ingypingy2000's review against another edition
3.0
Could have been really pretty cute, but Molly was a bit too one-second broken-but-one-second-not for me. Her mix had me feeling nothing for her. She was lines on a page. Overall, it was an easy sweet read, but I definitely feel like it fell flat.
nerdypotsie's review against another edition
3.0
Trigger warnings: attempted rape, sexual assault, pedophilia
This book has a lot of flaws, but it’s definitely one of my new guilty pleasures. The author has a way of writing that is both beautiful and keeps you on your toes throughout the whole story.
The cover for this book is a little misleading. I was worried that this book was going to be an erotica, but it’s actually more of a mystery or action book mixed with romance. It makes for a good combination that works out really well. However, some of the romance parts did make me really uncomfortable. Some of the body descriptions at first were so sexual that they made me cringe and the sex scene was so graphic that I could barely read that chapter.
The major issue I had with this book was the depiction of the Native Americans. They were referred to as “Indians” in the book and maybe that was just to reflect the character’s thoughts at the time, but saying Indians instead of Native Americans is one of my biggest pet peeves. The trope of Native Americans capturing white people is also so overdone.
This book has a lot of flaws, but it’s definitely one of my new guilty pleasures. The author has a way of writing that is both beautiful and keeps you on your toes throughout the whole story.
The cover for this book is a little misleading. I was worried that this book was going to be an erotica, but it’s actually more of a mystery or action book mixed with romance. It makes for a good combination that works out really well. However, some of the romance parts did make me really uncomfortable. Some of the body descriptions at first were so sexual that they made me cringe and the sex scene was so graphic that I could barely read that chapter.
The major issue I had with this book was the depiction of the Native Americans. They were referred to as “Indians” in the book and maybe that was just to reflect the character’s thoughts at the time, but saying Indians instead of Native Americans is one of my biggest pet peeves. The trope of Native Americans capturing white people is also so overdone.
tanyarobinson's review against another edition
3.0
This quick read was a free download, and I've learned that "free" books tend to come with inflated ratings. Right now Goodreads is showing this one with a 4.17, which is extremely generous for this simplistic love story.
The Wren starts off abruptly, with Molly and Matt both just happening to revisit the scene of a former tragedy at the same moment. She has spent the last 10 years as a prisoner of the Comanche and then a slave to an old miner (yet somehow still has her virginity intact, lucky girl). He has recently survived being held and tortured by a Mexican bandit, and as a Texas Ranger has seen a lot of hard times. McCaffrey certainly tells the readers how damaged these two people are, but it doesn't really show in the story. Molly seems nearly unscathed, beyond worrying what people might think of her, and Matt is hesitant to settle down.
There are some high points to the novel interspersed with amateur scenes. I loved the description of Molly racing bareback across the Texas plain in only her chemise, and did enjoy the chemistry between the two leads. But overall, barely 3 stars. Also, I just noticed the book summary indicates that this one is "steamy," which is a bit of an exaggeration.
The Wren starts off abruptly, with Molly and Matt both just happening to revisit the scene of a former tragedy at the same moment. She has spent the last 10 years as a prisoner of the Comanche and then a slave to an old miner (yet somehow still has her virginity intact, lucky girl). He has recently survived being held and tortured by a Mexican bandit, and as a Texas Ranger has seen a lot of hard times. McCaffrey certainly tells the readers how damaged these two people are, but it doesn't really show in the story. Molly seems nearly unscathed, beyond worrying what people might think of her, and Matt is hesitant to settle down.
There are some high points to the novel interspersed with amateur scenes. I loved the description of Molly racing bareback across the Texas plain in only her chemise, and did enjoy the chemistry between the two leads. But overall, barely 3 stars. Also, I just noticed the book summary indicates that this one is "steamy," which is a bit of an exaggeration.
camillalice's review
2.0
Everything in the story is convenient and they all speak and act like people from
2017. It would have been ok for a modern day romance, I guess.
I also don't care for perfect heroines and men who must protect the vulnerable woman - especially since this one is nothing but.
2017. It would have been ok for a modern day romance, I guess.
I also don't care for perfect heroines and men who must protect the vulnerable woman - especially since this one is nothing but.
shareleann's review against another edition
4.0
Not a bad sorry. Interested in reading the others that connect.
jrt5166's review against another edition
3.0
Cute. I'm always here for a heroine who fights her own battles.
mariepiperbooks's review
4.0
THE WREN is one of the best-constructed and written western historical romances I've read. In addition to McCaffrey's clear writing style, the characters are likable, the romance is believable, and there's lots of actual history and details in the book to set the scene. I look forward to reading the rest of the series! (Oh, I can't wait for Logan's book.)
bookit's review against another edition
3.0
Torn between an "it was OK" 2 star rating and "I liked it" 3 stars, so I gave it the benefit of the doubt and went with 3 but it's more like a 2.5.
Anyway, this is a story that had a lot of potential that didn't quite get there for me. As others have noted, there is no way that a woman, especially a pretty one, would have lived with Native Americans, been sold to an abusive man, and then sold to another man and still remained a virgin (and a complete innocent in all matters related to any sex act, not just intercourse) at the age of 18-20. If you can set that impossibility aside, as well as the highly unlikely meeting between her and the hero, Matt, at her family's abandoned homestead miles from his house, the story starts off well enough.
I think there was a missed opportunity to do more with her background as a captive white woman that would have steered the story into more serious but satisfying waters. Much of her flashbacks to her time with the Native Americans were well done and paint a picture of her time with them but the author glosses over what had to be traumatizing adjusting to the loss of her family and living amongst a culturally foreign people. Likewise on the abuse she had to have suffered once she was sold.
She and another woman arrive unscathed at her homestead after traversing miles and miles of open land in "Indian territory" which is certainly possible but feels unlikely. The story then moves to a plotline around her and Matt trying to figure out who killed her parents (her sisters survived and were sent to the west coast to live with relatives - Molly does attempt to contact them, but doesn't spend much effort trying to reunite with them).
Along the way, she and Matt awkwardly transition from childhood friends (she was 10 when she was abducted and he is about 10 years older than her) to realizing they are attracted to each other. Matt feels this is wrong, I suppose like some sort of incest/pedophilia vibe since he was like a big brother to her before she disappeared. Molly feels that her interest isn't returned by Matt and maybe her background makes her undesirable.
The "mystery" behind her parents' attack and her abduction was meh - it felt mostly like a plot device used to keep Matt and Molly together until they could realize they are made for each other, as opposed to the central driving plot of the story. But perhaps that's as it should be since this is after all, a romance and not a mystery.
Matt's troubled background as a Ranger who is captured and tortured is also glossed over and aside from a limp and the author's infrequent references to "that terrible time when bad things happened to him", there's not much to indicate he has his own troubles and trauma.
I liked that Molly was spunky and independent and she wasn't afraid to show it. I also liked how this made her feel "unladylike" which no doubt in that time period, it would definitely have been considered so. This sets up another side plot where an interfering and bigoted neighbor lady tries to set Matt up with her prim and proper daughter, who would no doubt freak out at the reality of moving from an east coast upbringing with all of the creature comforts and cleanliness to life on a ranch in the middle of nowhere.
While I won't rush out to read the next book in the series, I'd be willing to give it a try. There's just so much background ripe with tension and sociological/psychological ramifications with both the h and H here in this story that could make for a really rich characterization that gets passed over that it felt like a shame to me to miss out on that.
Anyway, this is a story that had a lot of potential that didn't quite get there for me. As others have noted, there is no way that a woman, especially a pretty one, would have lived with Native Americans, been sold to an abusive man, and then sold to another man and still remained a virgin (and a complete innocent in all matters related to any sex act, not just intercourse) at the age of 18-20. If you can set that impossibility aside, as well as the highly unlikely meeting between her and the hero, Matt, at her family's abandoned homestead miles from his house, the story starts off well enough.
I think there was a missed opportunity to do more with her background as a captive white woman that would have steered the story into more serious but satisfying waters. Much of her flashbacks to her time with the Native Americans were well done and paint a picture of her time with them but the author glosses over what had to be traumatizing adjusting to the loss of her family and living amongst a culturally foreign people. Likewise on the abuse she had to have suffered once she was sold.
She and another woman arrive unscathed at her homestead after traversing miles and miles of open land in "Indian territory" which is certainly possible but feels unlikely. The story then moves to a plotline around her and Matt trying to figure out who killed her parents (her sisters survived and were sent to the west coast to live with relatives - Molly does attempt to contact them, but doesn't spend much effort trying to reunite with them).
Along the way, she and Matt awkwardly transition from childhood friends (she was 10 when she was abducted and he is about 10 years older than her) to realizing they are attracted to each other. Matt feels this is wrong, I suppose like some sort of incest/pedophilia vibe since he was like a big brother to her before she disappeared. Molly feels that her interest isn't returned by Matt and maybe her background makes her undesirable.
The "mystery" behind her parents' attack and her abduction was meh - it felt mostly like a plot device used to keep Matt and Molly together until they could realize they are made for each other, as opposed to the central driving plot of the story. But perhaps that's as it should be since this is after all, a romance and not a mystery.
Matt's troubled background as a Ranger who is captured and tortured is also glossed over and aside from a limp and the author's infrequent references to "that terrible time when bad things happened to him", there's not much to indicate he has his own troubles and trauma.
I liked that Molly was spunky and independent and she wasn't afraid to show it. I also liked how this made her feel "unladylike" which no doubt in that time period, it would definitely have been considered so. This sets up another side plot where an interfering and bigoted neighbor lady tries to set Matt up with her prim and proper daughter, who would no doubt freak out at the reality of moving from an east coast upbringing with all of the creature comforts and cleanliness to life on a ranch in the middle of nowhere.
While I won't rush out to read the next book in the series, I'd be willing to give it a try. There's just so much background ripe with tension and sociological/psychological ramifications with both the h and H here in this story that could make for a really rich characterization that gets passed over that it felt like a shame to me to miss out on that.
More...