Naughty Marietta

Rating:
Summary: fun western romance
Review: In 1872 Galveston, Texas, septuagenarian Maxwell Lacey nears death but needs to right the wrong he committed when he tossed his pregnant unmarried daughter from their home twenty-five years ago. Maxwell cannot do anything for his deceased daughter, but wants to see his granddaughter Marietta Stone before he dies. Only her poster as a diva in the Central City, Colorado opera house keeps him alive. Maxwell uses his wealth and influence to save former confederate officer Cole Heflin from the gallows. Cole agrees to bring Marietta to Maxwell in exchange for $10,000 that the pardoned felon will provide to the widowed mother and sister of a deceased friend.

In Central City Cole attends the opera where Marietta performs. He is stunned by her beauty, but shocked when she sings in front of the packed house because her voice stinks. Cole learns that a middle-aged patron sponsors Marietta and three of his henchmen guard her around the clock. Cole abducts Marietta from underneath the protection of her local patron. As she tries every trick, including seduction, to gain her freedom, he safely takes her past her patron's chasing guards, Comanche, mountain men, and buffalo. On the trail they fall in love but she resents his forcing her to see her detestable grandfather.

This is a fun western romance that is loaded with non-stop action though Marietta's protectors seem a bit too pathetic. The story line is absolutely superb when Marietta and Cole battle one other for control of a relationship that changes from captive to forever love (no Stockholm syndrome with this couple). Sub-genre fans will have a good time reading NAUGHTY MARIETTA.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Worst book I ever forced myself to finish.
Review: This book was awful. Cole, an ex-lawyer saved from the hangman's noose goes to bring home Marietta, an opera singer who can't sing, to her dying grandfather. Marietta is spoiled until she suddenly (and unbelievably) "sees the light" and becomes thoughtful and kind. Cole is actually a pretty good character, but he and Marietta are stuck with stilted conversations, inappropriate summations of things that the author seems to have been unable to write dialogue for, and sex that seems shoved into the book for the sake of sex. If I had known this was going to be such a bad book, I wouldn't have picked it off the $1 shelf at the used book store. No wonder it ended up there. I can only hope some of Nan Ryan's other books are better.