Mackenzie's Mountain (Mackenzie Family, #1)
Opening Line: "He needed a woman bad."
I had a ton of problems with this book and I’m finding it really difficult to review because as much as this story confused me, annoyed me and downright offended me, in the end as much as I wanted to I just didn’t hate it. I did however breathe a sigh of relief when I finished.
Written in 1989 Mackenzie’s Mountain is a contemporary romance however it reads, and for the first 100 pages I thought it was a historical, taking place around 1890-1910. It takes place in small town Wyoming and has a Little House On the Prairie feel to it along with lots of prejudice and small minded gossip.
The heroine is a schoolteacher who has just moved to teach in their school house. She is plain in appearance with her hair in a bun, horn rimmed glasses, a shapeless dress, sensible shoes and zero life experience having been raised by her old fashioned Aunt (presumably in a cave). Mary in fact has never worn a pair of jeans and has definitely never been kissed. She is however clichéd with thoughts like this one;
"Only shameless hussies would wear a skirt without a proper petticoat underneath"
Yes she also speaks like she’s from the 1900’s and her character seemed stranger to me still when I realized it was meant to be 1989 (don’t know many people that wore petticoats then)
Anyways Mary is concerned that one of her better students has quit school and goes to his home to find out why where she meets Wolf Mackenzie and this is when I started to get offended and these are the authors words Not mine. Wolf is an Indian and an angry Indian because he spent time in jail for a crime he didn’t commit and everyone in town hates and distrusts him. To make matters worse (in the authors mind) Wolf is also a half breed and Howard drills this into the readers head every couple of pages in case we forget our hero’s heritage. Now honestly… its 1989, do people really use words like half-breed anymore? Could the average person tell the difference? Have I just been living in happy land my entire life? This is uncomfortable.
Wolf feels his son doesn’t need schooling because he’s an Indian (cringe) Now after all the racist remarks which I somewhat forgave because I thought it was a historical this is when Joe, the heroes son suddenly declares that he wants to join the Air Force academy and fly jets. What?! Damn this really is a contemporary.
Mary then decides to tutor Joe and feels that even though (cringe) he’s a half breed he still has a pretty good chance of getting into the Air Force. Remember its 1989 in this backwards little town. For some weird reason Wolf is attracted to the mousy Mary and the meat of this story revolves around their growing relationship, him giving her savage looks and bedding her and the hunt for the man responsible for attacking women in town which Wolf is initially blamed for.
Now I could go on and on about all my issues with this silly/strange/offensive story but because its also such a reader favourite (I’m assuming with historical romance fans) I will also say that Wolf is a fantastic, sexy alpha hero and as annoying and clichéd as Mary is they still manage to share some steamy love scenes together. I also really liked Joe the wanna-be pilot son and it’s my understanding that his story is up next in (MACKENZIE'S MISSION).
As this was my first Linda Howard book I don’t know if writing historical characters in modern times is a trait of hers and as offensive as some of her writing was I did still enjoy her love scenes and easy flowing writing style. Howard just needs to pick one time genre and stick with it.
Written in 1989 Mackenzie’s Mountain is a contemporary romance however it reads, and for the first 100 pages I thought it was a historical, taking place around 1890-1910. It takes place in small town Wyoming and has a Little House On the Prairie feel to it along with lots of prejudice and small minded gossip. The heroine is a schoolteacher who has just moved to teach in their school house. She is plain in appearance with her hair in a bun, horn rimmed glasses, a shapeless dress, sensible shoes and zero life experience having been raised by her old fashioned Aunt (presumably in a cave). Mary in fact has never worn a pair of jeans and has definitely never been kissed. She is however clichéd with thoughts like this one;
"Only shameless hussies would wear a skirt without a proper petticoat underneath"
Yes she also speaks like she’s from the 1900’s and her character seemed stranger to me still when I realized it was meant to be 1989 (don’t know many people that wore petticoats then)
Anyways Mary is concerned that one of her better students has quit school and goes to his home to find out why where she meets Wolf Mackenzie and this is when I started to get offended and these are the authors words Not mine. Wolf is an Indian and an angry Indian because he spent time in jail for a crime he didn’t commit and everyone in town hates and distrusts him. To make matters worse (in the authors mind) Wolf is also a half breed and Howard drills this into the readers head every couple of pages in case we forget our hero’s heritage. Now honestly… its 1989, do people really use words like half-breed anymore? Could the average person tell the difference? Have I just been living in happy land my entire life? This is uncomfortable.
Wolf feels his son doesn’t need schooling because he’s an Indian (cringe) Now after all the racist remarks which I somewhat forgave because I thought it was a historical this is when Joe, the heroes son suddenly declares that he wants to join the Air Force academy and fly jets. What?! Damn this really is a contemporary.
Mary then decides to tutor Joe and feels that even though (cringe) he’s a half breed he still has a pretty good chance of getting into the Air Force. Remember its 1989 in this backwards little town. For some weird reason Wolf is attracted to the mousy Mary and the meat of this story revolves around their growing relationship, him giving her savage looks and bedding her and the hunt for the man responsible for attacking women in town which Wolf is initially blamed for.
Now I could go on and on about all my issues with this silly/strange/offensive story but because its also such a reader favourite (I’m assuming with historical romance fans) I will also say that Wolf is a fantastic, sexy alpha hero and as annoying and clichéd as Mary is they still manage to share some steamy love scenes together. I also really liked Joe the wanna-be pilot son and it’s my understanding that his story is up next in (MACKENZIE'S MISSION).
As this was my first Linda Howard book I don’t know if writing historical characters in modern times is a trait of hers and as offensive as some of her writing was I did still enjoy her love scenes and easy flowing writing style. Howard just needs to pick one time genre and stick with it.
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ReplyDeleteHalf Breed...I haven't heard that in a long time Now I have this old dong in my head...http://youtu.be/Z6E98ZRaU1s... Nowadays when you hear Half Breed, Klingon and Humans comes to mind.
ReplyDeleteRohg, awesomeness for the video!
ReplyDeleteI thought I was losing my mind with this book, it was so offensive and made zero sense but Linda Howard is a beloved author. Glad you found it strange too and I love the Star Trek reference
I must be getting up there cause I actually remember when she performed it for the first time on The Sonny and Cher Show.
ReplyDeleteWOw Rohg,Say iot isn't so. You are showing your age with that reference. LOL
ReplyDeleteOOPS...huh...Yep, now I remember, I was 2 months old at the time...Yeah Right.
ReplyDeleteThats exactly what I thought
ReplyDeleteThe important question is whether or not you got to see the premiere...LOL
ReplyDeleteI loved this book and the rest in the series. Not every character in a book looks like or sounds like a fashion model. Lots of people still live in small towns and "half breed" is still unfortunately, used to describe some one with Indian heritage. To me, the important message the author brought forward is that "Mary", no matter how she looked,cared enough to help Joe get an education. I'm sure we all had a teacher like her or know of one. Read the rest of the series.
ReplyDeleteHey Anon, I know I'm in the minority with my take on this book. I recieved a ton of slack on another website where I review and I know Linda Howard is well loved.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest problem was that for about 100 pages I thought this was a historical romance, thats confusing writing. I had no problem with the heroine being plain but petticoats, really!? In 1989.
I think things are a little different here in Canada. I spent years living right beside a reseve in a tiny town and never once heard the word halfbreed used, who could even tell someoness heritage? Anyways, I will be continuing on with the next book at some point.