Sometimes I don’t read a single thing for months at a time; others, I read three books a day. It’s a toss-up. But you can bet that when I’m reading that many books, I ain’t reviewing ’em (at least not in long-form). So today I’m bringing you some quickie reviews for what I’ve read this past week.
Title: Slow Burn Cowboy Series: Copper Ridge #7
Author: Maisey Yates
Published: April 18, 2017
Genre(s): Romance: Contemporary
Page Count: 367
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:If Finn Donnelly makes a plan, he sticks to it. After his brothers left Copper Ridge, Finn stayed behind, determined to keep their ranch going by himself. And when he realized his feelings for Lane Jensen were more than platonic, he shoved that inconvenient desire away. It was easy…until it wasn't. Suddenly his brothers are coming home to claim their share of the property. And Lane is no longer just in his fantasies. She's in his arms, and their friendship is on the line…
He's been her buddy, her handyman, her rock. But until that one breathtaking kiss, Lane somehow overlooked the most important thing about Finn Donnelly—he's all man. They're right together, no matter how much his volatile past has bruised him. Finn wants to hold Lane's body, but he doesn't want to hold her heart. But Lane is falling fast and now she's got a plan of her own…to show Finn there's nothing hotter than friendship turned to slow-burning love.
This was neither one of Maisey Yates’ more problematic novels, nor one of the ones I genuinely enjoyed. Sort of a middle-ground morass of over the top angst. Neither of the protagonists think they deserve love, they wallow a lot in their emotions and take the blame for things that aren’t their concern. Example: getting pregnant at 16 apparently means you can never deserve a nice life as an adult because…? IDK why exactly.
At least the heroine wasn’t a virgin and/or extremely sexually inexperienced in this one, though! (The bar for small town romances is so low, friends.)
Title: Sweetwater Seduction Author: Joan Johnston
Published: December 1, 1990
Genre(s): Romance: Historical
Page Count: 374
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:Her rich titian hair in a bun, schoolmarm Eden Devlin was too tall and too doggone smart. Most men in Sweetwater wouldn't tangle with her. Until Burke Kerrigan rode into town. Big, hard, and handsome, he wore a pair of six-guns and a bold, lazy smile. He came to settle the war between the nesters and the ranchers, but soon had another challenge on his hands.
Both sides in Sweetwater's violent dispute wanted the meddling Miss Devlin taught a thing or two. Simple seduction seemed the perfect lesson. But Kerrigan didn't count on the fire beneath the brains and innocence. And Miss Devlin? She found a blazing passion that promised happiness beyond her wildest expectations -- and a love that might break her heart.
I tried one of this author’s books before and DNFed it in about five pages because of the ATROCIOUS writing. I did not have high expectations here.
Surprise, surprise, because this is one of the better romances I’ve read in several weeks!
In Sweetwater Seduction, Joan Johnston beautifully marries the classic Lysistrata plot with the “hero makes a bet to seduce heroine” trope, all in the setting of 1880s Wyoming Territory. I loved the protagonists, Miss Devlin and Kerrigan—they had the perfect blend of realism and tropey Tragic Backstories (murdered wives, the Sundance Kid as a father, etc.). There are at least three well-executed B-plots on top of it all, not to mention a bit of a mystery. Excellent.
Title: Always to Remember Author: Lorraine Heath
Published: February 1, 1996
Genre(s): Romance: Historical
Page Count: 323
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:After refusing to fight for the Confederacy, Clayton was spurned by everyone in his hometown of Cedar Grove. To Meg, who lost her husbands and brothers in the war, Clay's presence was a constant offense. As punishment, Meg commissioned Clay to create a memorial for the town's war heroes. But as she spent months watching him, Meg's feelings began to change.
Really, really good book. This is a enemies-to-lovers romance in postbellum Texas, where a Confederate war widow is on a bitter, grief-blinded rampage against a conscientious objector. Most everything here was pitch-perfect, and the examinations of both protagonists was 100% authentic. I do wish Heath had bothered to confront the Confederacy’s beliefs a bit more (she had the perfect character to do it with!), but I guess she didn’t want to piss off the Nice White Ladies buying her books and paying her bills. Oh well.
I think it’s so interesting how, when an author decides to write a female protagonist with serious flaws/room to grow, the male lead is more or less perfect and serves as a foil to his counterpart’s arc—this is especially the case with quiet, unassuming beta heroes. Meg’s journey from embittered hatred to acceptance was skillfully crafted. For me, things got way too sentimental in places, particularly in the final two chapters, but overall: very well done.
Title: Hurricane Season Author: Fernanda Melchor
Published: March 31, 2020
Genre(s): Literary Fiction
Page Count: 224
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:The Witch is dead. And the discovery of her corpse—by a group of children playing near the irrigation canals—propels the whole village into an investigation of how and why this murder occurred. Rumors and suspicions spread. As the novel unfolds in a dazzling linguistic torrent, with each unreliable narrator lingering on new details, new acts of depravity or brutality, Melchor extracts some tiny shred of humanity from these characters that most would write off as utterly irredeemable, forming a lasting portrait of a damned Mexican village.
Like Roberto Bolano’s 2666 or Faulkner’s greatest novels, Hurricane Season takes place in a world filled with mythology and violence—real violence, the kind that seeps into the soil, poisoning everything around: it’s a world that becomes more terrifying and more terrifyingly real the deeper you explore it.
Temporada de huracanes, translated by Sophie Hughes and published here as Hurricane Season, is a grim study of life for queer outcasts in rural Mexico. Through the lens of the murder of the local Witch, Fernanda Melchor drops readers straight into the minds of several local townsfolk—an unapologetic inquiry that leaves no sin unrevealed. The book is gory, dark, and repugnant; the author’s prose is at once dense and breathless, luring readers into the grimy town of La Matosa, where a dead Witch is only one of many, many atrocities waiting to be told.
It’s been nearly three years since I last read literary fiction, and I can only say that I came back in perfect time. Hurricane Season is easily one of the best books I’ve ever read. Horrid as the subject matter may be, Melchor’s writing is hypnotic and addictive. Each new character at once unravels more of the story behind the Witch’s death, yet simultaneously causes readers to reassess their perceptions.
Truth, we must finally admit, is relative. While Hurricane Season shows readers how and why the Witch died, the answers to other questions are ultimately left in conflict.
