Customer Reviews

Loving Evangeline

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This is the sequel to Duncan's Bride. In "Loving Evangeline", we meet Evangeline Shaw (Evie)who lives in a small town in Alabama, owns a marina and is trying to keep her life together after the death of her young husband (her childhood sweetheart)years before. Into her world enters Robert Cannon. We first met Robert in Duncan's Bride (Madelyn's stepbrother). Robert's company develops classified software that is being sold to a foreign government without his approval. His trail leads straight to Evie, who by all accounts has both the means and the motives. Determined to handle this matter himself and under the premise of vacationing in the area for the summer, Robert begins his investigation of Evie.

Robert has always been attracted to tall, thin women but this five foot four traitor takes his breath away! He has every intention of bringing her to justice but as time goes on it becomes increasingly difficult to believe she is involved in industrial espionage.

This is a very good read. As usual, Evie is one of Linda's heroines who can tough it out and survive. Robert plays some pretty mean tricks on her but she bounces back and eventually brings him to his knees. I hope you enjoy this sexy, sensual story as much as I did.

Of all of Linda Howard's early, often dated, novels, "Duncan's Bride" is a favorite, so I was disappointed with the story of Maddy's brother Robert, who makes a definite impression in the first book. Yes, Robert's your typical Linda Howard alpha male hero and Evie is a sweet honorable woman in her own right, but somehow I felt there was something lacking in their relationship and this just made the illogical plot points more glaring. The story was just too contrived to be believable -- Evie a traitorous spy?! This made Robert seem none too bright. I find that I enjoy Linda Howard's books more when the heroines are just as strong as their men; otherwise they seem too dominated for a 90s story. Unfortunately, the repackaging and reissuing of LH's old books that disguise the fact that they were written in the 80s do a great disservice to the dynamic stories she's now producing.

I looooved Duncan's Bride, and so was happy to read dear Robert's story. In case you feel tempted to hunt down the TV-movie: DON'T! It is nothing like the book. I seriously hope that if Ms. Howard allows any other of her books to be made into movies, she gets the movie to actually resemble the book. The plot was changed, the characters were changed, ugh, the has-been actors sucked..... you get my drift. The book, however, ROCKED. Sweet, innocent Evie is someone who will not accept the scraps of affection Robert wants to throw at her. She wants it all, and boy, does she get her wish.

I'm all for alpha males - those guys who are supremely confident, powerful, and even ruthless; they know what they want, and they do whatever it takes to get it. These are the men who are typically quite good-looking (or at least rugged), ultra-masculine, and exercise rigid control over their emotions. They tend to be difficult to get to know, as they build innumerable walls and defense mechanisms around their hearts, but when they meet the right woman, they wind up falling quickly and completely. When this happens, that aforementioned ruthlessness is utilized to pursue said woman, and basically sweep her off her feet.

This book presents us with one such male: Robert Cannon. After his appearance in Howard's 'Duncan's Bride,' I was really looking forward to Robert's story. He fulfills all of the alpha male criteria to a proverbial "T" - he's an incredibly rich and successful businessman who is gorgeous (of course), prides himself on his expertise in the bedroom, and has a reputation in the business world as being cold as ice, brilliant, and yes, ruthless when the occasion calls for it. In this book, he decides to use those skills in order to go after the woman he believes to be guilty of truly reprehensible crimes, and proceeds to use all of his cunning to put plans into place in order to pressure said woman (and anyone else with whom she may be working) into making a mistake that would lead to her/their capture and punishment.

There isn't anything necessarily wrong with any of that; in fact, it has all the makings of a pretty good book. The problem is that Robert unfortunately takes being an alpha male to such extremes that his behavior, actions, and even thoughts become largely unsympathetic and even borderline absurd. Upon meeting Evie, he's bowled over by her on a physical level, and almost instantly plans to take her to bed, regardless of the fact that he believes her to be a traitor who is guilty of myriad crimes. After spending just a few minutes in her company, it would be obvious to pretty much anyone that this is not a woman who operates on the wrong side of the law. She is incredibly self-sufficient in that she runs her own business, and somehow has managed not to completely fall apart after enduring a horrific tragedy a dozen years prior to the events in this book. She's strong and selfless, actually thinks about how best to solve her problems when they arise rather than whining about them, and though she's kept herself stuck in the past to fairly extreme degrees, she's immensely likable (and almost the sole reason why I gave this book three stars). Robert, despite recognizing all of these qualities in her, still follows through with his plans to ferret out the criminals. . .

*mild spoilers follow* . . . and continues to believe that Evie is guilty in some way, shape, or form for most of the book. After his constant manipulations and deceptions come to light, she is understandably hurt (though not nearly angry enough; she's more bothered by the fact that she thinks that he doesn't love her). One issue I had with this book is that Robert isn't made to suffer enough. His scheming costs Evie so much materially, emotionally, and psychologically, and just a few pages from the end of the book, he is still unable to figure out why she could possibly be so upset with him. The problem is that she's upset with him for some of the wrong reasons, and almost none of the right ones, and he just can't, for the life of him, figure out why. For such a smart man, he has some exceedingly stupid moments and thoughts. And, since this is not only a romance novel, but one that follows Howard's usual formula, the reader knows that Evie will forgive him, which she does much too quickly, in my estimation.

As if Robert's machinations and utter cluelesslness aren't bad enough, he is far too controlling and chauvinistic: he takes almost all of Evie's choices away from her - everything from when to eat and where to go, to trying to alter her work schedule, and the list goes on and on. And on. - and what's worse is that, aside from a few token protests, she basically lets him. So, she has her doormat moments, and he takes entirely too many forays into jerk-territory, but their actual moments of sincere emotionality and connection are lovely, Evie is a pretty great heroine, and Robert, aside from the times when he becomes overbearing (to put it mildly), is not that bad an alpha male. So, the story itself is just okay and has many problems, including being a pretty big letdown for many people who enjoyed Robert in 'Duncan's Bride.' The bottom line, in my view, is that it's not a bad book, but it's certainly not one of Howard's best.

This is without doubt one of my favorite books by Linda Howard. Evie's integrity is amazing and it shows a person who is scared to fall in love again, yet has the courage to accept do so. Robert seemed like an unfeeling type of guy in the beginning, but I learned to like him through out the book. What amazed me was that Roberts was willing to help Evie not get sent to jail even though he thought she was guilty of the conspiracy. This goes to show how much he came to care about Evie.

What I liked, is that Linda Howard included Madelyn's and Reese's characters (from "Duncan's Bride") in this book. I recommend readers to read "Duncan's Bride" before they read "Loving Evangeline", but if you don't, that's all right b/c the 2 stories are not really deeply related to each other.

I'm still looking for "Mackenzie's Mountain," "Come Lie With Me," and "An Independent Wife." If anyone is interested in selling any of them to me at a reasonable price, please let me know.

A topic in the Romance Forum brought this book to mind and I looked it up again. I still hated it as much as I did the first time I read it. Robert is a hero in the loosest sense of the word. He's domineering and manipulative and does horrible things to the heroine, Evie, who is resilient in life, but lacks a backbone when it comes to him.

Even the ending is less than an HEA in my mind. Robert is still all about domination and control and not about love. There's no giving in him, it is all about taking from her.

Such a disappointment after Duncan's Bride, which I loved.

This is my first LH book, and while I didn't care for it, I'll likely give her another chance, based on some of the reviews I read here. It started out well enough, with Robert Cannon, an obscenely wealthy, good looking, and ruthless businessman, and Evie, the down to earth, pretty owner of a marina. I thought it would make for a pretty good story, having this staunchy guy brought to heel by someone not at all of his tastes, or his world, even though I didn't care for the descriptions of his sexual preferences, which were described in great detail as soon as we met Robert. I felt the way he pursued Evie was cold and calculating, and I got tired of hearing of his 'violent' body's responses and urges when he thought of her. I agree with the review who said LH needed to put to use a Thesaurus. The word was about the only word LH used to describe his attraction to her, which was not only a turn-off, but way overused. I also found it a little unbelievable that Evie would find herself in love with him the second or third day after meeting him, when I was already becoming annoyed with his overbearing peskiness. The man was a cold fish, and I didn't know him any better than Evie when she fell in love with him. I also didn't care for the way he kept 'lifting' her out of his car, and basically doing everything for her when he was with her. What was up with that? I skimmed through a lot of it, mainly because I was weary of reading of his violent urges toward her, and how superficial the 'care' quality of the character was. I did slow down a bit when we got to the part of her learning he was deceiving her. I thought it might get good then. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. He didn't make much of an attempt to right things with her, and she forgave him far too easily for his underhanded ways. When I expected him to be brought to his knees, I was disappointed again. Even the final scene, where he admits he loves her, fell flat. Particularly when he told her she would need to be at his beck and call, and she willingly agreed to do that. By the end of the book, he really hadn't changed at all, and I never felt a connection between the two main players, other than a sexual one, and even that wasn't endearing.

Robert Cannon is the owner of a computer firm that supplies classified programs to the government. He is successful, rich and influential. Then one day his programs start turning up in unexpected places, and Robert knows that someone is not only committing treason, but also sabotaging his life's work. With the help of the FBI, he finds out who among his employees is stealing the information, and also his possible partner. Not a man to waste time, he sets out to Alabama intent on making those traitors pays. What he never expected is to get involved with the one woman he wants behind bars.

Once upon a time, Evangeline Shaw was like any regular teenager: fun loving, giggling and mischievous. At the age of eighteen, she married her childhood sweetheart. Sadly, she lost him in a tragic accident before the marriage even had a chance to bloom. For a long time, life for her was just going through the motions. Finally, she has found some peace by keeping herself safe inside her carefully constructed fortress. Now out of the blue comes a total stranger storming the walls, turning her life upside down. The physical and emotional pull is undeniable. And for the first time in twelve years, Evie decides to take the plunge and risk her heart. But what happens when the truth comes out? A truth that can very well destroy her...

LOVING EVANGELINE is a sequel to DUNCAN'S BRIDE. After meeting Robert in the first book, I was glad to find that he had his story and was happy to see him end up with Evie, who incidentally is quite like his sister, Madelyn. Evie is a no-nonsense woman who both challenged and intrigued our hero. While they may come from different worlds, they share a characteristic that keeps pulling them together: that mutual goal to unlock the key to the other's emotion and break the wall that guards their heart.

While this doesn't rate as highly as the others, this was still an enjoyable book. There are humorous parts and then there are the sad ones. I cried reading about how Evie's husband died. That part was very emotional that one can't help but wish that things would turn out right for her and Robert. And I loved how someone like Robert was brought down on his knees. I liked the epilogue and the way things have turned out for them. Lastly, I loved catching up with Reese and Madelyn and their two boys, whom Madelyn lovingly calls the "imps of Satan".

Although I thought that DUNCAN'S BRIDE was better, this was a nice follow up story.

Robert and Evie were the perfect couple. Robert a man who was dangerous to anyone he thought a threat,and mistakingly thinking that Evie was, but unable to keep his attraction to her under control. Here a man distrusts with his mind, but not with his heart. He allowed his mind to tell him things that his heart knew was not true and in the process almost lost the love of his life. Evie dared to love again after so much pain and almost died when she saw that Robert would not love her with his heart, but with his mind. She had to love for the both of them. I loved the ending.

I was very disappointed to read some of the reviews about this novel, depicting Evangeline as weak and Robert overpowering. Did I miss something here? Character development in this novel was masterful and subtle. Evangeline's quiet and peaceful demeaner masks an inner strength it would be impossible not to recognize. Robert masks the same qualities with a cool, controlled exterior. Both characters had powerful appeal, and I fell in love with them. I found the end a bit of an anti-climax after the intensity of the rest of the novel, but it by no means spoiled the effect. I would recommend this novel without hesitation to ANY fiction fan.