A Lady of the West [Audiobook] [MP3 Audio] [Unabridged] (Audio CD)

Whoever has given this book a bad review isn't able to cope with reality. What A Lady of the West tells is all real - and wonderfully written at that.

VERY heated love/sex scenes.
Very strong characters.
Very good details about the western time period.
Very very awesome.

A must have. A definite keeper. One of my favorite books.

Victoria Waverly is the daughter of a formerly wealthy, Southern family who has been impoverished by the Civil War. Victoria is basically sold into marriage to a wealthy rancher, Frank McClain, and is bravely attempting to do the right thing for her family. Once she meets her future husband, she is repelled and frightened. He is one bad villain and Victoria has no idea that he killed and literally stole the large ranch he now calls his own. But Victoria is ever vigilant - intent on protecting her family from literal starvation - especially the two family members who have come with her to live at the ranch. She must consider her cousin and her younger sister's situations as well. She believes that they will be safe and taken care of at the ranch. She is a strong yet gentle heroine written in true Linda Howard fashion. She is surprised to find that she is strongly attracted to one of her husband's main men, Jake Roper, and finds his actions towards her frightening yet very sensual.

Jake Roper is a hired gun and one of the best. Twenty years ago, his mother and father were murdered; the two sons wounded and assumed dead, in a takeover of the large Sarratt ranch. He finds himself almost obsessed with his boss's new wife and finds it most inconvenient. You see - Jake is planning revenge on Frank McClain. He hates the man and will avenge his parents' death at the hands of this worthless thief and reclaim his family's home.

Actually, I found Lady of the West to be out of the ordinary with a fragile tenderness and strong sensual overtones. There was not a boring page and the book contains several strong and very interesting secondary characters. While considering the reviews, I read repeatedly that this book is a product of its time - written either in the 1980s or 1990 at the latest. It is a book that holds a common thread with many books written during that timeframe - mistreatment of women. Now, I was personally appalled when the hero struck the heroine. I had never read that before - at least not the heroine. But I also read it as part of the overall story. Yes, it was very wrong for Jake to treat Victoria in such a manner. But he was never glorified for it. He certainly was not proud of himself. I know situations such as this occurred much more often than we want to admit. This story takes place over a hundred years ago - women weren't always treated with a lot of respect. But I am certainly not defending the hero. He was definitely a tarnished hero - he never gets rid of that stain. And THAT is part of the story. This is a story that contains revenge, hate, and mistreatment by many more than the hero. Taken with the context of the story, a mean hero only plays out his part. I don't think that Jake is ever redeemed of this behavior. That is one thing that makes this an unusual romance - it's HEA ending has a few spurs - and the ending is probably closer to reality and therefore, the sting.

However, buried in the midst of this mistreatment is one good story. As expected in a Linda Howard book, the sensual scenes are strong and rate 4.0 out of 5.0 (see More About Me for rating guidelines). Somehow she pulls out a story that actually has three separate physical relationships developing without the book appearing as too sensual. Try to read this book within the context and I believe you will enjoy it. But remember - it is one tough story.