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Hawk's Way #7
The Headstrong Bride
The Headstrong Bride by Joan Johnston released on Oct 25, 1994 is available now for purchase.
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 1994
15 people are currently reading
165 people want to read
About the author
Joan Johnston
126 books755 followersJoan Johnston (born Little Rock, Arkansas) is a best-selling American author of over forty contemporary and historical romance novels.
Johnston was the third of seven children born to an Air Force sergeant and his music-teacher wife. She received a B.A. in theatre arts from Jacksonville University in 1970, then earning an M.A. in theatre from the University of Illinois, Urbana in 1971. She received a law degree (with honors) at the University of Texas at Austin in 1980. For the next five years, Johnston worked as an attorney, serving with the Hunton & Williams firm in Richmond, Virginia, and with Squire, Sanders, & Dempsey in Miami. She has also worked as a newspaper editor and drama critic in San Antonio, Texas, and as a college professor at Southwest Texas Junior College, Barry University, and the University of Miami.
Johnston is a member of the Authors Guild, Novelists, Inc., Romance Writers of America, and Florida Romance Writers. She has two children and one grandchild, and divides her time between two homes, in Colorado and Florida.
Awards
* Paperbook Book Club of America's Book Rak Award (twice)
* Romantic Times' Best Western Historical Series Award (twice)
* Romantic Times' Best New Western Writer
* Romantic Times' Best Historical Series Award (twice)
* The Maggie (twice)
* Romance Writers of America RITA Award finalist for The Disobedient Bride
Johnston was the third of seven children born to an Air Force sergeant and his music-teacher wife. She received a B.A. in theatre arts from Jacksonville University in 1970, then earning an M.A. in theatre from the University of Illinois, Urbana in 1971. She received a law degree (with honors) at the University of Texas at Austin in 1980. For the next five years, Johnston worked as an attorney, serving with the Hunton & Williams firm in Richmond, Virginia, and with Squire, Sanders, & Dempsey in Miami. She has also worked as a newspaper editor and drama critic in San Antonio, Texas, and as a college professor at Southwest Texas Junior College, Barry University, and the University of Miami.
Johnston is a member of the Authors Guild, Novelists, Inc., Romance Writers of America, and Florida Romance Writers. She has two children and one grandchild, and divides her time between two homes, in Colorado and Florida.
Awards
* Paperbook Book Club of America's Book Rak Award (twice)
* Romantic Times' Best Western Historical Series Award (twice)
* Romantic Times' Best New Western Writer
* Romantic Times' Best Historical Series Award (twice)
* The Maggie (twice)
* Romance Writers of America RITA Award finalist for The Disobedient Bride
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 7, 2019
Rancher hero married the heroine as revenge. Sounds good, right?
Wrong. This was a disappointment.
Hero blames heroine’s father for his father’s suicide. Seems his father made bad investments based on the heroine’s father’s advice. The hero speculates the father wanted to add to his landholdings and was hoping to buy his family ranch for a song.
When the heroine offers her condolences at the funeral, the hero gets the bright idea that the way to wreck vengeance on the father is to come between him and his daughter.
Why the father and daughter aren’t already estranged is a mystery. The heroine had been engaged twice before and twice before her father had paid off her suitors to go away.
After a three-month courtship with the hero acting the gentleman, he proposes. Heroine accepts and ignores her father’s and brothers’ objections.
(Hero’s father also offered hero money to go away. Hero never told the heroine this. Why? So she wouldn’t think poorly of her father? If he wanted alienation – this was the way to do it. This made no sense.)
Hero is conflicted about hurting the heroine, but he keeps visiting his father’s grave to remember his plans for vengeance. He gives the heroine one last out when he shows up at their courthouse wedding unshaven and wearing jeans and a tattered shirt. Heroine goes through with the wedding.
And …
Nothing. The H/h get along fine. The heroine cleans and paints the house. She takes over the bookkeeping and cooks and cleans and has sex, sex, sex.
But the hero still isn’t happy because he has to see this vengeance thing through. He makes sure the heroine doesn’t see her father. Heroine knows hero has a thing about her father, but she doesn’t know why. She thinks by following the hero's orders and staying away from her family the hero will change his mind over time.
To add to the hero’s shortcomings, the heroine realizes the hero has low self-esteem and keeps to himself because he didn’t do well in school. But never fear, hero is just another fix-it project to our intrepid heroine. She has him diagnosed as dyslexic, finds him a tutor, and he learns to read, etc.
So it’s time to wrap it up. Right before Christmas, pregnant heroine wants to go to her parent’s for dinner. Hero gives an ultimatum: If she goes, he’ll lock her out. And yes, he knows she’s pregnant.
She goes to the dinner and defends the hero to her father, but when she returns she finds that the hero has locked her out. She goes to her brother’s to stay.
The POV shifts to the heroine’s father. He realizes he needs to clear the air. He finally tells the hero the real story of his father’s suicide. He had cancer and was going to die soon. He took on risky investments to help his son. When that failed, he killed himself before he got too sick to stop work. Hero accepts this version of the story.
And then heroine walks out of their bedroom. Yes that’s right:
The hero went to her brother’s house and groveled OFF PAGE.
WTH?
There were so many things wrong with this choice. No one cares about his reconciliation with his father in law. It’s reconciliation with the heroine that matters and the author chose to do it OFF PAGE.
Also:
Hero alienating heroine from her father is not vengeance and isn’t an eye for an eye as he tried to justify it. It’s controlling, abusive behavior and why the heroine put up with it is beyond me.
The father was also controlling. Heroine admitted her father was right each time he paid off her boyfriends. So she was raised to be a doormat?
Sadly, there was nothing admirable about the hero – he was not respected in town. He was considered lazy on top of his lack of school smarts. The heroine helped him gain confidence and get over his pity party. I guess if you like hurt/comfort stories this might appeal to you. It certainly didn’t work for me.
Wrong. This was a disappointment.
Hero blames heroine’s father for his father’s suicide. Seems his father made bad investments based on the heroine’s father’s advice. The hero speculates the father wanted to add to his landholdings and was hoping to buy his family ranch for a song.
When the heroine offers her condolences at the funeral, the hero gets the bright idea that the way to wreck vengeance on the father is to come between him and his daughter.
Why the father and daughter aren’t already estranged is a mystery. The heroine had been engaged twice before and twice before her father had paid off her suitors to go away.
After a three-month courtship with the hero acting the gentleman, he proposes. Heroine accepts and ignores her father’s and brothers’ objections.
(Hero’s father also offered hero money to go away. Hero never told the heroine this. Why? So she wouldn’t think poorly of her father? If he wanted alienation – this was the way to do it. This made no sense.)
Hero is conflicted about hurting the heroine, but he keeps visiting his father’s grave to remember his plans for vengeance. He gives the heroine one last out when he shows up at their courthouse wedding unshaven and wearing jeans and a tattered shirt. Heroine goes through with the wedding.
And …
Nothing. The H/h get along fine. The heroine cleans and paints the house. She takes over the bookkeeping and cooks and cleans and has sex, sex, sex.
But the hero still isn’t happy because he has to see this vengeance thing through. He makes sure the heroine doesn’t see her father. Heroine knows hero has a thing about her father, but she doesn’t know why. She thinks by following the hero's orders and staying away from her family the hero will change his mind over time.
To add to the hero’s shortcomings, the heroine realizes the hero has low self-esteem and keeps to himself because he didn’t do well in school. But never fear, hero is just another fix-it project to our intrepid heroine. She has him diagnosed as dyslexic, finds him a tutor, and he learns to read, etc.
So it’s time to wrap it up. Right before Christmas, pregnant heroine wants to go to her parent’s for dinner. Hero gives an ultimatum: If she goes, he’ll lock her out. And yes, he knows she’s pregnant.
She goes to the dinner and defends the hero to her father, but when she returns she finds that the hero has locked her out. She goes to her brother’s to stay.
The POV shifts to the heroine’s father. He realizes he needs to clear the air. He finally tells the hero the real story of his father’s suicide. He had cancer and was going to die soon. He took on risky investments to help his son. When that failed, he killed himself before he got too sick to stop work. Hero accepts this version of the story.
And then heroine walks out of their bedroom. Yes that’s right:
The hero went to her brother’s house and groveled OFF PAGE.
WTH?
There were so many things wrong with this choice. No one cares about his reconciliation with his father in law. It’s reconciliation with the heroine that matters and the author chose to do it OFF PAGE.
Also:
Hero alienating heroine from her father is not vengeance and isn’t an eye for an eye as he tried to justify it. It’s controlling, abusive behavior and why the heroine put up with it is beyond me.
The father was also controlling. Heroine admitted her father was right each time he paid off her boyfriends. So she was raised to be a doormat?
Sadly, there was nothing admirable about the hero – he was not respected in town. He was considered lazy on top of his lack of school smarts. The heroine helped him gain confidence and get over his pity party. I guess if you like hurt/comfort stories this might appeal to you. It certainly didn’t work for me.
March 6, 2009
I really liked this book when I first read it in 2001, but time has passed and, sadly, it didn´t hold its appeal after a reread. :( Sam spends too much time nursing his revenge against Callen´s father and I don´t find this kind of behavior interesting anymore. But it was good to see that I still like Callen as much as I did the first time around.
May 31, 2021
Judulnya benar - benar sesuai deh. H/h dua - duanya keras kepala. Callen bersikeras menikahi Sam yang baru dikenalnya setelah ayah Sam meninggal. Mereka berdua tetangga tetapi tidak bergaul akrab karena Sam lebih tua beberapa tahun dan juga dengan karakter yang sulit untuk bergaul. Sam beranggapan ayah Callenlah yang mengarahkan ayah Sam untuk berinvestasi yang berujung penipuan sehingga menyebabkan hutang menumpuk serta terancamnya peternakan miliknya disita. Sam menemukan ayahnya bunuh diri dan alasan inilah Sam mendekati Callen demi membalas dendam kepada ayah Callen. Intinya sih ini novel isinya tentang kesalahpahaman saja. Sam menderita disleksia sehingga sedari kecil dianggap bodoh. Sam juga keras kepala mempertahankan rasa sakit hati dan balas dendamnya ke ayah Callen tanpa perlu mendengar penjelasan lengkapnya. Btw, terjemahannya agak kaku ya tidak seperti biasanya untuk standar terbitan gramedia.
3⭐
3⭐
February 6, 2019
#24 - 2019 RC
Genre: Harlequin Romance
Genre: Harlequin Romance
July 1, 2011
ceritanya so sweet banget ttg co yang slah balas dendam...dia mengira bokap nya si ce yang menyebabkan bokapnya bunuh diri...jadinya dia mendekati si ce dengan tujuan balas dendam...
dalam waktu 3 bulan dia membuat si ce jatuh cinta dan mau merit sama dia...
terjemahannya kadang agak aneh ada kata 'engkau' 2 nya...jadul bo...
tapi karena ceritanya oke jadinya menurut gw tetep enak aja buat di baca...
dalam waktu 3 bulan dia membuat si ce jatuh cinta dan mau merit sama dia...
terjemahannya kadang agak aneh ada kata 'engkau' 2 nya...jadul bo...
tapi karena ceritanya oke jadinya menurut gw tetep enak aja buat di baca...
July 22, 2011
ceritanya sangat bertipe harlequin, hmm sebenernya lumayan sih ceritanya, cuma endingnya menurut gw rada terlalu maksa dan ga diceritain secara detail (ada adegan di pagi hari dimana si cewe ternyata sudah dijemput suaminya dari rumah kakak si cewe, tapi cerita ngejemputnya tidak diceritakan dengan detail, jadi kerasa ceritanya ga dalem dan ehmm... weird ;p)
July 20, 2011
aku kasih bintang 2 karena covernya yg keren deh hahahaa............
*aku pengen putu kaya gitu, tp pungguku jelek* [lol]
ceritanya biasa banget, namanya jg HQ haha
terjemahannya bikin ngantuk, baca prolognya aja udah bikin pengen mbanting ni novel :P
gitu lah pokoknya.. aku pengen intip ebuk nya aja untuk buku ke 3 nya, mungkin tidak seboring itu :P
*aku pengen putu kaya gitu, tp pungguku jelek* [lol]
ceritanya biasa banget, namanya jg HQ haha
terjemahannya bikin ngantuk, baca prolognya aja udah bikin pengen mbanting ni novel :P
gitu lah pokoknya.. aku pengen intip ebuk nya aja untuk buku ke 3 nya, mungkin tidak seboring itu :P
March 4, 2012
3 ½ Stars! ~ Sam Longstreet had nearly lost everything to learn "vengeance was a bitter bed fellow". Callen Whitelaw knew from the moment she met Sam that he was a man that called out to her soul. Callen's a smart woman who loves Sam with all her heart, only sometimes that doesn't seem nearly enough to take away Sam's burdens. Another heartfelt installment in the Hawk's Way series.
February 3, 2013
A very quick read and well...fun. Suka dengan heroine nya si Callen, tapi agak2 sebal dengan si Sam. Padahal kalo mau denger penjelasan bokapnya Callen dari awal, gak harus gini kali >.<
Tapi namanya juga romance, kalo dijelasin di awal gak jadi buku donk,hihihi....
Sayang terjemahannya banyak typo, dan ada kalimat2 yang janggal.
Tapi namanya juga romance, kalo dijelasin di awal gak jadi buku donk,hihihi....
Sayang terjemahannya banyak typo, dan ada kalimat2 yang janggal.
Read
July 27, 2011Could not wait to finish.
January 19, 2012
baca cm dlm hitungan jam,alias bukannya menarik dengan ceritanya tetapi krn buku ini kelewat tipis dan tulisannya besar2 jadi tidak membuat saya berlama-lama untuk menyelesaikan
January 15, 2013
ceritanya antara cinta, rasa kebencian dan balas dendam.. dan akhirnya cintalah yang menang.. so sweet and happy ending :)
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews