Customer Reviews

Tall in the Saddle (Bella After Dark)

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

 

 

I rate the novellas from 3 to 4.5 individually. Therese Szymanski doesn't come up to her usual standard; I found myself flipping pages and skimming--she gets a 3. Karin Kallmaker managed to break my heart with her story Cowboys and Kisses about a frontier whore. She gets a 4.5. Barbara Johnson's story of a couple of women in a tight spot entertains in spite of the fact that it almost had a tragic ending.(4) I wished that Julia Watts had been able to add just a few pages to her story of the grade B western actresses in love; it was fun to read(4). The book was worth the money.

I enjoyed reading this but I didn't feel that some of the authors were up to their usual standards. I was a little let down to be honest. I like Karin Kallmaker's Cowboy and Kisses but it was a little like watching an accident happen. I couldn't look away. The writing was very well done - but the story didn't end the way I would like. That's a matter of personal choice however. I would give her story a high rating in readability, I just personally didn't like the ending. The other stories were just okay. I have read other stories by at least one of the authors and felt that she wasn't up to her usual standards. It isn't a bad book. It's just not a great book.

None of these stories lived up to my expectations. I was hoping for some stories set in the old west featuring strong lesbian heroines - we don't really get that.

The teaser for the book is somewhat misleading - there is the mention of a lone gun dyke - yet no story featured such a character. Also two of the stories aren't even really in the old west - one being a dream and the other being about 1940's Hollywood.

Two of the stories revolve around brothels - prostitution is not one of my favorite subjects.

In the first story, "The Life and Times of Bad Bill" we have a character who is a criminal with no redeeming qualities really - and furthermore - she isn't even really in the west, since she is dreaming about the part that has to do with the west. I got the impression the author considers westerns kind of silly - and therefore she had no real business even trying to write a western.

In the second story - "Desert Spring" we have things that come to nothing - the female character, Corrine who calls herself Cory and dresses in drag - never confronts the renegades who killed her first lover - nor is any motive given for why they did so. Briefly she works on a cattle ranch but isn't physically strong enough to handle the job. The cattle rancher has been having problems with rustlers - but again this comes to nothing - there is no confrontation between her and the rustlers.

In the story "Cowboys and Kisses" - we're back in the brothel again. The story is virtually plotless - and the ending is a complete downer.

The final story "The Sweetheart and the Spitfire" does not even happen in the old west at all - instead it is set in the 1940s - and has to do with being a lesbian actress and the consequences that can come from that. Their solution seemed a bit unbelievable to me - but at least it wasn't depressing.