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A review by nush2
Mackenzie's Mountain by Linda Howard
3.0
okay i don't know how to rate this at all. i loved how easy this book was to read & how engaging the story was. plus it wasn't very long & the paragraphs were all crisp so it wasn't exhausting to read either. i loved both the mackenzies, wolf & joe & their relationship as well. the heroine, mary, was sometimes rlly annoying w her saviors complex & it was hard to look past the annoyance at those times.
basically, mary moves into this small town in wyoming as a teacher & has an iron clad contract because it's difficult to get teachers in this town because idk it's far as all hell from rest of civilization i suppose? & she notices that joe mackenzie has dropped out of school & she goes to talk to him ab it & convince him to join back. she meets his father, wolf, when she goes to talk to joe. wolf sees her stranded on the road walking in the cold bcz her car broke down & he helps her (intimately helps her). wolf is hella grumpy & broody. he was convicted & served time for a rape he didn't commit so naturally he's just angry with everyone in the town because they also treat him like shit because he's half indian. but this doesn't bother mary, she's like this goody do gooder & wants the best for everyone. anyway, wolf hasnt had a woman in a while so he kinda lusts for her even tho she's wearing her "strict teacher" clothes & looks far from pleasing. this happens a couple more times. he tries to push her away bcz the town will treat her like shit for knowing she's associating w him. meanwhile, she has also convinced joe to let her tutor him & help him join the airforce academy etc. she does not let wolf push her away & both joe & wolf are completely surprised by her stubbornness. eventually, wolf & mary fall in love. HOWEVER, 30% in the book, mary claims she loves him? which was one ick factor for me because it makes no sense why. all he did was help her with her car & touch her whole body while claiming to be warming her up. she was lusting for him & being extremely inexperienced in these areas, mistook it for love. so i understand that as a character, she just didn't know any better but she continues to claim she loves him, which again, is not believable to be as a reader. & then there's the mystery aspect to this book. a girl gets raped in town & then mary gets attacked by the rapist. meanwhile, she's getting talked down on by the people in the town but she stands her ground & talks back all through. & this one teacher who absolutely despises wolf & joe, she says "be careful you're going to get harmed soon, i guarantee you". this teacher has a son who's a little mentally challenged as well & his dad, her husband, basically died at the hands of an indian long ago & that's why the teacher hates indians, & wolf & joe sm. this hatred has seeped into her son & it's sooooo obvious thru the book that he is the rapist & he's hurting people who are associating w the mackenzies. mary figures out the pattern of the victims & that joe & wolf may be the actual target but she doesn't figure out it's this man until the end. which is rllllly stupid. if she can figure out a pattern among the victims so easily, how can she not remember dottie's warning????
& the whole mystery aspect of it takes away from the romance almost entirely. there are not many interactions between the hero & the heroine apart from the hero picking her up, or fucking her. there may have been like two three but not enough for a romance to develop so it was kinda hard to believe in their "love". they're just constantly having sex?? idk
anyway that's all, it was enjoyable & engaging but i didn't believe in their love. however the epilogue was rlly cute & i rlly like joe as a character.
basically, mary moves into this small town in wyoming as a teacher & has an iron clad contract because it's difficult to get teachers in this town because idk it's far as all hell from rest of civilization i suppose? & she notices that joe mackenzie has dropped out of school & she goes to talk to him ab it & convince him to join back. she meets his father, wolf, when she goes to talk to joe. wolf sees her stranded on the road walking in the cold bcz her car broke down & he helps her (intimately helps her). wolf is hella grumpy & broody. he was convicted & served time for a rape he didn't commit so naturally he's just angry with everyone in the town because they also treat him like shit because he's half indian. but this doesn't bother mary, she's like this goody do gooder & wants the best for everyone. anyway, wolf hasnt had a woman in a while so he kinda lusts for her even tho she's wearing her "strict teacher" clothes & looks far from pleasing. this happens a couple more times. he tries to push her away bcz the town will treat her like shit for knowing she's associating w him. meanwhile, she has also convinced joe to let her tutor him & help him join the airforce academy etc. she does not let wolf push her away & both joe & wolf are completely surprised by her stubbornness. eventually, wolf & mary fall in love. HOWEVER, 30% in the book, mary claims she loves him? which was one ick factor for me because it makes no sense why. all he did was help her with her car & touch her whole body while claiming to be warming her up. she was lusting for him & being extremely inexperienced in these areas, mistook it for love. so i understand that as a character, she just didn't know any better but she continues to claim she loves him, which again, is not believable to be as a reader. & then there's the mystery aspect to this book. a girl gets raped in town & then mary gets attacked by the rapist. meanwhile, she's getting talked down on by the people in the town but she stands her ground & talks back all through. & this one teacher who absolutely despises wolf & joe, she says "be careful you're going to get harmed soon, i guarantee you". this teacher has a son who's a little mentally challenged as well & his dad, her husband, basically died at the hands of an indian long ago & that's why the teacher hates indians, & wolf & joe sm. this hatred has seeped into her son & it's sooooo obvious thru the book that he is the rapist & he's hurting people who are associating w the mackenzies. mary figures out the pattern of the victims & that joe & wolf may be the actual target but she doesn't figure out it's this man until the end. which is rllllly stupid. if she can figure out a pattern among the victims so easily, how can she not remember dottie's warning????
& the whole mystery aspect of it takes away from the romance almost entirely. there are not many interactions between the hero & the heroine apart from the hero picking her up, or fucking her. there may have been like two three but not enough for a romance to develop so it was kinda hard to believe in their "love". they're just constantly having sex?? idk
anyway that's all, it was enjoyable & engaging but i didn't believe in their love. however the epilogue was rlly cute & i rlly like joe as a character.