Bold
Historical Romance
Published April, 2017 (originally 2011)

H/h - Zach Price/Bethany Sinclair
Setting: Northern New Mexico, 1871.

Read in April, 2017.

My rating:

                                                    [might be spoiler-ish]

Once An Outlaw was a sweet little novella by Diana Bold. This would be my third Diana Bold book and won’t be my last one.

I won’t go into too much details since this novella is about 50/60 pages long. The story is set after Civil War. Our H, Zach, is a war veteran. Yet some unavoidable circumstances in his life made him a Wanted by the law. He escaped once but the law caught up with him again. He was being transferred to the prison when he meets our h, Bethany, on the way. Their meeting and what happened next, was as if a scene manipulated by fate. When there’s an accident, leaving them the only survivors of the wreck, both Zach and Bethany will have to find out just much they’re willing trust each-other, and figure out just how far they’re willing to go together to survive a weather so harsh and wintry that no living being could survive without proper shelter and arrangements.  With snow covering everything, Zach and Bethany forge an unwitting bond; a bond that only grew deeper as they fight on to survive.

I enjoyed this novella quite a lot, even if at times it felt that all their ‘help’ were a bit convenient. But that didn’t ruin my enjoyment because, of course, I wanted a HEA. It was well written, I’ll have to give you that. Zach and Bethany’s bond was quite strong, and believable, as they learn a lot about one another in such a short span of time while also struggling to keep alive. Sometimes the best things can happen to virtual strangers when they’re thrown in such a situation and forced to live in closed quarters. :D 3.75 stars.

Once A Gunslinger by Diana Bold

Once A Gunslinger

Diana Bold
Historical Romance
Published in 2017 (originally 2007)

H/h - Tristan Kane/Savannah McKenzie
Setting: Colorado Territory, 1871.

Read in April, 2017.

My rating:

                                               [might be spoiler-ish]

3 stars. There'll be no full review... so here's what I thought in a nutshell:

I liked another one of this author's books so I decided to give Once A Gunslinger a go. I do love western historical romances, and an outlaw hero can be very appealing for sure. However, this one disappointed me. I didn't like the hero, and didn't care much for the heroine either.

The H and the h had a past of some sort when they were young, and there were consequences of their relationship. The H went to war (Civil war I believe) and fought for the enemy side, leaving the h behind and his own family in peril. He has been sort of an outlaw ever since. There were other things too, but I won't mention them.

H and h met again years later, and that is where the actual story begins. Unfortunately, he was an a$$ who decided he liked being a jerk to the heroine for what she did to save her reputation so long ago. He wanted to make her suffer because 'he was suffering as well'. His grudge, she married his now deceased brother and didn't wait for him. -_- However, if you read you will see that the fault wasn't hers at all. She had to do what she had to do, and she wasn't even a good wife to the brother who obviously cared for her because she still loved the H. The H even realizes that at one point but keeps on being a jerk until the last couple of pages of the book. The h, I wanted her to ditch this a$$ and look for a better man. But she was still so enamored of him that she continued being a doormat and took what he dished out almost without any argument at all. I could NOT understand exactly why? WHY?! :/

Their romance was not convincing to say the least. Believe me, I tried but I failed to see any HEA with such a hotheaded, impetuous a$$ for a hero. In the end, the argument that he was being a jerk cause he was afraid to acknowledge his feelings didn't float my boat either. Not my cup of tea, sorry. 3 stars because otherwise, the writing was very good and I thought this could've been better. Also, I really liked some of the secondary characters such as the heroine's brothers. I'd be more interested in their stories!

Note that this is a reissue of the author's earlier work, Savannah's Hero.

Once A Pirate by Diana Bold

Once A Pirate

Diana Bold
Historical Romance
Published in 2017 (originally 2006)

H/h - Talon Montgomery/Lady Kathryn Sinclair
Setting: London, 1810.

Read in February, 2017.

My rating:

                                                      [spoiler alert]

I picked up Once a Pirate pretty much on a whimsy. I liked the cover and was quite intrigued by the blurb. I thought it was going to be a darker-toned historical romance and I wanted to find out more. Even though this didn’t quite turn out to be what I was expecting for, I’m not disappointed at all. On the contrary, I enjoyed the story a lot.

As the blurb mentions, the current Earl of Sutcliffe was going nuts to have an heir. His own son, the heir to earldom, Daniel, isn’t up to the task. He’s not interested in women. Even though the Earl had married him rather forcefully to a pretty, young and well-bred girl, his worthless son has not shown one ounce of interest in her. And it was pretty much killing the Earl that he couldn’t get his much coveted heir to the earldom, to extend the Sutcliffe name to another generation. But that can really go on forever! To get what he wanted, the Earl makes a plan and promptly puts the wheel of this into motion. This is where our actual story begins...