Heartless (Import HB) (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A handsome rancher-tycoon and his shy, sheltered stepsister fall in love in Palmer's latest romantic melodrama (after Fearless) that's long on humid heat but hampered by cornpone theatrics. Gracie and Jason Pendleton share no bloodlines, but they've been close ever since Gracie came to live with her now-deceased mother, Beverly, who married Jason's cruel (and also now dead) father, Myron. Jason is a good ol' boy who prefers his Rocking Spur ranch to the family mansion old-fashioned Gracie tends to. Gracie, meanwhile, harbors a dark secret that has made her frightened of romance even though she's desired Jason for years. The feeling's mutual, and, eventually, their hearts collide despite the interference of Kittie Sartain, a bitchy redhead supermodel who tries to lasso Jason. Palmer, a romance veteran, knows how to concoct a savory chicken-fried love plot, but sometimes the gravy's laid on a little too thick. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description

As a teenager, Gracie worshipped her stepbrother, Jason, a strong, silent young cowboy who left home early to seek his fortune. Though Gracie hadn't seen him in years, when her mother passed away, Jason ensured that Gracie would be cared for. Now the wealthy owner of Comanche Wells ranch, Jason has finally come back home, and discovered that the little girl he knew is all grown up.

When a moment of unbridled passion results in a kiss, Jason realizes that he's falling for Gracie. But Gracie harbors a shameful secret that makes her deeply afraid to love. Stung by her rejection, Jason leaves, ready to put the past—and the one woman he can't have—behind him once more.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: HQN Books; 1 edition (May 26, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373773781
• ISBN-13: 978-0373773787
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #59,187 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #20 in	Books > Romance > Authors, A-Z > ( P ) > Palmer, Diana
  #70 in	Books > Romance > Western

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Heartless, June 6, 2009

By	Ruthie "BookDiva" - See all my reviews

I am a HUGE DP fan. I've been reading her work for years (since the late 80s) She's given me many hours of pleasurable reading & memorable characters. However, In recent years I have not enjoyed her work because of the veering off into the drug war stuff. If you're a fan, you know what I'm talking about. However, let me say that this book is the best of her recent work. I was pleasantly suprised when I read this one. She took her time developing the characters & I felt myself responding to them as I read along. Praise for Ms Palmer on this one. If you like her old stuff, I think like me, you'll really enjoy this.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Oh Diana....How could you be so "Heartless", August 24, 2009

By	Jaz'elle Lynn "Book Diva" (New York, Ny) - See all my reviews

I must as usual, begin my review of Diana Palmer's latest body of work with a "sigh".

To any one who purchased this book and expected to get a new and exciting book...well shame on you. For those of us who purchased this book despite the fact that we already knew the begining, middle and end of the story...well shame on us.
We knew the heroine would be a pale blond, shrinking violet with some sort of handicap ( be it physical or mental)...and we got it.
We knew that the hero would be a dark, brooding, rich, class A jerk...with a yen for younger women ...and we got it.
We knew that thered be missunderstandings, snotty girl friends, and characters who are somehow all related to spanish royality....
and you know what...ladies...we got it.
Diana Palmer delivers as always. And yet the majority of us readers are still miffed.
We should know better by now.
If nothing else at least the story is a little more fleshed out. Although I must say the book was about 50 pages too long for me. But it wasnt as trite and rediculous as the last few books ( please see my review for winter roses and heartbreaker..or anyone elses review for that matter)
After I put the book down, I was frustrated and had a literary break down. WHY WHY, I SCREAMED to the heavens
WHY in jesus's, buhdah, and krishna's name cant this woman come up with a new story line!!!!!
WHY must the heroine always be a simpering ball of lilly liveredness ( except when she single handledly rescues her husband from a dictator... but SHE cant stand up to a waif like model?)
ISNT this the 4th story MS PALMER'S told where the heroine has hooked up with her own stepbrother?
WHY cant the female lead be pretty? (and not just have a pretty mouth and a nice figure with small breasts SEE LAST 8 BOOKS) or is it just the adversary that gets the honor of being beautiful....but then shes usually a mean spirited "man-eater" as ms palmer would phrase it. Is beauty always synonomous with nastyness?
WHEN IS HARLEY FOWELER finally going to get a life, and stop popping up as every book's every man? This poor character has been through more changes then RUPAUL.
DOES she really think we dont see another book comming, but with the dictator in this book being the lead. Didnt she do the same in ONCE IN PARIS AND LORD OF THE DESERT? where the lead character falls in love with the pale blond woman hes confined with and then meets another woman who looks just like her? Do we not see this happening again with this book?
AND LASTLY....WHY DO I KEEP BUYING IT? I keep hoping, upon hope that she will use her powers of romantic writing and create a new story, with new characters, and new hijinks...but she ...just...wont. Why....because MS PALMER AKA SUSAN KYLE ET AL knows that people like me...and those of you who purchased this book despite its preordained plot and characters will continue to buy it.
If thats not heartless....what is?

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dumb bunny gets what she deserves, June 17, 2009

By	Penelope Purple (Spokane, WA USA) - See all my reviews

The main character, Gracie, is an incredibly foolish, weak woman. She accepts the hero's anger problem, his drinking, his inability to communicate and his failure to shed an unwanted fiancee because he's too wrapped up in business as "manly" qualities. This stupid woman also excuses the kidnapping villain because he's doing it to raise money for a good cause. She is unable to take care of herself, landing improbable jobs only by her social connections instead of her abilities, moving into a girlfriend's home as a show of "independence" instead of getting her own place and hawks the family jewels to pay for a clunker of a car that doesn't even make it through the entire story. She also chooses to remain trapped in archaic attitudes about sex, instilled by her sexually abused mother, that are improbable in this sex-saturated culture...."oh, it's going to hurt and men only get off if the woman suffers so I'm afraid of sex."

The other annoyance is the inconsistencies in the story: the ranch and house are located on separate properties at the beginning of the book, then on the same property at the end of the book. The author also communicates Gracie's delusion that the hero supposedly only got drunk twice since she had known him, but, wait, he recently got so drunk he wasn't sure whether or not he had slept with a swimsuit model. Later he traps another character in the men's room of a bar. The bartender tells Gracie that he can't do anything with him when he gets like that (drunk and violent)...and he got that way because he was offended by a comment about his hat!

Thankfully, women are not typically this stupid and men are not typically this pathetic. This dumb bunny gets what she deserves.