DYLAN

Author: Norah Hess ISBN: 0843950587 3/2005 HISTORICAL Publisher: DORCHESTER/Leisure
Time Period: Western - 1800's

Dylan Quade was a man’s man, whether he was running cattle on his Bar X ranch, breaking a bronc or carousing in the rowdy saloons of Jackson Hole. He had no use for any woman, least of all the bedraggled charity case his shiftless kin were trying to palm off on him. Rachel Sutter had been wedded and widowed on the same day and now his dirt-poor cousins refused to take her in, claiming she’d make Dylan a fine wife. Not if he had anything to say about it! But one good look at Rachel’s long, long legs and white-blond hair had the avowed bachelor singing a different tune. The beautiful mountain girl had too much pride to stay where she wasn’t wanted and soon Dylan was reduced to haunting the trading post where she’d found refuge, hoping for a glimpse of her moonlit loveliness. All he wanted was to prove he was different from the low-down snakes she’d known before, to convince her that he was a changed man, one who would give anything to have the right to take her in his arms and love her the rest of his life.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Unfortunately, DYLAN, by Norah Hess, is just like every other historical western I have read lately. You know the one, where the hero has his own spread, but has no intention of settling down, and is one of the toughest fellas in town. Naturally, he and his buddies are all good looking and well known for pleasuring the ladies.

The heroine is an outcast, but still heartstoppingly beautiful. She is a sweet and sassy mix who is able to take care of herself. Her life is hard, and becomes harder yet, when she is cast out of her family, tossed to a cruel husband, and finally booted out of her in-laws shack. When that husband for an hour gives her a beating as a wedding gift, she, of course, comes down with (*insert drum roll, please*) a fever! That good time cowboy hero, Dylan, comes to the rescue. Naturally.

This one reads like a production line of stories. If you read the inside cover that lists the author's other works, you realize it is. Nothing truly original, unless you like an abundance of mountain men relying on beatings to keep their women in line. No spark of passion between the two main characters, or anyone else, for that matter. The bad guys are unmasked, and their evil deeds and troublesome ways wrapped up pretty quick. Too bad the book doesn't wrap up just as fast.

Shannon Johnson