Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

WARNING... POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD I understand that this is the author's first book and it is an admirable start. But her characters are borderline unbelievable and I wish that she had created a more developed sense of imagery. Maddie is described many, many, many, times as being perfect. She's so nice and pure and good even though she's lived through hell. She's been beaten by her step brother (although I don't know how that would work since her father never married his mother.. Maddie's mother and father died at the same time... so yeah big inconsistency there) but ok moving on... We the reader are supposed to believe that she's suffered tragic horrors that would have broken a lesser woman ... but she continues on like she's touched in the head! She hates Kenneth (evil Stepbrother) and refuses to marry the man who raped her (duh!) and bears the torture doled out by Kenneth stoically. But she hopes that nothing bad happens to either one of them? WHAT? I'm sorry... I'd be like I want them dead... I want them brought back and killed again... many many times... But NOOOOO... not Maddie the paragon of goodness. Then we get to the hero... Alex.. our supposedly tough but fair and gentle highland laird. He swoops in to the rescue. And then we get to his internal dialogue... and good lord does he turn into either a raging sappy idiot or he acts like a randy horn-dog who can't stop thinking about the girl but he yells at her because he's always distracted by her... Whiplash much? Then we get to the point where Alex has helped Maddie through the worst of her fears after much I want you... I'm afraid of men... but I want you.... but not this way... but I feel things I don't understand... Good Grief woman. And then the author expects me to believe that on their wedding night... during their first act of lovemaking... she's going to have some sort of dream about her MOTHER saying that she's going to be ok and to love her man both emotionally and physically.... really REALLY? I'm serious... it really happens... and I sat back and said WHAT THE (Explicative)? you're gonna go space cadet at THAT point and talk to your mother? Then at the end you get a horrible stab at homosexuality that actually comes off more of an insult than anything... there really was no call for that and it came out of left field that it just confuses everything even more. So basically... as a wrap up, the characters came off as flat and one dimensional, there was little imagery of the surrounding area (we are supposed to be in the highlands... can I get a mental picture of what I'm supposed to be looking at? The vocabulary of the heroine is no better than elementary... the hero doesn't capture the wanted brawny, sexy tough guy (who can learn to fall in love) ... he comes off as meh and a guy who knows Maddie's been tortured and is scared but somehow he always ends up YELLING at her even though he knows it will scare her... Hope the author luck on future works but I might think twice before I bought from her again...