First 2/3rds of the book were very good. The flavor of the Old West was very well done. This wasn't just a wallpaper history read. The characterizations were very well done and quite in depth. The people were multidimensional. There were bits of humor and angst and tragedy and caring. But the book just went on too long. The story seemed to end and then there was a weird unnecessary situation at the end where she left him to go back to England and he finally came for her a year later. She was pissed because he wouldn't give up his land for her. I thought she shouldn't have asked. Realistically if you love the man then you love his love for the land, that love being part of who he is. ( )

Kaki Warner was a rare find. I don't even know how I happened upon her, but I am so happy that I did ! I have read ALL of her books! She is incredibly talented at writing a series of books that flow together enjoyably. (No character left behind!) lol
She is a newer author with 2 series of 3 books each. She has more books coming out next year. To find out more about her and her wonderfull books her site is. http://www.kakiwarner.com/books.html
She also has a facebook page.
Please give her a read and fall in love with her vividly exciting loving stories! ( )

Since the first line of the book I was hooked. Brilliantly written, a wonderful plot and strong characters make this one of the best western romance novels that I have read in a long time.
From an eventful thing comes a story about the Old harsh West, land, family and courage that can only lead to love. When Jessica Thornton, an English lady running from her past life and full of secrets, the last thing that she expect his help and much more form the rough and hard man that Brady Wilkins is.
Bounded by the tragedy of their lives they need to forge a new one and left the past behind...
A five star reading for lovers of this genre. ( )

I tried this book because I heard so many people raving about this author and, while I thought it was good, I didn't fall in love with it. I have no major complaints with it either, other than I just simply didn't love it. The writing is good, the characters were fine and I liked how the plot between the hero and heroine wasn't constantly driven by misunderstandings (they actually talked to each other). And yet, while the hero had some lines/speeches that I imagine a woman might give her left arm to hear a man say to her ;), I also found myself taking breaks in my reading when something big was about to happen (if something big is about to happen my butt should be glued to my seat and my eyes to the page - I shouldn't be putting it down to go get a snack).

I've only relatively recently started reading historical westerns and I have not yet found one that I love. This may just be a genre that I will never really get into. ( )

Overall Rating: 4.90 // Action: 3.0 / Emotion: 5.5 / Romance: 5.0 / Sensuous: 1.0 / Suspense: 4.0 // Historical Flavor: 4.0 // Laughter: 13 / Grins: 5 // Tears: 14 / Teary: 3

Pieces of Sky: 4.90:
This debut book won seven well-deserved awards. Although the terminology used in the book may have had a modern ring to it sometimes ("they hooked up with Jacob"), it was easy to overlook because the character development was so outstanding and the dialogue interjected during the telling of this deeply-felt, slowly budding romance was phenomenal.

Hero: 5.0:
Brady Wilkins: Loved this huge, bold, handsome, unapologetically, 'all man' rancher. Brady had a protective streak a mile wide and even though he had some ghosts in his past, he proved that he was a man of his word, a man of integrity, and a man willing to look inside his heart to find redemption and forgiveness. Absolutely loved Brady's sense of humor.

Heroine: 4.5:
Jessica Abigail Rebecca Thornton: Could not help but be impressed with this prim and proper Englishwoman that was strong enough to flee a disastrous situation back home to seek help by searching for her brother in Socorro, New Mexico. A woman who stood up for herself, had a compassionate heart underneath a layer of steel, and was able to open her closed-off heart so she could recover from several devastating personal losses. Because Jessica should have fought for her man, there was that moment of disappointment when she delivered her ultimatum to Brady.

Story Line: 4.0:
In a very fascinating manner, Kaki Warner showed a prim and proper Englishwoman, who wrote deportment pamphlets, that being a prissy, well-dressed "gentlemen" was not the only kind of man worthy of admiration. Brady may have been a bit unkempt at times, but he proved he was a man worthy of trust and love by his actions and deeds.

Action: 3.0:
Having always enjoyed Western Romances, loved that this book was set in 1869 in the New Mexico Territory. Although the book started out with a bang, when Brady and Jessica finally ended up spending time at the RosaRoja Ranch, the excitement in story line began to lag as the romantic relationship between them began to develop.

Emotion: 5.5:
The emotions that Warner was able to wring from the readers was the pinnacle of success with this book. Warner displayed an inordinate insight into the human psyche as she had readers laughing out loud one moment and crying copious tears the next. Very few authors are able to successfully span both ends of the emotional spectrum so dynamically during the telling of their stories.

Romance: 5.0:
Loved the way Warner used entertaining dialogue and difficult circumstances between these two strong-willed protagonists to slowly build a layer of trust between them so they could lower their wounded barriers to let love enter their hearts. In spite of their very obvious differences, Brady and Jessica were finally able to find the path to their happily-ever-after.

Look at the beautiful words of love that Brady spoke to Jessica (page 308):

"You're here." He spread his palm over his heart. Inside me. Part of me forever. If I raise my hand against you, I hurt myself. If I disrespect you, I bring shame on myself. Whether you stay with me or not, that will never change. . . .
"But if you stay, Jessica, I'll never abandon you. Or lie to you. And no matter what, I'll never stop loving you. Every day, all day, for all the days I have left. That's how you fit into my life."

Sensuous: 1.0:
Quite frankly, this story lacked the spice, heat and sizzle that a good romance novel should possess. When Brady was finally able to get past Jessica's fear of male contact, their lovemaking was lackluster.

Suspense: 4.0:
Although the suspense remained ever present in the background of the story (because of the three villains portrayed on the pages of this book), it never took on a nail-biting, edge of your seat kind of intrigue that dominated the storyline.

Secondary Characters: 5.0:
Warner has a gift when it comes to developing interesting, multi-faceted secondary characters. The inclusion of these realistic members of the cast added greatly to the enjoyment of the story. In fact, they were so well-written, that one is compelled to read the next two books of the trilogy to find out more about them -- even the more minor characters like Buck and Sheriff Rikker.

Historical Flavor: 4.0:
Warner did a great job describing ranch life and painting a picture of how the countryside appeared back in 1869. However, sometimes the dialogue (particularly the innuendo) had a modernistic ring to it.

See Wolf Bear Does Books (http://goo.gl/IKdq4) for a more in-depth, detailed review of Pieces of Sky. ( )