Outlaws: Rafe by Connie Mason

He is going to hang.

Rafe Gentry has committed plenty of sins, but not the robbery and murder that has landed him in jail. Now, with a lynch mob out for his blood, he is staring death in the face...until a blond beauty with the voice of an angel steps in to redeem him.

She is going to wed.

There is only one way to rescue the dark and dangerous outlaw from the hanging tree is to meet in Pueblo. But Sister Angela Abbot never anticipates that she will have to make good on her claim and actually marry the rogue. Railroaded into a hasty wedding, reeling from the raw, seductive power of Rafes kiss, she wonders whether she has made the biggest mistake of her life, or the most exciting leap of faith.


My Thoughts:

I am currently reading one of my all time favorite authors, Connie Mason. It has been while since I have read a book by her, excluding the reread of Tears Like Rain that I did a few months ago. I am about a hundred pages from the end and I am wondering why I fell in love with this author. Why did her books draw me so much. I know that the rules of a good romance have seemed to have changed, but this book is not all that old, being published in 2000.

The actual story is decent. You have a man on the run for a crime he didn't commit. A woman on her own trying to discover the truth behind her father's unexpected death and attempting to claim her inheritance while ditching her conniving stepfather and chosen fiance at the alter. I don't think that the heroine, Angela (Angel), is "too stupid to live" but she does definitely seem to keep getting herself in some predicaments that you would think she was smart enough to avoid and Rafe has the worse luck possible. He is already running from the law when he is mistakenly taken for a murderer and later charged with another.

I am all about falling in love quickly, but can a couple really fall in love within days of meeting each other and having a marriage forced on them due to their own actions? Am I reading too much into the romance and shadowing the story with today's views? And there seems to be something in the dialogue that keeps throwing me off.  I am loving the story as long as the characters aren't speaking. I am going to hold my final judgment until I finish, but I am seriously thinking of going into my closet and getting rid of all of the older books that I have been hoarding. Right now I am thinking the rating for this book will be between a 3 and 4, but as I said before I am reserving final judgment until I have completed it.

3/24/2010

I finished reading Rafe shortly after writing the above post. I was still thinking about the book and wracking my brain trying to figure out what was throwing me off with this particular book when I picked my daughter up from her track meet last night. (The girls came in third in the 4x400, not bad for a bunch of freshman running against Juniors and Seniors) It hit me while driving... Rafe is not an Alpha male!!! He had, in my opinion, some wishy washy tendencies and came across kind of weak at points. I know I love my Alpha males, but I didn't know that I loved them to the point where not having one could potentially ruin a book for me. I love a strong heroine but I would like to see the man take it upon himself to do something to get himself out of trouble once in a while. Don't get me wrong Rafe didn't depend on Angel to get him out of his predicaments that is just the way it happened and unfortunately Rafe ended up coming across as weak.So now that I have finished reading and really thought it all through I am ready to give a Rating: 3.75 stars. I liked this book, but didn't love it. Into the bag it goes headed to the library for donation!