Customer Reviews

Granite Man

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Another great read by Elizabeth Lowell, it's the third book in the "MacKenzie" series, read "Fire and Rain" and "Outlaw" first.

This book found a way into my heart from the first page. Cash is really a big, strong man holding alot of hurt away that need a gentle but equally as strong woman to make him trust again. Enter Mariah Mackenzie, a woman that has been hurt, yet not afaid to trust again . The plot lets the desire simmer up just right , then the emotion takes it up and over. Just when you think it's safe territory the plot takes you on a wild roller-caster ride right to the end of the book.

From the back cover:
Cash McQueen was a hard man, a man who believed in the land and nothing else. With the land, a man knew where he stood. It was different with a woman. There wasn't one alive who could be trusted-and Mariah MacKenzie was no exception.
The minute she showed up at the Rocking M Ranch with not much more than the clothes on her back and a map of a long-lost gold mine, Cash knew she was trouble. Yet he couldn't seem to stop wanting her brand of trouble. But nothing would ever again make him place his trust in a woman-not even a woman he wanted as badly as Mariah MacKenzie.

Elizabeth Lowell has done it again people. In her title Granite Man, where she express know matter how long you have been away from your family, when you finally return, they will still be there to welcome you home. That's what Mariah found after returning to Colorado to be reunited with her brother Luke. Mariah not only found her brother, but also a love so deep that the man she loves can not seem to express his love for her. So she did the only thing she knew what to do. With the map she brought with her to Colorado, she set off to locate the Secret to her beloveds heart. If you want to know how she won Cash's heart please read this wonderful installement of GRANITE MAN.

Description from the back of book:

Cash McQueen was a hard man, a man who believed in the land and nothing else. With the land, a man knew where he stood. It was different with a woman. There wasn't one alive who could be trusted-and Mariah MacKenzie was no exception.

The minute she showed up at the Rocking M Ranch with not much more than the clothes on her back and a map of a long-lost gold mine, Cash knew she was trouble. Yet he couldn't seem to stop wanting her brand of trouble. But nothing would ever again make him place his trust in a woman-not even a woman he wanted as badly as Mariah MacKenzie.

* Finally! I found one in this series that I absolutely loved. I hated book #1, which I feel you don't need to read to enjoy this series. Book #2 & #3 were better but I really fell in love with Cash & Mariah. I was so glad to finally read about Cash & I had wondered about Mariah for a minute in book #2 so I was really glad to get to meet her. I have to say that although I haven't really liked the setting & the history of this series it worked for me in this book & the ending was to die for. I couldn't stop the tears. I recommend the contemporary books (#2-#5) in this series & I say skip book #1. That being a historical & the others being contemporary I think you're safe to skip it.

I just loved this book. I fell in love with all of the characters. I enjoyed the large extended family living on a ranch; envisioning the beautiful surroundings. Mariah was great. She was full of passion; was a kind person. Cash was wonderful. He was strong and sexy. I loved the things he said to her. He also had a hard time trusting women; having been burned by another. This makes the coming together of Mariah and Cash even more special. I also loved the ending. It made me cry; it was so heartfelt. This was an excellent read; it just swept me away.

This story promises to be a classic. Everything that makes a good story: adventure, conflict, mystery, and love is in this book. Cash believes he has no reason to trust or care about any female--with the exception of his sister. Then, he meets Mariah, the sister of his best friend and all his theories go out the window. Of course, he does his best to fight off his feelings, but it's of no use. He's caught. However, he goes down fighting, kicking, and screaming. Mariah loses heart when he doubts that the baby she carries is his and decides to make him believe her. The attempt almost kills her but also allows Cash to realize his true feelings. It's a two-hanky book. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

*MILD SPOILERS** I have read all of Ms. Lowell's western contemporary and historical romances, including all four in the contempo-MacKenzie/Blackthorn series, of which "Granite Man" is the third. At least two, and arguably three, of those stories follow the same 1980's-inspired formula used here, in which the jaded hero treats the uber-naive and -innocent heroine like absolute dirt and impregnates her (against his iron will, and only as a result of her brazen yet unwitting temptation of him -- she asked for it, naturally) before coming to the realization that he's been wrong all along and giving his lady a token apology, which may or may not include tears but certainly includes forgiveness. I found this book to be by far the worst of the set. Don't get me wrong -- despite Lowell's universally dismal dialogue and flat-out weird terms of "endearment," I have a soft spot for many of her books, including "Warrior" and (grudgingly, inexplicably) "Fire and Rain" of this series. However, I think even fans of those novels should think twice before taking on reprehensible Cash McQueen and foolhardy, shockingly negligent Mariah MacKenzie.

Though I suppose their shared lack of character depth makes them a good fit for one another, it doesn't make for very interesting or sympathetic characters from the reader's point of view. Here, more than in almost any other Lowell novel, one has to wonder why either fell in love with the other (aside from the blindingly good sex). Mariah is generally inoffensive but seems air-headed and tremblingly bereft for no great reason. She is 110% the biddable, vulnerable victim soul, just waiting to be saved (read "completely controlled") by her big, strong man -- only after paving his way to trampling her pride, spirit, and maidenhead, of course! Cash is brutally misogynistic as a result of a past "trauma" that, while disillusioning and sad, really doesn't seem all that bad. Nonetheless, he plays into his hatred of all women (save his saintly sister, who he happened to raise) with the fervor and vitriol of the most ignorant bigot imaginable, who hates and belittles all members of some other race or class only because one such member happened to rob his store/sleep with his wife/cut him off in traffic/etc. As a woman, it's pathetic and stomach-churning to read, and even sadder to think that the young heroine is supposed to have fallen in love with him in spite of all that.

With Cash portrayed as certainly no "catch" any sane woman would envy Mariah, one would think all reader sympathies should rest entirely with her and that we might at least be satisfied with the ending in that she ends up with the man of her dreams. Not so. Although Mariah isn't the worst masochist of Lowell's collection of heroines (Elyssa/"Sassy," I'm looking at you), her actions in the final chapters of the book, despite knowing she is pregnant and then learning the conception was all but a once-in-a-lifetime miracle, are so selfish, so illogical, so heinously careless as to instantly incinerate any positive feeling or empathy one might possibly have harbored for her.

So, good - a hero and heroine both so repugnant, they deserve each other, an ending that might nullify the author's means and almost surely nullifies the scathing self-righteousness of this review, eh? Maybe so, but if by publishing this I have clued just one reader in to the fact that this book is gross and a waste of life -- or should at least be taken with a shaker full of salt -- or dissuaded one mother from even considering letting her young (and by young, I mean anything under age 18, possibly 21) daughter from reading it, I will sleep more soundly. Please, PLEASE don't spend any more of your time on this book if you can in any way see your way clear of doing so. Go forth with low expectations if not.

Thanks for reading!

Elizabeth Lowell gives her readers everything they want and expect in Granite Man -- great characters, wonderful descriptions, sensuality, and a beautiful setting. She is easily one of the best writers of the romance genre, and this book is a good example of why. If you've never read Lowell, do yourself a favor and pick this one up. You won't regret it.

How anyone can continue to read Elizabeth Lowell's tired formula for her books is beyond me. I decided to give her one more try, but once again was trapped in the dreadful plot. Basically all her novels come down to some emotionally retarded hero who has been deeply wounded in the past by someone or something (this part varies)who desperately want to be with some extremely young girl (usually gets the hots for her by age 16 but manages to hold off his passion in the usual Lowell way by drinking too much when the urge gets great). Innocent young girl tries to declare her love to the wounded hero & gets hurt by his rejection which then conveniently hurts her so badly that she can't function sexually with another man and this psychological chastity belt keeps her a virgin until she becomes old enough that the guy won't be charged with sex with a minor, at which time he decides to help her heal & they get together (usually with her pregnant at the end of the book & thrilled that she has given up whatever career she had planned to stay home & take care of the Wounded Man and the brood of babies she has started). I can hear the sound of retching even now! Don't waste your time with this stinker, or any of the other crummy throwaway romances she writes. Find someone who writes characters who actually have lives & don't spend all their time trying to prove how unfit to breed they truly are!