The Law Of Love: Lawless\The Law Is A Lady [Mass Market Paperback]

Nora Roberts (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 592 pages
• Publisher: Silhouette; Original edition (May 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373285787
• ISBN-13: 978-0373285785
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #214,732 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #62 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Romance > Authors, A-Z > ( R ) > Roberts, Nora

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars First story is MUCH better, June 23, 2009

By 

bijou2311 "bijou2311" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Law Of Love: Lawless\The Law Is A Lady (Mass Market Paperback)

This book contains two shorter reprinted stories, so if you are a fan of the author, make sure you haven't read them before. I'd recommend the book for the first story more than the second. The second is ok, but not very good, especially compared to the first.

The first story is Lawless, and it is the story that Jackie was writing in Nora Roberts' Loving Jack. Lawless is the story of Sarah who comes West to see her father after living in boarding schools to find her father is already dead. Enter Jake who is our typically rough tough gunslinger/miner with a slightly softer side. He was also friends with Sarah's father. Jake thinks that Sarah is too soft for the land and doesn't mind telling her. Sarah pretty much thanks him for his opinion and goes on doing whatever it was she was planning to do.

I have to say I enjoyed this story very much. Sarah is a very strong character, but human. The townspeople were all very interesting, especially the Sheriff and Anne Cody and her family. There is of course a few cookie cutter people (Carlotta for example) but all in all not a bad story. I would read it for the romance not the mystery because it is pretty obvious what happened to her father and who is responsible for it. But still, I'd give this book five stars.

_________ ______ __________ _____ _____ _________ ________ __________

The second story is the Law is a Lady and is about a female sheriff of a small town who arrests big Hollywood producer Phillip Kincaid. Basically he got a ticket for going almost 20 miles over the speed limit and turned into a jerk by refusing to sign the ticket and so he was then arrested for that and a few other things. Too bad you can't add being an idiot to the charges. While in jail he decides to film a movie in the town.

Anyway, I really didn't like this story very much. I never really got Victoria (the sheriff) or maybe I just didn't really care about her all that much. She seemed off somehow. As for Phillip, him I really didn't like. His attitude in the beginning was stupid and annoying and he didn't change enough to redeem him in my eyes. The characters in this story were all just a little flat, even the secondary characters. The plot just wasn't there for me, and I never felt a connection between Victoria and Phillip. I would have given this two or three stars. Which how I got four stars for the entire book.

5.0 out of 5 stars Two love stories wrapped up in the West, June 16, 2009

By 

Barbara Bell (San Carlos, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Law Of Love: Lawless\The Law Is A Lady (Mass Market Paperback)

I picked this up at the airport before a flight and found I could not put it down. Nora Roberts' fans will be thrilled with the re-printing of these two love stories set in the West, one in the late 1800s and one in the late 1900s.

If you are new to Roberts' work, you are in for a treat. The first of the two, "Lawless" is absolutely wonderful writing. She doesn't spoonfeed you the story of two people who fall in love, she shows you in a wonderful storytelling form.

"Lawless" is a love story that will make you swoon. Roberts has created characters with depth, feeling, and intensity in this story, and I couldn't put it down. Sarah Conway and Jake Redman are so real that you can feel the frustration, the anxiety, and eventually the love that develops between the two of them.

Sarah arrives in Lone Bluff of the Arizona Territory after the stagecoach she was riding was saved from an Indian attack by Jake Redman. Redman, who is a bicultural mix of Apache and Caucasian, is a hand for hire, and is known for not missing at what he aims. While Sarah is grateful that he saved their coach, she is mystified by this unlikely hero.

Upon arriving in town, she finds out that her father passed away a few days before when his mine (aptly named Sarah's Pride) collapsed with him in it. It is our unlikely hero, Redman, who finds this out, tells her, and brings her to her father's home. He is sure that she'll take one look and head back East from where she came. When she insists on staying, he's again sure that she won't last a week.

Sarah may look like a lady with manners, but she defies her stereotype as a damsel in distress time and time again. She is determined to stay, no matter that her first night is spent listening to strange sounds and making a dinner out of cold beans. She begins to clean up this unexpected home that she has inherited without the father she was expecting. She softens toward the ways of the West, realizing that survival is at the forefront.

Jake does the same in defying stereotypes. Although he is a "hired gun," he has the undercurrents of a gentleman and worries about this gal outside of town and in the wilderness. He camps out by her house the first night to make sure she is safe. He finds excuses to go by her house to check on her. He finds, fights for, and rescues her after Apaches have taken her. He is there and present when she needs help, which is the core of their relationship, as she is unlikely to ask otherwise. She is feisty and fights him all the way, until she realizes how much he consumes her thoughts and how often he has come to her aid.

Sarah makes friends with the ladies in town by minding her manners, working her land, and eking out a living in this untamed territory. She eventually begins a business of sewing fashionable dresses for the ladies in town, as well, which cements her status as one of their own.

It's the big dance on the 4th of July that cements their relationship. It's where they share a waltz, and it's as if no one else in the room existed. It's where Jake makes a stand to Sarah to fight for her when she tells of another (and less likely) suitor mentioning marriage. It's where they argue, both standing strong for what they believe, and it's where they clear the air that has clouded between them.

This is a love story that will stay with you, long after you have closed the book on the final page.

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With the second story, I could have been jaded because "Lawless" was so good, but I didn't feel the chemistry in "The Law is a Lady." A greater leap of faith was needed to believe in the story of Philip and Victoria.

When Philip Kincaid, movie director extraordinaire, found himself being pulled over and then hauled into the station in Friendly, New Mexico, he had no intentions to stay long or to fall in love with Sheriff Victoria Ashton, but that's exactly what happens in this telling of a love story.
Roberts is a master storyteller, but she falls short with this love story. Granted, it was originally written in 1984 and is part of her earliest work, her storytelling skills have only sharpened over the years.

While reading, I couldn't place what drew Phil to Victoria (Tory) and vice versa in the story. Phil didn't seem to have much depth. He was a guy going through the motions, and then - shazam! - he was madly, deeply in love, as well as Tory.

The New Mexico desert should have evoked feelings of intrigue and romance, but again, it seemed to fall flat. I needed to see and feel the ignition of their attraction to each other, which is something I look forward to with Roberts' work, but it just wasn't there.

Overall, I am giving this a 5-star recommendation because I LOVED the story of Sarah and Jake, and I think Nora Roberts' fans would be missing out if they don't read about this love story.