Mackenzie's Legacy: Mackenzie's Mountain / Mackenzie's Mission

Mackenzie Family #1-2

by Linda Howard

From New York Times bestselling author Linda Howard — two courageous women will win the hearts of men who swore they had nothing to give.

Mackenzie's Mountain
Mary Elizabeth Potter is a self-appointed spinster with no illusions about love. When she meets Wolf Mackenzie, a man with a chip on his shoulder the size of Wyoming, she sets out to convince the whole town he's a man worth loving. But Wolf's not sure he—or their small town—is ready for the taming of Wolf Mackenzie.

Mackenzie's Mission
Night Wing — the revolutionary test plane with a top secret weapons system — is Colonel Joe "Breed" Mackenzie's number one priority. And weapons expert Caroline Evans is his number one distraction. When someone on the inside sabotages Night Wing, he cannot overlook Caroline's late hours and expertise. Now Joe has to choose between allegiance to his country and love for his prime suspect.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Romantic Suspense, Fiction, Suspense, Anthologies

480 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, what a blast from the past. At times it was hard for me to remember that this was a written as a contemporary. Especially in the first story, Mackenzie's Mountain. The extreme small town prejudice and the casual way the heroine said "halfbreed" once really felt historical to me. But I just squinted past the "Contemporary" label and went with the flow of it.

Older romances, written back in the 80's and early 90's, have a specific feel to the style. If you've ever read one I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Things come across as so much more intense. The attraction is more immediate and overwhelming, the disagreements are more passionate. It all just feels different from the romances written today. That's not to say one is better than the other, though.

The first story in the book, Mackenzie's Mountain, was my favorite. I didn't know anything about the story going into it, so I was pretty surprised that the hero was someone who had been jailed for rape. Luckily everything was not as it seemed and the author wrote an extremely sympathetic storyline from him.

Mary was so schoolmarmish and easily scandalized that it bypassed irritating and just settled on cute. She was incredibly innocent and didn't have much interest in the opposite sex. Until she met Wolf, of course, then it was on. She's one of those people who is so charmingly innocent that she just doesn't see the prejudice that other people do and when it's pointed out to her she just gets huffy. It's hard not to be charmed by that (at least in doses).

I really liked that Mary had such a strong connection with Joe. He was integral to the story and actually felt like a real person. I hate when kids are included in a story simply to be a plot point.

Wolf was very defensive and closed off because of his past with the town. I loved watching him slowly soften toward Mary. I found their romance charming and was sorry to see it end.

I had high hopes for Joe's story, Mackenzie's Mission, because I liked him so much in Wolf's story. He was a kid with a solid head on his shoulders. Unfortunately he came off as too removed and dominating for me.

Caroline was a pretty interesting person to read about. She was so smart that she actually seemed dumb. She lived in her head so much that she didn't interact with people enough to fully integrate into society. She didn't have the same social cues and niceties that most people do. She was very literal and bluntly honest. It was both endearing and faintly irritating.

The "plan" that Joe came up with so guys would leave Caroline alone had me rolling my eyes. I also gritted my teeth over the fact that she was the one that had to change so the douches she was working with wouldn't swarm her. I had to remind myself that it was another era and things were different.

Joe changed completely from the young man he was in the first story. There he seemed like a quiet, sincere boy who took the time to look deeper and saw the true value of people. He truly cared. In this book he seemed completely different. He grew up to be a pushy, faintly cocky, domineering man. There was much less romance than I was expecting. Yeah, the sex scenes were still hotter than not, but it all felt colder than I was expecting.

When Joe finally told Caroline that he loved her I didn't feel it. I never sensed any actual connection on his part beyond lust. He was extremely closed off and it seemed even worse because Caroline was so emotional.

There was a part of the story where Joe turned extremely cold on her and believed some very bad things about her. I know he couldn't have shown favoritism because of his position--although he obviously had no problem being unprofessional in the workplace before--but he didn't have to jump on the bandwagon quite so easily.

I couldn't believe that he would believe that of her! When he thought about what she was accused of doing he was pissed because he'd never get to sleep with her again. What a prince. Not! I was pissed that Caroline talked a big game about not forgiving him, but ended up rolling over for him after he said "I love you" and gave her an orgasm. I wasn't ready for him to be forgiven.

Mackenzie's Mountain: 4 Stars
Mackenzie's Mission: 2 Stars

[Daria Fujino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Дві книжки під однією обкладинкою і обидві прекрасні по-своєму. Я вже настільки зріднилася з родиною МакКензі, що доведеться читати всі книги в цій серії😄

[Janeiowa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read as as individual titles, this series is hard to beat! It's writing that calls you back to re-read time and time again.

[Love love · Rating 5 out of 5]

MacKenzie' s Mountain- 5*

Mary (h) was a sheltered child and grew up with her very proper Aunt. Now she has come to a small town in Wyoming to be the new school teacher. Being from Savanna she's a bit of a fish out of water but she's willing and ready to grab the bull by the horns and get to teaching. As she's over seeing the charts of the students from the previous year, she notices that there was one who dropped out, not just any one but a boy who was at the top of his class. This she couldn't understand and she couldn't let it go. She had to go and talk to this boy. As she get's to know this boy, his father and this town, she realizes that the whole town seems to hate/fear the boy and his father.

Wolf (H) couldn't believe his eyes when he sees a woman walking up his mountain road to his house....in the snow. Then he couldn't believe what she was wearing out in the snow, stupid shoes that allowed the snow in to cover her feet and one heck of an ugly dress that couldn't even keep her warm. He picks her up in his truck and takes her home, when she informs him that she's there to talk to his son Joe about dropping out of school and that she was there to talk him into returning, he tells her that she can talk to him if Joe wants but the decision to return to school is Joe's and that he wont help to convince him.

As Wolf and Mary get to know each other , he tries to protect her from the bigotry of the town but she's too head strong to let a town tell her who she can be friends with. Then a serial rapist hits the town and most are looking at Wolf as the guilty one.


This book was written in the late 80's and is very dated but still a great story ,imo. I loved Wolf and Joe the first time I read this book and I love them just the same all of these years later. =)

[Gale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mackenzie's Mountain will always be a go back to favorite. And Mackenzie's Mission slayed me. Loved these two books.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Linda Howard is one of the greats in the romance genre, and the Mackenzies series is supposed to be one of her best. This re-release contains the first two books in this category romance series - Mackenzie's Mountain and Mackenzie's Mission. I definitely enjoyed both stories and flew through them. My favorite thing about couples Wolf and Mary and Joe and Caroline was how apparent throughout the stories their physical attraction was to each other. It always makes me warm and happy whenever the author successfully portrays the attraction between a couple. After all, this is what readers of romance long for - that unstoppable, undeniable connection. And the Mackenzies definitely have it here. I especially loved Joe, who is a boy in the first book between his father and stepmother-to-be, then gets his own happily-ever-after in the second story.

But there were a number of things that pulled me out of these stories. First of all, and this is probably a personal issue, but it's difficult for me to read "contemporary" novels that were written in the 1980s. The descriptions of clothing, the language that is used, is so dated that it's jolting, and that came up here in both stories, but especially in Mackenzie's Mountain, set in a small western town.

Another big problem was Mary's profession as a schoolteacher and how that leads into her tutoring teenager Joe in her home late at night. As a teacher myself, this is so unheard-of, so forbidden, that it definitely took me out of the story. Teachers just DON'T do that. I understand that it was a different era, but it kept coming up and Mary's response was repeatedly that she was just doing her job and as long as she has a contract, it's not an issue. Except that in current contemporary times, a teacher probably won't have a contract long if she's unmarried and has a student especially of the opposite sex in her home alone at night. This was too huge for me to ignore.

Then in Joe's story, I was amazed by the fact that lone female Caroline on a military base surrounded by all those men was practically mauled unabashedly by every man on the base. I know this still continues today, but the sexual harassment was so apparent, it was astounding. I also thought it was unusually unprofessional of Joe, as top dog Air Force pilot, to stake a claim on Caroline and flaunt her in front of all of his peers and superiors. Was there no such thing as no dating in the office on a military base in the 80s? I just couldn't get over this.

These are big issues that I had with the stories, but I do understand the appeal of the series. This is a heartwarming, close-knit family who loves fiercely and deeply, and the relationships that evolve are worth reading. But it reads more "classic" than "contemporary" to me, but even though I couldn't suspend disbelief enough, if a reader is able to, the Mackenzies definitely make you fall in love with them too.

[Nitzan Schwarz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mackenzie's Mountain: September 19th - 20th, 2014
4.5 stars
Okay, Howard. I'm bought. You've managed to make me completely love and adore this story even though there is a form of insta-love in here, and I'm a tough cookie when it comes to Insta Love. I'll be reading more of your books, I can promise you that.

Mackenzie's Mission: November 23rd - 24th, 2014
3.5 stars
Okay, I liked in enough. Definitely sweeping and addictive, just as much as the first book. BUT, I did have a few issues with it mostly, everything happened way too fast. Like, they knew each other literally a week before they became engaged. Now, I know they'll make each other happy, they fit like that, but my god - why couldn't they date for a while longer? And how come no one around them commented on the oddity of marrying so soon!?
Also, I thought Caroline forgave him way too easily. She should've made him work and sweat for it, made him prove himself to her.
Oh, and I would've liked to see more into Joe's head. I felt like I was out of it for most of the read.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mackenzie's Mountain 3.5-4* Fun and sexy. Loved Wolf.

Mackenzie's Mission 3* This was a quick read and I enjoyed it overall. The characters are too stereotyped and the plot was weak, but it has it's passionate moments.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mission was the better of the two.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoy Linda Howard's love stories. The love story and mystery component of the two stories in this book, alpha males and virginal heroines, holds up. What I hated about this book was the author's continual reference to each of the male protagonists as "half breeds" because each had Indian blood. Even though published in 1989, half breeds really isn't used anymore. It's one thing to use it once to describe a character, and/or racist perceptions of a character by racist small town folk, but the use of half breed over and over by all characters was overdone, overused and was like fingernails on a chalkboard. Blood quantum was initially a system that the federal government forced onto tribes in an effort to limit their citizenship. Some tribes continue to use as a criteria for tribal citizenship while others never have. Regardless, even though enrolled members of tribal nations have intermarried non-Natives for generations, it's been a long time since the slur of half breed has been used- especially to the extent used in this book even though it takes place in rural Wyoming. In the second story, the male protagonist even embraces the nickname "breed" as an Airforce pilot, and this name is painted on his helmet. Racism against American Indians persists, certainly, regardless of whatever level of blood quantum or "breed" of the individual. Even more so, micro-aggressions are frequent in real life- and literature- where stereotypes of Native people abound. The author mentions once or twice the experience of the protagonists as not fitting into their Tribal community because of their paternal ancestry, nor fitting into racist small town community because of their Indian ancestry. To me, this would have been a more interesting, and a more realistic path to follow.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

MacKenzie's Mountain - SIM #281 (1989)
MacKenzie's Mission - SIM #445 (1992)
.
First, I had a bit of an issue with the cover. Both characters are half Indian (per the book) and are both described as having black hair. The cover hero has brown hair and, at least from the angle we see, does not look at all Indian. Secondly, I was a young adult in the late 80's when the first story was written and don't recall anyone being this prejudiced. And in the book it was a main point, and brought up a lot. I recently read a historical with extreme prejudice against Roma people but for a contemporary it seemed off a bit. Linda Howard does a good job with the actual writing though. As stated in some reviews I have seen, Joe was wonderful as a youngster but, while still ok, not quite as great as you would expect as a grown up. And he was a bit too quick to have such little faith in our heroine. Sometimes coming off a bit more self centered than you would imagine after reading about him growing up.

[Jerry Jares · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first two stories (of the Mackenzies series) are included in this large book. To say these two stories are `sensual' is an understatement. The author has created characters that are richly drawn and have a strong sense of right-and-wrong.

MACKENZIE'S MOUNTAIN (Mackenzies, Bk 1)
The first tale is about intolerance in a small town and how just one person can change the landscape for the better. A half-breed Indian (Wolf) and his son (Joe) are isolated from the local town because of hard feelings on both sides.

Wolf was sent to prison for raping a young woman several years before, all the while protesting his innocence. After two years, when another man confessed to that rape and several others, Wolf was released. Some of the town feels guilty about jumping to conclusions; others believe that where there's smoke there's a fire and avoid the Mackenzies. Wolf and Joe move to Mackenzie's Mountain and avoid the town.

The delicate balance of hate and mistrust is upset when a new teacher comes to town and wants Joe to come back to high school.

MACKENZIE'S MISSION (Mackenzies, Bk 2)
The second story takes up about 20 years later; Wolf's son Joe is now a test pilot for the U.S. Air Force. He also is the leader of the super-secret fighter-plane project in the Nevada desert. When things start to go wrong with the testing, Joe must stop the sabotage quickly. Unfortunately, all roads lead to the new project member Dr. Caroline Evans.
4.5 stars

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a romance novel, it was everything you expected it to be. At times the way characters acted seemed a little far fetched but with a little perspective and thinking how a little remote town could act about thirty years ago made it more realistic.

[Wendy Kalthoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot more than the first. This one hAd intrigue., suspense and a likable hero and heroine in the story. I only wanted to shake joe a few times fir not believing her. I had a vague notion of who the traitor might be but was blindsided when I turned out yo be correct.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars for a scrappy heroine and a son of good character. The MMC was fine, too. The use of half-breed over and over again was too much, and I’m surprised I haven’t read a review that took issue with who the bad guy turns out to be.

[Mattie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is ok.

[Angela]

0

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great

[Geraldine Sadiku · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully written romances that are a pure joy to read.

[Kristin Furtado · Rating 4 out of 5]

Both stories were good. I’ve read a few books by Linda Howard and prefer her books that involved life survival skills.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can definitely tell that these were written in the late 80s/early 90s. Whether that's a problem will depend on you.

[Donna Magruder · Rating 5 out of 5]

amazing written stories.

[Ginny Burt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Linda Howard. Pure chick flick but reads well and always a positive story thread. Only negative is that you can read it in one sitting! Get to lnow the Mackenzies.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mackenzie’s Legacy is two books about the Mackenzies by Linda Howard. The first is Mackenzie’s Mountain and the second is Mackenzie’s Mission.
Mary Elizabeth Potter is a spinster who takes a job teaching in a small town in Wyoming. She left the South to see if there was something better out in the world that her little town. She is a dedicated teacher who was brought up by her Aunt who taught her to stand up for herself when necessary but to be a lady when she did. Mary loves her teaching assignment and in going over the student files sees that Joe Mackenzie who was only sixteen and at the top of his class had suddenly quit school. She knew he had potential and wanted to see if she could persuade his parents to make him finish school. She found the Mackenzies lived on a mountain outside of town so she put on the warmest professional clothing she had and headed up the mountain in the snow. She doesn’t know she is using the back road instead of the plowed front road. Her car quits on her as she nears the summit. She hasn’t seen anyone else on the road and it is getting quite cold so she sets out to walk to the Mackenzie’s house. Wolf finds her walking and nearly frozen and takes her to his house to thaw her out. He tells her that it is up to Joe if he wants to go back to school or not. She learns that no teacher had paid attention to him because he was a “breed” and Wolf was his father. Outraged, Mary is determined to help Joe get caught up and finish the year so he can go back to school for his senior year. She finds out he loves flying so is determined to get him into the Air Force Academy. Can she get him in? Will she be able to stand up to the town for associating with Wolf and Joe?
Mackenzie’s Mission is the story of Colonel Joe “Breed” Mackenzie. He is working on a top secret test plane, Night Wing. Joe is a natural pilot and is now a legend in the Air Force Academy and the Air Force. Caroline Evans, a weapon’s expert, comes on board to help with the testing of the plane. Joe is distracted by her and to keep her from having to fight off all the unmarried pilots, he marks her as his. This is definitely something different for Joe. When someone sabotages the tests, Caroline comes under suspicion. It is now Joe’s job to find out if she is guilty or not. Can he do his job and keep his feelings for Caroline out of it?

[Deborah Gebhardt · Rating 5 out of 5]

More great reads from Linda Howard, the first and second books from the Mackenzie's saga.
Mackenzie's Mountain - the first in the Mackenzie's saga. This is Wolf Mackenzie (the Mackenzie patriarch) and his second wife, Mary Elizabeth Potter. Wolf was falsely accused, tried and convicted for rape when his son was a young boy and served time before his conviction was overturned. He returned in part to rub the town's nose it because of his innocence. Mary is a devoted teacher and when she discovers that the young man at the top of the class has quit, she goes to him to get him to return. She discovers his desire to learn to fly and attend the Air Force Academy. Meanwhile, someone is attacking women in town, including Mary, women who support the Mackenzies. Wolf and Mary while falling in love, investigate the assaults, trying to find the perpetrator.
Mackenzie's Mission - Colonel Joe "Breed" Mackenzie the top Air Force jet pilot in the US, project manager for the test program for Night Wing "Baby".
Caroline Evans, a genius physicist, has spent her life out of step with her age group and as such by the time she reached an age where men were interested in her, she had no idea how to interact with them and as such kept them at arms length.
Joe is attracted to her immediately when he first meets her after she is assigned to his project. And after seeing her interaction with his pilots, he reads her employment jacket and makes a guess as to her "issue". He has a suggestion, if they become an "item", then everyone in the project would leave her alone. She wants to up the stakes however, he is the first man she has ever been attracted to, so she wants lessons, and Joe is more than willing.
But, just before their hot weekend together, there is a problem with a test flight. And on Monday following the really hot weekend, there is another problem and based on the current evidence, the only person who could be responsible is Caroline. Caroline knows she isn't responsible, and the fact the Joe believes she could be hurts terribly. She is determined to find out who and prove her innocence and Joe can't believe he could be so wrong about a woman he cares about.

[Gwnhwyfer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mackenzie's Mountain ★★★★
Mackenzie's Mission ★★

Mackenzie's Mountain - The beginning felt like an historical, but it was good. There were dated references (hero was in Vietnam) but unlike Joe's story (see below for mini-rant), it wasn't as obvious this was written in the 1980s (except for the alpha hero, but even he wasn't that bad). I liked the characters (though I was afraid at the beginning that the heroine was going to be a TSTL type - it's Wyoming, it's winter, there's snow. You need boots. Thankfully, it was only a minor lapse.), the situation and the suspense.

Mackenzie's Mission - way too dated. Written 1992 but felt like the 80s. (White skirt with white t-shirt and melon and aqua scarves? Really? Also both Gulf wars mentioned and technology that I'm sure is long out of date.) Took too long to get to the "mystery" (using that term loosely). Only rating this 3 instead of 2 because the end made up somewhat for the beginning).

[Charlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume contains Books #1 and #2 in Linda Howard's Mackenzie family series:

1. Makenzie's Mountain: school teacher stands up for native American pupil, who later gets into Air Force Academy. Meanwhile, she falls in love with his widowed dad. Townspeople show racial prejudice and some violence. Heroine makes one or two TSTL mistakes; fortunately, it wasn't so annoying.

2. Makenzie's Mission: Native American Colonel is fighter plane test pilot. Meets brilliant young scientist who skipped grades and who is naive about men. Sparks fly, problems with planes. Heroine makes one TSTL dumb decision; I think the story would have improved if she'd used her head rather than heart, but she had just felt dumped by hero....

Both romantic (supsense) novels written in late 1980s and early 1990s.

[Jessi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mackenzie's Mountain-Mary is a new schoolteacher in town and can't understand the animosity toward Wolf Mackenzie, just because he's a half-breed. Yeah, he was in jail but there were extenuating circumstances. Mary helps his sixteen-year-old son get into a military academy, people who are helping the Mackenzie men start getting attacked, Wolf helps solve it all while falling in love with the petite school marm.
Mackenzie's Mission-Joe (Wolf's son) meets his own twu wuv in this story in the form of a super smart scientist lady. They start getting all sexy but then he thinks she's committing treason and then they end up in the desert.

[MiniMe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written sometime in the late 80s/early 90s, Mackenzie's Legacy (books 1 and 2) are contemporary romance done right. I'm a Linda Howard fan and I consider the Mackenzie family series a classic. They're better than a lot of what's out there today. I'm not sure, though, if "half-breed" was/is politically correct--it bothered me, but Wolf and Joe's bi-racial background was a factor in their stories. Maybe that's acceptable nomenclature, but it felt wrong as opposed to American Indian. However, the racism of some the townspeople rang true.

[Pamela(AllHoney) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two of the MacKenzie Family books in one. First is MacKenzie's Mountain, featuring Wolf MacKenzie and Mary, the schoolteacher, who comes to the mountain to persuade Wolf to get his son back in school.

The second story is MacKenzie's Mission about Wolf's son, Joe, who is now a Colonel in the Air Force.

I loved the first book and it is high on my favorites list. The second one wasn't bad but it wasn't quite as spectacular as the first one.