Aemelia E. (zelda75) reviewed Early Dawn (Keegan-Paxton Family, Bk 3) (Kendrick/Coulter Family, Bk 11) on + 3 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 7
I found myself extremely irritated with both Matthew and Eden throughout this book. While I love a good western, especially where the hero/heroine are forced to be on the run, I just felt like this kept dragging, it took them FOREVER before they even attempted to find a town, and let her family know that she was all right.
Matthew took his dear sweet time getting on the trail to catch the gang he'd been âhotâ on the trail of for 3 years. He knew he was close to catching them, yet he stopped not just to bury a guy they'd murdered, but to also CARVE him a grave marker, a rather long-winded one at that! I understand burying the guy, but what's wrong with just leaving a cross or some such marker (it wasn't like he knew the name of the deceased). Then even when he KNEW the Sebastian's had kidnapped a woman, he still moseyed into a near by town. I really wasn't felling that he wanted to catch these guys too bad, not with all the avoidance techniques he exhibited.
Eden's actions boarded along the TSTL (to stupid to live) especially when she provoked her captors. I was also annoyed with the constant mention of all her wonderful attributes, especially since none of them did her any good for the most part. She was given a sharp slap of reality from her cruel kidnappers, but she quickly fell back into her old ways when she escaped.
Some may find this an enjoyable read, but unfortunately for me it just didn't work
Matthew took his dear sweet time getting on the trail to catch the gang he'd been âhotâ on the trail of for 3 years. He knew he was close to catching them, yet he stopped not just to bury a guy they'd murdered, but to also CARVE him a grave marker, a rather long-winded one at that! I understand burying the guy, but what's wrong with just leaving a cross or some such marker (it wasn't like he knew the name of the deceased). Then even when he KNEW the Sebastian's had kidnapped a woman, he still moseyed into a near by town. I really wasn't felling that he wanted to catch these guys too bad, not with all the avoidance techniques he exhibited.
Eden's actions boarded along the TSTL (to stupid to live) especially when she provoked her captors. I was also annoyed with the constant mention of all her wonderful attributes, especially since none of them did her any good for the most part. She was given a sharp slap of reality from her cruel kidnappers, but she quickly fell back into her old ways when she escaped.
Some may find this an enjoyable read, but unfortunately for me it just didn't work
Debbie B. (orchid7) -
Helpful Score: 4
...'Well, butter my a** and call me a biscuit!'... 'You get kind of dirty when trying to run polecats to ground.'...
These kinds of phrases are a representation of the type of dialogue that runs throughout this book. My family had quite a laugh one evening from a few of these...
The book started out with a bit of promise, but after the first 50 pages or so, I began to get frustrated with both of the main characters. I wondered why the hero sneaks into the drunk and sleeping villains' camp to rescue the heroine, and then when he sneaks back in to scatter their horses he shoots 3 shots INTO THE AIR to spook the horses instead of doing away with 3 of the 5 sleeping villains! They then proceed to "wander in circles" across the countryside for endless weeks to avoid getting caught... and they don't even "hook up" until the last 50 pages or so of the book. There is very little romance in this book, and I disagree with another reviewer... it is definitely not a tear-jerker, IMO. I think the book is too long, and it's very repetitive in the middle. It could easily have been 100 pages shorter.
I also found it very creepy that the heroine repeatedly insists on naming their baby after the hero's dead wife... so that they can "remember her"... eewww!
These kinds of phrases are a representation of the type of dialogue that runs throughout this book. My family had quite a laugh one evening from a few of these...
The book started out with a bit of promise, but after the first 50 pages or so, I began to get frustrated with both of the main characters. I wondered why the hero sneaks into the drunk and sleeping villains' camp to rescue the heroine, and then when he sneaks back in to scatter their horses he shoots 3 shots INTO THE AIR to spook the horses instead of doing away with 3 of the 5 sleeping villains! They then proceed to "wander in circles" across the countryside for endless weeks to avoid getting caught... and they don't even "hook up" until the last 50 pages or so of the book. There is very little romance in this book, and I disagree with another reviewer... it is definitely not a tear-jerker, IMO. I think the book is too long, and it's very repetitive in the middle. It could easily have been 100 pages shorter.
I also found it very creepy that the heroine repeatedly insists on naming their baby after the hero's dead wife... so that they can "remember her"... eewww!
K. R. P. S. (THEkrps) reviewed Early Dawn (Keegan-Paxton Family, Bk 3) (Kendrick/Coulter Family, Bk 11) on
Helpful Score: 2
I have to agree some with an earlier review I just read (after having already read the book myself), that overall the book was just too long and seemed to drag. Also, the characters/actions were not believable to me. I am an avid Catherine Anderson fan, having read her books now from the beginning, but, I'm sorry to say I did not feel this particular one was up to her usual standards.
