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Beyond the Sound of Guns

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A Sister's Devotion -- As the Second World War raged across the world, lovely, raven-haired Kit Marlowe and her brother sought peace and quiet at her brother's Double-H Ranch. Then war came to this remote cattle country. Enemy agents were stealing the Double-H beeves needed to feed our fighting men. And Kit knew her luck was bad when she stumbled on the identity of the head of the saboteurs, for this fanatical enemy would use any means to silence her forever. Irrevocably trapped, only one man could help her -- bold and charming Colonel Rex Danton, the man who had stolen her brother's fiancee -- the man she had sworn to hate!

Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1945

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About the author

Emilie Loring

58 books130 followers
AKA Emilie Baker Loring
Emilie Baker was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1864 to George M. Baker and Emily Frances (Boles) Baker. Her father was a playwright and publisher and her mother was a homemaker. Loring married Victor J. Loring, who was a lawyer. She began writing in 1914, published her first novel in 1922 at the age of 56, and continued writing until her death after a long illness in 1951. She was a prolific American romance novelist of the 20th century, known for her "wholesome love" romances and independent, spirited heroines. Beyond romance, her books also explore a selection of topics including, but not limited to marriage, love, American patriotism, freedom, and optimism. She died in Wellesley, Massachusetts on March 13, 1951. At the time of her death, she had sold more than a million copies of her first thirty books.

After her death, her estate was managed by her sons, Selden M. and Robert M. Loring, who, based on a wealth of unfinished material they discovered, published twenty more books under her name until 1972. These books were ghost-written by Elinore Denniston. taken largely from wiki, made some corrections (dates didn't add up) per her biographer

Emilie Loring Wiki Page







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5 stars
83 (39%)
4 stars
68 (32%)
3 stars
45 (21%)
2 stars
8 (3%)
1 star
4 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
Profile Image for Suzanne.
428 reviews7 followers
February 11, 2016
Emilie Loring still reads well, even though this book was written in 1945 and republished in the 1960s. Her plotting and characters are well done with just the right amount of romance.
Profile Image for Lisa M..
1,053 reviews43 followers
April 26, 2018
Yes, I'm on a kick of re-reading my favorites in the line of romances by Emilie Baker Loring. This one takes place on a ranch out west--during the end of WW2. I love the descriptions of the scenery and the clothing. And nothing like just a heartwarming story!
68 reviews4 followers
January 6, 2010
Different setting than most of her books. Set in "remote cattle country", Kit helps her brother out on his newly purchased ranch. They are helping with the war effort by raising cattle.
10 reviews
April 3, 2020
When I was a teen, I really enjoyed Loring's books, until I realized that except for character names and locations, they're all pretty much the same book, so I went on to other authors. I read this one out of nostalgia and because a dear friend gave me a copy. I wanted to see what I'd liked about Loring's writing back then. Totally baffles me now.

Clumsy writing. Cardboard characters, stilted unrealistic dialogue and situations. She drains what little suspense there is out of her plot with endless dialogue and unnecessary description. Half the time I didn't know who was speaking. Despite all the description, there's no real sense of place. Too many characters; I couldn't keep track of them. The "terrible trouble" one character predicts with her Ouija board, turns out to be ho-hum and resolved too quickly with little effort on the part of the characters. One character gets bopped by a tipping coromandel screen. Picky as it is, I want to know what happened to the screen. They're gorgeous objects, but nobody even bothers to pick it up. It may still be lying on the floor months late for all we know. Another character pulls a Polonius stunt, hiding behind a curtain. A grown man, but nobody notices the bump. These are just some examples of the many absurdities in the book.
Profile Image for Anna Jackson.
404 reviews4 followers
September 26, 2024
This was a bit of an outlier for Emilie Loring - a western!! Oh my!

Loring is known typically for writing books with strong New England settings and strong New England characters (yes, those are both things). And while the main characters (some of them) in this book are originally from New England, the story actually takes place in an indeterminate place in the "west" (somewhere where there are ranches, oil wells and lots of open spaces). I thought it was a nice change of pace from the typical Loring setting and I quite enjoyed her take on cowboys and ranching.

My only complaint was that some of the main conflict between the love interests was, once again, miscommunication and lack of listening. A lying side character makes lots of false accusations (and the main characters KNOW she is bad news, yet they STILL believe her! Why???? I'm just baffled.) which keep them apart for most of the book. And of course, that bothers me because I feel like people should just have ONE open and honest discussion and it would save so much time and heartache! Ugh!

Anyway, other than that, it was an exciting book with a great setting. If you're wanting to read Emilie Loring, this is definitely not one to skip over. One of her better reads.
Profile Image for Linda.
1,620 reviews24 followers
February 18, 2021
Although this was not one of my favorite Loring books I can't give anything written by her less than 4 stars. This one takes place on a remote western cattle ranch- never my favorite scenario- where lovely Kit Marlowe has gone to live with her brother who just bought the ranch. Brother Dick is home from WWII with an arm injury and a worse injury to his spirit. Of course Kit meets a man who she at first despises and then loves. The female nemesis in this story is especially despicable and dishonest. The reader is led to believe that the target of unknown enemy agents is stealing beef cattle meant to feed the US troops in a war but it is far more sinister than that.

As always, the style writing, the description of clothing, and the sheer energy of the story is A+.
Profile Image for Sophie.
863 reviews30 followers
November 1, 2020
A legit Loring but never one of my favorites. I probably appreciated it more on this reading than I did back in the day (maybe because I've been re-reading the fake Lorings lately), but I still think it suffers by comparison with Loring at her best—especially her wartime best. There are more red herrings than plot, and some of what's there doesn't make a great deal of sense. There's a rushed sense to it, as if she didn't have time to really polish it—which considering its concentration on contemporary wartime events, was probably true. But the trademark Loring touch is there, and it ends well.
Profile Image for Jeanne.
741 reviews40 followers
July 6, 2018
I started reading Emile Loring books when I picked up a paperback from a rack in a hotel lobby (for 50 cents) while on my sister's & my yearly vacation to visit my father. Hooked! I went on to purchase and read every Emilie Loring romance written and available in paperback, not knowing that she had died before I was even born. I loved these books, but read them when I was between about 12 and 18 years old. I was a young reader - do keep that in mind! :-)
Profile Image for Eileen.
286 reviews
June 9, 2019
So much about WWII and D-Day, but set on ranches. Thieves, cattle rustlers, a rodeo, and so many romantic pairs to straighten out.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews