Desperado was my first taste of disappointment from Diana Palmer and sadly it was only the second book by her that I had ever read. While the storyline and character's are exactly what I've come to expect from this author, I found a large distaste for the hero, Cord Romero, and his antics towards the heroine, Maggie Barton.

While used to the gruff alpha-male slanted twist on all her heroes, this particular one was, to my mind, just plain abusive. He seemed to enjoy hurting the heroine emotionally more than anything else and was, many times, cruel to the point that I was wondering if Maggie should get therapy for wanting to be in an abusive relationship with this man. The line between being a masculine alpha male and being an abusive self-centered jerk were blurred here and I found myself unsatisfied with the ending despite it being a "happy" one. ( )