Heartless

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 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, show more 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

Step-siblings Gracie and Jason are both keeping secrets - they both have their own reasons for hiding the attraction they feel. But when the situation finally goes critical, things get messy fast. Now if only Palmer hadn't felt it necessary to toss in kidnappers and ransom notes.... Granted, it's a Jacobsville romance novel, but as a plot device surely she could have come up with something a touch more original?

This was an okay story, I found it hard to get used to a man reading a romance novel but the narrator was okay. The story had some good parts and other parts that I thought were a bit lame but overall a good listen.

Gracie Marsh came to live with Jason Pendelton, her stepbrother when she was 16 after her mother married his father Myron. Unfortunately 2 weeks afte the marriage Gracie's mother was killed in a car accident lucky for her Myron allowed her to stay with him and Jason. He remarried and that brought a step sister Glory into the mix - they all got along well. Glory is now married and Gracie is just begining to realise that Jason does seem to be treating her the same as usual. When he kisses her at a party she seems mortified but show more not for the reason that Jason thinks. There are secrets from her early childhood that Jason knows nothing about. In the meantime Jason thinks Gracie now hates him so after a drunken one night stand he asks the woman Kitty to marry him and she is a bitch and ends up turning his home life upside down. He is too busy with business problems to notice and by the time he finds out what she has done Gracie is kidnapped. The kidnapping is where I found the story to be a bit lame but Jason rescues her and eventually they live happily ever after but not before a few more secrets come out and some more drama. show less

Read this for a Trashy Book Book Club with my sisters. I like to think I can adjust my expectations pretty well, but nothing I'd heard about romance novels really did justice to what kind of low expectations I should have had for this book. It was painful.

This was great i could n ot put it down. I was pleasently surprised as i usually am not that into the whole hot cowboy thing.

I realy likedthis book. Alot of twist & turn in the story. I even cryed in some chapters. My momtold me about this book she saidit is a good book so I read it.

Classic Diana Palmer