#TBRChallenge 2019: Day Late and a Couple of Dollars Short

The Book: Morgan's Woman by Judith E. French

The Particulars: Historical western romance, Ballantine, 1999, Out of print, available in self-published digital edition

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: Who knows at this point - seriously, this has been buried in the TBR for a ridiculously long period of time. My best guess?  It's a historical western and I enjoyed another novel by French when I reviewed it for TRR.  While in good shape, I can tell my print copy was bought used.

The Review: In my experience, historical romances hold up better over time than contemporaries because you're a lot less likely to run up against pop culture references that haven't aged well (there was a time when Mel Gibson and Tom Cruise were major heart throbs).  But that doesn't mean there aren't potential land mines lurking, which is exactly what happened with this book.  I was met with a cold bucket of ice water at the 30% mark and while I might have let such insult slide had I been reading a bodice ripper from 1978, in 1999 the genre really, really should have moved on.  Which is a shame, because the heroine is a legit widow in this book and 1999 we were still Buried In Virgin Heroines for the most part. Alas...

It's 1865, the War is finally over, and Tamsin MacGreggor's husband is blessedly dead. She isn't exactly mourning his loss.  However, when she finds out that her not-dearly departed hubby managed to squander everything her grandfather built, only leaving her with two prized thoroughbreds (one stallion, one mare) - she's even less sorry he's dead.  The lawyer thinks she's nuts, but she decides to take the two horses and head to California.  She can start a new life out west.

Original Cover

She lands in Sweetwater, Colorado for the night and when she goes to collect her horses from the livery in the morning she discovers they've been stolen.  She finds out who has them, but he's the brother of the town judge and...yeah.  She heads out to his place anyway only to interrupt an argument between the man and brother judge.  She sneaks back in the middle of the night to steal back her horses only to discover the man dead, shot in the back in his own barn.  It doesn't look good for her, so she takes her horses and hits the road.

Ash Morgan is a bounty hunter who has been tracking Tamsin because he thinks she's an outlaw's paramour.  Then he's hauled before the judge who tells him that she murdered his brother and asks Ash to track her down.  Which...he does.  She's innocent, he doesn't believe her, and we're off to the races.

Honestly, this was fine for a while.  The plot is kind of all over the place and there are instances where I felt like the author left out bread crumbs in the trail (the whole Tamsin being an outlaw's lady thing takes a while to circle around), but it was fine.  Then it slides south rather quickly starting in Chapter 9 and I never made it to Chapter 10.

Ash doesn't trust Tamsin to begin with, and when she beans him over the head with a log that doesn't endear her any further.  So needless to say, he's going to restrain her going forward.  She resists, they tussle, she throws a punch, he pins her to the ground and then we get these touching moments (imagine all the sarcasm in the world - like Wendy firing the sarcasm cannon):

Having her helpless beneath him shattered the barrier he prided himself on possessing.  He shuddered, caught in a sudden rush of primitive lust that any decent man should keep in check. In vain he tried to smother a devilish urge to lift Tamsin's skirts and drive himself between her warm, soft thighs. 

The woman scent of her filled his head. He knew he was stronger than she was. He could have her here and now. Maybe she even wanted him to do it. Ash groaned and swallowed the sour gorge that rose in his throat. 

Maybe he was no better than the scum he'd vowed to destroy - the outlaws who'd raped and murdered his wife.

GOLLY GEE, YA THINK?!?!?!?!  

A few paragraphs later our "hero" heads to the nearby stream to cool off:

The frigid water couldn't wash away his desire, but it did keep him from making a total bastard of himself. He glanced back at her to make certain she wasn't stalking him with a rock. "You pack a mean right," he said. 

Tamsin's freckles stood out starkly against milky white skin. "I'm sorry," she stammered. Fear was still evident in her expression. She looked at him as if she expected him to tear off her skirts. 

The hell of it was, he wanted to.

THE HEROINE IS OFFICIALLY FRIGHTENED OF THE HERO (because, OBVIOUSLY!!!) AND HE'S STILL THINKING ABOUT RAPING HER!!!!!!!!!!!

Nope. Nope, nope, nopity nope nope.  I hit that last line, closed the book and am moving on.  Life's too short, my TBR is too big, and short of Tamsin ramming a fork through his eye socket and lighting his pants on fire using a blow torch there is literally no redeeming this "hero" for me.

Final Grade = DNF 

Retro Review: The Taming of Shaw MacCade

This review of The Taming of Shaw MacCade by Judith E. French was first posted at The Romance Reader in 2001.  I rated it 4-Hearts (B Grade) with a MPAA rating of "R" for sensuality content (which by today's standards would probably make it PG-13...)

+++++

Romeo & Juliet never did much for me. Shakespeare took the time to write a story of forbidden love, only to have them die in the end. Talk about a let down. Well, Judith E. French looks to rectify the situation with her own spin on the classic tale in her latest offering.

Rebecca Raeburn and Shaw MacCade met as children and became fast friends. Nothing odd about two children getting along, except that the Raeburns and MacCades have been feuding for generations, dating back to when the families lived in Scotland. However, kids have a tendency to grow up, which means that Shaw and Becca soon discover that they both have budding romantic feelings for each other. But when Becca catches Shaw kissing her own sister, Eve, she makes a break and stops secretly seeing him. Shaw then ups and leaves for adventure out west.

Four years later, in 1849, Shaw MacCade has the nerve to return to Angel Crossing, Missouri. He may have been gone a long time, but he’s never been able to forget the only girl he’s truly loved. Becca is anything but pleased to see him though. After Shaw left, it was discovered that Eve was pregnant. She claimed that the child was Shaw’s, and it didn’t help matters that the boy looked just like a MacCade. Ostracized at home, Eve then took off for St. Louis, her honor in tatters.

Shaw knows darn well he isn’t the father of Eve’s baby, but Becca doesn’t want to hear it. On top of all this, he discovers that in his absence his brother, Laird, was shot in the back, supposedly by Becca’s father. Even though a jury found him innocent, Shaw is determined to find the murderer and bring him to justice. But how can Shaw seek revenge when it’s very likely that it will cause Becca pain? And will Becca come to accept that Shaw did not dishonor her sister and abandon his child?

French adds lots of conflict to this mix, which makes The Taming of Shaw MacCade a real head-spinner. With an honest-to-goodness Hatfield and McCoy type feud, the question about Eve, and the hunt for Laird’s murderer, there is little room for the romance, which I found slightly lacking. Shaw and Becca sort of jump right in where they left off, and with so much conflict to deal with, there’s very little time for them to discover their true feelings for each other. Admittedly, I’m a reader that likes to watch a slow, natural progression of a relationship, and that’s not what is offered here. Aside from a couple of flashback scenes, the romance starts half way through the race, instead of at the starting gate.

That said though, the author does craft a real pager turner. There is no down time for this story, and things soon get even more fast paced when Becca and Shaw set out to locate Eve and her child. While the identity of the father is no real mystery, the revelation about Laird’s killer and the resolution of the feud are both satisfying to read about. While there is a touch of melodrama at the end, it is never over the top, and everything is wrapped up in a nice, neat package.

Readers who are drawn to forbidden love storylines will undoubtedly find quite a bit to enjoy, and I predict that The Taming of Shaw MacCade will land on a few keeper shelves. While I wanted a bit more exploration into the romance, nicely done conflict and a solid storyline had me easily and quickly turning the pages. As exciting as this one was, I’m sure glad I have some of French’s backlist ready and waiting.

+++++

Wendy's Reflections: So I have zero recall of this book, but then I read it 15 years ago (yes, 2001 was 15 years ago....) so that's probably to be expected.  What I find intriguing?  I was obviously willing to suspend quite a bit of disbelief.  I mean, the two families hatred for each other dates back to Scotland and yet when they move to America both families JUST HAPPEN to settle near each other in Missouri?!?!?!  The US is pretty big - they couldn't avoid each other?

(Although maybe this is explained in the book?  Again, 15 years ago....)