Feisty Bad First Impressions

First, my apologies to Ms. Killion, who sent this book to me ages ago for a review. My Slump From Hell is a really terrible excuse, but it's the only one I have.

Highland Dragon is the author's second published book, and unfortunately was a bit of a slog for me to get through. It would be easy to blame my slump, but in reality it was the ol' Bad First Impression problem. After a bang-up prologue, the book started to sink thanks to the heroine. But more on her in a bit....

As a young lad Calin MacLeod witnessed his father's murder. His father made the mistake of falling for the beautiful Lena Kinnon, when she showed up at their home, already pregnant, begging for protection from her vile husband, Laird Baen Kinnon. Naturally Laird Kinnon (AKA The Beast) is none to pleased with his wife running out on him. Shortly after giving birth to their daughter, Akira, she is murdered, along with Calin, and several of his warriors. The only reason Akira escapes the same fate is because Calin sneaks out from his hiding place, spirits the child away, and vows that one day he shall marry her and unite their clans.

Fast forward, and Calin has decided the time has come. He shows up at the Neish household to claim Akira, only to learn she's been spirited away to a slave auction because she's "a witch." So off he goes to rescue her, so he can take her back home and wed her. Besides the small issue of her being kidnapped, the girl also has no idea The Beast is her father. When she learns that bit of truth, it's going to get very sticky indeed.

As I've already mentioned, the prologue of this story is fantastic. The problem comes when the reader meets Akira as a grown woman. Yes, gentle readers, we have one of those heroines. Sigh. Feisty. And not Good Feisty. No, Akira is Stupid Feisty. Instead of lying through her teeth at the slave auction to save her own neck, she "fights" back by opening her stupid mouth. Hell, even the child who was up for auction before her had the sense to LIE! Frankly, heroines with no sense of self-preservation deserve whatever happens to them, says me. Then of course, there's that added hoydenish touch that all feisty heroines have in historical romances - yep, the girl likes to climb trees.

Sigh.

I liked Calin a bit better, although he's one of those romance heroes who just won't come out and tell the heroine what the heck is going on until naturally she hears the truth from a third party. What is it with romantic couples that won't talk to each other?

My bad first impression of the heroine soured this story pretty early on for me, and it made the first half of this book a real slog. I never really felt like the author got a good handle on the conflict until after the couple finally has their wedding. By that point, the two villains (one the dreaded "other woman") start playing a more prominent role, and the conflict picks up a bit. By this point Akira morphs from feisty, to a bit of a Mary Sue - the kind of heroine who lacks self-confidence, and yet has everyone from the hero to small children eating out of the palm of her hand. But at least she stops climbing trees.

It's the villains and the derring-do-style action that picked up the second half of the story for me. One of the characters has a change of heart, and I'm not sure how believable it was, but it did make for compelling reading. The author also writes "hot" very well, so if you're a sucker for sexy medievals, Killion is an author to keep an eye out for on that front.

Also, of note, the author does employ the use of the brogue here. Readers tend to be very passionate on this issue. I generally can't stand it, but I will say that Killion at least employs it consistently, and it's easy to follow. I never had to stop and "think" about the dialogue, trying to decipher what the hell the characters were saying to each other. Also the epilogue is straight up Sunshine Care Bear Rainbows. I'm such a little hypocrite, that I actually sort of expect these in historicals (I tend to despise them in contemporaries though - go figure) and am OK with them. But certainly, this is another issue that readers tend to be quite passionate about.

All and all? This was a totally mixed bag read for me. The hero was OK, the heroine largely didn't work for me, but some of the conflict was interesting. If you're a squeeing fangirl for medievals, this one may be worth a look.

Final Grade = C-

Woo-Woo Western

I absolutely loved Kate Lyon's previous release, Hope's Captive, which was a straight-up historical western romance with one of the worst covers to ever scald my retinas. Despite having a similar-sounding title, her latest, Destiny's Captive is unrelated to that book. It's a sequel, of sorts, to the author's debut novel, Time's Captive, which was a time travel (Read KristieJ's review). While I do think Destiny's Captive does stand alone, the fact that it's connected to a time travel romance should clue readers into the fact that, while it's essentially a historical romance, there's a healthy thread of woo-woo running through this tale.

Jeremiah Baldwin was the son of preacher man when his father's religious settlement (aptly named Baldwin's Fort) was attacked by bandits. They burned it to the ground, murdering everyone in sight. However, the man leading the raid saw a way to make a few extra bucks, so he rounded up the young men, one of which was our hero, and sold them off as slaves. Jeremiah eventually finds himself living with the Comanche, and taking the name Chikoba, becomes a fierce warrior. However when his wife and unborn child are murdered by U.S. soldiers, he is grief stricken. It's during a vision quest that the Great Spirit tells him to return to his childhood home, and uncover the truth behind his white family's murder.

Who he finds is Miguel Sanchez, a wealthy man who has turned the land into a thriving rancho, complete with gorgeous hacienda. However, when Jeremiah pays him a visit, the man isn't all that happy to see him. After he leaves that meeting, he's beaten to a pulp and left for dead. He's found by Sanchez's adopted daughter, Angelina ("Angel"). She has no idea the almost dead man paid a visit to her father, she just knows she can't leave him there to die. So with the help of some friends, she spirits him away to nurse him back to health. Unfortunately that is the start of a whole mess of problems. Angel's dear Papa has been keeping many secrets, and she has no memories of her life before he adopted her.

This story starts out pretty well. Jeremiah has a ton of baggage, and the mystery surrounding what happened at Baldwin's Fort is compelling. Giving a character a mystery to unravel is a good way to engage the reader. I was less enthralled with the mystical aspects of this story. Certainly, when connected to a time travel book, coupled with Native American religious customs, you're going to get some woo-woo. I'm a big enough person to admit this really comes down to a personal preference issue. Some readers will undoubtedly love the fact that wolves (yes, wolves) seem to follow Jeremiah around, while other readers will roll their eyes. But while I wasn't wild about this aspect, it really didn't sink the book for me. No, that was all Angel's doing.

I'll admit it, I tend to be a hard judge of heroines. I expect them to behave in a consistent manner and have a few brains in their heads (I know, radical notion). Unfortunately Angel comes off as both spoiled and brain-dead. Sanchez pampers her, and she tends to behave like a child all the while trying to convince her Papa that she's a "grown woman." The writing was definitely on the wall when very early on she takes it into her pea brain to flirt with one of the villains to try to uncover his secrets. Naturally she sucks at it, and lands herself in hot water. Then there's the small matter that her beloved Papa is a lying scumbag asshole that she blindly defends for three-quarters of the blessedly book.

Look, I get it. He adopted her. Doted on her. Sheltered her. It's only natural that she wouldn't immediately believe that he was capable of "bad stuff." But after a while, it just gets absurd. Even as more and more circumstantial evidence mounts, even as more and more things don't begin to add up - she vehemently tells Jeremiah that he's wrong. Her Papa would never do the horrible things he's accusing him of! Even when her father treats her badly, and accuses her of betraying him - she's still convinced he's innocent of any wrong-doing.

Seriously, I spent this whole book wanting to smack the tar out of this stupid twit.

Because of her idiocy, I had a hard time buying into the romance. For one thing, Jeremiah seems to get over his dead wife and unborn baby pretty darn quick (I guess I expected more angst on that issue), and for another, when they aren't arguing about her father, Jeremiah and Angel are boinking like bunnies. I didn't buy it. They never really "talked" and the author sort of skirts the "getting to know you phase" - but it made for a fairly weak connection. Also, for someone so naive, Angel practically ripping Jeremiah's clothes off really didn't ring true. She goes from pampered virgin to experienced courtesan faster than I can tear through a piece of cheesecake. And trust me - I'm pretty darn quick on the draw when it comes to cheesecake.

What Lyon continues to do well is plotting. This is a good story. The mystery, the secrets, the lies - all of it is compelling. Also, she has a knack for weaving in interesting history and real-life historical figures into her stories. I was particularly taken with Texas Governor Richard Coke, and some of the fictional secondary characters that played important roles in the story.

Unfortunately, when one of the main characters doesn't work for me (especially the heroine!) it's hard for the book as a whole to work for me. I kept wanting to rewrite her character, or add on another 200 pages to this story to make it into a saga. Give the author more time to work up a convincing transformation for the heroine, going from naive girl to woman confronted by the truth. That may have worked better for me. But as is, this one was disappointing.

Final Grade = D

Outback After Dark

As some of you may recall, last year I reviewed Bronwyn Parry's debut romantic suspense novel, As Darkness Falls. The catch being that it was published in Australia and wasn't available in the States at the time. Naturally, since I enjoyed that first book quite a bit, the publisher was keen to send me the second book in the series, Dark Country. Again, only available in Australia. But take heart curious readers! Read my review, and then see the end of this post.

Morgan "Gil" Gillespie left the bush town of Dungirri with no intention of ever returning. Half the town thinks he's trash. The other half thinks he's a murderer. But after selling his successful pub in Sydney, he comes home to see local cafe owner, Jeanie Menotti, about some unfinished business. Instead he's confronted by townspeople who aren't happy to see him, his life in Sydney following him out to the middle of nowhere, and the body of a dead prostitute stuffed in the trunk of his car.

Kris Matthews is the local police sergeant in Dungirri. The town has seen it's fair share of troubles, ranging from drought, to unemployment, to the hunt for a child killer (see As Darkness Falls). When Gil rolls into town, bringing a whole host of trouble with him, she goes with her gut. And her gut tells her that while some people in town think he's bad news, she knows that he's not guilty of anything they've accused him of. Even with a dead body found in the trunk of his car, there isn't much evidence to speak of. So she doesn't lock him up, instead getting him to talk. That's when she knows that real trouble has once again landed in Dungirri. Because the child killer may be gone, but now organized crime has rolled into town.

One of the things I really loved about As Darkness Falls was how "dark" the story was. That tends to be a common complaint I have against some romantic suspense fare. The author pussy-foots around the suspense, and doesn't explore the scary corners. Parry doesn't shy away from tough subjects, although the "dark" isn't nearly as pervasive and oppressive in Dark Country. On that score, I suspect it will work better for those romance readers who shy away from heavier reads.

That said, on the flip side of that coin we have Gil. There is definitely a segment of the romance reading population who want their heroes to be above reproach. I wouldn't call Gil an "anti-hero," but he is guilty of getting in bed with the wrong people. Because of his connections, good, innocent people do get hurt over the course of the story. As he tells Kris, in order to make a good life for himself after his stint in prison (naturally, he was wrongly convicted), he made a deal with the devil. Should he have? Probably not. But at the time, he saw it as his only option, and he took it. I bought into this, and did think of him as a "good man." But if you're a reader who wants your heroes to be squeaky-clean? Yeah, Gil isn't your guy.

The highlight of this story for me was Kris. So often in romantic suspense novels, with cop heroines, the author downplays her assertiveness and makes her "weak" somehow. Either by putting her in danger or having her lose her brain in a too stupid to live moment. Kris is just a flat-out good cop. She's good at her job. She has good instincts. And the best part? She's not a ball-buster. She commands respect because she's a damn good person and damn good at what she does for a living. Yet, she's still feminine. She's still a woman. And she's smart. Heaven help me how I love smart heroines! She thinks logically, and uses her brain. So while some people want to string Gil up by his toe-nails, she looks at (get this!) the evidence.

Parry does have a lot going on in this book, and at times she has to throw one ball in the corner while she's juggling the others. She does get around to tying up the threads, but it does require some patience on the part of the reader. Also, while the suspense is really good here, the romance takes a bit more of a backseat in this story. Oh, don't get me wrong - it's there. That said, it helped tremendously that the author ends this story perfectly. There's a short time-table for Dark Country, with Gil and Kris knowing each other for about a week. Them walking down the aisle and her pregnant with triplets in the final chapter would not have worked, and I'm glad Parry went with the ending that she did.

This was another fine romantic suspense read from an Australian writer that really needs to get published here in the States. Yes, there are Australian-isms in this story, but nothing so mind-altering that this ignorant American couldn't follow along. Also, the town of Dungirri isn't that far off from some of the economically depressed areas in the United States (this story could easily have been set in my home state of Michigan). Parry's in the process of writing the third book in this series and I, for one, can't wait.

Final Grade = B-

Contest Alert! Bronwyn Parry has agreed to give away a copy of As Darkness Falls and Dark Country to one lucky commenter on this blog post. Wahooey! Contest open to international readers (obviously, since Parry lives in Australia!) and a winner will be chosen at random on Wednesday, October 21.

For those of you who don't want to enter, or don't win? As Darkness Falls (UK edition), the first book, is now available via The Book Depository (free worldwide shipping!). Dark Country is only available in Australia right now, although the author has heard it should be published in the UK sometime around March-ish.