Helpful Score: 2
This is a sequel to _Duncan's Bride_, but the two characters from that story appear very briefly in this, so you do not need to have read it to understand this story. Robert is a CEO who discovers classified software his company has been working on is being offered to foreign governments. He heads to a small town in Alabama to take care of the situation and find himself attracted to Evie Shaw who they suspect of being involved in the situation. The title probably gives away the end/ There is the typical fall in love but resist, give in, discover secrets, and break up storyline. Fairly quick read.
Helpful Score: 1
I'm all for alpha males - those guys who are supremely confident, powerful, and even ruthless; they know what they want, and they do whatever it takes to get it. These are the men who are typically quite good-looking (or at least rugged), ultra-masculine, and exercise rigid control over their emotions. They tend to be difficult to get to know, as they build innumerable walls and defense mechanisms around their hearts, but when they meet the right woman, they wind up falling quickly and completely. When this happens, that aforementioned ruthlessness is utilized to pursue said woman, and basically sweep her off her feet.
This book presents us with one such male: Robert Cannon. After his appearance in Howard's 'Duncan's Bride,' I was really looking forward to Robert's story. He fulfills all of the alpha male criteria to a proverbial "T" - he's an incredibly rich and successful businessman who is gorgeous (of course), prides himself on his expertise in the bedroom, and has a reputation in the business world as being cold as ice, brilliant, and yes, ruthless when the occasion calls for it. In this book, he decides to use those skills in order to go after the woman he believes to be guilty of truly reprehensible crimes, and proceeds to use all of his cunning to put plans into place in order to pressure said woman (and anyone else with whom she may be working) into making a mistake that would lead to her/their capture and punishment.
There isn't anything necessarily wrong with any of that; in fact, it has all the makings of a pretty good book. The problem is that Robert unfortunately takes being an alpha male to such extremes that his behavior, actions, and even thoughts become largely unsympathetic and even borderline absurd. Upon meeting Evie, he's bowled over by her on a physical level, and almost instantly plans to take her to bed, regardless of the fact that he believes her to be a traitor who is guilty of myriad crimes. After spending just a few minutes in her company, it would be obvious to pretty much anyone that this is not a woman who operates on the wrong side of the law. She is incredibly self-sufficient in that she runs her own business, and somehow has managed not to completely fall apart after enduring a horrific tragedy a dozen years prior to the events in this book. She's strong and selfless, actually thinks about how best to solve her problems when they arise rather than whining about them, and though she's kept herself stuck in the past to fairly extreme degrees, she's immensely likable (and almost the sole reason why I gave this book three stars). Robert, despite recognizing all of these qualities in her, still follows through with his plans to ferret out the criminals. . .
*mild spoilers follow* . . . and continues to believe that Evie is guilty in some way, shape, or form for most of the book. After his constant manipulations and deceptions come to light, she is understandably hurt (though not nearly angry enough; she's more bothered by the fact that she thinks that he doesn't love her). One issue I had with this book is that Robert isn't made to suffer enough. His scheming costs Evie so much materially, emotionally, and psychologically, and just a few pages from the end of the book, he is still unable to figure out why she could possibly be so upset with him. The problem is that she's upset with him for some of the wrong reasons, and almost none of the right ones, and he just can't, for the life of him, figure out why. For such a smart man, he has some exceedingly stupid moments and thoughts. And, since this is not only a romance novel, but one that follows Howard's usual formula, the reader knows that Evie will forgive him, which she does much too quickly, in my estimation.
As if Robert's machinations and utter cluelesslness aren't bad enough, he is far too controlling and chauvinistic: he takes almost all of Evie's choices away from her - everything from when to eat and where to go, to trying to alter her work schedule, and the list goes on and on. And on. - and what's worse is that, aside from a few token protests, she basically lets him. So, she has her doormat moments, and he takes entirely too many forays into jerk-territory, but their actual moments of sincere emotionality and connection are lovely, Evie is a pretty great heroine, and Robert, aside from the times when he becomes overbearing (to put it mildly), is not that bad an alpha male. So, the story itself is just okay and has many problems, including being a pretty big letdown for many people who enjoyed Robert in 'Duncan's Bride.' The bottom line, in my view, is that it's not a bad book, but it's certainly not one of Howard's best.
This book presents us with one such male: Robert Cannon. After his appearance in Howard's 'Duncan's Bride,' I was really looking forward to Robert's story. He fulfills all of the alpha male criteria to a proverbial "T" - he's an incredibly rich and successful businessman who is gorgeous (of course), prides himself on his expertise in the bedroom, and has a reputation in the business world as being cold as ice, brilliant, and yes, ruthless when the occasion calls for it. In this book, he decides to use those skills in order to go after the woman he believes to be guilty of truly reprehensible crimes, and proceeds to use all of his cunning to put plans into place in order to pressure said woman (and anyone else with whom she may be working) into making a mistake that would lead to her/their capture and punishment.
There isn't anything necessarily wrong with any of that; in fact, it has all the makings of a pretty good book. The problem is that Robert unfortunately takes being an alpha male to such extremes that his behavior, actions, and even thoughts become largely unsympathetic and even borderline absurd. Upon meeting Evie, he's bowled over by her on a physical level, and almost instantly plans to take her to bed, regardless of the fact that he believes her to be a traitor who is guilty of myriad crimes. After spending just a few minutes in her company, it would be obvious to pretty much anyone that this is not a woman who operates on the wrong side of the law. She is incredibly self-sufficient in that she runs her own business, and somehow has managed not to completely fall apart after enduring a horrific tragedy a dozen years prior to the events in this book. She's strong and selfless, actually thinks about how best to solve her problems when they arise rather than whining about them, and though she's kept herself stuck in the past to fairly extreme degrees, she's immensely likable (and almost the sole reason why I gave this book three stars). Robert, despite recognizing all of these qualities in her, still follows through with his plans to ferret out the criminals. . .
*mild spoilers follow* . . . and continues to believe that Evie is guilty in some way, shape, or form for most of the book. After his constant manipulations and deceptions come to light, she is understandably hurt (though not nearly angry enough; she's more bothered by the fact that she thinks that he doesn't love her). One issue I had with this book is that Robert isn't made to suffer enough. His scheming costs Evie so much materially, emotionally, and psychologically, and just a few pages from the end of the book, he is still unable to figure out why she could possibly be so upset with him. The problem is that she's upset with him for some of the wrong reasons, and almost none of the right ones, and he just can't, for the life of him, figure out why. For such a smart man, he has some exceedingly stupid moments and thoughts. And, since this is not only a romance novel, but one that follows Howard's usual formula, the reader knows that Evie will forgive him, which she does much too quickly, in my estimation.
As if Robert's machinations and utter cluelesslness aren't bad enough, he is far too controlling and chauvinistic: he takes almost all of Evie's choices away from her - everything from when to eat and where to go, to trying to alter her work schedule, and the list goes on and on. And on. - and what's worse is that, aside from a few token protests, she basically lets him. So, she has her doormat moments, and he takes entirely too many forays into jerk-territory, but their actual moments of sincere emotionality and connection are lovely, Evie is a pretty great heroine, and Robert, aside from the times when he becomes overbearing (to put it mildly), is not that bad an alpha male. So, the story itself is just okay and has many problems, including being a pretty big letdown for many people who enjoyed Robert in 'Duncan's Bride.' The bottom line, in my view, is that it's not a bad book, but it's certainly not one of Howard's best.
Helpful Score: 1
One of Linda's earlier romances with a serious Alpha male. There's a Harlequin movie out based on this book, but the storylines vaguely resemble each other.
