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34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Idiotic and Cruel Hero Ruins this Diana Palmer book, June 10, 2007
This review is from: Lawman (STP - Mira) (Hardcover)
Somethings you can almost always count on in a Diana Palmer book: 1) the heroine is naive and innocent and usually virginal 2)the heroine is at least 10 but more like 15 years younger than the hero 3) the hero treats her like dirt and 4) the heroine loves him anyway. Unfortunately, Diana Palmer's latest, Lawman, doesn't break from the author's pretty standard formula. Grace Carver (the last name must be a sick joke) survived a horrifying assault when she was only 12 years old. Grace's grandmother, a truly mean and vicious woman, raised her and let Grace know quite clearly how much she didn't love her. Despite this, Grace was devoted to her in the extreme before the old woman died. Grace herself is almost sickeningly sweet and self sacrificing. In fact, she seems to make a habit of loving people who treat her terribly. FBI agent Garon Grier moves to town and begins working on a serial child rapist and murder mystery that has remained unsolved for over ten years. Garon meets his neighbor Grace quickly after his arrival. He tries to persuade himself that he isn't interested in this "frumpy" young girl, but her goodness and sweetness eventually win him over- after he is continuously rude, obnoxious and mostly indifferent to her for quite a while. One of the biggest problems I had with the book is Garon. For me, he crossed the line of acceptable behavior that I'm willing to forgive. He lets Grace believe that they are beginning this relationship, but then brushes her off without explanation, hoping she'll just take the hint. When the naive girl doesn't get it at first, he cruelly humiliates her on more than one occasion in front of the town by yelling at her not to stalk him and screaming at her that he doesn't want her and that they are through. Another problem I had with Garon is that he was just really dense. He was supposed to be this smart, hotshot FBI agent, but it took him WAY too long to figure out who the child rapist and murder was when it was COMPLETELY obvious. And the fact that he kept brushing off Grace's behavior (baggy clothing, nightmares, extreme fear of men and her refusal to allow any men to touch her) as just some "inappropriate" touching when she was a child and not a big deal, was extremely upsetting for me. This guy was just an idiot. And mean. If he had been a little smarter, had the mystery not been so very obvious and had Garon treated Grace much more kindly, then Lawman would have been a good (typical, but good) Diana Palmer book. As it was, I just could not understand why this girl would fall in love with someone like that. He had basically no redeeming qualities.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Corny and Naive Storytelling (D- Grade), August 14, 2007
This review is from: Lawman (STP - Mira) (Hardcover)
She wasn't pretty... but... Now imagine that line throughout this book. The heroine is frumpy and not pretty, but her inner goodness and warmth makes the hero hungry for her touch. Grace, our frumpy heroine was raped and mutilated one night when she was twelve. She was able to survive and lived with her mean grandmother. (Granny is mean because of the guilt but soon dies so she gets hers in the end). Twenty-Four years old Grace doesn't drink, which she calls alcohol "spirits", works two jobs to support her granny and hates men. Now the man hating part is understandable because of her past trauma. She wears baggy clothes and can't stand any male to touch her. But the fact that she is so innocent may grate on some nerves. It did mine. But hey, she lives in a small town where everyone is wholesome and kind, so in a strange way it makes sense. Enter her neighbor and soon to be lover Garon who works for the FBI. He is investigating a serial child killer. He is hard nosed, cold and doesn't want marriage or kids because something that had happened in his past. He assumed Grace is looking for a kind and marriage-minded man. BUT, that doesn't stop him from kissing her and getting to know her in more intimate ways. When Garon is not trying to find the psycho killer, he does a constant see-saw with Grace. One minute he wants her then the next he is accusing her of stalking him in front of the whole town. He simply freaks out after having sex with her a few times because he just knows she will fall in love with him and want to get married! **GASP** Palmer again missing the mark with the over the top cold hero and the amazing innocence of the heroine regardless of the trauma she went through. Garon is so verbally abusive to Grace; he needs a good slap across his face. He honestly thinks she isn't that bright, but does a turn around when she comes out and starts speaking Arabic because she knows it as a second language. HUH?!?! That must have been some home-school! The side mystery plot about the serial killer lacks any suspense and is dull. The whole love story between Garon and Grace was stretching some major realism. This book is the ultimate pass. Katiebabs
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Dumb Man, June 19, 2007
This review is from: Lawman (STP - Mira) (Hardcover)
Others have reviewed the plot line, so I'll skip rehashing it. My problem with this book concerned several areas-mainly editing, character believability and plot development. Ms. Palmer needs to get a better editor. Aside from the Tess error, there were little things. For instance at Grace's grandmother's funeral she is given 4 lbs of coffee and she can't drink it for medical reasons (it is insinuated). Yet she drinks coffee in the rest of the book. Garon keeps referring to Grace at 24 as an old maid/spinster. I believe the average age right now that women in the US get married at is about 23.9. Not to be petty, but you rarely hear the word spinster or old maid anymore. A big problem with the book was the portrayal of Grace Carver (as one reviewer said--a very poor choice for a last name) and Garon Grier as a couple. It really stretched the imagination. Grier is a hotshot lawman and he can't figure out Grace has been raped? Not to mention brutally raped? And he dismisses the most obvious suspect. Heck, I knew it was him right away and I'm certainly no hotshot lawman! Grace, is not exactly believable as a character. She was brutally attacked at 12. She suffered from cruelty when going to school. Didn't go to college, but at the end we are suppose to believe she speaks flawless Arabic and several other languages because she has a photographic memory? Arabic is a really tough language to learn visually let alone speaking it! She and Garon make love and it is wonderful for her. I'm sorry, but this slaps women who have been raped in the face. Here is this 24 year old who has had no counseling, no family support, has been ostracized by some of the town and has lived with an abusive grandmother -- and she is suddenly cured of her fear of sex by overwhelming passion for Garon? And Garon sees the marks on her and he doesn't figure out that they were made by a knife? And what are the odds that both Cash Grier and Garon Grier would marry women who had been abused and raped as children? On a positive note, I thought Ms. Palmer's writing was better than some of her more recent books. She tends to use certain phrases like "her eyes clung like ivy to him" over and over in a book. I didn't notice that tendency in this book. She also tends to have horrible fashion sense in her books--dressing characters in outmoded colors/clothes by passe designers. This book was much better with the clothing! I liked Garon and Grace, but would like to see Ms. Palmer quit with the Big Strong Man suffers horrendous hurt and distrusts all women and the Poor Little Trod Upon Girl wanting to be a whole woman falls in love and is willing to endure anything for love formula that she uses. Her characters in themselves can be fascinating and watching their growth can be fun. BUT there is no excuse for the Big Strong Man and Weak Little Woman formula to be so tired and careworn as it is in this HARDCOVER book (this was better suited as a Harlequin romance book). Grace and Garon never had a lot of chemistry between them. Although I think the book with Cash and Tippy Grier was not as well written as this one, there was chemistry between the two of them that started with the Judd/Chrissie book. Sorry for the length of my complaints, but Ms. Palmer frustrates me greatly as she has written some really good romance books and then she puts this out in hardcover and to be honest it is not worth the price!
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