Monday, November 30, 2009

Review: The Wildest Heart by Rosemary Rogers


From the back cover: Lady Rowena Dangerfield travels from the exotic palaces of India to the splendor of the Royal Court of London to the savage New Mexico frontier to lay claim to her inheritance and live freely as only she would dare. In the violent, untames American South,west meets a man as strong as she is: Lucas Cord, a dark, dangerously handsome, half-Apache outlaw. Fighting scandal, treachery, and murder, Luke is determined to have Rowena for his own, and as their all-consuming passion mounts, no one is going to stop him...

My thoughts: The beginning of this story, set in India in the late 1800's, really grabbed me with the wild and reckless nature of Lady Rowena being discussed by several English women. When Rowena moved to England after the death of her grandfather, I was still enamored of the character; strong, fiercely independent young woman who could certainly take care of herself and make up her own mind. All of the lesser characters were well described and easily imaginable.

When her father sends for her to travel to New Mexico, Rowena finds herself in different circumstances than she is used to. At first I thought she adapted well to the wild roughness of the era. Then somehow, Rowena began to really annoy me with her waffling thoughts and emotions. After being engaged to two different men, she was so attracted to Luke but declared she hated him after begging him to kiss her. This goes back and forth too often in my opinion. At this point in the story, it started to drag a little for me. Enough is enough already; make up your mind! Of course, once she acknowledged her feelings for Luke, there were no holds barred. Talk about tempestuous passion!

The author, Rosemary Rogers, has been dubbed the queen of historical romance and maybe rightly so. This is the first of her books for me. Her writing flows easily off the page and I did find myself able to vividly picture the scenes. For me, it was an okay book, easy to put down but not one to rush back to. The parts I did like were the historical descriptions. If you like sweeping sagas, long involved romance stories and don't mind some dated attitudes, this may just be what you are longing to read. 3***

Disclosure: Book was supplied for review by publicist from Sourcebooks, Inc. Thank you, Danielle!

6 comments:

  1. I'm not sure this would be a book for me. Sounds like you have it a good try. This time of year I need light and quick reads!

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  2. I am very glad you enjoyed this book...but it is so NOT my sort of book. Historical romance is not my cup of tea. But like I said, glad you like it. ;-)

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  3. You write such great reviews! Always honest, with good points and bad but never cruel. I don't think I would care for this book but it sounds interesting. Awesome job Kaye!

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  4. I love historical romances but have never read Rogers. I'll have to give her a try.

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  5. Hmmmmm...engaged to two different men! Sounds waffling to me!! I don't think this book is my cup of tea but I"m sure others would appreciate hearing your thoughts ... historial and romance seem like a hot combination!

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  6. It looks like something that I would normally pass on but it sounds like something I would really love.

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