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bookishbyrenee's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
slow-paced
4.5
Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold by Ellen O’Connell
4.5/5⭐️
1.5/3🌶️
2/3🦋
•My Thoughts•
You allllll! I loved this! Historical Western Romance meets an almost Mariana Zapata-esque style of writing (BUT not Mariana slowburn). I loved the pace (like a steady cowboy swagger - not rushed but not boring) and the focus on developing characters in a way that didn’t sacrifice the plot. I loved the romance. It was soft and fierce and unique. This book was written about 15 years ago and is set in 1885 so, readers, read with proper expectations. Our MMC, Cord is half Cheyenne and he and the spinster daughter of a well off family are forced to marry by a lynch mob. There is evil in this book and the story jumps right in. This couple fights against so many odds and fights for each other. They are so resilient. I was disgusted (rightfully) by characters and rooting so hard for others. The forgiveness, love and found friendship were beautiful.
I’m so thankful to Ellen (@most.lyromance) for putting this book on my radar and to Tori @toriloves_heas for her beautiful review that absolutely convinced me to read. If you want a full list of content warnings, Tori has a very thorough and thoughtful post that includes them.
This book surprised me with how much I enjoyed it and I definitely recommend.
Content Warnings: on page attempted sexual assault, physical abuse, violence, racism and prejudice (including slurs)
4.5/5⭐️
1.5/3🌶️
2/3🦋
•My Thoughts•
You allllll! I loved this! Historical Western Romance meets an almost Mariana Zapata-esque style of writing (BUT not Mariana slowburn). I loved the pace (like a steady cowboy swagger - not rushed but not boring) and the focus on developing characters in a way that didn’t sacrifice the plot. I loved the romance. It was soft and fierce and unique. This book was written about 15 years ago and is set in 1885 so, readers, read with proper expectations. Our MMC, Cord is half Cheyenne and he and the spinster daughter of a well off family are forced to marry by a lynch mob. There is evil in this book and the story jumps right in. This couple fights against so many odds and fights for each other. They are so resilient. I was disgusted (rightfully) by characters and rooting so hard for others. The forgiveness, love and found friendship were beautiful.
I’m so thankful to Ellen (@most.lyromance) for putting this book on my radar and to Tori @toriloves_heas for her beautiful review that absolutely convinced me to read. If you want a full list of content warnings, Tori has a very thorough and thoughtful post that includes them.
This book surprised me with how much I enjoyed it and I definitely recommend.
Content Warnings: on page attempted sexual assault, physical abuse, violence, racism and prejudice (including slurs)
meganmckinnon's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
jessacaaaa's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
havingpatience's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
sara11_reads's review against another edition
4.0
This book was better than I was expecting. Although I like historical romance I generally avoid Westerns (not sure why). A good portion of this book isn't about Anne and Cord's relationship, it's about their relationships with their awful families. Although Cord's family is 100 times better than Anne's, they're terrible too. Parts of this book were pretty brutal with the racial prejudice towards Cord and Anne's awful father.
sachasme's review
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I love Anne, I love Cord, and I love how this book was written. Their relationship is so beautiful, the way they had each other's back and worked as a team was really nice. I enjoyed a lot the development of not only their relationship, but the relationship between Anne and Cord and their family, specially how because of Anne his family started to see him more clearly and slowly see the prejudice in their ways.
I don't know a lot about native american's history, but I had the feeling that the book respected it and showed it in a realistic way, without romanticizing, and overall I just had a great time reading. Definitely curious about others books from this author.
I don't know a lot about native american's history, but I had the feeling that the book respected it and showed it in a realistic way, without romanticizing, and overall I just had a great time reading. Definitely curious about others books from this author.
krispydelmar's review
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
mastersal's review against another edition
4.0
And the award for the worst cover on a good book goes to … this one.
Sheesh - if it had been for the cover I won’t have picked this up and would have missed out. The entire thing looked like a halloween costume party picture. Thankfully, the story within is actually great.
The plot revolves around our half-Cheyenne hero who is literally forced to marry our heroine over a shotgun. The story is set in 1885 so the book falls within the Western tropes - cowboys, ranch life, hardworking heroine who wins over our hero through her spunk - all tropes which I enjoy generally and specifically here.
Our heroine, Anne, is wonderful with a whim and vigour which I miss sometimes in Regency set romances. She is still a lady and feminine but enjoys the life that has been thrust upon her. Plus, she is more than willing to pick up a gun and shoot at villains if so required which I appreciated. Yes, by the end, she can do no wrong and everyone loves her - so much so as to overcome their deep seated prejudices. Generally, I was ok with this simplicity in her character as this book is much more about our hero.
Ah - our poor, laconic hero who has shut down because of the rampant racism against him - even from this family. He is crazy about Anne but his upbringing has made it difficult for him to see his worth - basically, he gave the Brits a run for their money with his stiff upper lip.
This book was a lot more violent and in-your-face than I expected. The leads were literally beaten up in the beginning and that made me a little ill. Everyone around Cord has varying degrees of issues with him and can’t see their prejudice. This was driven home by the attitude of suspicion from his family who thought he could go ‘savage’ at any time.
While this was an interesting and quite an intense take, it all got a bit much by the end. I docked one star in the end for the stupid family, especially the two older brothers. They were almost villains before the inevitable reconciliation to get us to our HEA. I get the intent to show prejudice, but too much time was spent with the brothers and their wallowing prejudice. If author had limited the cast to one brother only that would have been better and given the book more room to breathe. Individually, each older brother served the same story function as did their wives so it felt like a pile-on in the end.
In the end - this was a fantastic read. No plot twists to distract from the couple, no last minute mystery or drama which was not foreshadowed. Excellent job - well worth picking up.
Sheesh - if it had been for the cover I won’t have picked this up and would have missed out. The entire thing looked like a halloween costume party picture. Thankfully, the story within is actually great.
The plot revolves around our half-Cheyenne hero who is literally forced to marry our heroine over a shotgun. The story is set in 1885 so the book falls within the Western tropes - cowboys, ranch life, hardworking heroine who wins over our hero through her spunk - all tropes which I enjoy generally and specifically here.
Our heroine, Anne, is wonderful with a whim and vigour which I miss sometimes in Regency set romances. She is still a lady and feminine but enjoys the life that has been thrust upon her. Plus, she is more than willing to pick up a gun and shoot at villains if so required which I appreciated. Yes, by the end, she can do no wrong and everyone loves her - so much so as to overcome their deep seated prejudices. Generally, I was ok with this simplicity in her character as this book is much more about our hero.
Ah - our poor, laconic hero who has shut down because of the rampant racism against him - even from this family. He is crazy about Anne but his upbringing has made it difficult for him to see his worth - basically, he gave the Brits a run for their money with his stiff upper lip.
This book was a lot more violent and in-your-face than I expected. The leads were literally beaten up in the beginning and that made me a little ill. Everyone around Cord has varying degrees of issues with him and can’t see their prejudice. This was driven home by the attitude of suspicion from his family who thought he could go ‘savage’ at any time.
While this was an interesting and quite an intense take, it all got a bit much by the end. I docked one star in the end for the stupid family, especially the two older brothers. They were almost villains before the inevitable reconciliation to get us to our HEA. I get the intent to show prejudice, but too much time was spent with the brothers and their wallowing prejudice. If author had limited the cast to one brother only that would have been better and given the book more room to breathe. Individually, each older brother served the same story function as did their wives so it felt like a pile-on in the end.
In the end - this was a fantastic read. No plot twists to distract from the couple, no last minute mystery or drama which was not foreshadowed. Excellent job - well worth picking up.
kim03's review
5.0
This book wasn't perfect but it was close. Lots of trigger warnings.
I have to agree to what I've seen in other reviews, this could've used another round of edits, pov randomly switched from one paragraph to the next, but knowing this when starting the book prepared me and I got used to it real quick. The relationship and the feelings this book made me feel are responsible for the rating.
I have to agree to what I've seen in other reviews, this could've used another round of edits, pov randomly switched from one paragraph to the next, but knowing this when starting the book prepared me and I got used to it real quick. The relationship and the feelings this book made me feel are responsible for the rating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, and Death of parent
Minor: Suicide