Customer Reviews

Loving the Right Brother (Silhouette Special Edition)

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

 

 

For years Brody Hayes has loved Irena Yovich, but she was his brother's girl. When she was eighteen Brody's playboy brother broke Irena's heart and she went off to college without looking back.

When Irene returns to Hades, Alaska after ten years for her ex-boyfriend's funeral, there is her old best friend Brody just like always. Brody is the exact opposite of his brother, Irena's ex. He was always there to tell her secrets and now it is almost like nothing has changed, but it has. Suddenly Irena is having some different feelings for him, but she doesn't think she should act on them because she has no intention of staying Hades. What would it hurt though to get a little closer to him while she was here?

In pure Marie Ferrarella style this is a heart warming novel. As always Marie relates an appealing story which is well plotted with wonderful characters. I especially loved reading the interactions between Irena and her grandfather Yuri.

While the story was not bad, I found the glaring untruths about Alaska and its people very distracting. The most distracting to me was the portrayal of an Alaskan Native elder as being naive and swindled by a used car salesperson where the hero (non-native) saves the day. Please forgive me as I roll my eyes at such a stereotypical situation. Alaskan natives (elders included) not only are intelligent in the ways of the world, but also can take care of themselves and their community quite well. Also, except for a reserve on Annette Island, reservations in Alaska were repealed in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971. This surprised me and made me wonder if such inconsistencies and stereotypes were true in her other books.

Overall, the romance was interesting, but the portrayal of Alaska and its people unrealistic and distracing to anyone who has experience with the real thing.

For a better portrayal of a small Alaska community (although this story is set in a Pacific Costal Canada First Nations community and not Alaska) try Good Medicine by Bobby Hutchinson Good Medicine: Emergency! (Harlequin Superromance No. 1265).

This was the first book I read by this author. It started out pretty good, but I have a really hard time with authors who constantly switch POV's with no warning. I find it very distracting, and hard to get into the characters. The story line was a good one, though.