Customer Reviews

Breathless Passion

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This book has been recommended on an Amazon romance community post as a good example of a "mail order bride" story.

The mail-order-bride part of the story is somewhat limited. A young woman, Hannah, leaves New York for Oregon as a part of a group of women who are to be married off to strangers in the West, who paid a "bride procurer" to bring them wives. Hannah, a blond Barbie doll of a heroine, is given the almost-obligatory rotten youth with a weak mother and lecherous stepfather. The hero, Jason Caldwell, takes Hannah as a wife because his partner, the man who originally contracted for Hannah, has died in an accident.

Jason is probably one of the most un-"heroic", unlikeable heroes I've yet encountered in a romance novel. He's moody, nasty and sharp with Hannah from the instant he meets her -that is, when he can be bothered to even speak to her- which, the reader is told, is due to trust issues with women thanks to a bad prior relationship (a very over-used romance novel plot device). His resentment at being "forced" to marry Hannah (hey, bud, no one twisted your arm), along with his trust issues, makes Jason yell a lot and do his best to make her feel stupid and miserable. But while it's true Jason frequently has to rescue her, it also must be said that these situations are ones HE led her into, usually by stomping off and leaving her alone in the woods on their trek home from the bride ship, or later on, leaving her alone in their desolate cabin. However, it must be said, it's not all Jason's fault - Hannah is portrayed as too stupid to remember to lock the cabin door. She also clumsily falls into a river, not once but twice; both times wetting her dress to the point that Jason can feel burning lust rising up in him at the sight of her body. The 19th century equivalent of a wet T-shirt contest, I guess.

Well, Jason finally overcomes his determination never to sleep with Hannah (ha!). It was a longish wait, after all the teasingly wetted clothing; Jason's snappish remarks, his unreasonable jealousies, and his unreasonable resolution never to be affected by "feelings" for this woman. Hannah inexplicably falls in love with this doltish brute and is eager for his lovin'. Love scenes between the aggravated Jason and plastic Hannah are brief and dully described. It's the kind of writing where the reader is told that the earth moved, birds sang and stars exploded for both of them, but is left wondering - how'd that happen?

I am SO glad I spent no money on this book, having been fortunate enough to purchase it with credit from a local used bookstore. I can even turn it in to redeem my credit, and believe me, I will do so immediately.