Katia's November Reads

Glorious Angel: Johanna Lindsey / Angela Sherrington & Bradford Maitland
First Avon Books printing February 1982 – ISBN: 0-380-79202-8
Historical romance – American – Civil War

Look wise, Bradford is probably a dream and at the very beginning of this story, he’s a passionate hero you can sympathize with but his jealousy after he makes his intentions for Angela is absolutely disgusting. It’s easy to tell he’s one of Lindsey’s early heroes, one of those ruthless and cruel alpha males. He took him so long to come around that by the time he did, I wanted Angela to run away with Hank.
Angela is a strong woman and for that, I love and respect the hell out of her. She had a hard life and loving Bradford Maitland didn’t make any of it easier. Luckily, she’s smart and once she received the proper education, she made the most of it.
This story left me a little cold, as did most of the early Lindsey work. It was a somewhat convoluted and it took a long time to get off the ground. My interest in this story really started peaking when Angela left to go to Texas. Until then, I was rushing toward the end of the book, not because I wanted them to get together but because I just wanted it to be over. This is definitely not a favorite book of mine.

Heart of Thunder: Johanna Lindsey / Samantha Blackstone Kingsley & Enrique Antonio de Vega y Chavez, aka Ruffino
First Avon Books printing February 1983 – ISBN: 0-380-85118-0
Historical Romance – American West

Oh yeah… Hank Chavez… what passion, what drive… an early Johanna Lindsey hero who’s not as bullheaded and stubborn and ridiculous jealous as the first hero of book in this series, Glorious Angel, Bradford Maitland. Through his hatred, there’s a passion that draws Hank to Samantha like a lodestone and it’s that kind of bond that grips you right there, somewhere at the bottom of your stomach and makes you chuckle deeply and intimately… lovely.
And here I am, faced with another heroine that I am not overly fond of. Being a tomboy myself, having fallen for an unavailable gay man as well, I can empathize with Samantha, up to a certain point but at some point, I have to come to terms that we’re dealing with another spoiled little brat who has temper tantrums instead of acting normally… hateful! But you have to love her fire… and I do.
But the story wins for me. This is my first ever Lindsey, read in French when I was 13 or 14. I was hooked and once I mastered English, I looked this book up and never looked back. It’s a great story and since I’m a fan of traveling stories, this one just took me away from Texas to Mexico and then to England. And the consuming love between these two is worth another ten reads. Gotta love it!

Warrior’s Woman: Johanna Lindsey / Tedra De Arr & Challen Ly-San-Ter
First Avon printing June 1990 – ISBN: 0-380-75301-4
Futuristic Romance

Challen Ly-San-Ter… what a man… I’m surprised I like him quite as much as I did because I know for a fact I wouldn’t be able to stand a man that is that inflexible. I also love a man with a sense of humor but his arrogance gets pretty god damn unnerving. But at the same time, I did his power and his strength and his raw maleness… I love it… and his love for his Tedra, it’s just overpowering… and I can’t help but want that, even if warriors don’t fall in love… and his reaction to Martha? Gotta love it!
I have never, in all of my life, felt such a close bond with any heroine before. On Kystran, I would have met the height requirement to be a Sec 1, not to mention the drive for it too. And I, like Tedra, would have saved myself for a man who could take me on. I would have looked for a man who could exert his dominance over me and for that I say hurray for Tedra! Hip, hip, hip hurray!
This is a love story… a great one, worth so much for me. I loved Tedra; I love her smarts and her arrogance, just like I love Challen. This is a couple that I found myself cheering on from the get-go. And I’ll cheer them on for a long, long time!

Keeper of the Heart: Johanna Lindsey / Ly-San-Ter & Falon Van’yer
First Avon printing November 1993 – ISBN: 0-380-77493-3
Futuristic Romance

When I realized all the differences between Challen and Falon, I did not expect to like him but I warmed up to him. He’s a different kind of warrior and I did get his inability to control himself after finding his kerima. There was something oddly attaching about his dogged determination to get Shanelle back even after she left him. It’s cute. But first I’ll have to get past the step back cover that has him looking like Challen’s dark-haired twin. Freaky!
I can’t believe that this is really Tedra and Challen’s kid. Oh my God! What a pisser and a moaner this ridiculous child is! And for once, I was disappointed by Martha! I mean, come on, if she can monitor everyone that closely, how could she not have noticed Shanelle’s bruises after the raid? Answer that little question for me. And even then, come on. Your mother’s half-Kystrani for heaven’s sex, a society that know that much about sex must have let it slip out that sometimes, the first time hurts! Did not like her at all. And again, another heroine who shows spunk too late! Disgusting! What a milk sop!
This story was okay… have major issues with the step back which has Fabio modeling the girl’s father and her lover… nastiness! I can’t say I hated this but the times I wanted to reach in and give Shanelle a decent shake! My God! Martha could have done a lot better job with her.

Heart of a Warrior: Johanna Lindsey / Brittany Callaghan & Dalden Ly-San-Ter
First Avon printing March 2002 – ISBN: 0-380-81479 -X
Futuristic Romance

I feel for Dalden. Poor guy wants to grow up to be just like dad, a full-blown warrior with no need for anything that isn’t Sha-Ka’ani and bam! He falls for a take-charge human female… I mean come on… could his life get more complicated? Now in this twin, I see the son of the great Tedra and Challen, unlike his wimp of a sister. Fell for him in Keeper of the Heart and I fell for him again in this book.
Brittany is a woman after my own heart. I feel as much for her as I feel for Tedra and I gotta say, she and I live lives that follow in the same footsteps. We’re both independent gals, taller than the average woman and definitely used to seeing to our own needs. And she wants to build her own house! With her skills, I’d want to do the same thing too. I love her!
As much as I like both of these characters, I can’t say I liked the story or the way it was written. There was too much explanation of the past stories. And why brings Shanelle and Falon along if you’re not going to use them at all? There was a lot that could have been done with this story but I feel Johanna dropped the ball on this and turned what could have been a great story with a great cast into something maudlin and easily forgettable. This was the second time I read this and unlike other books I’d reread, instead of flipping the pages to get to the next great twist, I was hurrying to get this over with.

Man of my Dreams: Johanna Lindsey / Megan Penworthy & Ambrose Devil “Jeffries” St. James, Duke of Wrothston
First Avon Printing June 1992 – ISBN: 0-380-75626-9
Historical romance – England – Victorian Era

Devlin Jeffries… What an arrogant hottie! From his first appearance in this book, my knees went weak. Is it difficult to understand how this man started getting a little tired of women falling at his feet as hot as he is? Come on! You mix the dark hair, rakishly long, the eyes, bright and forever challenging, and the insufferable attitude and you have a hunk! Mix in his awful predicament and that title, you get a bunch of women falling at his feet. And with reason!
Another red-haired Lindsey heroine and wow! Is Devlin ever right on point when he calls her a brat… how often I wanted to strangle her for her attitude. I’m all for women standing up for themselves but those women also have to use the good sense the lord gave them and Megan fails to do that more than once… totally insufferable. But she’s got spirit and spunk which is a bit endearing… but not much.
As much as Megan didn’t impress me, and trust me, she didn’t, I’m surprised I liked this whole story quite as much. This is a case of a great story stirring me right to my soul and the interaction between these two takes my breath away. My very favorite scene was when Megan walked into the lake, fully dressed to slap Devlin for making her pregnant. That scene made me laugh every time. I love this story and I’ll look forward to reading it again in a year or two.

Love me Forever: Johanna Lindsey / Kimberley Richards & Lachlan MacGregor
First Avon Printing December 1996 – ISBN: 0-380-72570-3
Historical romance – England and Scotland – Various eras

Never thought I’d say this but there is such a thing as too big and too tall. I’m sitting here thinking about it and I’m laughing. Lachlan is shorter than Dalden, Falon and Challen and yet, I find him too big, when I thought these guys were perfect size… Then again, their women are bigger and their stories are futuristic so the mindset is different… but I always thought Lachlan was too big. Love his accent, love his attitude and his determination and his humor, but he’s too big. It’s probably because next to Devlin, he’s so huge. He’s a fantastic hero, fallen on the wrong side of the law but trying to do it with principles and then having to stoop to go heiress-shopping… I like him a lot but… he’s just too big.
I felt for Kimberley like I rarely felt for any character. I didn’t feel close to her like I did with Tedra or Brittany but I felt for her and her awful relationship with her father… what a bastard that man is. And her first encounter with Lachlan was just too darling. She’s got a lot of fire in her and unlike a lot of Lindsey heroines; she doesn’t start showing it halfway through the story. I like that a lot. And there’s something very endearing about a non-drop-dead gorgeous heroine whose smile makes her beautiful.
I liked this couple a lot but this is another one of those overly convoluted stories that gets weighed down by the first part of the book. I understand that Lindsey wants anyone to pick up the book to be able to read it as a stand alone but the way she has the narrator try to explain the Megan-Devlin love story hurts Lachlan’s sincerity. You almost have to stop and wonder if he could really love Kimberley after having loved the incredibly gorgeous Megan. This is one case where the heroine suffered in comparison to her predecessor. Johanna Lindsey actually did Kimberley a disservice by not hyping her beauty, and I find that weird. I think between Man of My Dreams and Love me Forever, Ms. Lindsey realized it was ok for her heroines not to be arresting beauties but she tried to do a sequel of two different styles and missed the mark.

The Pursuit: Johanna Lindsey / Melissa MacGregor & Lincoln Ross Burnett
First Avon printing: April 2003 – ISBN: 0-380-81480-3
Historical romance – England and Scotland – Various eras

There’s not much to say about Lincoln and that sucks! I mean, come on! I’ve never read such a poorly described Lindsey hero! There was a lot to say about his childhood and past but come on! And he wasn’t very engaging, was he? He lacked passion and oomph. I read this book and instead of fantasizing about getting a Lincoln of my own, and I usually fantasize about the heroes once I’m done with the books, I had very little to work with. Yes, there’s the picture in the clinch cover but Lindsey totally dropped the ball on this. This is the first hero with such a colored childhood but what came of it was an overly disciplined and boring man! There could have been so much texture to this character and he fell flat… very, very disappointing.
Melissa was bland. I expected so much more out of a Lindsey heroine. She had fire but she came off as very one-dimensional for me. She met Lincoln, fell in love and then what… she was an obedient daughter, stubborn and then what? Nothing, that’s what. How could Kimberley and Lachlan’s daughter be so… uninteresting? And physically, very little description was provided and what description there was wasn’t enough for me to picture her in my mind, even with the clinch. How bad is that?
I can’t say I hated this book but I read it, hoping it would start getting better and it fell flat. The characters with the most fire were Melissa’s uncles and frankly that’s sad. Yes the whole childhood angle was very interesting but way too convoluted. This book is like a bad sequel to a good movie. None of the leads want to have anything to do with it, but they signed the contract and are kind of stuck having to make a cameo appearance in the sequel but they’ll skip the premiere for sure.

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