An Independent Wife (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Howard's writing is compelling".

-- Publishers Weekly

Product Description

Sallie Baines has changed since her husband, Rhy, left her seven years ago. She's thinner, tougher, and, as a reporter for a leading newsmagazine, very successful. Now, he's come on board as the new publisher and she wonders if he'll even recognize her. She's finally become the independent, self-possessed woman he'd always wanted--but is he still what she needs?.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Mira (April 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155166500X
• ISBN-13: 978-1551665009
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 3.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #440,438 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars SPEND YOUR $$ ON ANOTHER LH BOOK- NOT THIS ONE!, January 3, 2000

By	CJ Bookreader "cjbookreader" (Texas) - See all my reviews

All I can say -- I was SO ANGRY while reading this book that I had to stop 3 different times before finishing it & the book is a really thin book.

The independent wife is basically an abused wife; she put up with a man who dominated & humiliated her with his overbearing Male Chauvanist Pig routine. He walked out on a marriage after she had a miscarriage, told that when she was woman enough to handle him, to call... yada yada yada. This woman brought herself up from the bootstraps only to encounter this JERK 7 years later as her boss.

Once he learned her identity, the stalking, harrassing, dominating behaviour began again. This time, she tried to run but he blocked her from leaving, got her fired from her job, confiscated her furniture & moved her into his apartment without so much as a 'by your leave'...

All I can say was -- what romance? I wanted to fight Rhydon (the husband)& beat him with a baseball bat. What a jerk? Who could love that?

Go read SON OF THE MORNING or KILL AND TELL -- don't waste your time with this one, please!

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Now I Know I'm Not Alone!, February 8, 2001

By	rachael russell (Canberra, Australia) - See all my reviews

I love Linda Howard's books. I've kept every copy of one I've come across - even this one completely despite myself because it's awful! Rhy is a stalker - and Sallie's mad to go anyhwere near him unarmed. The most positive thing I can think to say about this one is that clearly Ms Howard was practicing with variations of alpha male characters, and from the stone age Rhy's clearly living in, the wonderful Black Niall, Gray Roulliard and John Medina have evolved.

I know it was the 80's, but this became seriously painful to read. It needs a disclaimer like the ones Sandra Brown includes on her reissues of early works - something like "this book was written in a time when it was considered romanatic for men to harass women into exhaustion, admit having married them only because they felt sorry for the poor dears, bully them into leaving the work they enjoy, and stay at home where they belong - but only once the man figures out that's where he'd like to be too"

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Misogynistic and Disturbing, May 31, 2001

By	"jill12" - See all my reviews

I've really enjoyed many of Linda Howard's more recent books--particulary the passionate style--so lately, I've been going back and reading some of her older work. Most of it, I loved. But, this one was disappointing in the extreme (from any author!). Quite simply, the story is misogynistic, disturbing, and literally sickening. Rhy is not "the alpha male" (as one reviewer dubbed him); he is completely cruel to Sallie over and over again throughout the story. He continues to be cruel, and never gets redeemed. Did anyone notice that every sexual contact Rhy initiates comes with a violent adverb (he yanks her harshly, brutally takes her mouth, etc. etc. - i swear they are everywhere, but quite honestly i blocked most of them out, thank God!). At one point, Howard even writes that Rhy grabs Sallie's wrist so hard he can feel the bones shifting... what?? It would take a miracle of writing to redeem that anyway, but the truly disturbing part, is that the book doesn't even try to ... it is overwhelmingly uncritical of Rhy's abusive behavior. This is why I am convinced that this story was marketed incorrectly. The only thing that makes sense to me, is that Howard wrote this as a story about an abusive relationship (which it truly is, and if you read it, you'll see that's undeniable), and the only way it got published was as a paperback romance, or something like that. Do not read this book unless you want to (A) be depressed at the kind of abuse and degradation (verbal AND physical on both counts) that some women endure; (B) be depressed that there are actually men like Rhy out there who relish in dominating a woman in every aspect of her life (sex, home, work, and even hobbies - he steals the manuscript she's been writing on the side, reads it, then immediately insults her when she tells him he invaded her privacy: "stop spatting at me, you little cat!" Is it just me, or is that awful and nauseating??); or finally (C) be made so furious you don't know where to turn, that you have to write a long, winding amazon review like this one. Your Choice. Zero stars, horrifyingly awful, unbelievably bad.