Customer Reviews

Notorious

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"Notorious" by Janet Dailey

The description on the back promises a story with western adventure, action and "breathtaking romance". If you are thinking of this book for strictly the romance aspect, I would say take a pass on this one. Although there is some steamy romance,and the tension and anticipation of it builds through the sparks between the main characters, there's not much and it doesn't happen until around Chapter 20 or 21, which was almost the end.

Having said that, if you are a lover of Westerns with a little romance thrown in(lucky for me, that is my case), you may find this an enjoyable summer read. It's got all the elements that make a good western. Ms. Dailey does a good job of paying homage to the traditional western. It's action packed with an old-fashioned cattle drive, a stampede,a land grubbing boss and his band of bad guys,shoot-outs,a saloon setting, a hero to die for and a gal in trouble. It's a modern day Western setting, but the story could take place in the old west as well.

A mysterious stranger, only known as Kincaid, pulls into a small Nevada town to have his pick-up repaired. Right off the bat, he has to rescue a beautiful girl from a deadly situation. The girl it seems is the owner of a cattle ranch that is barely holding it's own. At the chatty town bar, Kincaid gets advice from all sides on his stay there, the most telling coming from a tough guy telling him to "stay away from Rossiter". Eden Rossiter, the girl he saved. Naturally he does not heed the warnings and immediately gets a job on her ranch. As the story unfolds, we find trouble at every turn for Eden Rossiter, as Depard the land grubber tries to take over her little piece of heaven. Even her own brother seems to be suspect in the sabotage.

Kincaid, helps thwart off the dangerous situations constantly arising, but Depard already has it in for Eden for killing his son years earlier, and makes things mighty tough. Eden meanwhile has a deep secret about the day she shot Jeff Depard. And what is Kincaid's reasons for being there? Is he out for some sort of revenge for past deeds himself? Will Eden trust Kincaid over her own brother? There are a few surprises along the way, as the relationship between them runs hot and cold.

I thought the story dragged in a few places. The dialogue at times was a little dry, and the relationship between Kincaid and Eden took too long to develop. There were a couple of characters, who I would have liked to get to know a little better. A barmaid named Star, with a teenage son, were characters I became interested in(actually kind of hoping Kincaid and Star would get together at first),but their story line kind of fizzled out early on. There were some fun characters, the cook who's hooked on vanilla extact, and Rusty the cowhand who became Kincaid's sidekick.The bad guys were worthy of any good western. I did enjoy the western/adventure aspect and the little romance there was. So mostly I would recommend this to those who enjoy a good western.

There is an unabridged audio edition - Notorious [Audiobook] by Janet Dailey [Unabridged] - if you are looking for something to keep you company on a long drive(it's nearly 13 hours)

So good summer read for western lovers only.....Laurie