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The Californios #2
Love Unwilling
Kate, an Irish saloon girl, faces the prospect of never marrying her lover, David Kane, who must find a way to protect his family's ranch, a Spanish land grant, through the right kind of marriage
- GenresHistorical Romance
445 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
About the author
Shirl Henke
63 books77 followersaka Alexa Hunt.
Working my way through college provided great life experiences for a novelist. One problem. I didn’t know I was destined to write books. Instead, I floundered around during and after receiving my B.A. and M.A. in history from the University of Missouri. None of my wide variety of jobs satisfied me: cashier for a loan company, public welfare caseworker, assistant circulation manager for a small daily, editor for several “house organ” newspapers, administrator of a federal information program for the elderly.
Finally I was offered the opportunity to use my history degrees, teaching in a large urban university in the Northeast. I truly enjoyed it. Unfortunately, when the history requirement was dropped for incoming students, so was my instructorship. After that I taught gerontology, sociology, proposal writing for social service agencies and freshman composition at the same university. Further life experiences. My last two years of teaching were in remedial English—just the nudge I needed to take this writing thing seriously.
Since childhood I’ve been an avid reader, everything from Robert Heinlein’s sci-fi adventures to Frank Yerby’s historical romantic sagas. More recently I became hooked on thrillers. Since childhood I had story ideas in my head, but never the epiphany to write them. Okay, maybe I just didn’t have the courage. But there were just so many times I could explain what a verb was to a college senior before I realized that maybe writing a book might be easier. I sold my first novel, a big historical romance titled GOLDEN LADY, to Warner Books in 1985. Within two years, I quit remedial comp. Now I can't imagine doing anything but writing for a living. In 2005 I switched over to the “dark side.” Tor published two political thrillers, CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY and HOMELAND SECURITY under the pseudonym Alexa Hunt. I’ve also written romantic suspense for Penguin Onyx and Silhouette Bombshell as Shirl Henke. Since I began my career, I’ve appeared on the USA TODAY bestseller list, been a RITA Finalist twice, received a BookraK Bestseller Award, and won three Career Achievement Awards, an Industry Award and three Reviewers Choice Awards from Romantic Times.
My husband Jim Henke is a former cabdriver, bartender, sailor, judo instructor and English professor. He's a scholarly authority on obscene slang and a master at its use, but an astonishingly understanding man who puts up with my all-night writing sprees and sudden dashes to my desk to jot down bits of dialogue as dinner burns on the stove. Since he took early retirement from academe, he has helped me brainstorm plots and research my novels.
After four years in the U.S. Air Force, our son Matt works in telecommunications and lives in an adjacent county with his brute of a cat, Max. Jim and I now share our cedar house in the woods with a pair of utterly adorable tomcats, Inky and Pewter, whose destructive capacity rivals that of a medium sized thermonuclear weapon. But just as life without writing would be unimaginable, so would life without cats.
For therapy when I'm not at the computer or off researching a new book, I cook large dinners for our extended family, putter in my garden and greenhouse, and still read voraciously. When deadlines permit, I love to travel. I'm a member of the Author's Guild, Romance Writers of America, Missouri Romance Writers, Sisters in Crime, Novelists Inc. and International Thriller Writers
I wrote my first twenty-two novels in longhand with a ball-point pen--it's hard to get good quills these days. Dragged into the 21st century, I now use one of those "devil machines. Another troglodyte bites the dust
Working my way through college provided great life experiences for a novelist. One problem. I didn’t know I was destined to write books. Instead, I floundered around during and after receiving my B.A. and M.A. in history from the University of Missouri. None of my wide variety of jobs satisfied me: cashier for a loan company, public welfare caseworker, assistant circulation manager for a small daily, editor for several “house organ” newspapers, administrator of a federal information program for the elderly.
Finally I was offered the opportunity to use my history degrees, teaching in a large urban university in the Northeast. I truly enjoyed it. Unfortunately, when the history requirement was dropped for incoming students, so was my instructorship. After that I taught gerontology, sociology, proposal writing for social service agencies and freshman composition at the same university. Further life experiences. My last two years of teaching were in remedial English—just the nudge I needed to take this writing thing seriously.
Since childhood I’ve been an avid reader, everything from Robert Heinlein’s sci-fi adventures to Frank Yerby’s historical romantic sagas. More recently I became hooked on thrillers. Since childhood I had story ideas in my head, but never the epiphany to write them. Okay, maybe I just didn’t have the courage. But there were just so many times I could explain what a verb was to a college senior before I realized that maybe writing a book might be easier. I sold my first novel, a big historical romance titled GOLDEN LADY, to Warner Books in 1985. Within two years, I quit remedial comp. Now I can't imagine doing anything but writing for a living. In 2005 I switched over to the “dark side.” Tor published two political thrillers, CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY and HOMELAND SECURITY under the pseudonym Alexa Hunt. I’ve also written romantic suspense for Penguin Onyx and Silhouette Bombshell as Shirl Henke. Since I began my career, I’ve appeared on the USA TODAY bestseller list, been a RITA Finalist twice, received a BookraK Bestseller Award, and won three Career Achievement Awards, an Industry Award and three Reviewers Choice Awards from Romantic Times.
My husband Jim Henke is a former cabdriver, bartender, sailor, judo instructor and English professor. He's a scholarly authority on obscene slang and a master at its use, but an astonishingly understanding man who puts up with my all-night writing sprees and sudden dashes to my desk to jot down bits of dialogue as dinner burns on the stove. Since he took early retirement from academe, he has helped me brainstorm plots and research my novels.
After four years in the U.S. Air Force, our son Matt works in telecommunications and lives in an adjacent county with his brute of a cat, Max. Jim and I now share our cedar house in the woods with a pair of utterly adorable tomcats, Inky and Pewter, whose destructive capacity rivals that of a medium sized thermonuclear weapon. But just as life without writing would be unimaginable, so would life without cats.
For therapy when I'm not at the computer or off researching a new book, I cook large dinners for our extended family, putter in my garden and greenhouse, and still read voraciously. When deadlines permit, I love to travel. I'm a member of the Author's Guild, Romance Writers of America, Missouri Romance Writers, Sisters in Crime, Novelists Inc. and International Thriller Writers
I wrote my first twenty-two novels in longhand with a ball-point pen--it's hard to get good quills these days. Dragged into the 21st century, I now use one of those "devil machines. Another troglodyte bites the dust
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 11, 2021
Can't get over the fact the hero is a cheating douche. It totally goes against my one strike your out rule.
June 30, 2012
4 and 1/2 Stars! Old California masterfully brought to life through the loves of two brothers!
This was Henke’s second book in the Old California Couplet (Golden Lady was her first). LOVE UNWILLING is really two romances in one and Henke presents them very well, entwining the lives and loves of two brothers who make very different choices.
Set in 1848-1853, it tells the story of David and Miguel Kane, heirs to the sprawling Cien Robles (Hundred Oaks) ranch in Southern California. Their parents’ marriage had been one of necessity in order for the Alvarez family to infuse money into their Spanish land grant after California became a part of the US and subject to Yankee laws. The marriage was so divisive that David was named and claimed by his father, the rich Yankee sea captain, and Miguel by his mother the Californio aristocrat (who’d planned for him to become a priest). Years later, when David gets into trouble, killing a man after a card game, and flees with an Irish lass he has deflowered named Kate, Miguel’s father claims him as heir and tells him he’ll marry the neighboring rancher’s daughter, Ellie St. Clair, originally intended for David.
David and Kate flee to gold country where David supports them on his gambling winnings and Kate keeps house, soon falling in love. The other brother, Miguel stays home to take on the ranch and finds he loves it, but he’s not interested in marrying the St. Clair girl and she doesn’t want him either.
We’ve all seen the family where the oldest son is expected to be the one to assume control of the father’s business, but what if it wasn’t so? What if it were the younger son? (Or, these days, a daughter?) Well, this story shows what can happen when the apple cart is thrown off the intended course. It’s about choices and second chances and making your own life, not just fleeing the bad choices your family might force on you. I have to say my favorite character was Kate…she had the strength of Irish womanhood and was beautiful as well.
The brothers were both cads for much of the book, and for all his faults, David was faithful to Kate. Miguel, on the other hand, had a bad habit of visiting whores before and during his marriage to Ellie. And he believed a cattle rustler over his loving wife. Argh!
Kudos to Henke who sets this story in the Old West at an interesting historical time when the Californio rancheros were fading and their culture losing out to the Americans who were flooding into the state. Meticulously researched, LOVE UNWILLING brings this time to life with great characters, engaging dialog and wonderful descriptions.
Henke is truly a master storyteller. I recommend it!
This was Henke’s second book in the Old California Couplet (Golden Lady was her first). LOVE UNWILLING is really two romances in one and Henke presents them very well, entwining the lives and loves of two brothers who make very different choices.
Set in 1848-1853, it tells the story of David and Miguel Kane, heirs to the sprawling Cien Robles (Hundred Oaks) ranch in Southern California. Their parents’ marriage had been one of necessity in order for the Alvarez family to infuse money into their Spanish land grant after California became a part of the US and subject to Yankee laws. The marriage was so divisive that David was named and claimed by his father, the rich Yankee sea captain, and Miguel by his mother the Californio aristocrat (who’d planned for him to become a priest). Years later, when David gets into trouble, killing a man after a card game, and flees with an Irish lass he has deflowered named Kate, Miguel’s father claims him as heir and tells him he’ll marry the neighboring rancher’s daughter, Ellie St. Clair, originally intended for David.
David and Kate flee to gold country where David supports them on his gambling winnings and Kate keeps house, soon falling in love. The other brother, Miguel stays home to take on the ranch and finds he loves it, but he’s not interested in marrying the St. Clair girl and she doesn’t want him either.
We’ve all seen the family where the oldest son is expected to be the one to assume control of the father’s business, but what if it wasn’t so? What if it were the younger son? (Or, these days, a daughter?) Well, this story shows what can happen when the apple cart is thrown off the intended course. It’s about choices and second chances and making your own life, not just fleeing the bad choices your family might force on you. I have to say my favorite character was Kate…she had the strength of Irish womanhood and was beautiful as well.
The brothers were both cads for much of the book, and for all his faults, David was faithful to Kate. Miguel, on the other hand, had a bad habit of visiting whores before and during his marriage to Ellie. And he believed a cattle rustler over his loving wife. Argh!
Kudos to Henke who sets this story in the Old West at an interesting historical time when the Californio rancheros were fading and their culture losing out to the Americans who were flooding into the state. Meticulously researched, LOVE UNWILLING brings this time to life with great characters, engaging dialog and wonderful descriptions.
Henke is truly a master storyteller. I recommend it!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews