Oh, Diana--you drama QUEEN! Empress of OTT Emotional Trauma! There is no bridge too far in your torturing of MCs (and their satellite characters, why Oh, Diana--you drama QUEEN! Empress of OTT Emotional Trauma! There is no bridge too far in your torturing of MCs (and their satellite characters, why not)! False diagnoses of fatal illnesses? No problem! A decade of child neglect that you breezily resolve with pink dresses and promises of church attendance? Yes! Good lord, the angst in this is just epic, it's delicious. So many reviewers seem to HATE this one, but it's an angst junky's CRACK, with years-long lies and self-deception keeping our MCs apart for almost a decade, during which they both endure endless regrets and an emotional deep freeze. St. Margarets likens it to "Susan Fox level angst," and that's it in a nutshell--as far as "misjudged heroines" go, this is an Everest of angst. DP outFoxes Fox even! Oh, happy happy day.
His horrible treatment of the heroine aside, the hero's (and his housekeeper's--how is she not fired/part of the HEA?) neglect of his daughter for nine years(view spoiler)[(because he thinks she might not actually be his daughter biologically, which is awful and shallow--you raised her, such as it was, for almost a decade, dude) (hide spoiler)] puts him into such unlikable, dishonorable territory that DP never really recovers from it, for me anyway. And once the MCs get together, the last quarter or so of the book devolves into such treacly, ridiculous OTT pablum, where our angelic heroine's love heals all and brings the neglected kid and her neglectful father together so easily and breezily, that it's almost insulting. YOU get redemption, and YOU get redemption, and the lying, deceased OW who caused all the heartache gets redemption, and it's a sunshine day, hey hey!
Oh lordy, this was fun. Angst for days, some LOL moments at how easily years'-long traumas are blithely resolved, and a HEA for everyone! Only DP could pull this off, and she largely does--as OTT as it is, and as unlikable as the hero is, it's still skillfully written, expertly paced, and a very emotional read. Not everyone's cuppa, for sure, but most definitely mine and a nice addition to my ever-growing collection of asshats....more
Yes! Delicious, intense, nonstop angsty goodness, packed from start to finish into a category-length book. No spies-like-us nonsense or rom-sus diversYes! Delicious, intense, nonstop angsty goodness, packed from start to finish into a category-length book. No spies-like-us nonsense or rom-sus diversions; the tight focus on our MCs keeps the intensity and pacing taut. Heroine is a keeper, hero is DP vintage cruel emotionally, but the tender love scenes show Diana doing what she does best (and while ze prose, it may tinge purple, she does write hot and emotional love scenes). Our scrappy yet vulnerable heroine in this one is an up and coming soft-rock singer but DP clearly isn't a huge fan of pop music, since the callouts are to a Puccini aria and this old chestnut from Me and My Gal (hero says the heroine makes him think of it; even calls her "tulip" as an endearment), which made for good listening during my reading of the story. No filler, no distractions from the romance--for me, a vintage keeper from DP. Preeti and other fave reviewers have all the deets. ...more
Holy crap! This (updated reissue? circa 2017) should have been titled UNRELENTING, for its OTT nonstop dramarama, the (sweet and virginal DP) heroine Holy crap! This (updated reissue? circa 2017) should have been titled UNRELENTING, for its OTT nonstop dramarama, the (sweet and virginal DP) heroine who takes lying to a new level--but justifiably so, when the hero's vengeance, once he discovers her perfidy (view spoiler)[(she's the cause of his hysterical blindness after ramming his Jetski with a boat by accident) (hide spoiler)] raises hero cruelty to truly astonishing levels. What a ride! An angst junky's dream read, for sure, with melodramatic events coming fast and furious (view spoiler)[(jail shankings! attempted suicide! "reported dead" plane crashes!") (hide spoiler)]. I think I need a drink after all that....more
Excellent second-chance story with a blockbuster beginning and a plot shift that relies heavily on character development rather than additional dramatExcellent second-chance story with a blockbuster beginning and a plot shift that relies heavily on character development rather than additional dramatic events. What a smart author Reid is--she doesn't let the intense and dramatic beginning overwhelm the romance in this and quickly shifts so that the relationship between our MCs is front and center. The intensity of the opening chapters is wonderfully done, and nicely sustained when the emotional drama and wreckage of the past become the main sources of conflict.
The heroine's story is a nice little potted bildungsroman, too, as we see how her shyness and reliance on the sophisticated hero (and his impatience with it, despite being a big part of her initial appeal) helped doom their relationship, even without the Machiavellian manipulations of his horrible father. Our Shy-Di heroine has since grown up with a vengeance, however, and shows that she's now, mostly, a match for our autocratic alpha hero.
I didn't love the Big Mis/communication-breakdown plot development re: an OW, but it did serve to extend the conflict between our MCs--although it struck me as flimsy that the heroine wouldn't say something about it to the hero because she didn't feel she had the right, given what the hero (falsely) believed about her. So that was a little weak, but otherwise, every time I thought "but what about..." or "seriously?," MR would move the characters and action in such a way that it erased my brief dissatisfaction.
Boogenhausen and other reviewers do a great job of laying out the details and how MR polishes up the tropes and makes them shine. In the end, the themes of forgiveness (and self-forgiveness) and acknowledging that even the worst people can change and grow (looking at you, Grandpa, evil old man with a soft spot for plot moppets) are what elevated this story for me. (Poor plot moppet Lia--she's put through the ringer even more than Neel's poor little moppet in Hannah--but, to coin a phrase or two, needs must and all's well that ends well).
Intense, wrecky, and skillfully done, GRoB shows MR at her angsty, twisty best!...more
Unrelentingly intense and angsty revenge tale that was dramarama from start to finish. Our misjudged heroine bears the brunt of the hero's hatred and Unrelentingly intense and angsty revenge tale that was dramarama from start to finish. Our misjudged heroine bears the brunt of the hero's hatred and vengeance plans for her vile father (and he's a doozy). Hero's treatment of heroine is next-level cruel but he suffers for it as much as she does, and James manages to pull off (for me, anyway) the redemption arc. Romeo, meet Juliet: hero even makes it explicit: "My only love sprung from my only hate [Too early seen unknown, and known too late! That I must love a loathed enemy.]).
I've been on a Sara Craven kick--love her angst, although her big misunderstandings and the self-immolating decisions her heroines sometimes make can I've been on a Sara Craven kick--love her angst, although her big misunderstandings and the self-immolating decisions her heroines sometimes make can get irritating. But overall, she was one of Harlequin's best and wrote highly dramatic and often complicated tales with lots of minor but key players who add to the drama.
RA is such a soap opera, showing the full range of SC's love of drama! Old passions and family skeletons underlie this very angsty tale of an orphaned heroine who was punished for the sins of the previous generation and grew up lonely and isolated, with only the friendship of the daughter of the manor and the occasional kindness of the hero to leaven a bleak existence. Five years after her horrible aunt threw her out, she's become a successful actress, playing the femme fatale in a soapy historical drama. She returns home, against the hero's warnings, to attend her bestie's wedding to a louse, knowing some terrible secrets about him that she is reluctant to reveal (making her pretty much the worst friend ever, albeit with good intentions). And so the drama begins...
Kidnappings! Hopeless, star-crossed love! The scandals of the past keeping the hero and heroine apart even after they succumb to their mutual feelings and desires! Craven parcels out the backstory slowly, laying red herrings and hints in a way that worked for me (even though we know, this being a Harlequin, that the heroine can't be guilty of the betrayals laid at her door). The drama continues to the very end, culminating in a typically abrupt Craven ending that wraps up loose ends and leaves our hero and heroine a united force against some hurdles yet to be surmounted but assured of a HEA.
Lots of twists and turns on the way to that HEA, but in the hands of this skillful writer, it didn't detract from the main romance. Good, soapy, vintage stuff!...more
OK, after reading this one, finally I think I GET Lynne Graham. It took a while. :-D
Equally insane smitten MCs stricken witless by instalove/lust. ToOK, after reading this one, finally I think I GET Lynne Graham. It took a while. :-D
Equally insane smitten MCs stricken witless by instalove/lust. To the point where they are completely unable to resist one another--morals go by the wayside, sense and self-protection go out the window. The hero is such a Neanderthal who wants what he wants (the heroine) that he flatly REFUSES to even consider or feel the least bit guilty about the the lengths to which he's prepared to go (including cheating on his "suitable" fiancee). The heroine at least tries to do the right things (once she becomes aware of the wrong things) but it's a wasted effort. There are lies by omission b/c the hero will do anything to have the heroine, a one-shot pregnancy that changes everything, a blockheaded Gorilla Guido hero (I don't care that he's Greek, it still fits) who is gobsmacked by the heroine's pointed and accurate comments about his lack of conscience and morals but who actually seems willing to change to be the "hero" she believed he was at the beginning; a heroine who starts off like a star-struck adolescent and ends up with a typical case of Lynne Graham extreme TBS/instalove that cannot be reasoned away or resisted.
Best of all, with all the implied angst, TPB is FUNNY! There are some genuinely laugh out loud moments with these clueless and helpless two. Funny LG is at her best--it makes her MCs so much more likable when I finally understood how helpless they are in the face of their mutual feelings. They literally cannot help themselves.
One of my fave LG books to date, with all the things that make her readers such fervent admirers. ...more
So what does this vintage HP reader think of the first NEW HP she's read in ages? Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose!
Well, mostly, anyway.
We're So what does this vintage HP reader think of the first NEW HP she's read in ages? Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose!
Well, mostly, anyway.
We're still doing "improbable virgins"? Really, Hqn? Lemme tell you--not a snowflake's chance in hell that some rich girl from Greenwich CT who grew up in NYC hi-falutin' ultra-sophisticated social circles is going to be a post-college virgin. Even if CC did put her in an all-girls college (surrounded by lots of colleges with guys, so... doesn't even matter).
And the "exchange sexual favors to save my shitty family" trope--alive and well! Pfffttt. At least she realizes later that was mostly an excuse.
Other vintage tropes that apparently have stood the test of time, in this book anyway: treacherous body syndrome! Revenge plots (however lame and flimsy the "revenge")! One-shot pregnancies!
I actually enjoyed this though. Great heat (and only a few well-placed sex scenes, which I find keeps the sexual tension going). Great tension (sexual and otherwise)--I'm not a fan of writing that relies heavily on short, sharp sentences. Incomplete sentences. To convey tension. But I have to admit that it really worked in this one--the writing style fed the overall mood.
The heroine was very funny too. CC gave her a dry wit that I enjoyed. The scenes between the hero and heroine were taut and quick-paced, and the heroine was able to use humor to deflect his high-handed alpha menace. Speaking of which....
I love a menacing alpha! CC did a pretty good job--this guy had almost vintage-level menace. But...
JFC, all that navel gazing and infodumps (particularly about the heroine's family/past in the first pages). Just stop. Yeah, I get that asshats need some reason for being asshats now, but do we have to go on and on about REASONS? And if we do, how about using writer skills to slowly unveil the deets as part of dialogue and natural plot developments? Do we need the heroines entire crappy past on page one as justification for all that follows? (No, I say, we do not--there are better ways to do it). At least the hero trauma infodump didn't happen until the end. (Infodump bookends!)
And the whole your family wronged my family premise was kind of weak--some comeuppance at least--and the "revenge" makes no sense in light of it really. (Not that it did in vintage HPs either usually--the whole "silken prison with great sex" vengeance never sounds so awful to me. ;-)
My grumbling aside, I was happy to see that so much of what I enjoy about vintage HPs is more or less alive (if diluted) and that authors can still write good menace to go with good heat. Nothing really new here but interesting to see how old tropes, often with underpinnings that haven't aged well or wouldn't fly now, are still in play even in current releases. And not one Greek or Sheik mentioned in the title! 3.5* from me and a nudge to try out some more of Hqn's newer releases maybe....more
To the Ends of the Earth is Lowell’s 1998 expansion/reissuance of her early (1984) Silhouette Intimate Moments novel The Danvers Touch (which I haven’To the Ends of the Earth is Lowell’s 1998 expansion/reissuance of her early (1984) Silhouette Intimate Moments novel The Danvers Touch (which I haven’t read). It’s an angst ONION—layer upon layer of drama/trauma that drives the conflict between the MCs, and then Lowell just piles it onto the heroine’s long-suffering shoulders: (view spoiler)[ working 16+ hour days to support her useless mother and put her twin sibs through medical school; abusive past marriage; zero future with her new lover, the hero, whose own awful past marriage has made him view sex as a commodity; and an unexpected-by-MCs pregnancy that drives them irrevocably (or so it seems) apart and ends with the heroine having a miscarriage and breakdown (hide spoiler)]. What an emotional torture fest! I think I was more exhausted than the chronically overworked heroine by the end!
Since my main criticism of TtEotE is that it’s just TOO DAMN LONG for what it is, I probably would have been better off reading the original Silhouette version (and might out of curiosity). Lowell relies way too much in this version on repetitious scenes where the MCs fight, or agonize, over the main conflict and lots and lots and lots of detail about boats, sailing, seascapes, and photography to pad out the simple plot (overworked weight-of-the-world-carrying photographer meets wealthy boat designer and their mutually disastrous past marriages have resulted in distrust of and cynicism about the opposite sex that blights any possible relationship between them). This probably worked better in its original shorter format, and while EL does a good job of maintaining the conflict and sexual tension, it’s too much weight for a relatively flimsy structure. I skimmed a lot.
That’s the bad and a lot to overcome.
The good: quick, sparring dialogue; flawed but interesting characters, Lowell’s usual skilled descriptions of beautiful locations, a tight focus on the MCs, good sexual tension, and LOTS of heat. And the plot development that occurs about ¾ of the way through definitely amps up the tension and the angst—the angst onion becomes really dense and strives to elicit maximum tears (although by that point I just kinda wanted to get to the end). I skimmed parts but overall it was an okay, angsty melodramatic read with a strong but sometimes irritating female lead, an asshat alpha hero who needed frequent and vigorous swift kicks to vulnerable areas, good secondary characters who don’t take up too much page time, and a story that plods in parts but shows that Lowell could write a good contemporary romance even in the early days of her career (assuming this version wasn’t significantly different from the ’84 version). Overall, I’d probably recommend reading The Danvers Touch original version rather than this expanded angstfest, and only if you’re on an EL kick like I am.
Funny moment of realization: at one point, en flagrante delicto, the heroine tells the hero, CAPTAIN Danvers, that she “never wanted to touch a man the way that I want to touch you.” I am a child of the 70s/80s, y’all, and that is totally a CAPTAIN and Tennille song lyric. Dunno if it was a little joke from EL or just a coinkeedink but I got a kick out of it (and listened to a song I haven’t heard in decades—gotta love schmaltzy 70s pop/soft rock)....more
I love revenge tropes but I didn't enjoy this book; earlier vintage writers did it much better, with better writing to boot. I'll go 2 stars since it I love revenge tropes but I didn't enjoy this book; earlier vintage writers did it much better, with better writing to boot. I'll go 2 stars since it wasn't horrible and I did finish it (although I skimmed the last 3rd). Basically: Moronic dickish hero jumps from conclusion to conclusion despite all evidence to the contrary. Baird pretends her heroine has backbone by having her weakly argue/speak up now and then but she never explains anything that would exculpate herself (because a past trauma has made her vow that she will never explain herself to a man again). Despite his horrible treatment of her (including a deflowering pump and dump), our heroine just can't resist the hero's manly man sexual appeal despite the fact that he blackmails her into a sexual relationship and accuses her of fraud, lies, whoring, and dishes out all manner of insults repeatedly. Heroines with no sense of self preservation and pride just irritate the hell out of me. And while I like heat, repetitive sex scene after sex scene diminished the heat for me--after a while, I'm desensitized and it's just boring. Particularly when described with the purplest hues--spare me the pouting nipples, JB, we get enough of that from Lynne Graham. OK, it's nice that for once an offscreen bad guy got a little comeuppance (although you'd think a powerful ruthless gazillionaire could come up with a better punishment/deterrent than sending out a goon squad). In a nutshell, this book went kinda like this: [image]...more
I forgot how much I liked Johanna Lindsey back in the day. PoMD is a no-holds-barred bodice ripper that is full of tropes and events that should probaI forgot how much I liked Johanna Lindsey back in the day. PoMD is a no-holds-barred bodice ripper that is full of tropes and events that should probably appall me, but I cut my teeth on these old-skool reads so probably much too late for me to muster up much moral indignation about 'em. ;-) At least JL has her heroines dish it out--(view spoiler)[the heroine in this one (unwillingly) rapes the hero (in order to beget an heir and save her mother's life), and his revenge is like for like. They both suffer terribly from treacherous body syndrome as well, so they're a well matched, to be sure. (hide spoiler)] Warrick is ALPHA and unrelenting, and for me that was pretty hot, especially given a heroine with a spine of steel who may not be in much of a position to fight back but who never really yields.
I enjoyed this re-read a lot--it definitely hits the right buttons for me, given that I find dub-con, Ds-y reads hot. If that's not your bent, this might not be for you. That aside, Lindsey does a good job of writing strong, interesting characters and building a nicely detailed medieval setting. A fun, unabashedly outrageous blast from the past! ...more
A good one from LH, full of secrets (some icky), family drama, and lies, spanning 20 years. A tortured heroine and a prodigal hero make for some angstA good one from LH, full of secrets (some icky), family drama, and lies, spanning 20 years. A tortured heroine and a prodigal hero make for some angst, and their coming together and mutual healing was really satisfying. Pacing was a little clunky and LH hammered points home at times to the point of exhaustion. The book reminded me a bit of Anne Stuart’s Winter’s Edge, but that shorter story seemed better paced to me, since a lot of the pivotal events were shown as flashbacks. I think LH’s book would have been stronger for not explicitly covering such a long timeline and maybe showing the pivotal relationships and drama of 20 years prior in a chapter or two, max. ( But I think she was going more for "saga-lite.") Showing the first (very D/s-y) sex scene from both the heroine’s and then the hero’s viewpoint threw the story off a little too, although I can see why she did it (their interpretations of it were pretty different, highlighting the heroine’s insecurities).
Roanna seemed a little doormatty to me at first but redeems herself—another of LH’s “shut-down” heroines whose withdrawal and locked up emotions are really a survival strategy and a source of strength. (She reminded me a little bit of the long-suffering heroine from Sarah’s Child, whom a lot of readers really seem to dislike.) The hero was pretty hot and one of LH’s dominant, protective alphas, whom I love. LH’s heroes always seem to acknowledge and respect their heroine’s independence and right to make their own decisions (as long as they’re not in danger, anyway), even though it goes against their very alpha natures. Just one of the things I love about her (along with her need to make every hero, no matter where he's from, some kind of badass cowboy :-D).
I enjoyed this one a lot! It had flaws but hit all the right buttons for me. I think Anne Stuart does desperation and darkness better but this had some nice Gothic undertones and a good twist ending!...more
Well, that was awesome. One of my absolute fave LH novels to date. Romantic-suspense is not my fave genre, but in NYSH Howard shows how to do it--greaWell, that was awesome. One of my absolute fave LH novels to date. Romantic-suspense is not my fave genre, but in NYSH Howard shows how to do it--great pacing, likable leads with great chemistry, an intriguing murder-and-mayhem plot. LH"s real talent lies in her ability to mix laugh-out-loud funny moments in the midst of a dark suspense plot--she did it to great effect in Open Season as well as in this one (and I can't wait to see which others by her hit that sweet spot>.
This one showcases her liking for the paranomal with those other elements, so it's her full bag of tricks on fine display. Lots of good summaries for this, so no play-by-play from me, but the intriguing doling out of the murder plot, the buildup of suspense as well as the growing relationship between the hero and heroine, the excellent pacing and slow reveal of plot points--just wonderfully done. (view spoiler)[And it's not every writer who can pull off a hero who is still married to someone other than the heroine--admittedly, they are just about to sign the final papers and the marriage has been over for a long time, but still--in lesser hands, that could be a major turnoff instead of the effective plot point it is in this book. (hide spoiler)]
My quibbles: some plot holes re: the motivations of certain characters; the epilogue is dumb and seems to have been tacked on to address an unanswered question but only raises more questions. But these are minor points--overall, this was wonderfully well done and shows Howard really coming into her own....more
Meh--formulaic Linda Howard with characters that seemed mostly borrowed from her other books. I like survival tropes but this one didn't do it for me Meh--formulaic Linda Howard with characters that seemed mostly borrowed from her other books. I like survival tropes but this one didn't do it for me (maybe because it was contrived by the hero and there was no real danger/need to work together). Or maybe I just need a break from LH for a while.
Sunny was annoyingly...sunny, particularly for someone who has spent her life being hunted. (And that whole plot line was so contrived, too, and just didn't stand scrutiny.) Chance was a fairly typical LH alpha but for some reason left me cold (and I like her heroes usually in that old-skool way). There was a lisping plot moppet in far too many "look at Wolf's and Mary's oh-so-happy-but-badass family" scenes, so full point off for that. The epilogue had a cute ending (view spoiler)[ when they reveal that they name the inevitable LH "and baby makes 3" Wolf. (hide spoiler)]
Not sure I'll bother with the other Mackenzie books, since 2 out of 3 have been largely strikes for me--we'll see. Sometimes a little of a good thing is a enough....more
Well, my streak of enjoyable Kay Thorpe novels had to hit a clunker sooner or later, and this was it. Talk about unlikeable heroines--the snobby SloanWell, my streak of enjoyable Kay Thorpe novels had to hit a clunker sooner or later, and this was it. Talk about unlikeable heroines--the snobby Sloan Ranger in this book had strung along and then cruelly rejected the working class hero six years before, when she was 18 and he was 24. Now she needs a favor and he goes along with it because it gives him a chance to pay her back. She's still a snob although she claims to have changed--and if you're an cold-hearted selfish twit at 18, chances are you're not gonna change that much ever. Some forced seduction scenes but oddly for 1981 very little heat and all fade to black. Probably hard to write hot sex scenes with such a cold-hearted heroine, I guess. I felt bad for the hero that he was still besotted and she caught him in the end. He deserved a HEA with any of the lovely ladies he met upon his move to Australia, but until one of them can save our Tam-Lin from his Fairy Queen, he's done for.
Meh--Claire, a washed-out version of the fairly insipid heroine of Sarah's Child, meets Max, the second-banana wannabe-alpha nice guy from that book aMeh--Claire, a washed-out version of the fairly insipid heroine of Sarah's Child, meets Max, the second-banana wannabe-alpha nice guy from that book and they manage to create a few weak sparkler-effect sputters between them. He's a corporate raider-slash-secret-aristo; she's reserved secretary who falls for him and spills some lame secrets that help him with the takeover of her company. There's not much angst, the sex is a middlin' rehash of the alpha-dommy-goodness I've come to expect from Ms. Howard, and it all kind of meanders to a white wedding ending. Fairly dull stuff, ah well, can't win 'em all....more
Oh yes!! Lilian Cheatham delivers revenge with no holds barred, not the wimpy “put Revenge in the title and call it a day” anemic revenge tropes you gOh yes!! Lilian Cheatham delivers revenge with no holds barred, not the wimpy “put Revenge in the title and call it a day” anemic revenge tropes you get from so many later Harleys. The angst in this one is unrelenting and epic—drama junkies rejoice! I love me a punishing alpha, and Simon of TWH is up there with Hugo of Sally Wentworth’s Shattered Dreams and Muir of Charlotte Lamb’s Betrayal. Emotional torment with a heaping side of—yes!—punitive housework and some sexual humiliation (he makes her tell him over and over that she wants him--which works for explicit consent in what might otherwise be a forced seduction, though, so there's that flipside), so fair warning. I thought Cheatham did a bang-up job in giving the heroine a good underpinning for her actions and emotions, and shows how she changes over the course of the story. Tempered in fire for sure!
(view spoiler)[23-year-old heroine Meg has taken care of her wild-child stepsister since she was 17 and Carol was 11-- a deathbed promise to her beloved stepmother, who was killed in an accident when the car 17-y.o. Meg was driving was struck. 18-year-old Carol is beautiful, selfish, and wild. Meg struggles to rein her in to no avail. Carol has an affair with the husband of the family she works for, and when they’re in a car accident, she leaves him dead. She begs Meg to tell the cops that she, Meg, was in the car, because of Carol’s prior record (shoplifting isn’t exactly a felony, but okay). Meg is shocked when Carol reveals that she’d been working as an aide for the guy’s sick wife under Meg’s name and social security number. Carol ruthlessly plays on Meg’s promise to their mother, so Meg unwillingly goes along with it. Since this is Harleyland, the police accept her story and no charges are pressed.
A few days later, the cheater’s wife commits suicide and leaves a note blaming Meg. Meg is devastated, and the fallout from it causes the loss of her job and harassment by the press. Sociopath Carol’s response is to call the dead wife a “dirty bitch” and whine about how all of this is affecting her. Meg finally realizes how truly awful Carol is. Carol abandons Meg to deal with everything. Meg is just glad to see her go, having finally lost all illusions.
Meg moves to Jacksonville and gets a job working for bestselling author Simon Egan. Her Spidey Sense is tingling, but Meg thinks she has misread his seeming initial dislike of her. (Cheatham does a nice bit of foundation laying for why the heroine is so easy to manipulate but does have pretty good self-protective instincts, if only she’d have more confidence in them.) Meg takes the job.
She loves working for Simon. She’s physically attracted to him but also stimulated by their conversations about books and art, of which she’s been starved. Before too long, she’s falling for him, and he seems interested too. Soon, they’re kinda-sorta dating. She’s upset when he tells her that he’s going back to Colorado, but he tells her that he’d have incentive to come back if he thought she cared about him. She admits she does, and he promises to return.
To her surprise and delight, he proposes when he does. He wanted to make sure of his feelings. She joyously agrees, and they’re off to Denver. He’s generous but keeps her at a distance. The wedding is depressing, and Simon seems oddly cold and grim. Meg is increasingly unsettled by his behavior. His moodiness continues as they drive up to a remote mountain house. The house is a derelict, cheerless dump, but she hides her dismay at the prospect of being snowbound in the dirty, old-fashioned house, especially when he says they’ll be spending the entire winter. He seems surprised when she bright-sides it, making the best of it because love.
She checks out the bedroom, which isn’t too bad, changes into a pretty outfit, and brings down his wedding gift. He is disconcerted by it, and the mask drops as he harshly tells her any giving of gifts is not called for in their situation. He reveals that he is the brother of the woman “she” drove to suicide and exposes his plan for revenge—for starters, he won’t be sharing that bedroom; she may turn him on but he has only disgust for her otherwise. He completely lays the blame for his sister’s suicide at her feet, detailing “her” cruelty in taunting his sis with her affair with her husband and a supposed pregnancy.
Meg is devastated and tries to explain the truth, but he won’t listen and seems on the edge of violence. She decides to back off until he cools down. She asks how he found her, and he tells her he her investigated and set up the job offer especially for her. He had originally planned to seduce and dump her, but he realized a “hardened little tramp” like her was unlikely suffer much. So he decided to marry her and, knowing what a lazy, selfish, sex-crazed little slut she was, punish her with backbreaking work, no sex, and terrible isolation.
Meg tries her best to hide how devasted she is. She’s been soldiering on since she was 17 without tears, but this pain is unbearable. She hurls her wedding gift into the fire and resolves to leave as soon as she can. She goes to her dismal, lonely bed alone.
She is alternately angry and apathetic and can’t eat. Simon gets anxious and makes her eat regular meals. Despite her bitterness and sorrow, she actually enjoys getting the house cleaned up, surprising him with her progress and the meals she coaxes from the old wood stove. She tries again to clear herself, but he doesn’t believe her and is disgusted that she’d try to pin it on her pretty little sister. He accuses her of trying to convince him of her innocence because she wants him in her bed, and tells her that if he wants her, he’ll have her, but in his own good time (good ole alpha asshattery).
She keeps busy making the place homier and making a quilt from dresses she found in the attic. At first opportunity, though, she makes a break for it when she sees smoke from a nearby chalet, but is exhausted and freezing before she gets to it. The grad student staying there sees her and takes her back to the chalet to warm up. Simon shows up and threatens to “ruin” the kid if Meg tries to enlist his help. He’s furious and she realizes to her surprise that most of it stems from his fear that she might have been injured or died. She just wants to sleep, so goes back to the house with him, where he puts her to bed. As she’s falling asleep, she feels him pushing her wedding ring, which she had removed after his revenge reveal, back onto her finger. Hmm.
She wakes up to find him in her bed kissing her. She freaks and tells him no way—he can’t call her the biggest slut in the West and then turn around and have sex with her. There’s some vintage-style forced seduction where she fights him but succumbs to treacherous body syndrome. He makes her explicitly ask him to make love to her, though, so while the lead-up is dub-con for sure, there’s explicit consent in the end, so… I dunno, pretty standard (or better) vintage Harley fare here but fair warning.
He’s shocked to discover that she’s a virgin, but now decides she’s a “professional tease” who drove his brother in law crazy. She knows nothing is going to change his mind but can’t resist him when he makes love to her again. The next day, he tells her he’ll sharing her bedroom henceforth. He’s determined to make her beg for his love, not just sex (although she’ll do that too), and then maybe he’ll consider the score even. She’s appalled but her chances of getting away from him are even slimmer after her foiled attempt.
Their relationship changes after that—they spend time together and there are some companionable, even tender, moments. In bed, though, he fulfills his threat to make her beg, making her tell him repeatedly that she wants him. But she won’t tell him that she loves him, even though she knows she still does, even if she hates him too. She knows that once she does that, he’ll have had his revenge and it will be over. But one night, they tenderly make love, and she finally slips up. He doesn’t say anything but she wakes up alone. He’s withdrawn after that and doesn’t come to bed that night.
The next day, horrible sister Carol is driven up on a snowmobile by Simon’s lawyer, who drops her off with a new wardrobe courtesy of Simon. Meg is bitter and unwelcoming (good for her) and Carol is actually shocked at her attitude. She’s all about the awful time she’s had, and how Meg owes her gratitude for leaving because Meg’s clearly landed on her feet (ha). Meg knows that she won’t be able to get rid of Carol before Simon wants her to go, and that Carol will make a play for him.
She’s shocked and hurt when Simon takes her to task for her cold greeting of poor little Carol, and calls Meg a “mean-minded little bitch.” She tells him she doesn’t want Carol there, and he is angry, telling her that they found Carol “peddling her body” on the streets of Miami, laying the blame on Meg for abandoning her. She tells him that Carol left freely, and he says that Carol said she had to leave when she found out the horrible thing that Meg had done—points for pure gall, Carol!
Meg runs off and throws up (as you would). Simon suspects she’s pregnant and she denies it but realizes to her horror that she probably is. He’s tells her the sooner they find out the better, and tries to help her undress and she freaks out. She lies that her physical response to him and her avowal of love were just an act, but he’s not buying it—she’s transparent as glass, he tells her.
She’s confused and upset and thinks he will want her to get an abortion, misunderstanding his “sooner the better.” She has no intention of doing that and decides he will never know that she’s pregnant if she can help it. She goes down to dinner and it’s clear she’s in a state of shock, watching numbly as Carol flirts with Simon while he gets her drunk and questions her about their childhood. Carol does her mean-old-Meg, poor-me act, mentioning in passing that Meg hasn’t been able to drive since the accident that killed their mother.
Meg goes to bed, safely cocooned by shock. She doesn’t even react when Carol taunts her that she is going to steal her man—she tells Carol that Simon only married her for revenge anyway. Meg falls into an exhausted sleep and wakes up to find Simon in bed with. She freaks and he’s infuriatingly amused and says he won’t make love to her if she doesn’t want to, he just wants to hold her. She becomes hysterical, hitting him until he subdues her, and sobs that she can’t take it anymore, he’s destroying her and he’s had his revenge a thousandfold. He has to let her go, she tells him, and doesn’t believe him when he denies having any interest in Carol. He realizes how upset she is and reluctantly leaves. The scene is angsty and quite upsetting—LC does a great job here in conveying the heroine’s fragile emotional state.
The next day, Carol says she’s leaving and she’s changed her mind about taking Simon away—he’s not the guy for her, but she gets her dig in by saying that plain old Meg is not up to his standard either. Meg says they’re splitting up, and she’d go right then if she could, so Carol says she’ll stall Simon so Meg can make her getaway. Meg skis down to the neighbor, who drives her into town, and she disappears from Simon’s life.
In desperation, she looks up an artist in Denver to whom she’d been recommended as a student. The artist’s wife, Susan, tells her that he’s not taking on new students, but when Meg passes out, Susan is sympathetic, especially when the full story comes out. She appeals to her husband Stan when he returns, and they invite Meg to stay. Before long, Stan’s arranged a job and room, and Meg is able to regroup. She doesn’t contact Simon, although she looks up his info. She begins taking an art class with an artist who soon falls for her, but she keeps him at arm’s length. Her friend Susan challenges her and asks if Simon deserves at least to know she’s pregnant. Meg decides to call him.
She does, and he hightails it over, clearly knowing where she is. He’s thinner and paler and older looking because suffering. She starts to babble about how she doesn’t want to mess up his life, and he tells her to shut up (hee, db alphas, gotta love ‘em or hate ‘em). He asks if she still loves him, and she tells him she’s not trying to get him back. He bitterly says he knows that—she’d have called before if she did. She reminds him that he could have tried to find her, and he tells her he’s known where she since she left and is also behind the job and the housing. He knew he couldn’t force her to come back after everything he’d done, and Susan had advised him to give her some time and space. Waiting for her has been torture, and wouldn’t blame her if she can’t forgive him. He knows he put her through hell, but he also knew even at the time that people don’t marry someone they hate (a Harley staple: “my hate was love all along”). He also knew soon after that she couldn’t be guilty, and he was especially sure when he met Carol (whose evil stank is instantly apparent).
Avowals of love, and magical lovemaking that heals all bitterness and hurts, awww. More nefarious Carol details emerge (she tried to abscond with Meg’s engagement ring, hee), and Simon claims he only brought her to the cabin to get to the truth--and claims he loved Meg too much at that point to really care (hmmm, okay, SIMON). Carol’s statement that Meg hadn’t been able to drive since the accident that killed their stepmom was the clincher (weeeellll, OK, but it wouldn’t make her less responsible for his sister’s suicide, but we’ll go with Harley logic here).
As grovels go, it’s not much, but given what a jerk Simon is, it’s not too bad. Plus he knows what a saint Meg is (although she’s angry and bitter enough through most of the story to avoid Mary Sue status). Meg forgives him WAY too easily, but given how she was finally able to cut Carol ruthlessly out of her life for good, he’d better not get too complacent. So it’s a HEA that is brutally won and welcome all the more for it. Whether you believe in it is up to you. (hide spoiler)]...more
The third in LH's Western Ladies series, AToF is set in Arizona several years after the end of the Civil War. Heroine Annie Parker is a rare female doThe third in LH's Western Ladies series, AToF is set in Arizona several years after the end of the Civil War. Heroine Annie Parker is a rare female doctor, come to a silver-mine boomtown to ply her profession in one of the few places that will accept her. Rafe McCay is an outlaw who has survived life on the run from bounty hunters for several years. After he's shot by one, he makes his way to Annie's surgery and kidnaps her at gunpoint after she treats him and tells him he'll die without further medical care. He takes her up into the mountains, where they hole up in a derelict miner's hut while he rests and recovers. Despite her initial fears, she soon falls for him, and they become lovers. They survive a blizzard and a bounty hunter, and Annie convinces Rafe to take her with him to Mexico, when she says she won't let him take the blame for killing the bounty hunter she ended up shooting. On the way to Mexico, Annie treats a Native American village that has had a measles outbreak and discovers something about her healing powers. Soon after, she and Rafe are tracked down by a US Marshall, who takes Rafe into custody. However, the man becomes convinced of Rafe's innocence of the charges against him, and agrees to help them clear Rafe's name. In the end, the now-pregnant heroine and the hero, with the aid of the Marshall, reveal the truth about the convoluted events that brought about the murder charge, Rafe is cleared, and HEA.
Whew! That's a lot of ground for one paragraph! I enjoyed the first half of the book, which focuses on the hero and heroine and not so much on the "clear an innocent man" plot. Annie is rightly afraid of Rafe but her dedication to her medical oath (as well as the fact that the (anti)hero threatens to shoot her) makes her treat him, and as she gets to know him, he shows that while he may be a hard and dangerous man, he's also got a sense of honor and tries his best to take care of her and make her as comfortable as possible. He's hampered somewhat by the fact that he's got a raging case of the hots for her, which she soon returns. She ends up falling for him and is determined to help clear his name when he finally reveals the tale of treachery that resulted in his becoming a wanted man. I really liked the growing intimacy between them, and typical of Linda Howard, there was some good heat.
The second half of the book, involving a rather silly paranomal subplot and the really convoluted "Civil War Gold" plot that's tied to clearing the hero's name, I kinda of skimmed after a while. Vanderbilts and JP Morgan and Jefferson Davis show up and in the end, the nefarious Vanderbilt plot is brought to light and disarmed through the intervention of some powerful friends. Rafe gets his name cleared, a pretty good fortune as payoff for his troubles, and the hero and heroine will be welcoming a new baby into their HEA, so all's well that ends well.
A decent read but not one I'll need to read again. The "healing powers" bit was dopey but there are some nice snippets about medicinal use of herbs and pioneers of surgery and antiseptic medical practices. Annie is likable, and Rafe is one of LH's hard, implacable asshats for a while, but soon turns protective and tender, so they are a couple to root for. Overall, good but not great--but good enough that I actually find myself looking for hot Western romances for the first time ever. Onto Angel Creek!...more
I'm on a Linda Howard kick, focusing mostly on her older books (not the romantic-suspense stuff so much). I enjoyed the epic feel of ALotW, set in NewI'm on a Linda Howard kick, focusing mostly on her older books (not the romantic-suspense stuff so much). I enjoyed the epic feel of ALotW, set in New Mexico in the years following the Civil War. Real frontier stuff.
The hero is a gunslinger whose revenge against the man who murdered his parents when he was a boy is about to come due (and very much best served cold). The bad guy has just married a down-at-the-heels Southern belle, who marries the gross older man to save her family. She brings her innocent cousin and younger sister along with her, although she soon doubts the wisdom of doing so, surrounded as she is by tough and unscrupulous men.
The uber-alpha hero despises her at first but is resolved to have her, in that very old school not-asking-permission LH way. He is one of LH's old-school dominant and dangerous types.
A ton of bloodshed, high drama, gunfights, treachery, and rape in this one, so not for the faint of heart. LH's writing is much more compelling than in some other books I've read by her recently (e.g., Loving Evangeline) from her early days. The main "romance" (hot, dark, and gritty) is supplemented by a couple of secondary romances (between the cousin and the hero's brother and the fey younger sister and one of their men). LH doesn't make the mistake of giving those much page-time, so while they expand the scope of the story, it's not at the expense of the main relationship between the hero and heroine.
The hero/antihero is cold and ruthless, and he takes possession of the heroine in all ways (she's not unwilling but it's no gentle wooing either), including marrying her after her first husband is killed when he and his men take back his family ranch. He marries her to cement his claim to his family homestead legally, but also because he wants her. The sex scenes are hot and very D/s-y, which I like and works well within the historic timeframe of the story, but it may turn some readers off. The hero hits the heroine at one point, too, which was hard to read; he regrets it and says it will never happen again, but it's a key point in the story and one that, again, may make this a do-not-read for many people (the heroine does NOT get over it for a very long time, so good for her for having a spine of steel despite having fallen for the hero prior to this event).
It's a gritty "lust in the dust" tale that avoids cheesiness and manages to convey the hardships and violence of frontier life. The HEA is believable in the context of the story and timeframe, weighted by the tragedies that occur along the way. Overall, a very good read from LH if you like grittier tales with "antihero" male protagonists and stoic (but not doormat) heroines....more
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