reading_rainy's review against another edition
5.0
This book won’t be for everyone, it’s heavy on the Bible thumping, extreme violence and old school language. (darn tootin & tarnation!) It was Race that made the book for me. He’s seriously alpha, but so incredibly sensitive to Rebecca’s plight. He’s lived a hard life as a former gunslinger, facing prejudices for being part Apache and surviving alone as young boy after his mother is brutally murdered.
Rebecca has been raised in a loving but cloistered community. She wears only black, no skin showing, and her parents have picked out her husband for her. She’s completely innocent in all ways of life. So when her family is raped and murdered in front of her on their way across the country, she’s obviously in shock when Race finds her.
The balance of these two complete opposites was lovely.
It had been the similarities, he guessed, between his past and her present, a feeling that they were kindred souls.Yes, it’s cringy at times, but I loved the overall story. I’d forgotten what a sloooooow burn some of these old books are.
taisie22's review against another edition
3.0
I couldn't understand why the robbers left their search because Race showed up; it was sixteen men to one. They should have been able to take him out in an ambush. The raid at the end also didn't seem realistic to me. One of the things I like about Ms. Anderson's books is the detail she puts into daily living and events. I've learned a lot from reading her books, but I was a bit disappointed with the fighting scenes here.
It's still a terrific story, but not one of her best in my opinion. It dragged in places, but I'll still read her books.
tucker4's review against another edition
4.0
Anderson delivers another page-turning story with Cherish. This is the third of her books for me, and while my least favoirte so far, still a really good read.
I didn't realize before I started reading that the heroine was raised within a conservative religious community, which probably influenced my enjoyment of the book a teeny bit. I'm not a religious person myself, so I typically don't enjoy books with a heavy religious message (so any Christian/inspirational fiction), but given that religion was much more prevalent in everyday life in the past, compared to now, when one reads historical fiction, there is an understanding that religion is going to play a part in the story. Typically this is fine, and I wouldn't consider this religious fiction at all, but given that the heroine was raised within such a strict religious sect, loses her faith and the hero works to restore it, religion played a slightly larger role in the story and dialogue than you would usually find in historical fiction. And thats the part that I didn't enjoy nearly as much and probably knocked this down half a star for me.
openflipshut's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Race is a gunslinger/rancher who comes upon a brutal massacre of a religious group traveling out west. The lone survivor is a young woman, Rebecca, who is equal parts sheltered and stalwart.
The book follows their relationship as it develops along the trail to Race's ranch. Rebecca has to come to term with the loss of her family and the loss of her faith. I really enjoyed the realistic portray of a survivor and Rebecca's internal struggle with growing up as a woman raised in a deeply religious and conservative sect.
This book was such a heartwarming surprise. I love westerns and I will be recommending this to others looking for a gripping western.
trogdor19's review against another edition
1.0
linddykal's review against another edition
4.0
When Becca's wagon train is decimated by thugs after the church money to buy land Becca is the only survivor, saved by Race after he is almost too late.
He keeps her safe until they head out west, the thugs keep coming after her because she is the only one who knows where the money is kept. They fall in love, Race sooner then Becca. She takes awhile longer, but to be fair she's been fairly traumatized.
Race is a great hero and the story is fast paced, well written, and engaging. There's lots of "rescue" and near miss scenes that can be corny. But I love them in romances, they're great.
The only reason that this is four stars and not five is that books where the heroine is too innocent, young, angelic, virginal, naive, etc. bug me. It's to Catherine Anderson's credit that I enjoyed this book as much as I did, and to be fair Becca's not too bad, she was raised by Quakers and is true to her character. It just gets old sometimes. Race is a great romantic hero, and I really liked this book.
aworldshapedbybooks's review against another edition
3.0
I'd say that this book was pretty good, a fast read that gave a lot of fun historic facts. After seeing both her parents and the rest of their convoy brutally murdered, Rebecca seeks solace with the cowboys who rescued her. Race has been fighting fate every day of his life, he's a quarter Apache and has used people's natural fear to his advantage. It doesn't make sense to him how Rebecca trusts him so completely, but he's determined to protect her.
I think the main problem I had with it was how sporadic the threat seemed to be. If these people were actually so good at being outlaws and murdering and robbing people, how were they so bad at stealing this money? There was at least half an hour where they had murdered everyone else besides a young woman in debilitating shock. I don't think it would take all that long to find a secret compartment in one of the wagons, yet they ran and didn't even look? Then failed in every subsequent attempt that stretched out over an entire month? It didn't speak very highly of Race's skills that he was barely able to defeat these idiots.
I don't know if the main characters clicked all that much. It felt a little sketchy, she put all her faith in him to protect her because she was all alone in an unknown area and he gave her an ultimatum. I don't know if that's a little Stockholm Syndrome-ish, she was desperate to fit in and be needed and like did what she thought she had to. In the context of her life though I guess it made more sense, she was really willing to marry whoever she was told to marry and she at least knew him.
I did appreciate that he didn't try to majorly change her. She had ditched her belief in God, understandable after everything she witnessed. But he didn't roll with that, he assisted her in adjusting to a new reality. It was weird how completely she adjusted to a life outside of a cloistered religion though, she just ditched her brainwashing completely? I don't know if I could see that happening but I do understand that it was an insane trauma. I don't understand how she maintained her weird formal speech in the epilogue, eight years after living with only illiterate cowboys. I'll just assume that she communicated enough with her religious cloister that she maintained that pattern in stressful situations.
Overall, it was good and nice with weird spacing. I liked it and think it's a decent western romance but it was probably too long for the events that actually occurred in the book.
This review and all my others can be found at: https://aworldshapedbybooks.blogspot.com/
annyway47's review
4.0