Monday 18 July 2011

Against the Wind by Kat Martin

Against the Wind (The Raines of Wind Canyon)Title: Against the Wind
Author: Kat Martin
Series: The Raines of Wind Canyon (book #1)
Next in series: Against the Fire

My rating: 2 Stars

Synopsis: Following the murder of her abusive husband, Sarah Allen returns to her home town in Wyoming to start afresh. Unfortunately, trouble seems to follow, first when she rents a cottage from Jackson Raines, the man she rejected and humiliated in high school, and then when her husband’s enemies become convinced that she has something they want and are not above kidnapping Sarah’s daughter to get it.

Review: Starts out really well but becomes exceedingly far-fetched as the book progresses. There are just too many individual storylines. In addition to the main plot, in which the heroine has not one but four men out to get her for different reasons, there are another two side stories. The first involves a tiresome romance between Sarah’s friend and Jackson’s foreman and the second centers on illegal logging, which is completely irrelevant and unrelated to the main story. Two of these various plot threads remain unresolved at the conclusion. Maybe they will come to an end in the next installment but quite frankly I’m not interested enough to find out. 

The main characters are well fleshed out and have an intense chemistry but I did not feel the romance. While Jackson’s caring and sensitivity make him an especially appealing character, Sarah is annoying and distant. I found her need to keep secrets and her inability to trust Jackson with the truth irritating, and actually felt that he deserved better. I also thought that his initial resentment toward her for the way she treated him in high school was resolved far too easily with a rather weak apology.

In general, the book is well written but the flashback scenes in which Sarah remembers what happened to her husband are extremely repetitive, in fact, the author just copies them word for word each time with a few details added. There is also very little build-up of tension and suspense, and I kept waiting for the something significant to happen. 

Overall, a very disappointing read and one of the few books that get my 2 star rating. I will not be reading any more in the series.

2 comments:

  1. I'm sorry to hear that this is a disappointing read. I just recently bought this book, so it's on my tbr pile...

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  2. This one does sound a bit disappointing. I really hate when books have too much going on at one time. The lack of focus is really distracting. I appreciate your honesty. Fab-tastic review :)

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