Early Dawn-Catherine Anderson

Early Dawn
Catherine Anderson
Signet, Dec 29 2009, $7.99
ISBN: 9780451228741

In 1887 the vicious Sebastian gang killed his wife of five years Olivia after gang raping her. For the next three years Matthew Coulter has lived for one thing only: vengeance.

In 1890 her engagement to John Parrish ends when his high society parents rejected her lineage and spread gossip about her illegitimate birth. Selling their house, Eden Paxton accompanied by her mom Dory leaves San Francisco by train to spend time with her brother Ace Keegan (see Keegan’s Lady) and his wife in Colorado. She never makes her destination as the Pacific Express heading to Denver is robbed and she is taken for pleasure and to be sold in Mexico.

Matthew tracks down the gang of robbers and rescues Eden. Instead of begging him to escort her to Ace, she joins him on his vendetta. As they fall in love, each looks back at what motivated them to go after the Sebastian gang.

This exciting sequel is fast-paced from the moment the heroine is abducted and never slows down until the final confrontation. The cast is solid especially the lead couple and the vile gang whose nastiness is evident from witnesses like Matthew’s family and by readers when they debate taking Eden in their camp or keeping her pure for sale south of the border. Although the cast is somewhat stereotyped, Catherine Anderson provides a strong American romance as life in the Old West can prove dangerous but also can foster love.

Harriet Klausner