Ronda Thompson: Prickly Pear

Leisure (Paperback), ISBN 0-8439-4624-5

“It was a whore house.” That’s how the book begins. Now, I ask you, does Ronda Thompson know how to jump-start a historical romance or what?

From there, the book leaps feet first into immediate action — and not the kind that involves the girls in the back room either. Camille Cordell, less formally known as “the Prickly Pear of the Texas Panhandle,” likes to wear boys’ clothes and cheat at cards. Or she did, until one of the whore house patrons catches her in the act and tries to carve her like a pumpkin.

Wade Langtry rescues “the boy” before “he” gets hurt, but Wade can’t resist taking the spoiled, smart-mouthed kid down a notch or two by giving “him” the paddling “he” so richly deserves. As you might guess, Camille doesn’t take kindly to Wade’s peculiar form of gallantry. Then the fun really begins. The plot leaps, crow hops, sashays and executes all manner of devious and convoluted maneuvers, driving the reader ever harder and faster, and setting the stage for a host of sizzling sexual shenanigans.

The Prickly Pear has reasons for her acts. She believes herself responsible for her brother’s death and the accident that left her father a cripple. Camille will do anything to regain her father’s love, even if it means seducing Wade.

Wade’s past haunts him too. In order to bury it, he must make Camille’s ranch, the Circle C, his own. But a Prickly Pear stands firmly in his way.

In Camille and Wade, Thompson creates two well-drawn, evenly matched, believable and likable characters. Obviously made for each other, Camille and Wade act like Lucifer matches and sandpaper. Put them together and some kind of fire will surely erupt. Prickly Pear is a conflagration, a great read and a keeper for sure.

Patricia Lucas White

Patricia Lucas White’s latest historical novel, To Last a Lifetime, was an Eppie finalist for 2003. To Last a Lifetime and two of her fantasy romances, the Sapphire Award-winning A Wizard Scorned and The Godmother Sanction, can be ordered through Hard Shell Word Factory. Her recent contemporary, PS, I’ve Taken a Lover, is available from Lionhearted Books.