Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Linda S. Howington is an American best-selling romance author writing under the pseudonym Linda Howard. After 21 years of penning stories for her own enjoyment, she submitted a novel for publication which was very successful. Her first work was published by Silhouette in 1982. She is a charter member of Romance Writers of America and in 2005 Howard was awarded their Career Achievement Award.
Linda Howard lives in Gadsden, Alabama with her husband, Gary F. Howington, and two golden retrievers. She has three grown stepchildren and three grandchildren.
I can't believe I never read this book before. I really enjoyed it. I love the feel of a modern western. I'm addicted to this theme. I thought Rule was such an intense, rugged, sexy, appealing hero. He was raw and dominant, like many of Linda Howard's heroes. But he never stepped over the edge to domineering bully, for me. He had a vulnerability and a need for Cat that made my heart flutter. Cat is a heroine that I could sympathize with. She spent so many years running scared from her overwhelming attraction for Rule, a man who swooped in and took control of her father's ranch after he died. And he took control of her, stepping in as a sort of surrogate guardian. Although he feelings for her were far from avuncular. Their interlude when she was seventeen and he was in his twenties didn't strike me as wrong (although legally it is), because there was a deep connection there that seemed to spark out of control. It didn't have a sleazy, Lolita vibe for me. I think it was handled very well by Ms. Howard.
The western ranch setting appealed to me. I loved the descriptions of working on a horse-breeding ranch. But it didn't overshadow the love story, merely forming a backdrop that helped to better characterize Rule and Cat. I so wanted to be there on that ranch, as I read this story.
Cat's marriage wasn't delved into overly much, but it sounds like it was a happy one. It is nice to have a character have been happily-married, and the deceased spouse not treated as the bad guy. And the fact that she was fated to love Rule so much more didn't mean that she couldn't have loved her husband.
Rule's intense love and feelings towards Cat really won me over. There are few types of heroes that I love more than heroes in pursuit. He was really intent on getting her to stay, and somewhat ruthless in his seduction, but that was just fine with me. It makes the romance all that more thrilling for me. I love a man who goes after the woman he wants.
The reviews for this one by others are kind of low. I guess I'm in the minority here. I would actually add this to my list of faves by Linda Howard. Sometimes her alphas can be domineering brutes to me, and that makes some of her books less enjoyable. In the case of Rule, he was done so well, that his alpha and dominant nature was a highly enjoyable part of this book. It might be that Cat didn't come off as being bullied by him. She was susceptible to him, no question about it. But he was probably just as much in her thrall. Their relationship had a mutuality in the level of love and attraction they held for each other that made the alpha/possessive tendencies of Rule feel right. And Cat definitely showed some jealous/possessive tendencies towards him, as well.
The sensual elements were well-done. Something about the way the category romances that were written in the 80s that I love. The books had the chemistry and the fiery love scenes that I like, but they aren't over the top, where you wonder, are these people really in love, or they just having some explosive sex? You can feel the love in the private moments. But that's just my opinion, and you know how much opinions are worth.
I'm really glad I had the chance to finally read Against the Rules. It's worth its weight in gold for this reader. It's going on my Linda Howard keeper shelf.
I enjoyed the overall “Susan Fox” vibe of this story, but I really didn’t enjoy the main characters.
The Susan Fox vibe: Heroine returns to the ranch she inherited from her father. Hero is the foreman of that ranch. They had sex when heroine was 17, but hero never said I love you, so heroine ran off for 8 years. (She moved to Chicago, married and is now widowed. Hero had lots of sex with different women)
Heroine’s stepsister has been trying to catch the hero’s attention (in between husbands) and heroine’s stepmother just wants to get away.
H/h have sex the first night she’s back, but then heroine will only agree to stay if they don’t have sex again. Hero agrees, but pursues her anyway.
Their impasse is broken when hero breaks his leg. Heroine now understands she loves him, but does he love her or the ranch? The HEA has the hero declaring his love for her and not the ranch for the obvious conclusion after many repetitious pages.
This is one of those romances where the reader is supposed to feel sorry for the hero because he suffered PTSD from his service in Vietnam, was judged by an unfeeling town, and has held on to his unrequited love for the heroine for years as his only hope for a happy life. I never enjoy these stories because the heroine is supposed to be an emotional support person for this character rather than their romance being based on anything that is mutually beneficial for them both.
I guess it’s romantic that the hero needs her so much and has worked so hard on the ranch she inherited so that it would be a paradise for her. But – *shudder* Who wants to be the object of all that obsession?
Well, this ninny of a heroine does. She is only too happy fetch and carry for him after he breaks his leg. She soothes and cajoles and stays by his side to the point where is endangering her own health.
Not my idea of a hero. Heroine was hopeless from the start.
Oh boy...so dated. This "hero" is something else. When the heroine was 15 years old, he pulls her pants down and spanks her bare ass. Pedo much? I just can't.
Many romances depict heroines in a fit of jealousy over the hero's involvement with another woman. Linda Howard's Against the rules however has a heroine pitching a jealous fit over a ranch. Until the very end of the book, the very last pages, the heroine believes that the hero is interested in her in order to get his hands legally on her ranch. And she decides that she will take this because it is better than nothing. WRONG! Of all the doormatty, wishy washy, insufferable heroines!
Add to that purpletastic prose with the heroine constantly arching into the power of hero's loins, then feeling excitement in her own loins, then back again to his loins, and...sigh.
I did not enjoy this story overall although there were parts that I liked. The author depicted a very charismatic, stoic but still-water-runs-deep, rugged kind of cowboy hero that I love in this genre. She devoted all her love to him and it seems like nothing was left over for the dull, uninteresting, one dimensional heroine, to the point that one had to wonder what exactly fueled his obsession with her.
The setting is at a horse ranch and some of the passages describing the horses and their training and every day care were both interesting and heartfelt. Too bad I could not say the same about the romance.
I did like it. I liked the first half most. Toward the last it did seem to drag a bit with the same ground being covered over and over. Basically the entire plot was the heroine's struggle to decide if the H really wanted her for her or wanted total control of the ranch she owned (he was the foreman). Not a lot else to hold it together. Could have cut 50 pages IMHO.
This is one of those old school, early '80's LH titles that feature a super bossy alpha, so be aware. He wasn't a bad guy, but he was very pushy and determined to get his way. It's fun in that old school way that some of us enjoy.
I thought I had read all the old vintage LH books, but I guess I missed this luckily for me. I have been in a mood for old school romances and this fit the bill. Yes, there were some questionable bits, but I loved the super passionate romance and found it so evident that the hero loved her all along.
A lady returns back to her ranch to meet the cowboy she's been running for+ loads of complicated relatives.
Sounded like a Diana Palmer plot, this time in a LH book (aka way more sex). I was super excited!
Cathryn comes back to her ranch, now in Rule's arms. He is her foreman, the man who haunts her dreams, who was her first, and who now wants to possess her..but she keeps running. I really like the blurb but the execution, especially the heroine was really really annoying. Her emotions are like a ping pong ball, and she's always making accusations and pushing the hero away even though the author never provides evidence of any misdeed done by him..and you actually feel sorry for his past as well as appreciate what all he does for the heroine and the ranch (minus the OTT dominating behavior but that isn't a deal breaker).
All it takes is for the hero to get seriously injured for the heroine to realize her true feelings for him, still she goes on a date with another man, just like she married someone else in the past.
So a potentially good story spoiled by a stubborn heroine.
Cathryn Donohue-Ashe has come home to the ranch her deceased father meant her to have. Now all she has to do it claim it from the man who has run it with an iron fist for over eight years. When Cathryn left the Bar-D, she left a piece of her soul. Life in Chicago with her husband, a man she loved just not with the passion he deserved, was a comfort to her. Now after his death, returning to the ranch is like kicking over a hornet's nest.
Rule Jackson owes Cathryn's father for saving his life and is ashamed for driving his only daughter away from her home. She's coming back and this time he means for her to stay. He just has to convince her of that. The passion they once shared is alive and a vital thing even after so many years and Rule isn't going to let her get away this time.
This is a typical 1980's alpha-hole hero and intransigent heroine tale. Because Linda Howard is such a great author she makes the tale far from typical. The audio by Lesa Lockford was fantastic and really made this book what it was.
This being a Linda Howard book has no suspense. This is a simple romance novel without any angst. I liked this book as it was very apparent how much in love the H was with the h.
I love this book if only for the fact that the ranch manager hero spent the entire time being sweaty and dusty and mean as a junkyard dog.
Ranch heiress comes back home to her ranch after being widowed. Her ranch manager, a grouchy Vietnam vet (this was new for me), has been waiting for her.
The chemistry was stupid good. I went to the local used bookstore and picked up a copy of this the next day 🤪
A case of a wrong blurb and the wrong reader. They had a one night stand, not a torrid affair. When she returns she's sure of nothing, even less of herself. Rule, I got no idea. If there was a suspense element I had yet to see.
What I got: a bad case of New adultitis, she's supposed to be 27, she reads barely 19. Whatever he wants he gets, and you have no idea why. She's nothing but a sex fiend, he touches she goes up in flame. Hormones ahoi.
Probably it's not a bad book, but it wasn't interesting. Even as a simple love story it failed for me.
I enjoyed this baby so much and I want to read more Linda Howard's books! I think I'm in Linda Howard marathon today. >< Rule's such an intense man, and his arrogance could douse the fire of feeling that I have for him, yet in the end it made my fire all blazing and sparkling. I loved him! Cat's weak in front of Rule, yet the new Cat refuse to back down and I loooooove it. She's being 'bullied' by Rule and she's weak because of it, yet she challenge him more. The kind of romance that I always love!
I can't help but think that all the drama would have been foregone had Rule and Cathryn just talked. I might be simplifying things but a lot of their heartache could've been saved -- and if Cathryn had stayed at the Ranch instead of running away.
All the same, Rule's not the worst alpha male I've read and truthfully, he's the first that got me interested in cowboys. It just never worked for me before. Might have to look into others now!
Another one of Howard's over-the-top alpha males. Sometimes I complain about how other authors' male leads are a little too nice and sensitive, but Howard's extreme doesn't quite work for me either. Rule is probably the scariest alpha male I've encountered in any of the romance novels I've read. He went to Vietnam when he was a young man and came back traumatized, alienating everyone in his small hometown with his bad behavior and drinking heavily until Cathryn's father gave him a job on the ranch. When Cathryn's father died, Rule took over running it, and Cathryn, who was in love with Rule, eventually fled him and his domination to live in Chicago. Eight years later, two years after her husband died, she returns to the ranch and to Rule, but she isn't sure whether he actually desires her or if he just wants to keep his grip on the ranch through her.
Rule might have been a great character if the novel were like 3 times longer, but he only really starts opening up at the very, very end. I wanted to get to know him a lot better and to see them interacting a little more smoothly. It didn't feel like there was much of a progression to the relationship. Also, Cathryn supposedly loved Rule from when she was seventeen, but realistically, she knew NOTHING about him. Unless she was a glutton for punishment. And her extreme physical responsiveness to him, even when she's furious, seriously got on my nerves. I just don't like female leads who eagerly give it away even when they're mad.
You can tell this book was written in 1983, because the early relationship between the leads borders on the creepy. Rule knows Cat since she's a child and when her father dies, he pretty much controls her ranch. Given that he's in a position of authority and 11 years older to boot, you think the guy would control himself. Yes, Cat is a bit of a spoiled brat, resenting Rule because he's in charge, but still, he's the adult here. He should NOT have laid hands on her back then.
Cat is afraid of the feelings that Rule engenders in her so she goes away and marries somebody else. After the death of her husband she returns, still resenting Rule. She supposedly loves the ranch, but she shows no interest whatsoever in its management, having never worried about how the operation was doing. When she discovers all the changes he's made, she's furious even though the guy has actually made the ranch more successful and pretty much worked like a horse on her behalf all that time. Even though you don't like the way he behaved when she was young, the way Cat behaves as an adult makes you lose all sympathy for her. At the beginning, you think she's jealous of Rule because he's in charge of the ranch but then it turns out that she's jealous of the ranch because it has all of Rule's time!!! I mean really!!
As usual, early Linda Howard heroes are the caveman type and the women pretty much melt when they look their way. But the sexual tension is off the hook so in that sense, the book is super enjoyable.
I liked the word play on the tittle and the hero's name. It makes his character dark, dangerous, and a formidable force to be reckon with. There's not such heavy angst or it's not as deep as it could have been. His devotion to her was endearing. Every breathless kiss was filled with longing that you felt how meaningful it was on his part. It was largely and acquisition type seduction, but at the same time you felt that it was his every reason to live.
2 stars for the story. 1 star for audiobook narrator Lesa Lockford.
I believe this may have been one of the first books Linda Howard wrote. It was published in 1983. It reminded me of early Harlequin novels. Too soap-opera-ish. Too much pondering in the mind. Not enough plot. No interesting character development. The author frequently refers to the hero Rule as pantherlike. He’s brooding and silent and all women want him. Cathryn is rich and good looking.
One main plot conflict was: Rule and Cathryn are in lust with each other. Cathryn loves him. Rule asks her to marry him. Then she gets all angsty and decides she must leave town. Her reason is that he never said the words “I love you.” She wonders if he just wants her because she owns the ranch.
Another angsty conflict. Cathryn’s father died and left the ranch to her. Her stepmother Monica was supposed to be in charge of things until Cathryn’s 25th birthday. Monica wasn’t interested in writing checks and being in charge, so she put Rule in charge. He was listed as the check signer. When Catherine sees that Rule is a check signer, she freaks out and gets mad at him. As if he violated something. He did nothing wrong. He managed the ranch very successfully.
Most of the story is Cathryn being overly angsty about deciding what to do.
AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR: Lesa Lockford was good with female voices, but her voice for the hero was awful. She spent so much energy trying to sound gravely and low that there was no emotional interpretation in his dialogue. He did not sound seductive or sexy. He sounded like a frog with laryngitis.
DATA: Narrative mode: 3rd person. Unabridged audiobook length: 7 hrs 36 mins. Swearing language: none. Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: 5 plus 1 referred to. Book copyright: 1983. Genre: contemporary western romance.
Cathryn Ashe has returned to her ranch in Texas which is managed by Rule Jackson, the man who took her innocence. Having lost her husband 2 years before she is still hiding in Chicago afraid of the hold Rule has over her. Rule is a VietNam vet who came home severely damaged. Thanks to Cat's father, he found a purpose in ranching and became an expert at breeding and raising horses and a successful rancher. The one thing he doesn't have is Cat. He wants her back to stay.
Cat is completely annoying - one minute she doesn't want to have anything to do with Rule, then she can't wait to see him at lunch. She acts 15 more than she does 25. Rule is testy but he doesn't deviate from wanting her home on the ranch. She gets bitchy because the ranch is known as his, she sees that he has made her a ton of money but is ticked because no one knows she owns the ranch. Would have liked it better if she wasn't so nuts.
I’m in a Linda Howard bookreading spree. This is the 3rd book I’ve read from her now.
The H was an arrogant, passionate alpha male. He does a lot of manhandling and telling her the law in her house. Just the way I like a H in a romance novel.
I take one star off for the h though. She was annoying. An entitled brat who had inherited a ranch from her father.
At 17 years old at the ranch, she goes completely naked to the H to fight with him and they make love.
She runs away from the ranch because she was scared of “the intensity” of her love for the H.
I didn’t like the fact that she then married another man and she slept with her husband all those years until her husband died.
The h spoils part of the fun of reading this book, but it was still very good. 4 stars.
I wish I had paid attention to the reviews I read before I bought this book. It was awful. The hero was a real jerk. He was rude, self-serving, and over the top sadistic. The whole Vietnam excuse was crap. The heroine was strange. She was basically raped at seventeen by above creep, she ran away, married another guy who later died. And then sashayed back into Rule's arms. Yes, the creep's name was Rule.
Linda Howard has fallen off my 'can do no wrong list.' And once more, I promise to stay away from books with bad reviews no matter how much I like the author's other books.
Didnot work for me, sorry, Linda Howard. This book is one of her first ones i think. Hero is a Vietnam soldier.
So...
Hero was just a brute, he only could pick up our heroine and make her close her mouth with kiss. He did not explain nothing till 99% of the book.
He didnt tell her he loves her, only telling her she is his she is his she is his... WHAT???
i think nowadays this book is very old fashioned. Too much alpha primitive man. Heroine She was just having too much inner dialogues, i didnt understad her at all.
Separation Both with other people during separation Hero was a playboy
At seventeen Cathryn Ashe had fought Rule Jackson and lost her innocence, then fled to the anonymity of the city. At twenty-five she was back, sure of herself and her newfound independence and ready to challenge him again.
But Rule had raised the stakes, and if she lost now the penalty would be high: her heart, the heart that she finally knew had always been his for the taking
I couldnt stand the heroine. Whining all the time. She is supposed to be a woman now, but she is just a whiny girl. I want him. I dont want him. Make up your mind!
He is abusive. What 28yo spanks a 15 yo because she got a date? She didnt even have sex. It was just a date.
They dont talk. They yell and have sex. He is abusive but it is ok since he makes her hot and bothered.