This is 17th in a series in the one setting. That said, this seems to be the start of a new grouping so you don't really need the others. It wouldn't This is 17th in a series in the one setting. That said, this seems to be the start of a new grouping so you don't really need the others. It wouldn't hurt, though, as there is some bleed-over.
I'm souring a bit on this series and on Mallery in general. I've found that some of the romance tropes just aren't working for me, any more—particularly those that lead to dark moments, which I hate. I really like Phoebe and wanted to see how she'd turn out and hoping she'd learn not to let everyone take advantage of her kindness all the time. And her seeing deeper into Zane was nice, too.
I'm not much of a fan of Zane, though. He's harsh and unforgiving and emotionally constipated and that's having an affect on his brother and others around him. Yeah, he does hard things to take care of them, but he's also forever giving the impression of disapproval and being stand-offish. So when I came to the stupidity of his "love makes people weak and stupid" I gave up trying. I don't care what single experience you have or how damaging it was, this is a stupid thing to believe. People don't actually do this* because love is at the heart of too many of the stories we tell each other (even action flicks will often have a love line through them). Even a rancher who doesn't much like people is going to encounter plenty of counter examples and stories of people finding happiness and acceptance in love. So you know the author is setting Zane up to hurt Phoebe with a dark moment because of this stupid notion that "love is pain" and even that is going be after the inherent negative motivation** has dragged the plot to a stand-still.
So yeah. I hate that this is a thing romance writers do and I'm thinking it's going to be something I crash out of from now on. It's lazy characterization and bankrupt conflict and writers need to stop thinking this is a thing until they can drag some cave-dweller forward claiming "see this guy! He actually believes it!" Because that guy? If he exists at all he's not going to be someone anybody wants to base a romance on...
* Okay, people are complex and weird and it's possible that someone out there actually believes that love is pain and they should avoid it at all costs so they don't become weak. But these people, should they exist, are damaged and need some serious changes (and likely therapy) before they can be considered for healthy relationships with others. In other words, they are not the kind of people that romance authors would want to write about even if they knew any.
** Negative Motivations: I kind of hate that the term "negative motivation" isn't widespread, yet. Since it isn't, I'm going to save off this little jag to append to my reviews that feature the term. a bit back (or, if that link doesn't work, ) and it changed how I understand story. The problem with the term is that if you've never heard it before, you'd assume it meant motivations that are harmful or immoral. Not so. What it refers to is motivations not to do something. The thing is that many of us are motivated to not do things for a lot of different, perfectly valid and reasonable, reasons. The problem is that in a story motivations to not do things are a huge drag on the plot—particularly considering the fact that most negative motivations are overcome by the character simply deciding they don't care any more (or, rather, that they do care and are now motivated to do the thing). So not only do you have a counter to action but you also have a situation where to overcome it, all a character has to do is change their mind. Which means eventually, the reader is rooting for the character to get over him/herself already and do the thing we want them to do. Conflict drives story. Conflict between a reader and a main character drives readers away from story....more
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