Bound for Temptation
(Frontiers of the Heart #3)
by Tess LeSue
Publisher: Berkley Romance
Publication date: Dec. 31, 2018
Genre: Historical Romance
Rating:
From the author of Bound for Sin comes a new historical Western romance that tests life and love on the Oregon Trail.
Emma Palmer’s been a lady of the night and a gambler, a thief and a blackmailer, a liar and a peddler of sin. But mostly a lady of the night. She’s spent most of her life as the hard-as-nails, smart-talking ‘Seline’, working her way across the country to the goldfields of California, where she can finally ply her trade on her own terms. And she’s a darn good Madam, if she does say so herself. Her place is clean, her booze is cheap, and her bedrooms are fancy. But when a would-be patron won’t take no for an answer, she’s forced to fight for her life and run. And what better disguise than as a nun?
Tom Slater is a taciturn cattleman at the tail end of a long, hard season on the trail. He plans to have a quiet winter at his old family homestead in Mexico. What he doesn’t plan on is finding a foul-mouthed nun stranded in the middle of nowhere. She has sly green eyes and a way of looking at him that turns his head upside down. Tom doesn’t need to be trailsman to know that this woman will only lead to trouble.
Bound for Temptation is the third novel in the Frontiers of the Heart series. In the previous two books we watched as each of Tom’s two brothers fell in love while journeying along the Oregon Trail. Tom wasn’t a character that we saw too much of since most of the previous books were centered around the grueling travels and the various obstacles that each couple had to overcome. Tom’s story is no different. In fact, I feel like his story was the one with the biggest hurdles of all.
You see, Tom is in love with his brother’s wife. Ever since his brother Luke brought her to their small town, he’s had his sights set on her. Which is extremely awkward. So, Tom spends as much time as he can on the trail, running the business. Emma (formerly known as Seline in previous books) has probably the biggest hill to climb than anyone. She was the madam at the whorehouse that Tom’s brother, Luke, frequented when he rolled through town. In fact, Emma fancied herself in love with Luke for a time. So, yeah… these two had some issues to work out.
While we didn’t know or see too much of Tom in the previous books, Emma (aka Seline) was seen a lot. Aside from her nightly meetings with Luke in the first book, she also accompanied Matt on his journey along the trail as a form of distraction. Matt’s love interest was trying to shake a couple of sharks off her, so Seline and some of her girls accompanied the convoy to keep the men entertained and otherwise hold their attention elsewhere. So, Emma already had a tarnished reputation going into this. However, I was really interested in hearing her story, and boy did she not disappoint.
Like the previous books, the woman is trying to outrun a man who’s chasing her, and enlists the help of a passing Slater brother. In this case, Tom gets wrangled into helping a couple of nuns and a grieving senorita with her daughter across the country to a convent. Little does he know that the nuns are non-other than Seline (Madam to the local whorehouse), and a couple of her employees. Obviously, Tom is horrified by his growing attraction to Sister Emma. Which of course makes for an amusing read.
I really liked that the hurdles these characters faced was a bit taboo. I mean, a brother in love with his sister-in-law and a whore who thought she was in love with his brother? However, I felt like the author did a great job giving each of these characters a voice to be heard and understood. One thing I wish was a bit different would have to be the ending. It felt rather abrupt given all the build-up to it. I would have liked to have seen Emma living her life a little bit more and establishing herself in the community some before the story ended. However, I’m holding out hope that this won’t be the last we see of Emma.
Previous reviews from Frontiers of the Heart
Bound for Eden
Bound for Sin
That would be an awkward situation to be in. Sounds like a good story.
I do like it when authors touch on taboo topics and sounds like this author did a unique twist on this topic. A shame about the ending though.
Sounds like this family keeps on giving.
sherry @ fundinmental
I read the first book in this series and enjoyed it. I do plan to read this book along with the second book when I get the chance. I am kind of excited that Seline is in the spotlight in this one. I do think that a more complete ending would be preferred.
Seline really won me over in this one, and I didn’t think she would. But I had other issues with the book that kept me from falling in love with it. I am hoping we see Deathrider’s book. if not, I may riot. 😉
Great review.
Oh I have the first two. Need to get to those. Sounds like a pretty good read even with the not so perfect ending.