The Mackenzie Family (aka Mackenzie's Heroes, 2-in-1)

I can't exactly explain my attraction to Linda Howard's novels, including her old stuff. Her writing is not the most polished, and the plots are often highly improbable. I think it's simply, as others have said, that her heroes are the kind of alpha males who win a romance novel aficionado's heart.

It's a pleasure reading this...

I read Mackenzie's Pleasure years ago and still remembered some scenes verbatim, so it clearly had an impact. I liked Zane and Barrie, and their intense connection, he rescuing her from kidnapping, she beggging him to the be the first one... It has the intense Linda Howard alpha hero of yore, and is so much better than the stuff she is writing now. I was happy to buy this again, even though the Maris piece is weaker, because Zane deserves a revisit, he is so hot!

Exciting story and compelling characters, both in Mackenzie's Pleasure and the novella Mackenzie's Magic.
Mackenzie's Pleasure also has one of the best epilogues I've ever read. Very funny.
Grade A-/B

Two more Mackenzie stories from Howard.

In Mackenzie's Pleasure Navy SEAL Zane Mackenzie has to rescue his perfect match. Ambassador's daughter Barrie Lovejoy didn't expect to survive, let alone fall in love with her rescuer. Now she's pregnant and her father may be a traitor... can love really conquer all?

In Mackenzie's Magic, horse trainer Maris, the only Mackenzie daughter, wakes up dazed and confused in a hotel room with a strange man. But even with a concussion and no memory of how she acquired it, Maris trusts Alex MacNeil. Good thing, too.

Surprisingly undated, despite their original mid-1990s publication dates, these are quick, fluffy reads perfect for a brief afternoon escape.