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Format:
audiobook
Publisher’s Synopsis:
Boone Sinclair is a hallmark Diana Palmer hero: tall, strong and handsome. A businessman and a rancher, Boone had it all—except for Keely Welsh. The first time he spotted her on his property, he was determined not to let her get away from him. The lovely beauty would be his.… Every Long, Tall Texan gets his woman, and this one would not be denied.
Point of view:
3rd person. Alternating perspectives.
Rellim’s Thoughts:
This is book 36 in Long, Tall Texans series. I haven’t read any of the other books in this series or anything by Diana Palmer before – but this stands well on its own.
I usually do spoiler-free reviews, but it’s not possible to examine the issues I had with this book without them. So, this one is full of them.
There were parts of this that I really enjoyed and then… I also struggled with large chunks of it. I love the falling for the best friend’s brother trope and age gap – so that aspect really worked for me.
I get that Boone had a variety of reasons for keeping Keely at a distance. Some made sense (she’s significantly younger – 19 to his 30) and some were misunderstandings (malicious gossip Boone took as fact), but ultimately he spent 90% of the book being downright cruel to her. Especially since he knew that she had a crush on him.
This wasn’t a situation of a girl who relentlessly pursues the MMC. She has had a rough life, has low self esteem, knows Boone can’t stand her, and does her best to be invisible when he’s near. However, she is best friends with Boone’s younger siblings and so Keely is around him at times. Repeatedly he’s rude and at times mocks her.
Even this I could get with if there had been ANY attempt by him to make things right. There was a pithy “I guess I had it all wrong” and the next thing you know he’s asking her to marry him. It gave me severe whiplash and made Keely seem like a doormat.
Palmer through every. single. thing. at Keely she possibly could and it became just too much. Especially since the resolutions just seemed to be, “it’s all better now”.
I read other reviews after I finished and many said this wasn’t how Palmer normally writes – so I’d be interested in checking out more of her work to see if I click better with those.
Narration:
I actually found this because I was looking for more books narrated by Graham Halstead. I enjoyed his performance, though I do think he was an odd choice because 80% of this book is from Keely’s perspective and most of the regularly speaking characters are female. He did a good job distinguishing all those characters.
About the author:
You can connect with Diana Palmer here:
About the narrator:
You can connect with Graham Halstead here:
Rellim Reads 