Ride a Loose Rein
Written: Jun 17 '01 (Updated Jun 17 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Saddled will brighten your mood and make you laugh.
Cons: Traditionalists may not find it a perfect fit
The Bottom Line: Saddled is funny, witty, and a fine summer read.
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| legar's Full Review: Saddled Books |
Books that make any reference to horses snare my attention immediately, so when I saw promos for Saddled, by Delores Fossen, I was more than half-inclined to pluck the book up as soon as it became available. The eye-popping cover of one of those heart-stopping embraces didn't lessen my interest at all; I much prefer those covers to the newer, cartoonish covers that some lines are sporting.
I had seen the promo before the book came out, so when I found it at my local B. Dalton this morning, I snatched it up, came home, and sat down to watch my Braves' game. Unfortunately, I flipped the book open before the first pitch, and wound up turning the television off so I could just read; the book was that good.
Fossen's romance may not appeal to traditionalists, even those who are accepting "spirited" women, rather than the "oh, help me" heroines of past. Fossen's women don't need help, and that is especially true of Abbie Donegan, the flame-headed, smoking, cursing heroine who becomes "saddled" with problems that would awe almost anyone else.
Abbie is a rich girl--with seemingly countless half-brothers and half-sisters (sisters, mostly!) because of her father's "roving" eye. In fact, Abbie is her father's only legitimate daughter, and inherited his enormous estate under very embarrassing, and eventually deadly, circumstances. Suffice it to say that fairy wings and nude golddiggers play a part in Abbie's legacy.
To protect her half-siblings, and to correct circumstances caused by her father's affairs, Abbie must enlist the aid of Rio McCaine--scorned all his life as a half-breed, and the illegitimate son of another wealthy man. Rio's life has been hard, and hurtful, and he has no intention of marrying--until Abbie proposes, and makes him one of those offers that truly can't be refused.
Rather than revealing more of the plot here, let me mention that the secondary characters are alternately as amusing and as frustrating as Abbie herself. Few works make me laugh out loud--actually, only Neil Simon's plays come to mind, and only then when performed--but I laughed myself into a truly good mood with this book.
As I mentioned in the review of Linda Howard's Kill and Tell, some "modern" women lose their appeal when they come on too tough and unflinching; this is even more true when women come to us from the frontier age, when women had few rights and privileges. Nevertheless, Fossen creates a woman who can take care of herself, even while complicating her own life to ever greater degrees, but she creates a woman intelligent enough to recognize that sometimes having a man around is not a bad thing. Even if the man saves your life now and then, almost all by himself.
Set in Texas in the late 1800s, this story touches on the history of the time, with renegade Apaches adding twists to an already curvy plot. In spite of the high humor of Saddled, it has more turns than you can count. Each time I was sure nothing else could startle me--well, something else did! Rio is almost as bemused by Abbie as I was, but that only increased his appeal--true heroism isn't always willing heroism. And he's man enough to "ride a loose rein." Riders understand that; it's asking, rather than telling, a stronger being what to do. Rio isn't afraid--ultimately--to give Abbie a loose rein in their relationship.
The characters' physical relationship simmers throughout the novel, but it is only at the end of the book that the simmering affair boils over. Abbie plays as active a part in lovemaking as in foiling villains, independent and demanding to the last, but enough in love to appreciate Rio's enormous talents and attraction as he performs his "manly duties."
Fossen has a previous novel, Unbridled, that I missed, but I have to go back and look for that--the title, you know. Plus her stories are funny and intelligent. Saddled is a perfect summer read--snappy and fun. Enjoy.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
legar
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Member: Leslie Garcia
Location: Laredo, Texas
Reviews written: 85
Trusted by: 20 members
About Me:
I'm an elementary school teacher, mother, and published author, currently living in Laredo, Texas.
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