Sarah's Child

I picked this up because Linda Howard is one of my favorite authors. Midnight Rainbow, Duncan's Bride, and Running Wild were stand-out books. Witty, sexy, entertaining, with strong characters that I grew to love. In other words, those books are everything Sarah's Child isn't. Either this is very early work, or the author was having a really bad day. That's the only explanation I can come up with for this truly awful book.

Never before have I been so thoroughly tempted to curse in a review. I don't like writing bad reviews to begin with and I'll try to be constructive. I was shocked to see such a poorly thought out story. I will say from a technical standpoint the writing was clean, although everything felt forced. I think the author was show more trying to convince me the bad behavior was justified; Sarah's by the lack of love in her childhood, Rome's by his overwhelming grief. It felt more like it was being rammed down my throat. I simply couldn't suspend belief that people would make life choices on such ridiculous criteria.

In addition to a bad story, I despised Rome from the start. He was a selfish a-hole with stalking tendencies who used sex to deal with his grief. There was no romance here. No tenderness. No redeeming qualities in the man. I pegged him as a sexual predator early on and it went downhill from there. I was expecting an angst-fill love story about recovery, second chances, and hope. Instead I got a TSTL heroine who took Rome's abusive behavior with a smile on her face. Yes. I called it abuse. A spade is a spade and Rome's behavior was UN-FOR-GIVABLE!!! I wasn't the least bit surprised by his reaction to the pregnancy, or his continued neglect towards Sarah during the months that followed. I thought Maxwell would've been a better hero at first. Even he turned creepy. I'd keep my hypothetical daughter far, far away from him.

Sarah had no backbone. I will give her tiny kudos for refusing the abortion. She stood up when it counted, probably because Rome found the one thing that was more awful than wielding sex as a weapon and starving her of emotional intimacy when he was finished boinking her to forget about Diane. She was a total doormat, with no idea what love is really about. Pathetic. At 31 she was still a virgin because she had fallen in love with her BFF's husband as a teen and had martyred herself because he was unavailable. Low and behold the wife is killed and we learn that Rome has been lusting after Sarah since his wedding day. His WEDDING day, people. What a gem. I have some advice for Sarah and any potential Sarah wannabies: Run away and GET THERAPY.

If only I could reclaim the time wasted on this book. show less

This is a guilty favorite of mine. I feel like I'm not supposed to like it but I do. I enjoyed the fact that the hero never decides he didn't love his first wife as so often happens in romances where a widower remarries. I liked all the angst. Even though the heroine seems to be doormatish I think really she's just so determined to have him that she lets nothing stand in her way which is not quite the same thing. I just enjoy stories where a hero has been so wounded that they don't seem to really be complete and watch them come back to life with the heroine. So if you're not afraid of sappy, give it a try.

Where to begin with this novel? Well, the plot had a good idea behind it. However, the author chose a different path. In my opinion, the characters were downright awful. Sarah is a pathetic human being that spends her days pining over her best friend's husband, who she happens to work with. The husband, Roman, is an egotistical jerk. He claims to be in mourning, even after the two-year anniversary of his wife's and sons' deaths. However, he admits to Sarah that he has slept with numerous women starting two months after his wife's death. The novel drags on with a very predictable ending.

Where to begin with this novel? Well, the plot had a good idea behind it. However, the author chose a different path. In my opinion, the characters were downright awful. Sarah is a pathetic human being that spends her days pining over her best friend's husband, who she happens to work with. The husband, Roman, is an egotistical jerk. He claims to be in mourning, even after the two-year anniversary of his wife's and sons' deaths. However, he admits to Sarah that he has slept with numerous women starting two months after his wife's death. The novel drags on with a very predictable ending.

I was very touched by this story of Rome and Sarah and unrequited love, particularly for Sarah. As usual, Linda Howard weaves a powerful story, though in this book the setting is very domestic - no adventure or thrills.

Sarah had loved Rome long before he met and married her best friend. Now years later Rome has lost his wife and children in a car accident and finds comfort in reconnecting with Sarah. When it leads to marriage she is happy at last. However, Rome wants nothing to do with starting a family or ever having children, his love and loss was too painful the first time. Of course, during the course of a bad flu when Sarah can keep nothing down, her pills included, her recovery brings a surprise. This was a traditional angst filled romance, old school. An old work of Linda Howard that shows her potential. Glad I dug this up.

Great read. I enjoyed the nice jumble of characters and the time passing, I also like that she let him feel his loss in a very real way, and that the baby simply being born didn't resolve everything... It felt real and raw.. It was excellent, and if there wasn't a type writer, I won't have felt like it was a book written in 1987!!!