Customer Reviews

Only Love (Only Series, 4)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book was stunningly good, not only the best in the series, not only the best by Elizabeth Lowell, but the best romance I've ever read.

The conflict in this was so much more than you'll find in other romances - not the silly misunderstandings that are cleared up as soon as the man catches up with the woman, not the man's refusal to admit he loves a woman, but a real conflict about a man who's driven with a restless spirit that's so much a part of him he can't give it up. The human drama of the hero's struggle is portrayed so well you feel it all the way to your bones.

Commonly, one is tempted to feel contemptuous of the hero's hardheardedness or plain stupidity. However, in this book, the hero is entirely sympathetic, the conflicts spelled out, both characters understanding what they feel and what they need and how to reconcile the two.

There's a scene in a cave near the end that is absolutely cinematic in its timing, drama, and visuals that it conjures up. I was amazed. After I read this book, I sat for a full five minutes just contemplating what I'd just read, and how good it was. I am not a gusher, but this novel is the pick of the litter, immensely sophisticated and satifsying. Thanks ,Elizabeth Lowell!

Elizabeth Lowell is a great writer. I love how she seems topull you into the story and into the characters' lives, pain, joy, andesctasy. Whip is a wanderlust man who's always searching for something he can't name, something he calls "the sunrise he've never seen". The most exciting part of the book is waiting for Whip to finally realizing his foolishness and accepted his most desired "sunrise". Another thing why I like this novel is because unlike other stories, the hero actually have to put some efforts into winning the heroine's heart first, while in the others, all the hero has to do is stands there and the heroine is swooned with his masculinity and maleness that she just falls to her knees in front of him. That's the sweet part in this novel, the best out of the "Only" series. END

I really enjoy Lowell. She's one of my favorites. Somehow in my reading, I'd overlooked this latest book in the series. Don't know how! I expected something as wonderful as ONLY YOU, Reno and Eve's story. This book had all the makings to satisfy that urge. The opening pages were wonderful and I liked the characters. Then a funny thing happened--I stopped understanding them. Whip, despite the fact he cared about Shannon in a way he'd never cared about anyone, knew he couldn't stay because he was a yondering man. What??? That's his only reason for leaving. He wasn't sure he could hack staying in one place? Lowell tried to give a reason why he thought remaining in Colorado will kill his soul, but I wasn't buying it. Shannon also didn't make any sense. Why on earth would you stay in a cabin where you might easily starve or freeze to death over the winter, or if you weren't, be raped by the odious Culpepper brothers? Why not go to the nearest town and find some job? I never understand these characters who are willing to risk death to prove a minor point. It wasn't like she loved this cabin or had anything truly sentimental to hold her there. Whip said leave, so she said no. That was their conflict. If you can swallow all that and keep reading, the writing is beautiful, as usual. The emotions were poignant and touching. The story is vivid, and Lowell even like this is still better than a whole bunch of the romances out there. It's worth a read, especially if you don't expect the sizzling conflict of ONLY YOU.

This book is the last in the "Only" series and clearly the best. It's set in the Rocky Mountains, like the other three, and the descriptions of the scenery are great. You really get a feeling that the characters are there; it's not like a cheesy romance novel that could take place anywhere. The characters are richly described and have many aspects; it's not like they are just two cardboard people who come together by some unbreakable bond and live happily ever after. Lowell always has tiny women and huge men, but in this novel, he's actually nice. In the second "Only" book, the big guy was abusive and I hated the novel. This is definately a fun read and worth the time.

Elizabeth Lowell's "Only" series offers the best romance novels set in the American West, and "Only Love" is a great conclusion to the series. The romance at the heart of the story has great emotional intensity and will be immensebly satsifying to romance readers. What particularly impressed me with this book was Lowell's vivid description not only of the hazards and difficulties of frontier life, but I was also moved by the enormous difficulties for women on the frontier unlucky enough to be without reliable male protection. Like the heroine in this story, Shannon, these women had to struggle with the common obstacles to survival while simultaneously protecting themselves in a relatively lawless land where single women were seen as fair game. What was particularly nice about this novel is that Shannon was not looking for a man to help make her life easier; she will only surrender her independence for true love. All in all, a very satisfying book.

This charming Western tale comes from the Elizabeth Lowell I've come to love- breathtaking scenery, believable characters and poetic storytelling. She tells the story of young Shannon Conner, a "widow" and orphan who, like so many others, is a product of the Civil War. Alone and fending for herself in the Wild West in a small cabin, she's recently come under the attention of the nasty Culpepper Brothers... who would use her for their own pleasure.

Along comes "Whip" Morgan, a self-proclaimed "yondering man" who has traveled the world but has never been to the same place twice... a man who loves his brothers but does best by himself... but a man who, once seeing Shannon vulnerable and alone, takes it upon himself to defend her honor. Of course, he's extraordinarily attracted to her as well, but hey, in all fairness, he DOES think she's a widow.

This was one of the most charming and beautiful Westerns I've read in quite some time. I found myself endeared and excited by the lovely romance blossoming between the rugged, but gentle, yonderer and the headstrong, but innocent, Shannon. It had all the greats to make it fabulous and it was definitely a four star novel. It only lost a star because, for about a hundred pages or so toward the end, it began to drag and get repetitive. I really could have screamed if I read one more sentence about the sunrise calling or Shannon telling Rafe to go and him fighting with himself. It just got to be too much already. (I was like, GO, Whip, so you can figure it out already!!!) The ending was amazing though so it's still a winner in my book. Recommended!!

This is my first Elizabeth Lowell book and my first inthe "only" series. Since then i've read all of them and they are by far my favorite series! Elizabeth Lowell has you hooked from the very first page. The tension of the characters is so wonderfully written. All I have to say is WOW!!

I read this book in 2 days and couldn't put it down. Then I passed it on to my sisters who both read it within the next week. When they gave it back to me, I read it again! All you have to do is read the first exciting chapter when "Whip" goes after those awful Culpeppers with his bullwhip, and you'll be hooked too.

This is one of the best books that I have ever read, regardless of genre.
Buy it and you will NOT be disappointed. It is such as sweet, endearing story.

This was the second book of Lowell's, but the first in the Only series, that I have read. I really enjoy her way of bringing her charaters thoughts to life. I also was really suprised to see the Culpeppers in this. When Hunter showed up I thought great now the story goes on.