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Caine's Reckoning (Hell's Eight)

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Author: Sarah Mccarty
Publisher: Spice
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$13.95~~
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Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

37 reviews
Sales Rank: 72131

Media: Paperback
Pages: 480
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5 x 1.5

ISBN: 0373605188
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780373605187
ASIN: 0373605188

Publication Date: November 1, 2007
Availability: In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served.

Also Available In:

•	Audio Download - Caine's Reckoning (Unabridged)
•	Kindle Edition - Caine's Reckoning

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•	Nauti Nights (The Nauti Trilogy, Book 2)
•	Promises Keep
•	Promises Linger
•	Promises Prevail

Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
The Hell's Eight is the only family he's ever needed, until he meets the only woman he's ever wanted…

Caine Allen is a hardened Texas Ranger, definitely not the marrying kind. But when he rescues a kidnapped woman and returns her to town, the preacher calls in a favor. One Caine's honor won't let him refuse.

From the moment he beds Desi, Caine knows turmoil will follow. Desi might have the face of a temptress, but she also has a will of iron and while she needs his protection, she's determined that no man will control her again. They establish an uneasy bond, but it isn't enough for Caine. He wants all Desi has to offer. He wants her screams, her moans, her demands…everything. Yet there's still a bounty on Desi's head, and keeping her sexually satisfied is proving easier than keeping her alive.

Customer Reviews: Read 32 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Caine's Reckoning October 17, 2008
M. Nix
When Desi and three other women are kidnapped by a band of ruthless Comancheros intent on raping them, Texas Ranger Cain Allen and his friends and fellow Rangers, Tracker and Sam save them. Cain's intent to protect Desi takes them back to town where he has to make a hard choice, marry Desi or leave her in the hands of her ruthless guardian. Caine's honor won't allow him to leave her. Desi has to make a choice too, choose the stranger who saved her or the man who brutalizes her. Back on Hell's Eight ranch, Caine and Desi's reluctant marriage slowly becomes more, but Desi's past won't stay buried. Desi's guardian wants her back and he'll stop at nothing to get her. As far as Cain is concerned, Desi is his now and he'll stop at nothing to keep her by his side.

It's hard to get a more in depth story than a Sarah McCarty novel. They are intense, erotic, and packed with emotion. Caine's Reckoning is no exception. Desi was raped repeatedly and suffered physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Her spunk and fire in the face of such tremendous adversary is amazing. Caine sometimes crosses the line between helping Desi and hurting her, but his intentions are always honorable. The trauma Desi suffered is often too much for her to bear. My heart went out to her as she struggled to cope and heal. Desi does more than battle her demons; she fights the passion within herself. Cain is exactly what she needed. He's commanding, intelligent, and self-assured. He's also determined, and honorable. Caine's Reckoning is not always a feel good story. Even with a very happily ever after it's hard to put Desi's terrible past behind. I wanted to stand up and cheer when she finally turned the corner and turned to Cain. The last 2 pages of Caine's Reckoning brought tears to my eyes. Tears of happiness for what Desi has found with Cain and tears of longing for what she is still waiting for. If I hadn't been eager enough for the next Hell's Eight book, that would have done it. Caine's Reckoning is extremely well written and poignant and has excellent characterization. It's an incredibly moving and erotic story with some hidden amusing moments laced in.

Nannette
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

2 out of 5 stars

This one made me mad.... October 14, 2008
Holly R (Las Vegas, NV)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I just didn't enjoy this one as much as I wanted to. I thought it dragged on far too long. Desi truly has a lot of issues and she has my complete sympathy in regards to the rather horrific year she has endured. Caine was also a good man, he wasn't a lout or a sex crazed maniac. It wasn't just one individual thing, it was the combination of everything that made me unable to enjoy this.

While Desi has had a truly horrible year and has been as sexually abused as a woman could get, she's still eager to be a good wife to Caine. *While I could easily misconstrue that as her wanting to please him so he would let her stay, I'm not going to.* Despite her abuse, she discovers she likes it when Caine is at his most intimidating best. *That seems unbelievable to me, but again, I'm going to ignore it.* Caine makes her feel feminine and alive when he presses himself against her and she's eager to know what sex is like when done right. Caine is just as eager to show her, but every time they make progress, an ugly memory surfaces and he immediately backs off. That got old real fast. It was this endless, "Oooo, I'm going to give it to you, baby. Hard and fast. Just the way you want it. Are you ready? Cause this is it. I'm going to give it to you just the way we both want.......tomorrow." They did this like three or four times and when the sex scenes are like 8-10 pages each, that's a lot of go-nowhere sex. If he's not holding back, then she is and vice versa and it was so annoying. This could have been easier to take if I could have read about more interaction between Caine and Desi throughout the day. Instead it seemed to me that Sarah McCarty was just using the day to day activities as filler until she could return to the bedroom. Desi has a lot of problems, and they weren't all sexual. She needed a stronger hand during the day, someone helping her to build up her self confidence again. Instead, Caine lets her figure things out on her own and that was just unnecessary, and dragged out her poor feelings of self worth, imho.

While the main plot about Caine and Desi's sexual relationship is worked through, there is a secondary plot regarding the men who helped destroy her family and made her life hell. I say secondary because the amount of energy that Sarah McCarty put into this wouldn't have powered a nightlite, much less a flashlight strong enough to light our way and I thought it was sooo disappointing. Plus Caine's was always saying how much he was going to put the hurt on the guys who used and abused his wife but when it came down to it, those guys had faaaaar too easy an end. There was another villain that pops up during the end of the book and at that point, I could have cared less.

It was at the very end where I lost it. Desi writes a letter to her sister and in it she says, "hey, remember that guy we knew? Well, he was the bad guy!" WTF? That's how Sarah wrapped up this story? That just made me mad and after 450 pages, I wanted and deserved more.

I'm really glad I read Sam's Creed before I read Caine's Reckoning, because this reckoning was pretty lackluster. It chugged along, depending far too heavily on loosely connected bedroom scenes to fill it out and I just can't recommend this one. I wanted to love it. Heck, I would have settled for just liking it, but this one just rubbed me the wrong way. I kind of went back and forth on what I felt this book deserved and finally I went with 2 stars. I didn't like it. :(

5 out of 5 stars

And to think I wasn't a fan of westerns September 15, 2008
ElizS (Missouri, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I've been trapped in paranormal romantica for months, years even. If a friend hadn't recommended Sarah McCarty to me, I would never have known about the Hell's Eight series. Finally I get to give somebody five stars without hesitation! This is pure alpha male (the stuff those shifters in the other books are known for)...and their women. And what women they are--these girls actually have some backbone. Caine's story is steamy with a twist, if you are delicate, the violence might bother you but remember, this is the Old West as you've never read it. Hell's Eight are a group of Texas Rangers who trot on the edge of creating their own vigilante justice. And we want to cheer them on when they do! It's justice in pure western form, versus scripted romantic fiction for romance readers. Sarah McCarty gives many of the other romantica/erotica writers a run for their money. Go to her website. Read the excerpts. And above all, GET THE BOOKS!!! If you read Cheyenne McCray, Shilo Walker, Jaid Black or any of the other Ellora's Cave authors you absolutely will be glad you bought Sarah McCarty's Hell's Eight series. The downside...no new books on Hell's Eight'til 2009! I'll be waiting.

4 out of 5 stars

This series and this author have just gone on my auto-buy list June 27, 2008
K. Hinton (Atlanta, GA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

Caine Allen is a Texas Ranger and a member of Hell's Eight, a group of rough men who have fought and killed their way to a reputation of being ruthless, fearless, and ambitious. When Caine and his friends are sent after a group of kidnapped women, Caine is almost disappointed at how stupid the kidnappers are. They haven't managed to cover their tracks very well and the women can be heard screaming from a distance. It's going to be his pleasure to put these idiots out of their misery. But when Caine gets closer to their camp, one of the women catches his eye. With long blond hair and big blue eyes, she stands one to one against her captors with nothing but grit and determination to protect her--and she puts a pretty big fight.

Caine soon learns that this woman is name Desi, and she's the one he's specifically been sent to retrieve. The other women in the party are jealous of her, calling her scandalous names and implying that she has a way of tempting men that is unholy. And Desi doesn't defend herself against their accusations. What she does do is run. Repeatedly. She tells Caine that if he takes her back to her people, she'll die there, and the look in her eyes lets him know that she means it. When Caine gets back to town and sees the untrustworthy guardian she's been assigned and how his hands clench when he looks at Desi, and the guardian's friends who all look at Desi with lust in their eyes, he knows he can't leave her there. Making good on the promise to take care of her, Caine takes Desi back to Hell's Eight with him, where he can protect her and know that she's safe. And the only way to get away with it is to make her his wife.

Caine's Reckoning, Sarah McCarty, and the Hell's Eight books have just gone on my auto-buy list. This book was so good! To begin with Caine, I couldn't think of a better hero. He's alpha, protective, dependable, and hot hot hot! From the minute he decides that Desi's going to be his, that's the end of it. And when he learns the treatment that she suffered at the hands of her guardian and his cronies, the second thing on his list of things to do becomes to avenge her honor. But first he's got to take care of his woman and let her know that she's safe. And boy, does he.

If you've got a problem with damaged heroines, this is certainly not the book for you. Desi is broken by the time Caine gets to her, though she's still got a lot of fight left. It's just she's had to endure a harsh life--her parents were killed, her sister is missing, and she's been used and abused for so long she doesn't believe that she actually deserves to be treated gently. Even though Caine and his friends do nothing to rile her, everything to show her that she's safe with them and that they'll protect her, the past abuse colors her judgment from the start.

I know a lot of people think this book is too long, but because of Desi's past, I felt every bit of it was necessary. The thoughtful, careful descriptions of how Caine breaks down the walls she's erected, the tender, gentle way that he cares for her and gains her trust, and the time and care he takes to show her that what happened to her wasn't her fault and that he is not going to let her past affect their future, were absolutely integral to the plot and I wouldn't have had it any other way. This book was so so good that if I hadn't finished it at midnight I probably would have gone out right then and bought the next book in the series, Sam's Creed (Hell's Eight). I'm DYING to know what happens next in this series, and can't wait to get my hands on some of McCarty's other books. If you like erotic romance that doesn't shy away from harsher topics, if you like your heroes alpha, and if you're wondering where all the good western romances have gone, Caine's Reckoning has got you covered on all fronts.

3 out of 5 stars

Not as good as her ebooks. June 19, 2008
E. Turner (Garland, Texas United States)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful

I am a big Sarah McCarty fan and I have all of her Promise Series books. I was exitedly looking forward to her books with the new publisher but I fear that the editors that work for Harlequin messed with something that wasn't broke. The ebooks under this author with Ellora's Cave are fantastic. They are easy reads and the stories flow, allowing your mind to envision yourself right in the old west. In Cain's Reckoning the storyline is sound the characters are well developed and you feel that you can get to love them but in the love scenes it's like Harlequin didn't want it to be too erotic. The scene will be rolling along and then just cut off leaving you wondering what the hell happened. On several occasions I had to go back and re-read a section to get a clear picture of what was going on in the scene. They chopped it up and edited it to within an inch of its life, so much so that it's disjointed like a dvd that skips and starts at another place further along. I feel that the editor of this book cut out a lot of vital imagery that would have made the story rock. I think Sarah McCarty made a huge mistake when she contracted with Harlequin because their spice line is much too prim for her stories and they ruin what could have been a novel on the level of her Promise Series books.

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