Diana Palmer

I tagged this contemporary-romance, but I'm hard put actually to find any romance. The 'hero' is extremely verbally abusive to the heroine throughout 95% of the book but then proposes marriage which she, the doormat that she is, accepts. There were so many things wrong with the people in this thankfully short book (except Gil - he's the only one who ever stood up to Dal, who is just a slutty, abusive man). Meadow tries to learn ranching from Youtube videos which is ridiculous. She also has a show more background in police work and a two-year stint in the FBI, even though she's twenty-five years old and has severe balance issues that have made her career so far less than stellar.
I could ignore the slight political commentaries, but the idea that a woman deserves abuse because of how she dresses was beyond the pale. The writing is subpar and inconsistent. This author was recommended highly to me, but based on this book, I won't be buying any more of her books. show less

So I'm going to pick my jaw up off the floor and try to compose myself to write this review. I keep falling off the "No More Diana Palmer" bandwagon. I have seriously got to get myself a seat belt and stay on that puppy. This book is a veritable feast of tell not show with epic helpings of info dumping. When I was already full up with that I was fed a nauseating, treacly dessert of "my morality is better than yours and that's why the world is going to Hell in a sinful handbasket."

SERIOUS show more SPOILERS BELOW

I learned a lot from reading this book.

I learned things like fracking (a non eco friendly way to get oil from shale) is bad and evil.

I learned this three or four times in fact.

I learned you're a poser if you try to pass yourself off as a debutante to ranchers in Wyoming while wearing last year's colors.

I learned that it's okay to let poor girls work on ranches with those nasty cows and all that back breaking labor but that if only they'd known the poor girl came from a good i.e., rich family they never would have let her sully her hands.

I learned that scads of random conversations between two secondary characters about other people who were not in the book and were in fact only mentioned once, do not a riveting story make.

I learned that the hero Mallory, and seriously, Mallory? is in fact not an alpha male but a seriously naive, or dare I say stupid gullible fool.

I learned that there is no way that I can buy that a very rich 23 year old rancher's daughter in this day and age would not know that a guy can't just keep it up all night but needs her new husband to tell her that fact in a very clinical sex ed sort of lecture on her wedding night.

I learned that if you have just left a hunted criminal behind you with a shotgun and you hear a sharp crack in the distance, it's probably just thunder ever though there is only a light drizzle going on.

I learned that a considerate husband will break his new wife's hymen with his fingers out of consideration before he F***s her. I really wish I hadn't learned that one.

What I really hope I learned from this inane fiasco is my lesson: Stay on that Wagon!.

I received this book free for review from netGalley. show less

Heartless
1 Star

Synopsis:
Gracie Marsh worshipped her stepbrother Jason while growing up but now her feelings for him have evolved into something more intense. The feeling seems to be mutual but Gracie has a secret that makes her deathly afraid of love. Stung by her rejection, Jason leaves and sets in motion events that may change their lives forever.

Review:
OK, here goes my first and, hopefully, my last really negative review.

This book is awful but it is not the borderline incest that turned show more me off. Rather the characters are one dimensional and vapid, and the story is ridiculous.

Gracie’s characterization makes absolutely no sense. There is an inconsistency between her supposed mental deficiencies and her obvious social skills. Also, she becomes a teacher even though she apparently has a severe learning disability – weird. In addition, she is a perfectly sweet doormat and for too accepting of Jason's rejection and snide attitude. It is a pity that she didn’t put him in his place when he came home with Kittie the cow. Her reason for keeping her past secret from Jason is also inexplicable – there is nothing shameful about it, and depicting it as such belittles women who have suffered from abuse.

Speaking of Kittie, Jason’s engagement to her is a completely idiotic plot device. First, her bitchiness is way overdone and is obviously meant to contrast against Gracie's almost angelic status. Second, Jason’s reasoning for becoming engaged lacks credibility.

Jason is an obnoxious hero and borderline abusive. The scene in which he sets up an employee to be humiliated is a case in point as is his allowing Kittie to treat his family so badly.

The preposterous kidnapping subplots only add insult to injury. An honorable, sensitive kidnapper who just happens to be trying to save his country from a dictator and needs to kidnap people to fund his coup? The fact that there is not one, but two kidnappings? Perhaps this is an allowance for gender equality as there is one for the heroine and one for the hero?

I could go on and on but I’ll stop now as I’m sure my point is made. This is definitely my first and only Diana Palmer book. show less

Keely has been in love with her best friend's older brother, Boone, for years. His ex-fiancée is back in the picture though. He is harsh and hard. Everyone is afraid of him since he got back from the military. When he thinks Keely lied to him, he tells her to leave the ranch and never return. As she is walking down the road in the heat, she is bitten by a rattlesnake. Will she survive the bite? Will Boone learn the truth?

I enjoyed this book. Boone is austere. I could feel Keely's show more frustration that her love would never be returned and her confusion over his hot and cold behavior towards her. His brother is a jerk as he uses Keely for his convenience. I liked that his sister would give him a hard time about Keely especially over the snake bite.

Keely's parents are a piece of work. They are so involved in their sordid lives, they are willing to sacrifice Keely to their lies and secrets. Secrets have a way of getting out. Fortunately, the townspeople realize Keely is not her parents and treat her with kindness and respect.

This is going on my keeper shelf like so many of Diana Palmer's books. show less