Ellen O'Connell

It's been difficult to put into words why I dislike this book so much. It's a self-published book, which I normally avoid because you never know what you're going to get, but this had such high ratings that I couldn't resist. Now, I have survived to tell the tale. Heed my warning.

First, the only good thing I can say: there's a lot of drama, a lot of external issues threatening the union of our hero and heroine. If you don't mind weak characterization and shoddy writing and only care about plot, then you'll like this book. Every time I think it has to end, it doesn't. There's always something new and interesting around the corner, which forced me to keep reading and keep being disappointed.

As I mentioned earlier, the writing and characters are crap, and they go hand in hand. The exposition is all over the place. O'Connell info dumps readers with families trees and neighbors' backstories, most of whom the reader never meets. It's exhausting, boring, and frustrating. It made it difficult to find relevant and important information. However, if there's something you want to know more about, O'Connell doesn't deliver.

She also tended to solve her own problems early in the book but drag them out for the entire story. For example: racism. Cord is half Indian, so the entire town is against him, even his own family. Fine. Stupidly, (the villain in this is remarkably stupid) he's attacked IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY RIGHT AFTER CHURCH LET OUT, which means there's a ton of people around. After the fight, most of the townsfolk go up to the sheriff to make sure he knows that Cord was provoked. It seems that Anne and Cord have won over the townspeople, but in the next chapter, they still think she's trash for marrying him. Even Cord's family's racism towards their own brother surprised me. Even when they learned how Anne and Cord got together, they still assumed he forced her! Everyone in this book is dumber than a rock.

So yeah, lots of inconsistent characterization, plot development, and exposition. As a side note, the fight scene was poorly written, which I would know as a martial arts instructor. That was infuriating to read. The only reason this isn't 1 star is because it was sometimes decent, and there was plenty of drama to keep me hooked. Then the climax blew it, and I was so frustrated!

Without giving too much away: the climax promised to be great with tension and deviousness and Cord needing to defy nature to save Anne. Why did it fail miserably? BECAUSE THE ENTIRE CLIMAX WAS TOLD FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF HER SPINELESS, WEAK, COWARDLY, RACIST RELATIVES who suddenly repented after hearing the villain's REAL plan for Anne. Nope. Do not care about them. It completely deflated the entire climax, and I have rarely been so disappointed in a book.… (altro)

Katherine Grant has been all over the world with her father and five brothers, but her solo trip to America's west coast is different. Her return journey is beset by robbers, then Apaches, and more. Gaetan, an Apache who hates whites, is tasked with her safety after his brother succumbs to a bullet wound. The two definitely have a hate relationship that gradually thaws to friendship and then love. It's an interesting journey amidst several different cultures that can sometimes feel a bit much, but overall I liked the book.… (altro)

Where it's pretty realistic about racism, everything else is basically a miracle. Cord gets beaten practically to death, but survives because...Anne. The colt is starved practically to death, but survives because...Anne. The horse, Keeper, is ridden practically to death, but survives because...you guessed it, Anne. Everyone sees that Anne is a pretty spunky gal who escapes from her abusive father, but no one believes that if Cord was truly the monumental douche-wagon they thought, she would have bounced right out? And Anne goes from a sheltered town-living lady to a hay-baling ranch wife with no trouble at all?

The writing itself was amateurish in style and in need of a copy editor to fix the technical issues. I would recommend skipping right past this to [b: Sing My Name|9755694|Sing My Name|Ellen O'Connell|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328349810s/9755694.jpg|14644978] which relies less on implausible miracles and has a much better style.… (altro)

Bounty hunter Bret Sterling shoots his latest criminal in front of timid Hassie Petty, the man's stepmother. Hassie was trying to bury the man's father, her husband; she's emaciated, worn down from caring for the man in his illness, and she also can't speak. Bret feels a strange sympathy for the woman and takes her along, vowing to find a comfortable situation for her. Hassie is much tougher than she seems, and Bret gradually warms toward her. He's been supporting his family from guilt; they're Southern sympathizers living in Missouri, and he fought for the North. Hassie is far removed from the Southern belles he's used to, and her muteness causes more problems since she can't call for help when she needs it.
This is a wonderful story that takes place in Kansas and Colorado after the Civil War. Bret and Hassie have many adventures, keeping the story's pace moving as they learn to trust each other. The West was a lawless, tough world, and both Bret and Hassie are marked by the often mean people that reside there. I like that it only brought them closer together. Bret's family is mostly horrible, too, a reminder than those awful people weren't only farther west. It seems very historically accurate with good characters and interesting situations.… (altro)