3.5 stars.
Hmmm so maybe it was because this was my rebound book after the epic and wonderfully intense love story of The Bronze Horseman triology but this story just kinda fell flat me. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either. In the mid-1800’s Cord is a half Indian-half white guy who everyone is afraid of and Anne is a white strong willed girl who refused to marry all the dull prospects her father set for her. They end up being forced to marry each other after being beaten by her father’s henchmen nearly to death as punishment from running away from home because she didn’t want to marry his latest old, fat, gross prospect (long story) but do fall in love over the course of the story.
It really bothered me how no one in the town or among their families ever really believed they were in love with each other until the very end and kept doubting them. And the story could have benefitted from a lot of editing – it even made me want to skim several times… But the parts with Cord and Anne were still pretty sweet. And it was cute to see them falling in love. But it wasn’t earth shattering or heart clenching (which I usually look for in my books)… I just never fully felt myself attaching to them even though I really did want to know what was going to happen to them.
I also found the ending too abrupt for my liking – I felt it at least needed an epilogue. Also, it’s possible I also just don’t like the time-period the story took place in. Every character except for the main couple bugged the hell out of me with their close-minded thinking. But despite all this, I still did like the story. But I won’t be trying to convince anyone else to read it.
