No Place for a Lady

I was very excited to start this book thanks to a recommendation by my very dear HCR friend, Candy!! Candy has great taste and we have very similar "likes" in books, so I knew I would enjoy this one--and I did!!

Overall, I'm a big Maggie Brendan fan. I've read several of her books, though not all. This particular novel was intriguing enough, but I picked up on a few writerly things that made the story less fabulous than it might have been otherwise . . .

Allow me to explain.

Book Rating: Somewhere between Up All Night'er and Here a little, there a little

Maybe being a writer taints me as a reader, I don't know. But when I started this book I noticed right away a few things that turned me away from the story no matter how engaging it was. I won't spend much time on those things, but let it suffice that I found the actual writing passive and telling a lot of the time which pulled me out of the story.

The basic plot--girl with no family goes to a Colorado ranch and ends up needing to run the place. Honestly, even though there are almost too many of these plots to count, I still like them! There's great conflict, and just so many fabulous opportunities for romance, don't you think? *grin* The premise and setting were intriguing enough to keep me interested, but honestly it was the characters that I found less so . . .

The heroine, Crystal, didn't really come alive to me. I didn't get to know her and "feel" her emotions and struggles as I would have liked, but I think that might have been due to the writing style. Again, this is just my opinion. As for the hero, it's hard not to fall for a cowboy--am I right?! In this case, Luke is pretty great. However, even though their relationship just didn't have to spark I was looking for. But again, that might have been due to the writing style--or maybe it's just an Amber thing.

There were some really great scenes that I don't think I've ever really seen in another book--won't say what they are cuz I don't want to give it away . . . but in that repsect, I found it a very enjoyable read.

Thank you, Cathy for this fabulous recommendation! And please, if any of you ever have a recommendation please let me know--I'm always excited to learn about new books!

Happy Reading!
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