4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Romance conflict centered around a very weak issue, March 27, 2006
This review is from: Texas Bride (Leisure Historical Romance) (Mass Market Paperback)
From the back cover:
Night Riders...
They were a crack team of Confederate raiders, striking behind enemy lines under the cover of darkness, operating with one mind, one heart. Until one of their number betrayed them all. In the aftermath of tragedy, they swore they would live to hunt down the traitor. But to each, life would bring first a woman and then a revelation: Far sweeter than revenge is love.
Owen...
He was the good-looking one, the one who'd always counted on his charm to get by. But the war had changed them all, leaving Owen painfully aware that looks could kill as surely as bullets. On the trail of the traitor, he no longer prided himself on his ability to break hearts, especially when the heart belonged to a girl as plain-featured and plain-spoken as Hetta Gwynne. Hetta made it clear she had no interest in winning a man, only in winning back her ranch. But after tasting her surprisingly heated kisses, Owen realized it was his own heart that was in danger of breaking unless he could change her mind.
And my review:
If could only have one word to describe the romance in this book, it would be "juvenile". The main conflict of the romance centers around the fact that the hero is drop-dead gorgeous, and the heroine is a plain jane. This could have been handled in an interesting and delicate matter, but it wasn't in this book. It was ridiculous. The hero was so high on himself that I wanted to gag and chuck a cow pie at his swelled head. And the heroine was so low on herself that I wanted to scream at her to get some self-respect.
Right from the beginning, the author keeps stating how amazingly gorgeous Owen is, and how he knows and is proud of it. Ugh. There's no bigger turn-off then a man who's full of himself. I've got nothing against good-looking men, but ones who strut around with a "hey, look at me, I'm so gorgeous I should be a God" attitude make me want to retch. And the way the author kept harping on how plain the heroine was (the hero even came out and said it to her, several times!) got to be grating, and very old very fast.
I guess Greenwood never heard the phrase about beauty being in the eye of the beholder. I'm not going to appear on the cover of a magazine as one of the world's most beautiful people, but my husband finds me beautiful. Similarily, my husband isn't going to make other women drool and trip all over themselves, but I think he's gorgeous. That's the way it is when you love someone: he/she is beautiful to you, even if they are actually ordinary looking. You find that person more attractive than any celebrity or model because that's the one that you love.
Greenwood tries to add depth to this lame conflict by making the heroine not trust good-looking men (as if looks have anything to do with character). The hero responds to this by arguing that good-looking women can wreak more havoc than good-looking men. Oh, please. Could we get off the topic of looks already? Being attractive or not has no bearing on a person's moral character.
I couldn't finish this book. It's difficult to read when you can't stop rolling your eyes. I spent only 33 cents on this book, and even that was a waste of money. Don't bother.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Very slow going., March 2, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: Texas Bride (Leisure Historical Romance) (Mass Market Paperback)
Greenwood has written some wonderful books. This isn't one of them. It's very slow and tedious before you get into the meat of it (halfway into the book). Hetta is so down on herself she makes me depressed. It probably would make any "plain" looking girl shoot herself. The hero's is wonderful. The story is ok. I've read a lot worse but like the other reviewer I had to struggle to keep reading it.
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5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A waste of paper., January 9, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Texas Bride (Leisure Historical Romance) (Mass Market Paperback)
This book was a real bummer compared to Texas Homecoming, which I really enjoyed. I couldn't finish it because I was bored to tears, and I usually will try to finish a bad book in the hope that it will improve as I read. But I gave up on this one. Halfway through, I was completely irritated with Hetta's whiny attitude. The 'I'm plain looking and you're so handsome' on page after relentless page finally got to me and I quit reading it. Texas Homecoming is worth reading, but this wasn't.
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