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annies0627's review
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
greylandreviews's review against another edition
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This wasn't bad by any means but, I'm not into raised as siblings but fall in with love with each other trope (they both said they didn't see the other as siblings but still a no for me). Also feel this would've done better as full length novel and not novella. There was more story to be told and the flashback chapters took up to much space.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence, Blood, and Rape
Minor: Pedophilia
winterreader40's review
4.0
I'm so happy Rawley got his HEA and with Faith the daughter of the people who raised him.
TW: rape memories
TW: rape memories
isitcake's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
3.5
Well shit was not expecting Faith's time skip past to be so dark. I do like when legacies live on conveniently so when I saw this was about Dallas' adopted son Rawley and his actual daughter Faith you know they're gonna get together.
Rawley continues to find himself attracted to Faith until, at 19, she kisses him. Dallas punches him and he knows he needs/wants to leave. He wanders around for 6 years - seeing the Grand Canyon, working different cowboy jobs, and part of this book is just about the death of the cowboy since its 1909 now. Rawley gets a telegram telling him to come back - Dallas is having heart problems at 63 (omg!! :( ). There he finds that Faith has a daughter, Callie.
While he was gone, the oil guy Cole started courting Callie but he got "tired of waiting" and raped her. Dallas beat the shit out of him and blacklisted him. Of course the second Rawley shows up, that's when Cole emerges again. He wants to ransom Faith since his reputation and face are ruined. But he catches Callie instead. Faith admits that its Cole's own daughter but that doesn't even deter him. Rawley distracts him and Faith manages to shoot him.
Rawley and Faith get married and a year later they have a son, Jackson. Rawley tells Dallas he wants to legally change his name to Leigh - and this wraps up everything nicely - what started this entire series, Amelia as a mail-order bride, then Dallas marrying Cordelia McQueen but not being able to have a son. Finally he gets a grandson with his name and we know that his legacy will live on.
While he was gone, the oil guy Cole started courting Callie but he got "tired of waiting" and raped her. Dallas beat the shit out of him and blacklisted him. Of course the second Rawley shows up, that's when Cole emerges again. He wants to ransom Faith since his reputation and face are ruined. But he catches Callie instead. Faith admits that its Cole's own daughter but that doesn't even deter him. Rawley distracts him and Faith manages to shoot him.
Rawley and Faith get married and a year later they have a son, Jackson. Rawley tells Dallas he wants to legally change his name to Leigh - and this wraps up everything nicely - what started this entire series, Amelia as a mail-order bride, then Dallas marrying Cordelia McQueen but not being able to have a son. Finally he gets a grandson with his name and we know that his legacy will live on.
ashleyreadsanything's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
guiltlesspleasures's review against another edition
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
So this is a 2.5, and I rounded down to two stars, because I have given much better books three stars before.
I’ve said it before: novellas are hard. And this one didn’t cut it for a number of reasons, not least because there was just too much story in too few pages. There would be a problem, and it would be solved almost instantly. In the previous trilogy, which I mostly loved, we heard Rawley’s awful story, and his healing needed to take longer than it got.
Other problems:
I love Lorraine Heath, but writing children is not her forte.
Rawley is not only at least a decade older than Faith; he was also raised as her BROTHER. ick.And at the end, he decides to finally take Dallas’s name, so he becomes Rawley Leigh - which means Faith (who decides to take his name when they marry) stays Faith Leigh. 🥴
I did not like rape as the thing they have in common and that bonded them together.
The sex scenes felt perfunctory — as did everything, for that matter. Again, she tried to squeeze a novel into a novella.
Side note that I love how Rawley isn’t “massive” like every other romance hero — he’s wiry, which feels appropriate to his profession.
I’ve said it before: novellas are hard. And this one didn’t cut it for a number of reasons, not least because there was just too much story in too few pages. There would be a problem, and it would be solved almost instantly. In the previous trilogy, which I mostly loved, we heard Rawley’s awful story, and his healing needed to take longer than it got.
Other problems:
I love Lorraine Heath, but writing children is not her forte.
Rawley is not only at least a decade older than Faith; he was also raised as her BROTHER. ick.
I did not like rape as the thing they have in common and that bonded them together.
The sex scenes felt perfunctory — as did everything, for that matter. Again, she tried to squeeze a novel into a novella.
Side note that I love how Rawley isn’t “massive” like every other romance hero — he’s wiry, which feels appropriate to his profession.