Historical Western Romance
Class Act Books
November 14, 2014
270
Reviewed by: Linda Tonis
Member of the Paranormal Romance Review Team
In 1897, Rosarita, Texas, Luke Brennan walked into the Little Nugget Saloon and shot the owner Race Jago to death. After the shooting, he told the men to get the sheriff. He went willingly to the jail and never said a word as to why he did what he did. He accepted his fate, hanging until he was dead without a word or sign of regret.
While in prison a young deputy, Kip Wakefield tried to get Brennan to discuss why he killed a man in cold blood, but once again Luke refused to talk. Refusing to let Luke go to his death with no one to talk to he insisted that Luke talk. Luke saw the deputy cared. He wasn’t after a story to tell the world he was after the truth; the truth is what Luke told him.
It began when Luke’s father, Michael and his friend, Carl, moved to a small town in Nebraska, Eden’s Plain. This town was a place where those who didn’t believe in slavery or the war that was coming went to live peaceful lives. Michael was disowned but he built a wonderful life in Eden’s Plain with his wife, Alice. When Luke was twelve years old, his parents both died and if it weren’t for Carl and his wife, Luke would have joined them.
Carl and his wife took Luke in and treated him like a son. When he was old enough, he went back to his father’s ranch and began to rebuild it. Luke was not very knowledgeable about women. When he met Laughter, a Pawnee girl, he had no idea that the one time they did it he would become a father. At age fourteen, he was left with a baby to raise. He took his son, Chance, and made the ranch prosperous. The only thing that Luke didn’t have was a wife.
During a visit to Georgia, Luke met a lawyer who advised of him of an inheritance from his uncle. This uncle, a man he never met, brought Luke face to face with the woman of his dreams, Marietta. Marietta was half his age, but they were in love and ready to build a life together. Everything in Luke’s life was wonderful, a son and a wife he loved and a prosperous ranch, the only thing in the negative column were the Raiders who attacked and destroyed.
The rest of Luke’s story is something you will have to find out for yourself, but be prepared some of it is not happy. There was a reason Luke killed Race and that is what Luke’s story is about. I loved learning about Luke and what made him a killer, he was a wonderful man who had a wonderful life so what changed?