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A review by romancelibrary
Mackenzie's Mountain by Linda Howard
4.0
Mary Elizabeth Potter is a newcomer to the small town of Ruth. When Wolf Mackenzie's teenage son drops out of school, Mary decides to visit the Mackenzies in an attempt to convince Joe to finish his secondary education. The Mackenzies are outcasts and the townspeople are not happy when Mary begins to spend time with Wolf and Joe.
You've probably read all the negative reviews for this book, so you already know about the problematic elements. Wolf Mackenzie is biracial, half Comanche and half Celt, and the townspeople are very much racist toward him and his son Joe. All I'm going to say is that 1) this is an old school romance, 2) there is problematic language sprinkled throughout the story, and 3) I nevertheless understand what the author was going for. I think the author's overall message is a good one, which becomes a lot clearer by the end of the story. The choice of words may fail the test of time, but the author's message passes the test of time. I really think it's important to look at the bigger picture here, as opposed to getting lost in the semantics. I generally try to apply this rule to all the old school romances I read.
I really enjoyed the romance. Wolf and Mary had chemistry from the moment they met. Is the characterization of Mary realistic? Maybe in the 1980s...Today? I'm not so sure. Regardless, I enjoyed her as a heroine and Wolf is a classic Linda Howard hero. If you liked this book, I recommend that you try Only By Your Touch by Catherine Anderson (and vice versa).
CW: racism, rape off page, attempted rape on page
You've probably read all the negative reviews for this book, so you already know about the problematic elements. Wolf Mackenzie is biracial, half Comanche and half Celt, and the townspeople are very much racist toward him and his son Joe. All I'm going to say is that 1) this is an old school romance, 2) there is problematic language sprinkled throughout the story, and 3) I nevertheless understand what the author was going for. I think the author's overall message is a good one, which becomes a lot clearer by the end of the story. The choice of words may fail the test of time, but the author's message passes the test of time. I really think it's important to look at the bigger picture here, as opposed to getting lost in the semantics. I generally try to apply this rule to all the old school romances I read.
I really enjoyed the romance. Wolf and Mary had chemistry from the moment they met. Is the characterization of Mary realistic? Maybe in the 1980s...Today? I'm not so sure. Regardless, I enjoyed her as a heroine and Wolf is a classic Linda Howard hero. If you liked this book, I recommend that you try Only By Your Touch by Catherine Anderson (and vice versa).
CW: racism, rape off page, attempted rape on page