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Rose Trilogy #1
Cinnamon and Roses
A plain, hardworking seamstress, Rebecca had no business being attracted to wealthy Caleb Adams. Born fatherless in a brothel Rebecca knew what males were made of. And Caleb was clearly as faithless as they came, scandalizing their Kansas cowtown with his fancy city women. Though his carnal lips tempted Rebecca beyond reason, she couldn't afford to love a man like Caleb. For the price might be another fatherless babe....
Why, Caleb mused, would he be drawn to a calico-clad dressmaker when sirens in silk were his for the asking? Still, innocent Rebecca unaccountably stirred him. Left him indifferent to costly perfumes. Made him crave her simpler scents of cinnamon and roses. Caleb vowed to trust no woman with his heart. But he had to have sweet Rebecca no matter what the cost....
Why, Caleb mused, would he be drawn to a calico-clad dressmaker when sirens in silk were his for the asking? Still, innocent Rebecca unaccountably stirred him. Left him indifferent to costly perfumes. Made him crave her simpler scents of cinnamon and roses. Caleb vowed to trust no woman with his heart. But he had to have sweet Rebecca no matter what the cost....
298 pages, Paperback
First published January 28, 2000
6 people are currently reading
117 people want to read
About the author
Heidi Betts
184 books375 followersUSA Today bestselling author Heidi Betts is the daughter of an Arabian sheik and a Las Vegas showgirl, as well as the heiress to the Chocolate is Better Than Sex Candy Company fortune. Because of this, she eats chocolate in all its many delicious forms for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and in-between snacks . . . without ever gaining an ounce on her perfect five-foot-nine, size zero figure.
Each and every one of her breathtaking, award-winning novels has been adapted to film and gone on to become a phenomenal box office smash, featuring such mega-stars as Hugh Jackman and Sandra Bullock, Tom Cruise and Julia Roberts, and Harrison Ford and Charlize Theron.
Heidi readily admits that she is only able to write such passionate love stories because of her real-life happily-ever-after romance with superstar actor Dwayne Johnson, who makes every day a fairy tale. When she’s not writing or making hot, toe-curling love with her “Rock” of a husband, Heidi can often be found riding naked on horseback (a la Lady Godiva) along the beaches of Malibu or hobnobbing with the rich and famous on Martha’s Vineyard.
If you’d like to experience your own perfect, idyllic life just like Heidi Betts, be sure to take the little purple pill. (Not the red one. Never the red one.)
Read more about Heidi's current and upcoming releases at her website: www.HeidiBetts.com
Chat with Heidi at her "WIPs and Chains" blog: www.HeidiBetts.com/WIPsandChains
And visit Heidi on Twitter (@HeidiBetts), Facebook (/FansofHeidiBetts), & Pinterest (/TheHeidiBetts)
Each and every one of her breathtaking, award-winning novels has been adapted to film and gone on to become a phenomenal box office smash, featuring such mega-stars as Hugh Jackman and Sandra Bullock, Tom Cruise and Julia Roberts, and Harrison Ford and Charlize Theron.
Heidi readily admits that she is only able to write such passionate love stories because of her real-life happily-ever-after romance with superstar actor Dwayne Johnson, who makes every day a fairy tale. When she’s not writing or making hot, toe-curling love with her “Rock” of a husband, Heidi can often be found riding naked on horseback (a la Lady Godiva) along the beaches of Malibu or hobnobbing with the rich and famous on Martha’s Vineyard.
If you’d like to experience your own perfect, idyllic life just like Heidi Betts, be sure to take the little purple pill. (Not the red one. Never the red one.)
Read more about Heidi's current and upcoming releases at her website: www.HeidiBetts.com
Chat with Heidi at her "WIPs and Chains" blog: www.HeidiBetts.com/WIPsandChains
And visit Heidi on Twitter (@HeidiBetts), Facebook (/FansofHeidiBetts), & Pinterest (/TheHeidiBetts)
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 2, 2018
Reviewed for THC Reviews
Cinnamon and Roses is the first book in Heidi Betts’ Rose Trilogy, and it was also her very first published novel. As such it’s a tad rough around the edges in places, but overall, it was a pretty good story for a debut effort. It’s a historical western romance in which we have the wealthy son of the stagecoach line owner who is a know womanizer paired with a scrappy young woman who spent her early years growing up in the back room of a brothel. They must battle her insecurities, his distrust of women, her mercenary prostitute mother, and his jealous, crazed ex-mistress in order to find their HEA. But find it they do, in a moderately suspenseful fashion. Add in the hero’s friendly, outgoing kid sister, his kind businessman father who just wants his children near him, and a bevy of townspeople, and you have the makings of a not-quite-perfect, but still decent read that held my attention throughout.
Rebecca spent her formative years in the brothel where her mother worked in Kansas City, but when the madam decided Rebecca was ready to start working herself when she turned thirteen, she ran away, stowing away on the back of a stagecoach that stopped in Leavenworth. There a kindly widow took her in and taught her everything she knew about sewing, so that when she passed away, the widow’s seamstress business and her small house went to Rebecca. It’s not exactly a comfortable living, but she gets by until the flighty, gaudy mistress of the town’s most eligible bachelor comes to her for a new dress and the woman’s protector refuses to pay her for it in full. Then she marches right into the stagecoach office in a fit of pique, demanding her money. Despite him trying to stiff her on the bill, she can’t help being attracted to the infuriating man. They work things out and he gives her more business making a wardrobe for his younger sister who unexpectedly comes to town, but when he refuses to pay another one of his mistress’s bills, Rebecca, this time, finds herself in his hotel room seeking payment. One thing leads to another, and although they’re like oil and water at first, they end up making love (on more than one occasion), which leads to a surprise pregnancy and a hasty marriage. Overall, I liked Rebecca. She’s a bit of a spitfire when she needs to be, not allowing Caleb or anyone else to walk all over her. But she also has a softer, more sensitive side. She’s afraid at first to tell Caleb about her upbringing for fear that he’ll reject her, and she also has a few insecurities that she needs to work out. But in general, I found her to be a good, fairly well-balanced heroine.
Upon hearing that his father was sick, Caleb came back to Leavenworth to help run the family business. Until then, he’d been living in New York with his mother, who is separated from his father because of her infidelities and her desire to live in high society instead of the primitive West. Caleb brought his mistress with him, but she’s rapidly getting bored, which is why he allowed her to get a new dress. But when he receives the bill, he doesn’t think it’s a fair price and refuses to pay the full amount. When the feisty dressmaker comes into his office demanding her due, he can’t help being attracted to both her beauty and her fiery nature, at which point he realizes his mistress just isn’t doing it for him anymore and sends her packing. The woman isn’t so easily deterred, though, and when he receives another bill from Rebecca for a second dress, he refuses to pay it at all, which brings her looking for him at the hotel. It’s then that he realizes he’s been wanting her for a while and can’t resist giving in to the sparks that have been passing between them. He thinks to make her his new mistress, until she turns up pregnant. Then he knows the only way to make things right is to marry her, even though he thinks he’ll never love her.
Caleb had a few jerk moments in the early chapters of the book, which were not endearing him to me at all and made me want to smack him upside the head. He has issues with trusting women, but there were times that I felt he was needlessly cruel. Also, we don’t know until over halfway into the book exactly what’s fueling his animosity, and even then, I felt that it wasn’t quite bad enough to make him behave the way he had. IMHO, the author could have dug a bit deeper on this part of his characterization. Despite rubbing me the wrong way on more than one occasion, he does have his kinder moments and those do increase (as well as his lame-brained moments decreasing) as the story progressed, so in the end, he wasn’t a bad hero. He just wasn’t quite as good as I prefer my heroes to be.
There are a few notable secondary characters in Cinnamon and Roses. While we don’t see a lot of Caleb’s father, Holbrook, he seems like a very nice man who was done wrong by his wife and merely misses his children and wants to be near them. That’s why he “engineered” his little health episode to get Caleb to come back to Leavenworth. Caleb’s sister, Megan, is a spirited young lady, who got sick of New York and decided to make her way back to Kansas on her own, scaring everyone in the process. Despite only being sixteen, she’s pretty mature for her age while still showing some of her youth. She becomes a good friend to Rebecca, and she also becomes the heroine of the second book of the Rose Trilogy, A Promise of Roses. I also liked Rebecca’s Wednesday Group, a small group of the more well-off ladies in town who always come by on Wednesdays to have tea with Rebecca and order a little something to help her out and keep her in business. When she hears of Rebecca's advantageous marriage, her mother, Kate, comes looking to engage in a little blackmail. Then there’s Sabrina, Caleb’s mistress, who won’t take no for an answer, turns mentally unstable, and who causes no end of trouble for the newlyweds, even to the point of attempted murder.
Cinnamon and Roses had a few minor missteps here and there that kept it from being a perfect read. To start with, I thought the various plot points could have been woven together a little more seamlessly. As is, it seemed like the characters were moving from one challenge or conflict to another until everything finally works out in the end, when more relationship development and getting-to-know you moments would have been appreciated. There were also some typos and awkward word choices that could have been smoothed out. And finally I detected a few anachronisms. A character pulls out a tissue, which wasn’t invented until a few decades later. Then there’s the use of the phrase “knocked up,” which I thought sounded out of place, but after doing a bit of research, I decided to let slide as it was apparently used in American slang as early as the 1800s. These were the two that stood out the most and that stuck with me, but I think there were a few other more minor instances. All of these things were probably a product of Ms. Betts’ greenness as a writer, so I’m willing to generally overlook them. Otherwise, I liked the story fairly well and other than Caleb’s few jerkish moments, I liked the characters, too. So, overall, I’d call Cinnamon and Roses a win. It was my first read by Heidi Betts, and it was good enough that I’m looking forward to trying Megan’s story at some point.
Cinnamon and Roses is the first book in Heidi Betts’ Rose Trilogy, and it was also her very first published novel. As such it’s a tad rough around the edges in places, but overall, it was a pretty good story for a debut effort. It’s a historical western romance in which we have the wealthy son of the stagecoach line owner who is a know womanizer paired with a scrappy young woman who spent her early years growing up in the back room of a brothel. They must battle her insecurities, his distrust of women, her mercenary prostitute mother, and his jealous, crazed ex-mistress in order to find their HEA. But find it they do, in a moderately suspenseful fashion. Add in the hero’s friendly, outgoing kid sister, his kind businessman father who just wants his children near him, and a bevy of townspeople, and you have the makings of a not-quite-perfect, but still decent read that held my attention throughout.
Rebecca spent her formative years in the brothel where her mother worked in Kansas City, but when the madam decided Rebecca was ready to start working herself when she turned thirteen, she ran away, stowing away on the back of a stagecoach that stopped in Leavenworth. There a kindly widow took her in and taught her everything she knew about sewing, so that when she passed away, the widow’s seamstress business and her small house went to Rebecca. It’s not exactly a comfortable living, but she gets by until the flighty, gaudy mistress of the town’s most eligible bachelor comes to her for a new dress and the woman’s protector refuses to pay her for it in full. Then she marches right into the stagecoach office in a fit of pique, demanding her money. Despite him trying to stiff her on the bill, she can’t help being attracted to the infuriating man. They work things out and he gives her more business making a wardrobe for his younger sister who unexpectedly comes to town, but when he refuses to pay another one of his mistress’s bills, Rebecca, this time, finds herself in his hotel room seeking payment. One thing leads to another, and although they’re like oil and water at first, they end up making love (on more than one occasion), which leads to a surprise pregnancy and a hasty marriage. Overall, I liked Rebecca. She’s a bit of a spitfire when she needs to be, not allowing Caleb or anyone else to walk all over her. But she also has a softer, more sensitive side. She’s afraid at first to tell Caleb about her upbringing for fear that he’ll reject her, and she also has a few insecurities that she needs to work out. But in general, I found her to be a good, fairly well-balanced heroine.
Upon hearing that his father was sick, Caleb came back to Leavenworth to help run the family business. Until then, he’d been living in New York with his mother, who is separated from his father because of her infidelities and her desire to live in high society instead of the primitive West. Caleb brought his mistress with him, but she’s rapidly getting bored, which is why he allowed her to get a new dress. But when he receives the bill, he doesn’t think it’s a fair price and refuses to pay the full amount. When the feisty dressmaker comes into his office demanding her due, he can’t help being attracted to both her beauty and her fiery nature, at which point he realizes his mistress just isn’t doing it for him anymore and sends her packing. The woman isn’t so easily deterred, though, and when he receives another bill from Rebecca for a second dress, he refuses to pay it at all, which brings her looking for him at the hotel. It’s then that he realizes he’s been wanting her for a while and can’t resist giving in to the sparks that have been passing between them. He thinks to make her his new mistress, until she turns up pregnant. Then he knows the only way to make things right is to marry her, even though he thinks he’ll never love her.
Caleb had a few jerk moments in the early chapters of the book, which were not endearing him to me at all and made me want to smack him upside the head. He has issues with trusting women, but there were times that I felt he was needlessly cruel. Also, we don’t know until over halfway into the book exactly what’s fueling his animosity, and even then, I felt that it wasn’t quite bad enough to make him behave the way he had. IMHO, the author could have dug a bit deeper on this part of his characterization. Despite rubbing me the wrong way on more than one occasion, he does have his kinder moments and those do increase (as well as his lame-brained moments decreasing) as the story progressed, so in the end, he wasn’t a bad hero. He just wasn’t quite as good as I prefer my heroes to be.
There are a few notable secondary characters in Cinnamon and Roses. While we don’t see a lot of Caleb’s father, Holbrook, he seems like a very nice man who was done wrong by his wife and merely misses his children and wants to be near them. That’s why he “engineered” his little health episode to get Caleb to come back to Leavenworth. Caleb’s sister, Megan, is a spirited young lady, who got sick of New York and decided to make her way back to Kansas on her own, scaring everyone in the process. Despite only being sixteen, she’s pretty mature for her age while still showing some of her youth. She becomes a good friend to Rebecca, and she also becomes the heroine of the second book of the Rose Trilogy, A Promise of Roses. I also liked Rebecca’s Wednesday Group, a small group of the more well-off ladies in town who always come by on Wednesdays to have tea with Rebecca and order a little something to help her out and keep her in business. When she hears of Rebecca's advantageous marriage, her mother, Kate, comes looking to engage in a little blackmail. Then there’s Sabrina, Caleb’s mistress, who won’t take no for an answer, turns mentally unstable, and who causes no end of trouble for the newlyweds, even to the point of attempted murder.
Cinnamon and Roses had a few minor missteps here and there that kept it from being a perfect read. To start with, I thought the various plot points could have been woven together a little more seamlessly. As is, it seemed like the characters were moving from one challenge or conflict to another until everything finally works out in the end, when more relationship development and getting-to-know you moments would have been appreciated. There were also some typos and awkward word choices that could have been smoothed out. And finally I detected a few anachronisms. A character pulls out a tissue, which wasn’t invented until a few decades later. Then there’s the use of the phrase “knocked up,” which I thought sounded out of place, but after doing a bit of research, I decided to let slide as it was apparently used in American slang as early as the 1800s. These were the two that stood out the most and that stuck with me, but I think there were a few other more minor instances. All of these things were probably a product of Ms. Betts’ greenness as a writer, so I’m willing to generally overlook them. Otherwise, I liked the story fairly well and other than Caleb’s few jerkish moments, I liked the characters, too. So, overall, I’d call Cinnamon and Roses a win. It was my first read by Heidi Betts, and it was good enough that I’m looking forward to trying Megan’s story at some point.
December 19, 2017
I do not usually pick up western romances. I tend more to historical romances or JAFF. However, this book was one offered under Kindle Unlimited so I decided to download it.
As other reviews have told you, this is about a young woman, raised in a brothel who runs away just when the madame decides she is "of age". Fortunately for her she is "adopted" and reared by a widow who teaches her a trade as a seamstress.
And, when she confronts a rich, strong and handsome man who refuses to pay the bill for his mistress' gown it is predictable that this is who will wind up in her bed. Rebecca does have a number of "accidents" or misfortunes happen to her or her belongings, which adds some mystery to the story. Caleb's younger sister, Megan, is also running away - from their mother in NYC. She likes Rebecca and befriends her.
Much of this story is predictable. But it is a page turner which fills an afternoon's reading requirements.
As other reviews have told you, this is about a young woman, raised in a brothel who runs away just when the madame decides she is "of age". Fortunately for her she is "adopted" and reared by a widow who teaches her a trade as a seamstress.
And, when she confronts a rich, strong and handsome man who refuses to pay the bill for his mistress' gown it is predictable that this is who will wind up in her bed. Rebecca does have a number of "accidents" or misfortunes happen to her or her belongings, which adds some mystery to the story. Caleb's younger sister, Megan, is also running away - from their mother in NYC. She likes Rebecca and befriends her.
Much of this story is predictable. But it is a page turner which fills an afternoon's reading requirements.
February 16, 2009
There are times when reading a satisfying romance is a must! This one falls into that category. I have never spelled cinnamon quite this sweet...
August 31, 2022
"Cinnamon and Roses" is the story of Rebecca and Caleb.
Woah that was.. not good.
So the premise is as follows- hero is a rake who has a new mistress every week. He pleases them by buying them expensive gowns, for which he employs the heroine. She is a seamstress running from a tragic past, and now earns a respectable living. When the hero refuses to pay her for her latest work, she decides to take matters into her own hand.
There was a lot happening in this book. We see multiple POVs- hero/ heroine/ his sister/ his mistress etc etc. The story jumps a LOT- for instance- there is conflict, next page resolution, next page another conflict. Many plot points were introduced and never spoken of again. The hero is an ass and very unlikable for most of the book, something that is brushed away all the time- especially the way he treats the heroine. I felt she got the short end of the stick. She got treated horribly, then had all that drama with her egg donor and his ex, so much humiliation and pain only for the book to end abruptly with nothing.
I absolutely did not enjoy this.
Unsafe
1.5/5
Woah that was.. not good.
So the premise is as follows- hero is a rake who has a new mistress every week. He pleases them by buying them expensive gowns, for which he employs the heroine. She is a seamstress running from a tragic past, and now earns a respectable living. When the hero refuses to pay her for her latest work, she decides to take matters into her own hand.
There was a lot happening in this book. We see multiple POVs- hero/ heroine/ his sister/ his mistress etc etc. The story jumps a LOT- for instance- there is conflict, next page resolution, next page another conflict. Many plot points were introduced and never spoken of again. The hero is an ass and very unlikable for most of the book, something that is brushed away all the time- especially the way he treats the heroine. I felt she got the short end of the stick. She got treated horribly, then had all that drama with her egg donor and his ex, so much humiliation and pain only for the book to end abruptly with nothing.
I absolutely did not enjoy this.
Unsafe
1.5/5
February 10, 2022
Ok read
Was real excited to see this book was supposed to be about a plain woman. Was disappointed that the author changed the character to beginning beautiful and skipped over the build up to the hero becoming attracted to her. It would have been nice if the heroine stayed plain but her imperfections became alluring. There was a hint of it. It would have been nice if the author built on how the hero didn't think much of her and added the scene where he actually brought his mistress to her to see to make a dress.
The story had some great potential but the time line was off in places and the format made transitions hard to pick up on when conversations ended and one began. Spacing or a symbol would have helped. Not sure about reading the others in the series. I'm looking for authors, which are hard to find, who know how to write a plain character.
Was real excited to see this book was supposed to be about a plain woman. Was disappointed that the author changed the character to beginning beautiful and skipped over the build up to the hero becoming attracted to her. It would have been nice if the heroine stayed plain but her imperfections became alluring. There was a hint of it. It would have been nice if the author built on how the hero didn't think much of her and added the scene where he actually brought his mistress to her to see to make a dress.
The story had some great potential but the time line was off in places and the format made transitions hard to pick up on when conversations ended and one began. Spacing or a symbol would have helped. Not sure about reading the others in the series. I'm looking for authors, which are hard to find, who know how to write a plain character.
October 4, 2014
A Very Good Book
How do you tell a story about how to love, and about murder, or intent to murder. This story has it all. Consider a Seamstress who has practicality raised her
self and ran away from home at the age of 13 and never wanting to see her mother again. However, that was
somewhat not the way it turns out.
A very exciting book.
How do you tell a story about how to love, and about murder, or intent to murder. This story has it all. Consider a Seamstress who has practicality raised her
self and ran away from home at the age of 13 and never wanting to see her mother again. However, that was
somewhat not the way it turns out.
A very exciting book.
January 25, 2017
Definitely check out this book!
Rebecca and Caleb are both weary around the opposite gender for good reasons. Rebecca grew up in a brothel and Caleb tried to make a fallen woman into a wife. Then Rebecca ends up pregnant with Caleb's child and unwillingly marries Caleb. Slowly, they fall in love with each other. But Sabrina, his mistress before they wed wants her revenge.
Rebecca and Caleb are both weary around the opposite gender for good reasons. Rebecca grew up in a brothel and Caleb tried to make a fallen woman into a wife. Then Rebecca ends up pregnant with Caleb's child and unwillingly marries Caleb. Slowly, they fall in love with each other. But Sabrina, his mistress before they wed wants her revenge.
June 28, 2011
DNF. I read 50% and then finished the final chapter. I don't thin I missed much. It's books like this that give Romance Books a bad name. Kindle archive.
July 23, 2013
As a man, I typically do not read these type of books, however, this book is fantastic! It is a great start for Heidi Betts' career!
October 13, 2014
2.5 stars
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews