Customer Reviews

Tenderly (That Special Woman) (Silhouette Special Edition, No 1147)

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

 

 

I loved this book; a pleasant suprise. This is a continuation of a series of novels involving the Navajo community. It is heart warming, joyful, sad, and a pocketful of "miracles". It gave my day a happy beginning; hope all will enjoy. Good reading!

This is the 4th in a series "FAMILY BLESSINGS" -
I shall get my pet peeve out of the way first - I can't abide these females who can't keep their pants on.

The story plot was very well written and kind of expected [when you think about it].
This is Ben Toomey's story [he was introduced in the previous book - which I can't find a listing for - MOTHER TO BE]a very quiet, kind of shy young patrolman under Lieutenant Lucas Singer and Captain Johnny Becente.

He is on the track of a professor Edna Trevoy who is very interested in proving how the Anasazi People kept tract of the seasons.
Ben remembered accompanyied his father to an arroyo where he stumbled onto some markings and showed them to Edna.
She is back with Who-follows-like-a-Lamb and one thing leads to another, with the professor's daughter having a falling out with her mother.

And Ben is caught in the middle. Lucas is determined to save Ben from the heartbreak that he had suffered at the hands of a rich, white girl. Before he met and married Sloan Baron.

Ben is soon out of harmony with his life and then he introduced Eden Trevoy to his grandmother, Sadie and his sister. That is another part of the plot.
Eden learns that she is half-Navajo - oh boy, the plot thickens! Poor little rich girl.

One shock leads to another before she finally learns to deal with her life. Yet she still had to crawl into bed with Ben.
What a loose skirt.

Great writer - herione's with trashy morals - wonderful story plots - great characters - wonderful series.

TENDERLY, is Book 4 in Cheryl Reavis' Navajo Family Blessings series. Supposedly, the powers that be, are re-releasing this story in April 2011; apparently, it has been reworked and has a new title, THE MUSIC BOX.

TENDERLY original Release Date- January 1998
From the Back Cover-
Coyote, Earth's Mischief-maker, Was Running Wild in Window Rock . . .

Navajo policeman Ben Toomey was out of harmony. And knee-deep in something worse than Window Rock's usual chaos. Wealthy Eden Trevoy, the little visitor he'd once adored, was back on the reservation, all grown up -- and tangled in secrets about her lost heritage. She needed Ben's help. And she wanted his heart!

But Ben's People said the white woman would plunder his tenderness and then be gone. So Ben was in love -- and miserable! -- tormented by endless, impossible wanting. And Coyote laughed. She was a poor little rich girl who had everything . . . but love.

My Review-
I enjoyed reading of the Navajo people and their ways and when Eden met her Navajo family, Reavis' writing shone with poignancy. Without hesitation, I turned the pages (no doubt Cheryl Reavis' skill as a writer); BUT in the end, there seemed to be too many unanswered questions and the entire affair finished with a bland letdown. Yes, TENDERLY could have been a really good story. Unfortunately, I suspect TENDERLY was a victim of choppy editing.

What were a few of the unanswered questions?
1): in the beginning, so much was made of the mysterious arroyo and Professor Trevoy's interest in the Old Ways, then abruptly that plot line was cast aside!
2): if young, virile officer, Ben Toomey, had difficulty maneuvering through the passage to this hidden arroyo ("The path was too treacherous to attempt . . . there wasn't a wide enough space for him to put his feet all the way down flat, and his knees scraped along the rock with every step . . . He was having to try to stay up on the sides of the rocks themselves now . . . there was an abrupt downward slope, causing him to lose his balance . . .") Ooooo . . .k! My reading question: exactly how did a frail old woman and her camera-toting, gear-laden daughter manage it (after Ben abruptly ran out of the arroyo, because he didn't like what Professor Trevoy told him)! Just a nagging thought!
3): why the mystery surrounding the possible stealing of Eden's mother's records, photos, and notes ("I can't find the tapes of the 'sun serpent.' I can't find any tapes at all. . . . all of her tapes -- should be in one these boxes -- and I can't find her red notebook either . . ."), then abruptly that plot line was cast aside!
4): In the short chapter BEFORE the epilogue; our love birds have mated and are happy, and then Eden flies off to New York City (the plot surmise: to further her banking career)! This was SO out in left field! When I got to this chapter, I shouted "What's going on?" Was it added to fill pages? Bizarre!!

I'm giving this a C+ ; it was a pleasant story, but it could have been so much better. I know Cheryl Reavis can bring home a story. The nagging question: "Was TENDERLY damaged through poor editing?"

Rating: C+
Sensuality: Luke-warm
MaryGrace Meloche.

5 Stars (A) - Best
4 Stars (B) - Good
3 Stars (C) - Average
2 Stars (D) - Poor
1 Star (F) - Don't bother!