Review: A Daring, Devoted Heart by Linda Hines

This historical western is set during the 1800's and tells of Calder who is part of a powerful New Mexican ranch family and Emeric, an ex-prince turned soldier who has sworn to protect the family after a revenge mission gone wrong brings him from Europe to New Mexico.  The two men have a powerful mutual attraction for each other but Emeric is bound by duty and honour and refuses to act on his desire for Calder.  When Emeric's horse is stolen, the two men are drawn into danger in their search for the valuable horse.

I had a mixed reaction to this novella and some bits worked for me and some didn't.  One of the things that worked for me was the unusual mixing of the two different personalities of Calder and Emeric.  Emeric is older than Calder and has seen much in his lifetime.  I liked the way that this was more than just a Western, as Emeric's past as a soldier in Europe is explored through the secondary plot of the book.  The story of how Emeric came to be in New Mexico was interesting and added much to his character, making Emeric a flawed but also sympathetic man.  Given Emeric's past and his personality, it is only natural that Calder is a little overpowered and comes across as less well characterised.  However, we see enough of the young man's determination and his bravery to make him a likeable character too.

Another aspect which worked for me was that it reminded me a little of old Western films.  The two men take a journey together and during that time come face to face with the hardships and cruelties of life in that period of history.  It's a time when men ruled over the plains, and tough decisions had to be made to survive and I very much liked the gritty feel to the story.  There's even a thrilling gun fight which was tightly written and realistically described.

What didn't work as well for me was the way that the writing swapped and changed in style during the book.  The style of the writing was divided into two types of scenes: For most of the first part of the book the men are alone together, thinking about their relationship, their love for each other and dwelling on their past.  It was during these scenes that the yearning the two men feel for each other is palpable, and I sympathised with Calder's frustration and impatience at Emeric's noble sense of duty and honour. This part was lyrical and poetical in style - perhaps a little too poetical as the prose at times veered into florid, so much so that it was difficult to be wholly immersed in the story because the overly descriptive writing was a distraction.  Then a little later in the book during the more action based scenes the prose moved much swifter and the language was simpler and in some cases coarser.  These two types of scenes sat uneasily against each other, and I often found the switch between them quite abrupt and occasionally confusing.  There was also some confusion, at least for me, in the sudden changes in time.  For example, there's a scene where Emeric and Calder are arguing which suddenly switches to Calder travelling on his own.  I hadn't found it clear up until then that the men had separated because of the sudden change in time and scene.  This sort of switch happened a lot and made the plotting a bit choppy.

Overall, this was an interesting story: The New Mexican setting was vivid; the characterisation strong and the action based scenes exciting.  It's a shame really that the ornate prose prevented me from being completely engaged with the book but this might only have been my response and other readers may not find this a problem.  As it is, I'm giving this a grade of 'Good' and can recommend it to those who are looking for a romantic western with a nice historical twist.

Buy this book HERE.