McKettricks of Texas: Tate [Hardcover]

************!!!SPOILERS!!!************

I really like Linda Lael Miller's books...well, some of them. As another reviewer did, I too enjoyed the Deadly Gamble books and the Stone Creek books (sometimes those are a little sparse, but great characters and setting). I also really liked her suspense book, Don't Look Now, and I did enjoy the Montana Creed trilogy (Logan, Dylan, Tyler). The sex scenes were definitely wilder in that series than this one so far! ;)

So I was pretty excited about the McKettricks of Texas trilogy. Ah, I've been let down. I too had to force myself through many of the pages. The content issues were legion (what about those cattle rustlers, eh? Pablo's backstory? His widow running off to California so quickly? Yes, I'm sure these things will show up in the next books, but they sure left this story hanging.). One that really bugged me was when Libby and Julie were having a sister telepathy moment (p93), which I read as Julie wondering if Libby had heard about Pablo's death. Then on p95, Libby reveals to Julie that Pablo was dead. Unless I read that very wrongly, I was confused. There were several other instances of this throughout the book, and I lost a great deal of respect for HQN's copyediting department by the end of the novel.

I also found Tate rather one-dimensional and not very sympathetic. Actually, both he and Libby seemed to suffer from personality disorder at times--going from one perspective to another (his and hers), I had totally different viewpoints of who they were. Libby is timid, shy, insecure, and melodramatic. She mostly worries (excessively) about everything, particularly the town's knowledge of her sex life and whether or not Tate thinks she's "wanton." Then, in Tate's POV, Libby does indeed come off as a very self-assured woman who seriously wants some sex with Tate and has no problems showing him her desires. Who the heck is this character, I wondered? She might not know herself--but the author certainly should.

Tate's ex-wife, Cheryl, was also a big pack o' confusion. Her very convenient acquiescence at the end, in which she seems to favor her life and career outside of Blue River over spending time with her daughters, came off as one of those magical deus ex machina desperate authors employ when the deadline is approaching and the original ideas are not. She bopped from cruel and vindictive to sorrowful and worthy of compassionate response from readers--all of which just made me write her off as a hastily thrown-together character used to drive a wedge between the hero and heroine. Bleh.

The mother, Marva, was also too unreal to be believed. Libby's passive reaction to her also drove me up the wall, all in all making it a situation that screamed "Interesting Character Here! Bizarre Traits Included to Make You Think I Created Someone Cool!" I too wondered how Marva took her furniture with her back to Costa Rica, lol.

For me, the big things missing from this book that it miss the mark were

-unrealistic & lightly-sketched characters
-too many details scattered around
-unnecessary information, such as yes, how often Hildie the dog's bowls were filled
-no true heart-to-heart apology/explanation/offloading of guilt session between Tate and Libby
-too many "clues" that probably will show up in the next books; they just confused me and took me out of this story
-heroine was too passive for my personal tastes

I hope the next books in this series are stronger. I too have found that LLM sometimes writes the most excellent books ever...and sometimes not. I definitely ascribe some of the responsibility to today's instant gratification phenomenon, inherent in instant downloads, short cultural attention spans, publishers hounding authors for the next bestseller, etc. Yet...the author could also choose to slow down and favor quality over quantity.

When I loaded this book on my Kindle, I deliberately refrained from reading it immediately. Instead, I let it breathe like a fine wine or age like Stilton cheese. For weeks this book kept calling to me but I wouldn't let myself read it until New Years Day. Why? Because Linda Lael Miller's books are worth waiting for.

Miller is one of the only contemporary (or historical) writers who digs deep into the psyche of her characters and exposes the flaws and truimphs that are a part of the human condition. By the time I finished this book I felt like I knew Tate and Libby inside and out. So many authors pay lip service to the darker side of life but Miller wades in without hesitation, merging every aspect into a seamless and deeply satisfying read.

Readers will laugh, cry and rejoice as they turn each page. Romance lovers, you do not want to miss this book! ~ Ana, IReadRomance dot com

I've discovered that LLM is either hitting it out of the ballpark or the story just limps along. There doesn't seem to be any in between with her. And while "Tate" is certainly better than the Creed trilogy, it never won me over and fell a little flat.

The reader is told that Tate and Libby have a long history together of being madly, passionately in love, however, I didn't feel a strong connection here other than sex. I felt there was much that should have been said between the two. Had I been the author, I would have written a conversation that included why Tate did what he did all those years ago. I can't see how there can be forgiveness without that conversation. Also, given Tate's and Libby's ages (early 30's) and the length of time they'd been apart (almost seven years) and how long they'd dated on and off (since high school), I just felt if they had been truly committed to one another before the breakup, they would have been together already. Heck, it had been five years since his divorce -- surely, enough time to work something out instead of deliberately avoiding each other in their small town.

Libby's mother was a fascinating character, that's for sure, but I felt Libby should have been more straightforward with her as well.

A pet peeve of mine with LLM is that she tends to drone on about daily minutiae. Her books tend to include the characters' everyday chores ... repeatedly. Often, it feels like a "to do" list. By the third time I read how Libby had washed and refilled her dog's bowls, I was rolling my eyes. Enough!

On the positive, the kids were adorable (although I question whether a four-year-old really would talk like that). Libby's sisters and Tate's brothers also seemed interesting (actually more interesting than the main ones here). I suspect their stories will have more heat. Oh, I'll probably read them, but I'll check them out from the library before I buy next time.

Overall, not bad, just not as good as some of her other work (original McKettrick series, Deadly Gamble series).

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