[ Warning: May contain spoilers! Read at own risk! ]
Series: Long, Tall Texans
Hero: Bentley Rydel
Heroine: Cappie Drake
New York Times bestselling author Diana Palmer welcomes you back to Jacobsville to become reacquainted with Bentley Rydel. He lives hard and loves fiercely—but sometimes it takes the right woman to make a man a hero. This rugged Texan is going to be Tough to Tame!
There comes a time when a reader has to admit that she and an author have learned different tastes. As a long time follower of Diana Palmer’s stories, I have been loyal and patient following her Long, Tall Texan series of mercenary heroes and damaged heroines. But I think I’ve reached my quota limit. The formulaic characters and plots did not disconnect my interest but the extreme absurdities with the hero in Tough to Tame have finally severed my patience to the nil.
In Tough to Tame, Cappie is an orphan and her only surviving relative is her older invalid brother, Kell, who is paralyzed from the waist down, the result of shrapnel lodged in his back from his dangerous “reporting” days. Life was already hard for the two of them but now her brother has no health insurance and both are in hiding from Cappie’s abusive ex-boyfriend who is currently serving jail time for assaulting her but is due out on parole any day.
Bentley is Cappie’s boss, one of the veterinarians where Cappie started working at as a vet tech. Bentley is an established woman hater until he gets to know the sweet, shy Cappie. Their relationship progresses to 3rd base intimacy when Bentley does a 360 degree turn around the next day and treats Cappie like a villain. Bentley accuses Cappie of enticing him with sex and plotting to ruin him with blackmail of assault for money. As if Cappie isn’t heartbroken enough by his distrust and ill opinions of her, Bentley then forces her hand by telling her to quit her only financial support. Cappie is forced to quit her job because Bentley refuses to fire her as that would allow her to collect unemployment or sue him for unlawful termination.
Bentley is awful with his mistreatment of Cappie but she annoys me no less with her too-good-to-be-true optimism and friendliness in the face of extreme stress.
Let’s start with the commonalities of this book to its predecessors:
1- The heroine is poor but has a sweet, angelic nature with an abusive past,
2- The hero is rich but distrustful of women because he’s been played badly,
3- Hero and heroine are both wary of the opposite sex but they manage to forget their fears in the force of their attraction,
4- The heroine is able to overcome her apprehension with intimacy with the hero,
5- Just as the heroine becomes sweet on the hero lies are told to him and he easily believes what he is told,
6- Hero trash talks heroine and throws her out of his life,
7- Heroine then gets physically hurt or someone she knows is hurt,
8- Heroine is poor on money but rich in friends, and they come to her rescue after she is hurt,
9- Hero finds out the truth immediately after heroine is hurt and runs after her,
10- Heroine easily forgives hero once she finds out how he was hurt in the past and they live happily, innocently ever after.
The final straw(s) in this book for me were:
1- Bentley’s gullibility – a man who is so wise and experienced is easily duped by a stranger with nary a doubt of the stories he’s told. The heroes of previous books were at least taken in by an acquaintance and not anyone off the street.
2- The two bodyguards assigned to protect Cappie after her psychotic ex-boyfriend was paroled bickers constantly – instead of being funny they were annoying and drag the already awful plot.
3- Bentley’s burnt history with women is nonsensical and the plot to drive them apart is contrived.
4- Palmer’s heroes are always rich or well off. Kell was a mercenary amongst the elite of them who are wealthy yet he is poor — a weak deviation from her previous mercenary men to support their poor living conditions. Why then not make Kell’s former profession truly a reporter? Imo, then Kell wouldn’t have mercenary buddies to help them after he is hurt.
5- This book is 190 pages but was packaged in a thick binding of 370+ pages that contained “bonus book” but the bonus notice was in small print. I accept fault for not looking over the book cover correctly. However, the book is retail at $6.99 which means the bonus story is not really a bonus and there was no indication that this was a duology or whatever they are referred to.
For the last point above, I know I cannot blame the author for the packaging but this was just one more annoyance on top of several.
This turned out to be more a rant than a review. Suffice it to say it’s well past time to separate my friendship with Ms. Palmer.
Grading: D
Hilcia
April 15, 2010
Aww Tabitha, it’s tough to break up with an author you used to enjoy.
It’s amazing when you begin to list the books’ similarities. I read the original Long Tall Texans series and they were fresh at the time, but wow… it’s too bad they’ve gone down hill this way.
nath
April 15, 2010
It’s really hard to part with an author, but when the time has come…
I never read this author, because she does a lot of May romance ( or is it December? You know, the older hero + young heroine…).
I understand authors using plotlines that have work well for them… but seriously, sometimes, you really have to mix it up. Changing their jobs and the town is not enough…
tennismom mary g
April 15, 2010
Hi Tabitha
I so get this post. I was a huge Diana Palmer fan.
Loved the book Diamond Spur (written as Susan Kyle). Bought everything she wrote for the longest time till the books starting getting formulaic. Just change the names & angst of the main characters.
After awhile the age difference got icky like Nath says. I don’t mind age differences if they’re on equal footing for the most part but the guys are always rich & saving the poor “damsel” & they are not historicals. It wasn’t hard for me to give her up because there are a ton of authors out there & a ton of TBR books at home. A lot of her books remain my faves though & I’ve kept them. I am really conscious of the fact that authors have a delicate balancing act. They have a style that their readers love but they have to keep fresh.
Tabitha
April 18, 2010
Hilcia – Hey Hils, it seems to me like DP isn’t even trying, just make some setting and character changes but the formula is still there. Thing is, I’ve seen a lof of her fans complain about her recent books too. I wonder if she care to listen?
Nath – Nath, DP doesn’t even change their jobs around, and the characters are pretty much in the same town. Lol. It’s just new names and slightly different tragedy and drama.
Mary – Hey Mary, I’m not getting rid of my DP collection. I spent far too much time and money getting her books so I will never get rid of them. I’m just going to wait and see if she’ll ever come out with new writing. Otherwise, I’m just going to stick to her oldies. One of her books that I really enjoy is Lady Love — pretty humorous and not formulaic at all.
Sharon
April 22, 2011
After reading your review I couldn’t help but think …she’s hit the nail on the head ! I have been a fan of Diana Palmer since the 1980′s when I started reading her work as a teenager. At one time I had all of her works ( at that time over 50 title’s ) . I dropped off from being such a big fan after her romance’s became the same thing over and over. Part of what keep me hooked was the romance and sexual tension between her character’s , sadly even that kind of went out the door for chartacter’s who seemed more like action hero’s than romance character’s . I have to agree with some on here , her first 10 or so Long tall Texans hero;s are great but after awhile it always goes back to the same plot. I noticed a change in her work around the same time her publisher started reissueing older out of date title’s revamped with new cover’s and sometime’s 2 titles in one book with a new name …which always made me mad . In some cases I’d buy a new book not really realizing it was 2 older title’s revamped . Not sure were i fall at this point , still want to give her a chance but think i’ll read her older works and just hope for the best if i decide to buy any more of her work.
Tabz
May 3, 2011
Hi Sharon – sorry for the belated response back.
I’m glad to meet another Diana Palmer fan. Her recent books and I haven’t meshed well but I recall devouring her earlier titles when I was first introduced to her work. I’ve only re-read a few of her oldies so I can’t say if I’ll still enjoy the others…especially considering how the same plots are recycled with the same old but different names. And that’s sad for me because I have so many of her books which I had spent hours/days/months scouring various websites and UBS for keep. I don’t think I’ll throw her books out even knowing that I’m not sure I’ll ever re-read most of them again…and I’m going off here and can go on even more. Lol. In any case, thanks for coming by the blog!