I discovered this book through a r/RomanceBooks post on Reddit for "the best worst heroes in historical romance". TW: rape in the past, multiple on-screen deaths, death of a baby, rape by the hero!! (so unnecessary & didn't fully fit with his personality, he had never done that to a woman before. I hated it!), the N-word, slut-shaming (??)

The hero in this book, Ross Coleman, was pretty cruel to the heroine at the beginning of the book because he thought she was a whore and associated her with the bad aspects of his past life. He was the son of a prostitute and an outlaw in the past. Lydia was running away from her abusive stepbrother who raped her when her baby was born stillborn and she was discovered in the woods by two teenage boys from a wagon train. Ross Coleman's wife had just died giving birth, and the baby was going to die unless he could be breastfed. Lydia moved into Ross's wagon as a wet nurse for his son.

I thought the setting of a wagon train heading West was really interesting, and the beginning of the book...what a way to begin the book! However, after that, I was slowly warming up to the book. It was 3 stars, sort of a comfort read. I wasn't the biggest fan of the hero being rude to Lydia. It was funny how all the scenes of Lydia breastfeeding Lee were like lactation porn. Sandra Brown wrote how Ross was jealous of his son for tasting Lydia LOL. The words "imprudent nipples" was used too many times.

Then there was a whole LOL subplot of one of the girls from the wagon train being very horny and trying to seduce multiple men, including one of the teenage boys who discovered Lydia. At the end of the book, she becomes a prostitute to get away from her prim and hateful mother. That whole subplot gave the reader the smut before the main hero & heroine got down and dirty. I enjoyed the smut of that subplot, but it was annoying how Priscilla & Bubba kept on being interrupted.

The ending was great and really exciting. I didn't see how they were going to have a happy ending.
I just felt bad for Ross's first wife, Victoria, because Ross didn't seem to be sad that she died at the end of the book. Also, she never met her real soulmate. It's always tricky to write a romance with the dead ex because even when the hero realizes that the second woman (the heroine) is a better fit for him, I always feel bad for the first one. I felt this way too in the rockstar's book by Charisse Spiers. In this book and that one, the hero reflected that the first one didn't enjoy sex with him as much or was primmer and didn't want to be subjected to all the things he wanted to do sexually (i.e. oral sex).

I also didn't like how Ross raped Lydia the first time they had sex, as I said above in my trigger warnings. I thought it was dumb how Lydia didn't tell Ross about the bad guy like in other books, but I thought she was stupid to  let the family who bought Ross's wagon drive off with a fortune in jewels. I wrote this in my kindle, GIRL WTFFFF. WHY WOULD U LET A STRANGER DRIVE OFF WITH THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS OF JEWELS? THE STUPIDITY I CANNOT"

Anyways, the new cover of this book is so hot. I like it better than the older, more historical one, though this one looks contemporary.

Me ha entretenido bastante, hay algunas cosas y comportamientos de los personajes que me disgustaron mucho, pero considerando en la época que esta ambientado lo dejo pasar un poco, aunque en mi interior lo aborrezco muchísimo.
La manera de escribir de la autora es muy buena, me atrapó a la historia desde el principio, y eso es fascinante, me gustan los libros que enganchan desde el inicio.

Superba carte!

This is a bodice ripper and it has violence in it. It opens with a stillbirth scene. The hero harbors a lot of self-loathing due to his origins and past and he takes this out on the heroine, who is the victim of SA. I think that covers most people’s objections to it.

My objection, however, was that the heroine behaved so stupidly in the third act I began to see her as an antagonist. To be fair, she was written as an ignorant, easily manipulated character from the start or I would’ve taken off another star for bad writing. I did enjoy reading this book for what it was, but that was unbearably frustrating.

Also, the hero has a fascination with breastfeeding that was described in a way that triggered phantom boob pain, did not like that.

5 Stars

Western Historical Romance

Triggers galore! If you're a sensitive reader, turn around and run for the hills.

BEWARE OF SPOILERS

This book was written in the 80's; it's very old-school, a bodice-ripper on steroids. I was actually shocked at some of the things I read in this one, but I was also not surprised considering when it was written and the setting of the book. Personally, I enjoy old-school romance, and 'Sunset Embrace' worked for me. Sure, there were things that bothered me...like the sexist, slut-shaming BS. But when it comes to fiction, I'm not overly sensitive to these issues. And ridiculously macho heroes? They're my catnip and I'm not ashamed to admit it--because fiction. Anywho, Sandra Brown hooked me with Ross Coleman. He was a colossal jerk, and I love (and hate) these types of heroes.

I did have some issues with Sunset Embrace:
Ross said and did things to Lydia (our heroine) that were extremely harsh and because of that, I expected an epic grovel from him, which I didn't really get. My biggest pet peeve was that even though Lydia was a little spitfire, she was still a doormat. I understand that she didn't have many choices and was only trying to make the best out of her wholly unfortunate situation, but I wish she hadn't been so accommodating, not end up at the hero's feet all the damn time. I always find that maddenning. Admittedly, I felt a small sense of dissatisfaction when I finished the book, because I wanted more atonement from the hero. Also, there was no epilogue. Ugh.

Something that made me very uncomfortable was reading about the sexual abuse Lydia experienced by her disgusting, hillbilly stepbrother. It was awful *gags and shivers*

So why 5 Stars?
√ The awesome angst factor. This one has the dead wife theme, and I was dying to know if the heroine would be the hero's greatest love. She was<3 “You are my love. My dearest love that I’ll go on loving and needing every day of my life.”
√ Ross Coleman. I found his entire backstory highly intriguing, some of it even appealing; he was a WANTED man! Swoon. And I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I even loved his western mustache.
√ The steam factor. Explicit af. It was incredibly and fabulously steamy.
√ Sandra Brown's storytelling ability. My first Sandra Brown romance. I'm hoping to find another gem in that pile of newly discovered books.

HEA: Yes
Triggers:
stillbirth (graphic)
rape (graphic)
murder (not graphic)
cheating: Physically? Not really but some might still consider it cheating. Emotionally? He still loved his deceased wife, but he always felt more for the heroine.

This was recommended to me but about 75 pages in I realized that the hero in this book dies in the next one which I had already read. That just sucked the fun right out of this one. I think in romance novels there is a covenant that exists between author and reader and that is the sacredness of the happy ever after. In regular fiction anything goes but in romance, a hero/heroine should never be killed off no matter how many books later unless you are writing a totally separate story about their descendants 300 years later.

Historical takes place on a wagon train going west. She has had a baby who died and his wife died in childbirth and she nurses his baby.

I have to admit that Sandra Brown can occasionally throw a curve ball into the mix. I didn't have high expectations with Sunset Embrace when I realized that it is a historical work of romantic fiction. Was I ever wrong!
This is one of my favorite Brown books, one that has it all. The characters are diverse; they have depth of character; and they stand out as some of the most unique people I have yet encountered by this author. Additionally, the plot provides an excellently crafted story with surprises all along the way.
The opening scene has the 19-year-old victim of rape giving birth in the dust to a dead baby. Lydia wants nothing more than to die. But two teenage brothers (Bubba and Luke) get help from their mother anyway. They save her life.
The Langston family is on a wagon train from Tennessee, heading into new lives in Texas. They scoop up Lydia and take her along with no chance to clean her up beforehand.
Enter Ross Coleman, a man with a secret past and a wife dying after childbirth. So, Ma Langston, who sees no reason to have yet another death occur, hauls Lydia to the Coleman wagon to act as wet nurse to baby Lee Coleman.
Trouble and action ensues, along with romantic sparks flying between a soon cleaned up Lydia and an angry Ross.
There are too many twists to this plot to discuss.
Read this fantastic novel of life in post-Civil War times and be prepared for surprises all the way to the end.
But that's not the end for the Colemans, for this is book one in a two-book Coleman Family Saga. I am reading Another Dawn and have high hopes for it being as good as this one.

I first read this book in the early 90, so it was very nostalgic for me diving back in my old "Best of" books.
I wish Mrs. Brown would update this one and change some things and then publish it again, (like the rape scene), because I can't tolerate rape as romantic in a book anymore.
To my excuse I have to say 20-30 years ago it was well accepted in books, if the H and h fell in love after the rape, she forgave him, and the book got a HEA. I know, this never ever would happen in real life.
The rest of the book was fine with me, exactly how I imagine life 200-250 years ago in the wild wild west could have been.

The pacing was good, but I was surprised to find the author was a woman. Meh.

3'5
Reseña completa:https://masromance.blogspot.com/2023/...
Creo que es una novela que no ha envejecido bien. Leída en su momento (no descarto que lo hiciera porque me suena muchísimo todo) sería de 5 o 4.5
Apenas pasa nada y todo está concentrado al final, pero la forma de escribir enganchan hasta tal punto que lo he leído en apenas dos sentadas. Personajes muy bien definidos y un viaje muy realista hacia el oeste,.
Mi problema es que lo he leído ahora y por mucho que me convenza de que está escrito en los 80 y el tema de la violación (sí, hay violación) entre los protagonistas era algo ya esperado, la continua actitud de él hasta casi el final le ha bajado medio punto más.
Si es algo que no os afecta, adelante... es un novelón
Una historia bonita y tierna solamente enturbiada por un Ross que se me ha atragantado

This is one of Sandra Brown's earlier books way back when she was writing historical romances instead of mysteries. I read this book years ago after reading rave upon rave about how fantastic, how romantic, how wonderful, how classic a romance, etc. I found it disturbing, horrific and migraine inducing. The hero is this sullen, angry, vindictive brute of a man who infuriated me page after page. Ten years later I *still* remember what a cretin I thought him and that's saying a lot since some days I can't remember my own name.

Wow, what an adventure! Sporting the best narration I have listened to so far this year, this memorable wagon trail story, will no doubt be one of my top historical romance listens of the year! Ellen Archer has won a spot on my top narrators list! I just wish she would take on more romance assignments (as it appears that only approximately 10, of the over 80 titles I found, are romances).

This was also my first experience with Sandra Brown, and I am now eagerly looking forward to experiencing more of her vast backlist! After this audiobook, I'm sure there is a treasure chest of hidden gems out there that I must soon explore!

Lydia Bryant has had a tough childhood. It wasn't always bad, but after her father's death, her mother was forced to take on odd jobs until she married her terrible step-father, who abused her mother by treating her like a slave. As if that wasn't bad enough, her older step-brother sexually abused her on a regular basis, and the horrible life they lived branded them the hillbilly outcasts of their community.

When her mother finally passes away, Lydia runs away, but she is already with child. Along the way, dirty and alone, she has a still birth, and would have likely died, had it not been for the generosity and kindheartedness of the Langston family, who finds her, nurses her back to life and brings her along on their Texas-bound wagon train promising her a new life.

Ross Coleman, another member of the wagon train, experiences his own heart-breaking loss when his wife dies delivering their son, Lee. Devastated and left caring for a premature infant, he is at a loss as to what to do next. Fortunately, Ma Langston comes to the rescue, and matches Lydia up with Ross, so that she may serve as Lee's wet nurse.

While at first, Ross is incensed at the idea of some common girl, who he can only imagine was a whore, breastfeeding his son and sharing his wagon. When it becomes clear, that she may be Lee's only chance at survival, he allows her to stay, but makes sure she is aware of how little he thinks of the likes of her. To her credit, and as a testament her strength, Lydia does what it takes to help the baby survive, and eventually as they spend more and more time together Ross starts warming up to her.

Before long, there is definitely a shared passion between Ross and Lydia, though Ross hates himself for it. As circumstances continue to draw them together, they both get to know one another and the shared passion begins to blur with deeper feelings.

Danger, however, stalks both of them, as well as, secrets surrounding their pasts which threatens their future together. Will this couple make it to the end of their wagon train journey together?

Ellen Archer does an amazing job of bringing this large cast of characters to life. The voices she produces for each are so unique and different that, not only does it make it extremely easy for the listener to distinguish among them, without need for dialogue tags; but, in fact, she makes it nearly impossible to believe that the same narrator could possibly create such disparate sounding people. From the children to the adults, and from the men to the women, her characterizations are all spot-on, and sound so incredibly genuine that you can almost glean the characters' personalities from the intonation in her voice.

Moreover, her ability to express emotions is also off-the-charts. From the suspense filled scenes, to the romantic ones and even the ones that are full of despair, Ms. Archer appropriately paces her delivery to highlight the particular tone, adding an extra element of intensity. Her delivery was so masterful, that it almost sounds like it comes from the soundtrack of a movie.

I really enjoyed Ms. Archer's depiction of Lydia. So feminine, soft-spoken and even, justly giving deference to her early upbringing, refined; and yet, Ms. Archer also gives free rein to her strength when she fights for the things she believes in. Ross' performance, in turn, evolves throughout the book, just as the listener is provided with additional insight into Ross' true self. So cleverly performed and amazing to listen to! I also knew exactly who was a villain or friend, notwithstanding the particular words being used, just from her depiction thereof. Again, I was so delighted with this incredible, multifaceted performance that it is nearly impossible to describe all the ways in which it excelled.

My only reservation with this book, and in all fairness it is a sign of the time when it was first published (the 1980s), is that there are some rather antiquated views included. Not only does it contain a "bodice ripper" scene between the hero and heroine, but the hero, and some of the other characters, at times express outdated views about rape. If these depictions would preclude your ability to sympathize with the hero, or believe in a HEA, then this may not be the right audiobook for you.

Perhaps my favorite part of this story is the underlying message that you should never judge a person by a stereotype. It also highlights a vital lesson: those that are the first to judge are, nearly always, covering-up or reacting to their own insecurities.

All in all, this is an amazing story which is made even better by Ms. Archer's one-of-a-kind narration!

Source: I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for my unbiased review.

Title: Sunset Embrace
Author: Sandra Brown
Narrator: Ellen Archer
Unabridged Length: 13h, 40m
Published by Blackstone Audio, June 2014
Genre: Historical American Romance

Narration: A+
Book Content: B+
Steam Factor: For your burning ears only!
Violence: Domestic Violence (including rape between the hero and heroine, child sexual abuse and verbal abuse and a description of a stillbirth); Fighting