1879. In Blue Belle, Montana, everyone knew better than to mess with the Claybornes. The brothers had once been a mismatched gang of street urchins — until they found an abandoned baby girl in a New York city alley, named her Mary Rose, and headed west to raise her to be a lady. They became a family —held together by loyalty and love if not by blood—when suddenly they faced a crisis that threatened to tear them apart...
Trouble came to town with one Lord Harrison Stanford MacDonald. Armed with a swagger and six-shooter, he cut a striking figure — but it soon became apparent to Mary Rose that he was too much of a gentleman to make it in her rough-and-tumble town. She asked her brothers to teach him the basics of frontier survival, which he acquired with ease. And soon he possessed a deep and desperate love for Mary Rose. She returned his affection wholeheartedly... until MacDonald revealed a secret that challenged everything she believed about herself, her life, and her newfound love. Now her search for identity and meaning would begin, raising questions that could only be answered if she listened to the truth within her heart....
Original Publisher: Pocket Books
Original Year of Publication: 1995
Page Count: 497
What I liked about this book:*The Clayborne brothers - I enjoyed the found family aspect a lot, but these boys are both adorable (their letters to Mama Rose at the end of each chapter, chronicling their life as they move west and bring up baby Mary Rose), and as men they are pretty darn awesome, too. Even "the mean one," Cole.
*Harrison (the hero) in Montana
*Mary Rose (the heroine) in Montana
*The first 40% of the story - absolutely hilarious and sweet
*Lord Elliott
What I didn't like about this book:*Harrison (the hero) in England - disturbing old school elements took over the hero after he slept with the heroine for the first time. He became a possessive alphahole hero who ran roughshod over the heroine. This book was written in 1995, so I guess this was an expected turn for a romance hero, but it was still pretty awful and disappointing. Once they returned to Montana at the end, he reverted to the person he was at the beginning of the book, so I guess this was also supposed to be some sort of commentary on English vs outlaw American society.
*Mary Rose (the heroine) in England - She no backbone whatsoever, and was unwilling to tell anyone of her unhappiness, not willing to rock the boat so she suffered in silence. It didn't help that Harrison (now her husband) ignored her the entire time, either.
*The English episode altogether: MR's English family was awful, yes, but this whole section of the book was terrible. I'd like to think Garwood had a better grasp of Victorian society than she displays here, but maybe not. I'm pretty sure nobility called their PAs secretaries back in the day, and they certainly weren't as familiar and friendly with the servants as was portrayed here. It was bizarre, and took me out of the story completely.
*Eleanor - Talk about a waste of space. This little subplot should've been scrapped altogether, IMO.
*The sex - There was too much, and it was awkwardly written. I'm not a fan of explicit consent discussions in historical romance, but I'm even less of a fan of a "hero" ignoring the "heroine" when she says no, and plowing ahead anyway because he has needs, dammit. Pretty sure that's marital rape, and it happened quite a bit here.
*The ending - Harrison never had to grovel or make it up to Mary Rose after betraying her (see above - and of course because she enjoyed the lovemaking, obvs she loves him so who cares about trust??). After she flees England and returns to Montana, there is absolutely nothing about her homecoming or his - it's straight into the final plot thread of Adam (MR's eldest brother) being tried for murder. Talk about whiplash! Considering all of her brothers are heroes of their own stories, this final plot was completely unnecessary, and was basically only tacked on to show off Harrison's abilities in court. Bleh. I'm also pretty sure the Clayborne brothers wouldn't have welcomed Lord Elliott with quite such open arms, but I guess there wasn't any time for that, either, as our story hurtled towards the end.
*The length - OMG this book was so frickin long! I read the large print edition, so it was 808 pages, but even the regular-print size is upwards of 500 pages. That's about 200 pages too much, IMO. If they'd left off the Eleanor plot and Adam's trial at the end, it would've been much more rounded and coherent.
I liked the brothers enough to want to read their stories. Luckily most of them received novellas, so it will be interesting to see if Garwood can weave a coherent story in a tighter page count.
⭐⭐
