The Outlaws: Jess (The Outlaws, Book Two): Connie Mason

“GUNNED DOWN

“Mere days after becoming an outlaw, Jess Gentry stared down the wrong end of a six shooter. A ready trigger-finger brooked no argument, until the black-clad figure calling the shots was shot down. Jess’s conscience and years of training as a doctor demanded he try to help. But the bounty hunter was like no other he had encountered--long ebony hair, even longer sexy legs, and green eyes a man could get lost in. And soon, while Meg didn’t plan on taking him to the sheriff, she had certainly gotten her man.

“Meg Lincoln awoke naked in the arms of an indecently handsome outlaw. An outlaw she had intended to bring in. An outlaw whose compassion and healing hands had saved her life. But his touch incited another ache--a longing she had never known. And for the first time, Meg wondered if there might be a man who was good for something other than hunting. A man worth keeping around...a certain doctor who promised to mend her soul as surely as he had captured her heart.”

After a terribly long absence, I’ve returned to romance novels! Yay! The other night, I realized that something has been missing. I looked back at some older posts and saw that I hadn’t read a truly “fun” book since Christmas Eve. Before that, it had been MONTHS since my last romance novel! How did I ever manage?!?

Now, to the actual review. I started reading this book the a couple of nights ago after much hemming and hawing over which book from my meager library I should pick up (a VAST majority of my books were left back home when I moved for school). I saw that it had been a while since I read one of my favorite authors and grabbed this Connie Mason one. Since this is the second in a series that I began reading quite a while ago, I figured why not?

As of right now, I’m a little under halfway through the book. It’s a good read. I like Jess a lot as a male lead. Having a man who’s skilled with his mind as well as his hands is always a plus in a male lead--not that many romantic heroes are purely beefcakes (anymore) because women have become very vocal that they want a little bit more from their men than rippling pectorals. Meg, on the other hand, began as a very stock female lead for me. This may be attributed to the fact that she played a very minor (rather, unconscious) role for a good deal of the beginning. I’m not sure though, because this feeling persisted for several chapters. Like I said, I’m nearly halfway through the book already, but I’ve only just begun to care for her. Needless to say, this is a little bit disappointing.

The plot, however, isn’t too bad. I’m sure I would appreciate it a lot better had I read this book closer on the heels of the first in this series. In my head, I seem to be confusing it with another Connie Mason book... : / This isn’t a big deal. Totally my fault. I suppose we’ll see where Connie Mason decides to take me!

...

Many weeks later. (This makes me feel like the announcer on Spongebob.)

This book took me an unfortunately long time to finish. I really, really wanted to love this book, but I didn’t. It was good--a decent read because I still love Connie Mason--but it didn’t satisfy my pressing need for a good ol’ romance novel. Either I’ve somehow been turned off of romance novels (which would be tragic), or the subject matter of this book didn’t give me enough. I’ve never pretended to love reading about the nineteenth century West, and I’m going to chalk my un-love of this book to that character flaw of mine. I really think I should have picked one of my more “traditional” reads to ease myself back into my sorely neglected romance reading. When in doubt, don’t ever fail to fall back on an ol’ reliable :)

To retouch on the characters, I never loved Meg, no matter how hard I tried. Jess grew a little more generic as the story went on and this really, really disappointed me. Meg’s “little secret” did make the plot a little more interesting, but I remained unimpressed. The ending was decent, if a little hollow and generic. Browsing online, I stumbled across several other unfavorable reviews of this book. Many were a lot harsher than mine, but I don’t necessarily believe these are fair. Connie Mason is a fantastic author, but this book fell a little short. Everyone is entitled to one non-amazing book. However, I’ll not let this turn me off of Mason’s writing. She retains a place on my top authors list.