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A review by teaandbooklover
An Independent Wife by Linda Howard
1.0
I read this book 30 years ago and out of all the romance books I've read, I ONLY remembered this one by the name and the male lead, Rhydon. Finally it was on Amazon for sale, so I eagerly bought it and consumed it within 24 hours.
I read it, disgusted the whole time, with my lip curling. Once I yelled loudly "I hate him!" This is NOT romance, love, or even lust. This is abuse. Many times Rhydon hurts Sallie by grabbing her wrists, and "crushing" her with kisses. What made me the most angry was how manipulative he was, how mocking, sneering and uncaring he was towards her. Yet she always puts up with it and surrenders to him so fast, it's maddening.
He takes away everything she loves, grounds her from traveling and doing her job, basically pinning her in, and she knows it! She just succumbs to it. No career anymore? No excitement? No problem!
Not only that, but several times he tells her to "shut up!" and calls her a fool. Several times she knows she's in danger because of his temper, the look in his eyes, and he threatens her many times, even threatening her that he knows a lot of people and she'll never work in this town again! Does that sound like love or romance to you? She barely makes a whimper when he takes everything away from her!
I shudder to think what kind of young girl I was 30 years ago that thought this was an excellent book. Thank God my views have changed drastically since then.
Lastly, we are supposed to believe at the end that he changes and will treat her kindly. After all the emotional and physical abuse and threats he heaps on her??
I just saw into their future, and I can see good ol' Rhy sitting in his armchair, yelling insults and threats to Sallie because dinner is late or she did something "wrong" again. I got a good look at their house full of kids he wanted to have too, and they're all in therapy from having a mean, abusive father and an abused mother. It ain't lookin' good in the Baines' household!
I read it, disgusted the whole time, with my lip curling. Once I yelled loudly "I hate him!" This is NOT romance, love, or even lust. This is abuse. Many times Rhydon hurts Sallie by grabbing her wrists, and "crushing" her with kisses. What made me the most angry was how manipulative he was, how mocking, sneering and uncaring he was towards her. Yet she always puts up with it and surrenders to him so fast, it's maddening.
He takes away everything she loves, grounds her from traveling and doing her job, basically pinning her in, and she knows it! She just succumbs to it. No career anymore? No excitement? No problem!
Not only that, but several times he tells her to "shut up!" and calls her a fool. Several times she knows she's in danger because of his temper, the look in his eyes, and he threatens her many times, even threatening her that he knows a lot of people and she'll never work in this town again! Does that sound like love or romance to you? She barely makes a whimper when he takes everything away from her!
I shudder to think what kind of young girl I was 30 years ago that thought this was an excellent book. Thank God my views have changed drastically since then.
Lastly, we are supposed to believe at the end that he changes and will treat her kindly. After all the emotional and physical abuse and threats he heaps on her??
I just saw into their future, and I can see good ol' Rhy sitting in his armchair, yelling insults and threats to Sallie because dinner is late or she did something "wrong" again. I got a good look at their house full of kids he wanted to have too, and they're all in therapy from having a mean, abusive father and an abused mother. It ain't lookin' good in the Baines' household!