Author: Linda Howard |Website|
Publisher: Pocket Books a subsidiary of Simon & Schuster
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series/Standalone: Standalone
Format: ebook, Mass Market Paperback
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series/Standalone: Standalone
Format: ebook, Mass Market Paperback
Cost: $7.99
Pages: 327
How I got it: Purchased from Thriftbooks
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Publisher
Publication Date: December 1995
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Synopsis:
This book was written in the early 1990s and boy does it show it's age. First with the lack of cellphones, the having to wait to go home to call people and of course waiting on faxes instead of email. The most glaring age issues?? The way in which the male protagonist thinks, this for a long time made me not like him. He was chauvinist, a sexist, and a classist snob. He was also a huge asshole, so for most of the story I couldn't see what she saw in him. Side note, I understand this is from a 'southern ' perspective, but I want people to understand that while I know the word 'coon' is used several ways, there are strong negative connotations for African Americans, so when Grey mentioned coons more than once I wasn't happy, once he mentioned that he got with a lot of 'coon asses' in college and yeah No.
In the first few chapters we see that in this small town the children of the woman who is having an affair with a married man is punished as well as the mother. There were so many instances in which the sexism came out that I wanted to scream, but at the same time had to understand that while it's not as blatant today in some ways, it's worse. The slut shaming in the book was horrible, especially when considering that Faith was only 14, her 16 year old sister was being used and abused by men who should know better but everyone had a public face and would shame them then at night would come sniffing around her and her mother. I wanted to scream so bad when reading this but then realized Linda's writing brought all this into the light for us to talk about.
The mentality of so many of the 'upstanding citizens' of the town was if the mom's a slut then so are the children, if the father's a drunk then so are the children, instead of someone calling social services or even trying to protect the kids they all made the kids feel ashamed for their circumstances and a few of them took advantage of a 14 year old trying to find a place in the town that told her she was only ever going to be a slut. I wanted to punch everybody. I was so engaged in the story and so badly wanted to see how it ended that I stayed up and finished it in one night. I wasn't even supposed to read this one, I had hauled months ago when I finished up adding the last few books missing from my catalog from Linda when I was putting it away I realized I didn't know this story and just dived right in.
I loved Faith because she refused to be beaten, even though her life was tough she still did what needed to be done and became better for it. I loved that she found love and went to college and became more than the town would have let her. Then she came back and kicked butt and i loved it. She was ready and knew how dirty Gray would fight and she showed him she was just as ready to throw down whenever. She did have her too stupid to live moments and I wanted to scream at her at times, but then I had to remember cellphones don't exist yet not for everyone so no she wouldn't have had it. I loved her relationships with her friends and how she interacted with everyone, she was pretty awesome. I really loved when she owned Gray after he made some seriously stupid assumptions and he was left looking like a dummy with egg on his face.
I really liked that it was a slow build to the romance, that the mystery took precedence and it drove the story. Somethings were a bit predictable but then again this isn't my first mystery so yeah. Somethings I didn't see coming and the sister?? Yeah she's a bundle of work, she's going to need some serious therapy because baby girl really?? Why?? All I can say is that the villain got off way too easy if you ask me, he should suffer some more. And their mama?? Chile WTF is wrong with her?? I was hoping we would get some background story to explain her crazy but no such luck.
Reading this books was extremely entertaining and made me realize how far romance has come. And I'm hoping how far we have come in society but I'm not going to pretend like this stuff doesn't happen. I loved how in the end the same old gossiping biddies turned all the way the heck around like it's always them that pretend that they were always in your corner. A**holes.
I did laugh a bit while reading this story, especially in the end. Despite me not seeing his charm at first Gray really worked at it and charmed Faith and made me understand why she liked him. He's still a bit of an a**hole but at least he's charming because otherwise??
Publication Date: December 1995
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Synopsis:
FAITH DEVLIN: A poor, outcast child in Prescott, Louisiana, she'd always adored the town's golden boy from afar. But he called her white trash that sultry Southern night when his rich, respected father disappeared, along with her pretty Mom. Now Faith wanted to hate Gray Rouillard...not to feel a powerful surge of desire. But she couldn't quench her passion, any more than she could hide the truth about the past she had waited so long to unravel. GRAY ROUILLARD: Even when he raised hell, he did it with style. Reckless, charming, and backed by Rouillard money, Gray controlled the town of Prescott -- and Devlin was a name he never wanted to hear again. But when he gazed at Faith Devlin, all he saw was a swirl of tangled sheets and her silken flesh beneath him. To care for her was impossible, unthinkable...because Gray Rouillard planned to use all his power to ruin her.
In the first few chapters we see that in this small town the children of the woman who is having an affair with a married man is punished as well as the mother. There were so many instances in which the sexism came out that I wanted to scream, but at the same time had to understand that while it's not as blatant today in some ways, it's worse. The slut shaming in the book was horrible, especially when considering that Faith was only 14, her 16 year old sister was being used and abused by men who should know better but everyone had a public face and would shame them then at night would come sniffing around her and her mother. I wanted to scream so bad when reading this but then realized Linda's writing brought all this into the light for us to talk about.
The mentality of so many of the 'upstanding citizens' of the town was if the mom's a slut then so are the children, if the father's a drunk then so are the children, instead of someone calling social services or even trying to protect the kids they all made the kids feel ashamed for their circumstances and a few of them took advantage of a 14 year old trying to find a place in the town that told her she was only ever going to be a slut. I wanted to punch everybody. I was so engaged in the story and so badly wanted to see how it ended that I stayed up and finished it in one night. I wasn't even supposed to read this one, I had hauled months ago when I finished up adding the last few books missing from my catalog from Linda when I was putting it away I realized I didn't know this story and just dived right in.
I loved Faith because she refused to be beaten, even though her life was tough she still did what needed to be done and became better for it. I loved that she found love and went to college and became more than the town would have let her. Then she came back and kicked butt and i loved it. She was ready and knew how dirty Gray would fight and she showed him she was just as ready to throw down whenever. She did have her too stupid to live moments and I wanted to scream at her at times, but then I had to remember cellphones don't exist yet not for everyone so no she wouldn't have had it. I loved her relationships with her friends and how she interacted with everyone, she was pretty awesome. I really loved when she owned Gray after he made some seriously stupid assumptions and he was left looking like a dummy with egg on his face.
I really liked that it was a slow build to the romance, that the mystery took precedence and it drove the story. Somethings were a bit predictable but then again this isn't my first mystery so yeah. Somethings I didn't see coming and the sister?? Yeah she's a bundle of work, she's going to need some serious therapy because baby girl really?? Why?? All I can say is that the villain got off way too easy if you ask me, he should suffer some more. And their mama?? Chile WTF is wrong with her?? I was hoping we would get some background story to explain her crazy but no such luck.
Reading this books was extremely entertaining and made me realize how far romance has come. And I'm hoping how far we have come in society but I'm not going to pretend like this stuff doesn't happen. I loved how in the end the same old gossiping biddies turned all the way the heck around like it's always them that pretend that they were always in your corner. A**holes.
I did laugh a bit while reading this story, especially in the end. Despite me not seeing his charm at first Gray really worked at it and charmed Faith and made me understand why she liked him. He's still a bit of an a**hole but at least he's charming because otherwise??
★★★★☆
I still love Linda's work and I wish she was writing again. If you haven't checked out her writing I highly recommend her many different series.
Happy Reading
Happy Reading
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