These are the reviews I've received for the first book in my four-part series, Bandita Bonita: Romancing Billy the Kid.
I have received primarily 5-star reviews, and most of my reviews are from men which pleases me greatly as I wrote the book with the male ego in mind; but ladies, I wrote it thinking of you! I'd like to share these reviews with those of you who might like to read them and may consider buying the book. The second book in the series, Bandita Bonita and Billy the Kid: The Scourge of New Mexico, is slated for spring, 2016.
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To Purchase a copy of Book I, Please Click here. It is available in both print and ebook formats. Ebooks, #Kindle and #Nook, are $3.99. It is also available on Google Play and for iPad.
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Having read extensively about Billy the Kid for my own novels, I was curious to see how the author would approach the story. I found myself entranced from the very first paragraph. The author's grasp of a teenage girl's emotions is stunningly well done. Her picture of life in 1877 is full and almost seems lived in. The history is accurate, the characters fully realized and the prose is spot on. I have not enjoyed a novel this much in a long time. Congratulations on a job very well done.
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Nicole Maddalo Dixon does something many authors have difficulty doing. She manages a very well written historical fictional narrative with that of actual historic events. Over the years many authors seem to enjoy taking great liberties with the latter. Not Dixon. She ingratiates her Lucy with characters we have come to know very well through the history books and ties her imaginative story of a young woman coming from the east, who longs for a life lived on her merit to their story. With her hand promised to another man, Lucy finds herself looking into the blue eyes of a well known tragic youth and falls instantly in love with him. Billy the Kid had many sweethearts in his short life and Lucy, who repeatedly tried to deny what she really felt, was determined to be one of them. They would soon find themselves in the midst of New Mexico's most famous feud: The Lincoln County War.
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I am a huge fan of Billy the Kid and westerns. If you are a man, who likes to read, don't let the word romance derail you from buying this book. This book was well researched and well thought out. The author did a really good job with the details. Billy and Lucy have an undeniable chemistry. Lucy is a breath of fresh air in a 120 year old story of the old wests most famous figure. I am looking forward to the next installment of the story of Billy and Lucy. Bandita is fantastic book. I urge anyone to buy this book.
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When I read the first book in the series of Bandita Bonita: Romancing Billy the Kid, I didn’t know what to expect. The primary reigning info out there on the most infamous outlaw can be found in the multi-bios on the subject.
However, Ms. Dixon took a different, refreshing approach to telling his story. As I’ve followed the author through social media, she had mentioned that her primary goal was to write a Bio-Novel, though technically it is considered Historical Fiction. This piqued my interest and I was not disappointed! The facts are all there, of course, as that was obviously important to the author, but she does it in a way that introduces the reader and giving them an amazing insight into the man himself and why things may or may not have turned out the way they had. Billy the Kid pops off the page; the author created him as is a 3-dimensional character to say the least.
The history is all there, so that should satiate the history buffs, but for those of us who are vehemently opposed to reading an historically fictional take on the matter, you should go in with an open mind. And when you do, you’ll find that the biography on Billy the Kid is there, along with an understanding of the boy outlaw himself. Therefore, it is both an informative and entertaining read.
I’d be surprised if there was another book/series out there that captures the personalities such as Ms. Dixon’s work has. Biographies, as important as they are, are basically the same. In Ms. Dixon’s work, she actually brings the important characters to life which should help break down demographic boarders rather than just allowing this book to sit in a western niche.
It contained all the appropriate elements: the historical facts, It’s funny, it’s heartbreaking, and it’s romantic. It has everything one could ask for. It goes above and beyond where Billy the Kid’s story is concerned, and I highly recommend this read!
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A beautifully written and fun read! I enjoyed hearing Billy's wild west adventures from Lucy's point of view.
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"Bandita Bonita" is a fresh and unique take on the oft-told saga of Billy the Kid. The narrative voice chosen by author Nicole Maddalo Dixon is what makes it so.
Covered in the past by an eclectic mix of writers from Ned Buntline and Walter Noble Burns, to Gore Vidal and Larry McMutry. the vast majority of retellings of this story are related from the male point of view. Here, we are presented with Billy's story from a female perspective - and not as one might expect, a tale told by an improbable 19th Century cowgirl or a dusky, fiery-eyed senorita, but from a polished, sophisticated former New York society girl who finds herself propelled into Billy's world through the machinations of a pair of ambitious and greedy men - her wealthy father and her fiancé, John Tunstall, to whom she has been promised as a pawn in a complicated business arrangement between the pair. This is a very plausible plotline, considering that women were regarded as chattel property of husbands and fathers in that era.Ms. Dixon does a masterful job of portraying the conflict within Elucia (Lucy), the heroine of the story, as she explores issues of culture shock, class snobbery ( in herself and others), and Victorian notions of love versus duty and honor.
This is, all in all, an above average look through fresh eyes at an old and beloved piece of American folklore. I gave it four stars because of some tiny flaws that are more in the nature of quibbles than true complaints. Ms. Dixon sometimes makes an incorrect choice when it comes to homonyms, and a couple of times, she makes a slightly jarring change from Lucy's point of view to the omniscient "God's Eye". Still these, as I say, are in the main just quibbles. As to the storytelling, I would have given it six stars if I could.
"Bandita Bonita" is the first volume of a series. I definitely look forward to the next installment.
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The first romantic historical novel in a series by author, Nicole Maddalo Dixon, is an intriguing imaginative tale of Lucy Howard with the historical Billy Bonney, aka Billy the Kid. The narrative of this novel begins in August 1977 shortly before the outbreak of the legendary Lincoln County War and ends in July 1878 with the Five Day Battle in Lincoln, NM. In the early portion, Lucy arrived in Lincoln County, NM to begin a pre-arranged loveless marriage to John Tunstall. Shortly thereafter, she meets Tunstall's hired hand, young Billy Bonney, and quickly falls in love with him. There are many twists and turns over a period just shy of just one year. Ms. Dixon's novel was true to historical facts throughout (other than the fictional romance, of course). This novel is definitely a good read and will entertain you throughout. I will be looking forward to reading the second installment of this author's series.
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Bandita Bonita is about an upper class girl from New York, who has to put her own feelings aside to make her family happy by agreeing to a business arrangement that her father had made, which consists of an arranged marriage. Lucy is forced to move from New York to New Mexico to be with her fiancé', where he forces her to learn to defend herself by learning to shoot a gun. Her fiancé, John, hires Billy the Kid to be his right-hand man and help defend his land and also train Lucy for whatever bad comes their way. Of course this comes in handy when they have a couple of scuffles with the Santa Fe Ring. But even though Billy keeps telling Lucy to go back to New York to live a better life, fate keeps bringing her back to Billy and the Regulators.
This book is a really great fast read. The author has an excellent way of putting Lucy's feelings on paper in a the way she describes how Lucy feels through the entire book. I also had a clear vision of how the west was back then with Billy the Kid because of the author's way with words and being very descriptive and precise. I wish I had more spare time, I would have finished this book a lot sooner. I didn't want to put the book down. So, if you are tired of reading about vampires, werewolves or fairies, I highly recommend this book.
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First I must say that once I began reading this book, I was unable to put it down. I read it, cover to cover in 24 hours. It is a very gripping story and draws you in to life in the 19th century.
It is a captivating story about a strong willed woman who struggles with her love for notorious " Billy the Kid," and the expectations of women in the 19th century.
She brings humor to the situation with her sarcasm, and quick wit; yet levity amist the trials of war.
I found myself rooting for her and Billy, and identifying with each of their inner struggles. It is well written and easy to read. I highly recommend this book.
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Our protagonist, Lucy Howard, is an unhappy eastern socialite sent out west to Lincoln County N.M., to fulfill a prearranged marriage to a man whom she does not love, John H. Tunstall, a young proprietor. When her husband-to-be hires a young farmhand, destined to become the notorious Billy the Kid, Lucy's unhappiness is tempered as she falls in love with the young future outlaw.
John is constantly harassed and threatened by the Santa Fe Ring as he and his competing business is unwelcome. The Ring unofficially runs Lincoln County, and when they make good on their threats and murder John, Lucy's own life is threatened and is forced into the war that arises with the death of John as her own life is in danger.
Lucy then finds bittersweet freedom while fighting alongside her true love, Billy, and the rest of the Lincoln Co. Regulators, and is forced to acknowledge the horror of the oppression of women as she fights for the oppression of others in general.
A fascinating tale of death and tragedy alleviated by humorous episodes as Lucy finds her way in a third class society foreign to her.
The reader easily learns to care about the characters in the story and can’t help but read to find out what happens next. I couldn’t put this book down.
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Let’s face it, men don’t read romance novels and I’m no exception. That includes my gay friends too (put your show tunes stereotypes behind you). When our wives and girlfriends drag us to chick flicks and we let you cry on our shoulders, any tears we may be shedding are tears of pain and boredom. Our feminine sides want us to slap those silly women straight and tell them to get on with their lives.
I can’t tell you why I not only read Maddalo Dixon’s Bandita Bonita, but wanted to read it. The truth is, I tried to find it unsuccessfully on Amazon and iBooks and had to download it on Nook, which is my least favorite platform. Only later was I able to find the correct links on the other two vendors. Even then I the book was an impulse buy because it was a romance. But the blurb hooked me, and I read one of Dixon’s online blogs describing a purple prose confrontation with her obnoxious neighbors and I knew in my heart that this author, a Philly girl, was no delicate primrose.
Dixon’s female readers should be assured that she dishes out plenty of girly scenes to keep them enthralled. In fact, whenever I began to forget Bonita was, in fact, a romance she made sure to throw in a what my wife and I call another Smallville scene to heighten the heartbreak potential. (CW fans know the formula: Clark/Lana, Oliver/Laurel—substitute any two CW characters—in this case, Billy and the heroine Lucy, arguing who should make the greater self-sacrifice, set their love aside and go their separate ways forever.) But the scene would be over in a paragraph or a couple of easily browsed pages, the bad guys would threaten mortal peril and more manly interests would engage me again. All in all, Dixon balances her male and female readers’ interests with a deft turn of pen.
Dixon injects the fictional Elucia Howard, or Lucy, into the historical story of William Bonney (Billy the Kid) and John Tunstall at the outbreak of the Lincoln County Wars in New Mexico. History buffs will remember this period as the moment that established Bonney’s reputation as a gunslinger and folk hero. Lucy’s father arranges her marriage to cattle baron and merchant Tunstall just as he prepares to engage in a war with competing merchants Murphy and Dolan (who paid the sheriff to back them).
Tunstall, who has no interest in Lucy except for her land and money, delegates Billy to keep her company and teach her how to shoot to protect herself in the wild country. Lucy, who never liked being told what to do, yearns for independence. As readers anticipate, the two fall in love. When Dolan’s men kill Tunstall, Billy has to take Lucy on the run to protect her from the range war that follows. She fights with grim determination to prove herself as capable a rider and gunman as any of Billy’s gang. As Dolan’s men close in, Billy and Lucy’s relationship becomes as volatile as the life they live.
Dixon’s account of the Lincoln County Wars, Lucy’s ride with Billy and the Regulators, the New Mexico landscape and towns to which they run are vivid and visual, even her minor characters full of life. She paints every detail, from the dinners to the music to dances. Readers looking for a sense and scent of Southwestern history will find it in these pages. And, although I’m no historian, the story squares with the accounts I’ve read of the period.
Lucy’s story isn’t complete. Bandita Bonita is the first in a series and ends with the five day war between the Regulators and the Doyle gang in Lincoln that ended with Bonney on the run and the beginning of his official declaration as an outlaw. Male readers should be cautioned that the book will drag for you in the beginning, as Billy comes a courting and Lucy dithers over her duty to Tunstall and her attraction to the young gunslinger. Then the shooting starts and romance readers may have to wade through a few action pages to get their heart tug fix.
Nor can Dixon resist dabbling in modern romantic dialog. (Can you say “anachronism”?) I stopped counting the number of times Billy promised Lucy he didn’t have an agenda, a word I’m not sure existed in the Wild West, much less in the vocabulary of a marginally literate gunslinger. In fact, on the whole, Billy’s character seemed far to well-spoken for a someone from his background (and I should know, I grew up with ranch hands and farm boys).
But if I’m going to nitpick Dixon, I would have to nitpick Shakespeare, and this is one of the reasons I would never tackle historical novels of any kind, at least not as a writer.
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This book caught me on page one and refused to let go. It was suspenseful, charming and sexy. And above all it flowed beautifully. Being a historical nut I was pleased at how well the book followed actual history. Very well done, Ms Dixon. And may you pen many more, JRW
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Catching the sensibilities and texture of the nineteenth century, this first novel both entertains and enlightens. It is a well researched account of the old west and one Billy the Kid, who despite being depicted in countless movies and books before this, somehow seems more human here than ever before. That may be due to the story being told through the eyes of a young woman thrust into a world she is unprepared for, but doesn't hide from. It is passionate and rich in it's grasp of the past, from the fabrics of the dress to the specialties of the firearm. It all brings to life one of the most interesting and yes, exciting chapters in the distinctively American frontier west - the Lincoln County War. Look it up if you are not familiar with it. It's fascinating stuff. But before you do that, get this book and read it.
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