This RITA® Reader Challenge 2016 review was written by Turophile. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Long Contemporary category.
The summary:
With its breathtaking terrain and welcoming people, the Western town of Caribou Crossing is the perfect place for a heart to heal, and for love to blossom once more…
Since the death of her husband three years ago, young widow Sally Ryland has kept to herself and focused on her struggling business, Ryland Riding. Folks assume she’s still grieving, because Sally has never shared the truth about her abusive marriage, or the trust issues that remain. But when a sexy rodeo rider from her past turns up for a visit, he’s a reminder of the feisty woman she once was—and maybe still could be…
Ben Traynor was always attracted to Sally, but he didn’t move fast enough. Now what Sally needs is patience and gentleness. With an injury keeping him from his next rodeo, Ben has the perfect excuse to stick around and help with her chores—and her healing. And as Sally finds the courage to face her demons and open her heart again, she’ll have to decide if what she has with Ben is more than safety, gratitude, and short-term passion, but a forever love…
Here is Turophile's review:
Before diving into the review, I want to give a trigger warning. This book is about spousal abuse and the emotional recovery from such abuse. There are vivid descriptions throughout the book and the heroine’s past history of abuse is so interwoven into the plot, there’s no way to avoid it.
A week after finishing this book, I still haven’t made my mind up about it. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it. The writing was solid. Unlike a number of books I’ve read lately, there’s no parade of horribles I feel compelled to recount. Yet, looking back on it nothing stands out to me and says “wow, loved that book.”
The heroine, Sally, used to be a barrel racing star, but she gave it up when she married Pete. Pete persuaded her to move away from family so they could establish a life of their own. Step by step, word by word, he broke her down – her spirit, her emotions, her body. She only escaped because he suffered a fatal heart attack, leaving her with a successful but cash-poor horse operation.
Three years later, as Sally’s worried about keeping the business afloat after her only employee takes a leave of absence, Ben shows up. He was a rodeo star who’d been dazzled by Sally and hadn’t forgotten her. She’s reluctant to let him even in the door –physically and emotionally. His attraction to her had only grown over the years, yet he knew he couldn’t push too hard or two fast. He moves slowly to gain her trust and helps bring the emotional and physical walls down on the way to a happy ending.
I’m not an abuse survivor, but Ms. Fox’s handling of the topic appears well-done. She illustrated how an abuser slowly grooms and then isolates his victim (this relationship is male attacking female, but abusers/victims unfortunately can be any gender). The emotional scars Sally was left with, her neighbors’ and acquaintances’ lack of awareness of the abuse, and Sally’s emotional triggers all felt real to this untrained reader.
However, despite the significance of this topic, I never felt that engaged by the book. The descriptions of the abuse were repeated and vivid, making the reader feel like they were watching. The descriptions may help the reader appreciate what victims go through. The details also helped the reader understand Sally’s triggers and follow her journey. Yet, I felt like a voyeur. It felt reminiscent of “poverty porn,” except applied to domestic abuse.
Part of the disengagement may have been that the characters and the story lacked depth beyond the abuse recovery plot, or that Ben seemed also too perfect a guy. I also didn’t like that Sally tells Ben after they make lover for the first time “Ben, you’ve made me whole.” It was jarring after a story that had slowly built up trust. Sally’s been through trauma after trauma, Ben slowly regains her trust, but it’s the magic dong that saves the day? That was jarring. Thankfully, the author later reveals she begins to see a therapist to deal with her demons, meaning that the post-coital statements can be read as heat of passion comments, not deep reflection.
One aspect that surprised me was the author’s repeated use of the phrase “buckle bunny.” Even though I’ve never heard that term before, its meaning can be gleaned from the context or from Urban Dictionary. It’s generally a derogatory, slut-shaming term. When a book is tackling the problem of domestic abuse, why would the author use that phrase which is derived from and feeds the anti-woman culture that undergirds domestic abuse? Ouch – the cognitive dissonance.
Overall, it’s a decent book, not a great book. More awareness is needed not only of the problem of domestic abuse, but all aspects of it: the signs of abuse we may not see, the culture that gives rise to it and often hides it, the assistance victims may need, and the steps needed stop it and break the cycle. For shedding light on those topics in a thoughtful manner I applaud the book.
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