Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.23 AVERAGE
3.23 AVERAGE
2.5 stars
A Lady of the West is first and foremost a tale of revenge. Jake and his younger brother Ben want to avenge the murder of their parents and retake their ranch by force. Their parents' murderer is living in their home and he has just taken a new young wife, Victoria, who brought her cousin and younger sister with her. Their arrival puts a wrench in Jake and Ben's revenge plans.
There are two romances happening here: Victoria and Jake and Ben and Emma (Victoria's cousin). I was not convinced with how quickly Victoria fell in love with Jake. I was also not happy with Jake's eventual treatment of Victoria...I was actually shocked that he struck her. WTF was Linda Howard thinking?? It ruined everything!
I continued reading because I was very invested in Ben and Emma. Theirs was a slow burn romance with so much chemistry. I really wish there was more focus on them. They were the best couple and they made this book tolerable enough to read until the end.
There was also a third romance...until it ended in tragedy. Again...WTF was Linda Howard thinking??
A Lady of the West is first and foremost a tale of revenge. Jake and his younger brother Ben want to avenge the murder of their parents and retake their ranch by force. Their parents' murderer is living in their home and he has just taken a new young wife, Victoria, who brought her cousin and younger sister with her. Their arrival puts a wrench in Jake and Ben's revenge plans.
There are two romances happening here: Victoria and Jake and Ben and Emma (Victoria's cousin). I was not convinced with how quickly Victoria fell in love with Jake. I was also not happy with Jake's eventual treatment of Victoria...I was actually shocked that he struck her. WTF was Linda Howard thinking?? It ruined everything!
I continued reading because I was very invested in Ben and Emma. Theirs was a slow burn romance with so much chemistry. I really wish there was more focus on them. They were the best couple and they made this book tolerable enough to read until the end.
There was also a third romance...until it ended in tragedy. Again...WTF was Linda Howard thinking??
emotional
slow-paced
i wanted to like it! but the hero just keeps getting in his own way with his need for revenge. and the heroine is likeable but so long-suffering. i did appreciate the way she stood up to the hero when it mattered. not awful, but not as romantic as i imagined.
Three stars minus--and only for the first 3/4 of the book. I almost dropped an overall ranking to two stars, because of the over-the-top ending, but decided to be generous.
The thing I like about Linda Howard's writing is that she doesn't have the same plot in every book, swapping out the dresses or the city and period, as many romance writers do.
That plot? Couple meets, but there is inherent conflict. (Maybe he's too poor, or she's promised to someone else, or maybe someone is a widow/er protecting a child. Whatever.) Despite the conflict, hero and shero are drawn to each other, inevitably. After a night of passion--which must never happen again! Never!--they realize, OK, it's fate. Big shootout or plot climax--couple fades happily into the future, most likely with a baby. This could be accomplished with empire-waist dresses or antebellum ball gowns or present-day jeans; it doesn't matter because the characters always think (and often speak) like modern-day lovers.
Howard writes books set in the present day. They're often pretty good, because they usually have some intricate, intelligent plotting. But her books set in the past often try to illustrate characters who think and talk like 14th century Scottish lairds or paranormal time-travelers or 19th century Western adventurers. There is period detail--but there's also a sense that people behaved differently.
All this to say that readers who "didn't like" the way the hero behaved (pretty abominably, granted) perhaps weren't expecting a little realism. Howard caves toward the end, and hard men who have lived rough and learned terrible lessons as boys, suddenly become romance heroes in the last 20 pages, but for most of the book, she paints a fair picture of what it would be like to live with an unsocialized man. And that makes her romances better than average.
The thing I like about Linda Howard's writing is that she doesn't have the same plot in every book, swapping out the dresses or the city and period, as many romance writers do.
That plot? Couple meets, but there is inherent conflict. (Maybe he's too poor, or she's promised to someone else, or maybe someone is a widow/er protecting a child. Whatever.) Despite the conflict, hero and shero are drawn to each other, inevitably. After a night of passion--which must never happen again! Never!--they realize, OK, it's fate. Big shootout or plot climax--couple fades happily into the future, most likely with a baby. This could be accomplished with empire-waist dresses or antebellum ball gowns or present-day jeans; it doesn't matter because the characters always think (and often speak) like modern-day lovers.
Howard writes books set in the present day. They're often pretty good, because they usually have some intricate, intelligent plotting. But her books set in the past often try to illustrate characters who think and talk like 14th century Scottish lairds or paranormal time-travelers or 19th century Western adventurers. There is period detail--but there's also a sense that people behaved differently.
All this to say that readers who "didn't like" the way the hero behaved (pretty abominably, granted) perhaps weren't expecting a little realism. Howard caves toward the end, and hard men who have lived rough and learned terrible lessons as boys, suddenly become romance heroes in the last 20 pages, but for most of the book, she paints a fair picture of what it would be like to live with an unsocialized man. And that makes her romances better than average.
This is well written up to a point. I was into the story and then abuse and needless death happened. A fun read turned into something misogynistic and for that reason I won't be continuing the series.
First 9h gets a 2.5 rounded up to 3, but the last 4h19m were torture 1 star, so let's settle for 2
challenging
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
FMC (Victoria): 3.75 (stand up, girl! I admired her for doing what needed to be done in marrying first McLain and then Jake, but after the HIT her in the face she should have made him dig his own grave)
MMC (Jake): 2 (major POS, cares way more about the range and revenge than he does about Victoria. Even in the end. Also, he sleeps with another woman after meeting her 😡)
💕: 2 (painful honestly - he basically forces himself on her twice. First, when they get married and then when she won’t forgive him for slapping her and accusing her of lying about their baby. They have nothing in common. Her only personality trait is being a lady and his is being an ass)
Plot: 2.5 (completely bonkers in a bad way. Why did Emma and Celia need lovers? Why did two on-page assaults need to happen? Why did Angelina, the stereotypical “whore” have to die? Why did Celia - who was 16 sleeping with a 22 year old man - need to be killed by a horse?)
🌶️: 3 (super icky noncon throughout )
Writing: 3
MMC (Jake): 2 (major POS, cares way more about the range and revenge than he does about Victoria. Even in the end. Also, he sleeps with another woman after meeting her 😡)
💕: 2 (painful honestly - he basically forces himself on her twice. First, when they get married and then when she won’t forgive him for slapping her and accusing her of lying about their baby. They have nothing in common. Her only personality trait is being a lady and his is being an ass)
Plot: 2.5 (completely bonkers in a bad way. Why did Emma and Celia need lovers? Why did two on-page assaults need to happen? Why did Angelina, the stereotypical “whore” have to die? Why did Celia - who was 16 sleeping with a 22 year old man - need to be killed by a horse?)
🌶️: 3 (super icky noncon throughout )
Writing: 3
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Solid book, but darker than I was wanting. There is quite a bit of dark/aggressive sexual content, up to and including rape that I was not prepared for. It is definitely not a romance until the very end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual content, Death of parent, Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Pregnancy
Minor: Child death
Also, death in childbirth
Pretty good, though the hero made me mad way too many times, Jake is too much. Violence towards women is unforgivable.