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3.23 AVERAGE
3.23 AVERAGE
The story of Jake, a man focused on taking revenge for his family and regaining control of their lost ranch, and Victoria, a woman who gets married to a man she doesn't know in order to save her family.
Victoria's husband is the man responsible for the death of Jake's parents and Jake is working under cover at the ranch to gather information that will aid his and his brother's mission of taking it over. That's where he meets Victoria, whom he wants to hate, believing that she only married for money, but instead starts developing feelings for the more he gets to know her.
The two fall in love, but Jake's plans are in the way of their relationship, and.
I wasn't particularly invested in their story, not really feeling the love between them, while being slightly annoyed by both secondary romances,. All in all I didn't get the happy ending feels I love in romances from this one. Let's hope I'll like the next one, [b:Angel Creek|11544903|Angel Creek (Western Ladies, #2)|Linda Howard|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328342011s/11544903.jpg|648380], better.
Victoria's husband is the man responsible for the death of Jake's parents and Jake is working under cover at the ranch to gather information that will aid his and his brother's mission of taking it over. That's where he meets Victoria, whom he wants to hate, believing that she only married for money, but instead starts developing feelings for the more he gets to know her.
The two fall in love, but Jake's plans are in the way of their relationship, and
Spoiler
while Victoria is getting ready to run away with him, he disappears to gather his men and take over the ranch, making her think he abandoned her. She runs away on her own and having accomplished his goal, he runs after her, but his reasons for it don't appear to be very sentimental, since it turns out that he needs to marry her to keep control of the ranchI wasn't particularly invested in their story, not really feeling the love between them, while being slightly annoyed by both secondary romances,
Spoiler
that of Victoria's cousin with Jake's brother who refused to commit to her just because, until at the very end decided to do so since she was carrying his baby, and that of Victoria's beautiful but not particularly bright sister, who finds love with a loving, tender man who adores her, only to end up dying of stupidity, when she gets too close to a wild horse everyone's been warning her to keep her distance from and it ends up trampling her
Here's the thing - I get vintage romances. Really, I do. I get that rape was used as a titilating plot device all the time because women weren't supposed to enjoy sex and being "forced" by aggressive and sexy alpha dudes was a THING. Like some of the other reviews on here have said, I let that slide (though the threat of rape against the leading lady and her sisters, especially the 16 year old, is constant) --but I stopped reading when (SPOILERS) the "hero" finds out the heroine is pregnant and slaps her so hard he leaves a mark and puffiness because he doesn't think its his. That's a big nope, IMHO.
Hmmmmm..... Hard to rate. I'm thinking 2.5, but I just can't quite bring myself to round up. If it hadn't been for the one action I'll discuss below, I probably would have rated higher or given that full 3 stars.
SPOILERS AHEAD
It's no secret that I'm a fan of the old school bodice rippers, so the consent issues didn't bother me. I have a big disconnect in my head between acceptable in RL and acceptable in Romancelandia. It's almost like a split personality :-/
This was a typical old school rape/forced seduction plot. The heroine was in love with the hero and wanted him, but thought he didn't love her and therefore tried to hold herself back. The hero was determined to have her and seduce her through her defenses. Basically if he'd said the 3 magic words then the consent issues would go out the window. It's a standard bodice ripper trope.
What did bother me was that he slapped her once, so hard that it threw her into the wall, bruised her face, and busted her lip. Again, I have that disconnect, but the hero hitting the heroine and hitting her that hard are hard for me to swallow period. It's weird that the forced seduction/rape tropes don't get me but hitting does.
The heroine does not let him off easy. Thank god for that. It takes him 3 months to get back in her bed and that's because he forces the issue. After that she still keeps herself aloof from him right up until the final pages of the book.
In a historical I can put up with things that I can't in a contemporary. Social mores were so different that I know it had to effect the way men/women interacted. At that time it was perfectly legal for a man to do almost whatever he pleased with his wife. Doesn't make it right, but I'm not a fan of historicals that simply put a 21st century character in a fluffy dress or cowboy hat. Howard did not do that, these two were definitely not modern characters, but something was missing in the delivery that I really wanted.
I can forgive a fictional character for bad deeds, but I have to see the remorse. The hero did have remorse, but it wasn't expressed well. Yes, he did apologize and he didn't get instant forgiveness, but I needed *something* - some sort of heartfelt scene that we never got. Despite the sex scenes there was a real lack of intimacy between the H/h that we never see breached. There are hints of it at the end, but I'd liked to have seen it. We were privy to all of his and her internal thoughts, but I never got that scene between the H/h that would have satisfied me. I needed that scene where they laid themselves open to one another. Instead we get a very hard, aloof man who doesn't express himself well and a very staid, proper and proud woman who also doesn't express herself well.
SPOILERS AHEAD
It's no secret that I'm a fan of the old school bodice rippers, so the consent issues didn't bother me. I have a big disconnect in my head between acceptable in RL and acceptable in Romancelandia. It's almost like a split personality :-/
This was a typical old school rape/forced seduction plot. The heroine was in love with the hero and wanted him, but thought he didn't love her and therefore tried to hold herself back. The hero was determined to have her and seduce her through her defenses. Basically if he'd said the 3 magic words then the consent issues would go out the window. It's a standard bodice ripper trope.
What did bother me was that he slapped her once, so hard that it threw her into the wall, bruised her face, and busted her lip. Again, I have that disconnect, but the hero hitting the heroine and hitting her that hard are hard for me to swallow period. It's weird that the forced seduction/rape tropes don't get me but hitting does.
The heroine does not let him off easy. Thank god for that. It takes him 3 months to get back in her bed and that's because he forces the issue. After that she still keeps herself aloof from him right up until the final pages of the book.
In a historical I can put up with things that I can't in a contemporary. Social mores were so different that I know it had to effect the way men/women interacted. At that time it was perfectly legal for a man to do almost whatever he pleased with his wife. Doesn't make it right, but I'm not a fan of historicals that simply put a 21st century character in a fluffy dress or cowboy hat. Howard did not do that, these two were definitely not modern characters, but something was missing in the delivery that I really wanted.
I can forgive a fictional character for bad deeds, but I have to see the remorse. The hero did have remorse, but it wasn't expressed well. Yes, he did apologize and he didn't get instant forgiveness, but I needed *something* - some sort of heartfelt scene that we never got. Despite the sex scenes there was a real lack of intimacy between the H/h that we never see breached. There are hints of it at the end, but I'd liked to have seen it. We were privy to all of his and her internal thoughts, but I never got that scene between the H/h that would have satisfied me. I needed that scene where they laid themselves open to one another. Instead we get a very hard, aloof man who doesn't express himself well and a very staid, proper and proud woman who also doesn't express herself well.
Typical of its time, this romance is one where women have basically just their bodies and their dignity, and both are stolen from them regularly by force, returned, and taken again until there just isn't any fight left. It makes for uncomfortable reading.