B for story, A+ for character (Slade!)

books:

	• Tender Is the Storm Johanna Lindsey Avon, 1985 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 30 reviews view larger image
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Johanna Lindsey loves the twins

Sharisse Hammond is a New York city heiress whose entire life has been planned out for her by her father. He wants her to marry his best friend's son and she agrees--glad to have it out of her hands after being seduced by a French rake. When Sharisse's little sister Stephanie admits to her that she is in love with Sharisse's fiance, Sharisse does the sisterly thing and agrees to leave town for awhile so that Stephanie can have time to lure Joel her way. Her plan: pose as a mail-order bride and stall as long as possible.

Lucas Holt is an Arizona rancher looking for a woman who will earn her keep and keep they prying eyes in his small town away from him. He is now, however, looking for a wife. He advertises for a mail-order bride with the hopes of getting some rich society heiress who will run back to daddy when she realizes the hard work in store for her on a horse farm. His twin brother Slade, a notorious gunslinger, only adds to the foreboding air of the Holt home.

With too many lies between them to count, Lucas and Sharisse fall in love under the hot Arizona sun. Only Sharisse can't help but feel a little attracted to his brother as well. She can't really be in love with them both; or can she?

I really liked this Lindsey novel mostly because it's a departure from the historical romances that I'm used to. While halfway through the book there was an outrageous plot turn, I rolled with it and wasn't disappointed. The ending was a bit too easy for my taste, but I definitely enjoyed the journey. It was very similar to another of her books I read recently, A Man to Call My Own, another story of twins (girls this time) from the East coast who try to make their way in the old West. If you enjoy Tender is the Storm I think you'll definitely like A Man to Call My Own, and vice versa.

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Romantic read

Like always this Lindsay novel is romantic, funny, and impossible to put down. I own them all.

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B for story, A+ for character (Slade!)

The book really took off for me in the 4th quarter when Holt shows up in New York, demanding his propers as Shanille's husband. I loved both the Arizona setting (which reminded me of Giant, The Movie from the '50's starring Jimmy Dean) as well as the 1880's New York social scene. There were even scenes in Europe. It was tantalizing.

For me, the problem is that you almost have to read the book backwards. There are revelations at the end that make you read the earlier scenes much differently.

Let me put it this way. Slade Holt is a fascinating person, and it is obvious why Shanille is attracted to him, though she is supposed to marry his brother. You really want to know more about Slade's story and his evolution as a person. He is almost unbelievably 'round' as a character - and I wanted a lot more of him. When you read the book in the forward direction (that is without the knowledge you gain at the end), the book doesn't make sense. How does a life-time rancher, who's lived alone most of his life, find the social skills to correctly interpret, interface, and manage, this beautiful, New York, socialite? It is not until the end of the story that the rest of his life is filled in and you realize that this gun-slinger could conduct himself with distinction in almost any walk of life, from the wealthiest of high society down to the lowliest western tavern. It is such a stretch that, as a reader, you have to 'see' how that is possible. I wanted more of a clue about how he got to be that way - not the data dump that we received at the end. But Johanna Lindsey does her usual thing of 'telling' you what these characters are about. Lindsey did a better job in Marriage Most Scandalous, in setting the reader up with a rationale why the hero had multiple sides to his personality. Like Sebastian, Slade is a very interesting character, having been molded by life's circumstances. You don't find that out until the end of the story, though the scenes with him light up the page.

Another example of the luke-warm effort at characterization is the hopelessly self-centered Stephanie. You wonder how it is possible, since she is so self-centered, that Shanille could have been taken in, at the beginning of the story, since a selfish person like Steph would have been so all her life. (The fact that Steph ends up with the sexually insipid Joel could have been mined for more humor). The characterizations are so shallow that you're at first bored by the story.

I thought it was a cop-out to be told on the last page of the book, that Shanille had borne him children (twins), since again, that is a major thing for a high society woman of the 1880's. How did she do that and then re-enter society, as depicted in the 4th quarter of the book? Where is the support network that lets her do that? And by the time it is revealed, it is a plot element that is totally not relevant to the story, so why bring it up in the first place?

The 1880's was the time of Women's Suffrage. I was surprised that more of that wasn't built into the story, since when Shanille arrives in Arizona and has the wifely chores to look forward to every day, she doesn't make an issue about her expectations in terms of the amount of labor. Nor does the subject come up at the end of the book, when she finds out she basically doesn't have any legal standing. Surprisingly, Lindsey DOES bring up the Five Corners - that hopeless slum (Think Gangs of New York) at one part of the story.

All of that being said - the story, as usual with Lindsey, is a good one. I enjoyed the setting, the New York atmosphere of The 400 (the social network of the wealthiest). The moments between Slade and Shanille are electric! He really figures out how to handle Shanille, and it is charming. The sense of palpable risk and consequences in the final chapters are exhilarating. This story will stay on my shelf so that I can read the late middle chapters again and again, (skip the last page), and enjoy Slade Holt!

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Headstrong heiress Sharisse Hammond wants no part of the New York society marriage that has been arranged for her. So she heads west across a vast and dangerous land -- with no intention of honoring her agreement to become the mail-order bride of a rugged Arizona rancher.

But Lucas Holt needs a wife -- any wife -- if his plan to destroy his most hated enemy is to succeed. And this gullible Eastern lady would do quite nicely. However, their separate schemes to use one another are complicated by raw, aching passion. For Lucas's beautiful, unsuspecting pawn was not supposed to be so irresistible alluring. And freedom-loving Sharisse never dreamed she could ever desire one man so much!

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