Heartbreaker

Rescues #3

by Linda Howard

Michelle Cabot has inherited her father's Florida cattle ranch - and a mountain of debt.

To make matters worse, a huge chunk of that debt is owed to the neighbouring rancher, her nemesis John Rafferty.
Nothing shocks Rafferty more than discovering that the spoiled, pampered rich girl he once despised is painstakingly trying to run the Cabot ranch herself, working the land with desperation, the only thing she has left. He likes this new Michelle and decides to make her his woman. What he doesn't know is that underneath Michelle's cool, polished façade lies heartache, secrets and the raw determination to live life as her own woman. But Rafferty isn't about to take no for an answer.

Genres: Romance, Romantic Suspense, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Suspense, Enemies To Lovers, Westerns

256 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1987

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

[A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Stars



I kind of knew this was going to happen. It was too good to be true. Three books by Linda Howard this month and all of them ended up on my favorite shelf.

I would have rated this one 5 stars too if I had read it 30 years ago (though I was way too young back then). I’m sure my mom would have loved it though.



In fact, the whole book felt kind of funny and outdated to me. The descriptions and dialogues were a little bit too old-fashioned for my liking. The characters' physical appearance wasn’t too appealing either.

Anyhow, this this book wasn’t a bad read. The story is OK and the characterization is excellent. The hero is a brooding, redeemable jerk and the heroine is pretty likeable, one of those proud, stubborn and feisty heroines we often find in the Harlequin romances.

[*TANYA* · Rating 4 out of 5]

You gotta love the fashions described. Lol. I'm becoming a huge fan of Linda Howard. Her writing reminds me of Sandra Brown. :-)

[Mo · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was just too dated for me. The shoulder pads, the moustache, the panty hose!

He was a bit of an ass but I liked him.

Not her best.


I felt I was in the middle of a scene from Dynasty, Dallas or Falcon Crest... c'mon, some of you must remember those shows ... the originals!!

[peachygirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

The more I read Linda Howard's novels, the better I expect them to be!
Maybe that's why this book didn't do anything for me. It wasn't bad, far from it. But there was no exciting elements. Or at least nothing that got me excited.
I should probably consider taking a break from my LH binge for some time and chill out with some lighter fluffier stuff. 2.5 stars.

[❤️ Dorsey aka Wrath Lover Reviews ❤️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is finally available in audio and thank goodness the narrator is pretty decent!!!!





4 Broody Cowboy Loving Stars!!!

Loved this the first time I read it several years ago and I love the audio version just as much!!!

Michelle grew up a pampered princess by her doting parents, especially her beloved father. John is the hard working surly neighbouring rancher who loathes pampered and spoiled Michelle....at least he tries to.



10 yrs later…..at 28 years old, a beaten down Michelle is divorced from her abusive husband, both her parents deceased and she’s starting over. She returns home to make a go of the once thriving ranch she inherited. Much to her dismay, she learns that her father took a personal loan from John and now she's indebted to him. Now much to her dismay, she has to deal with cranky John, who she's always secretly loved but been frightened of, soon she realizes theres a looming threat to her safety and when John hears he takes it upon himself to keep Michelle safe.

This is an oldie but, definitely a goodie!!!!



Originally read: 8/17/2011
Reread: 12/01/2017 & 6/24/2024

[Naksed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michelle Cabot may have been the apple of her father's eye, and the pampered wife of her rich husband but she has also always been the thorn in the ass of her neighbor, the rugged, self-made rancher, John "Stud"Rafferty.

When Michelle's life suddenly takes a turn for the worse and she needs, of all people, the help of her irascible neighbor Rafferty, he thinks this is the perfect time to get a little revenge on the snooty beauty who has been turning up her nose at him all her life. Little does he know that the Michelle he has been imagining at a distance is far from the Fairy Princess her image portrays. And he is going to be in for a rude awakening when he discovers that the frail-looking blonde is made of sterner stuff than he could ever imagine.

I really loved Heartbreaker because Howard took her time to develop Michelle, making the reader fall in admiration and then in love with her at the same pace that John Rafferty does. I love a heroine who can give as good as she gets and stands toe to toe with her very Alpha man, without coming off as an irrational hellion. Most of all, I loved that she did not want to be pampered, or treated like a doll, but she wanted to make her own way in life, after suffering some severe hardship.

I totally got that aspect of her personality that taught her that relying on others was a mistake and that she should make it on her own. I did not agree with it but I could understand where she was coming from and why she would try to protect herself this way because god knows, we have all had those moments where we simply give up on humanity!

Michelle is the cool, collected, logical, and reasoned ying to John's highly emotional, volatile, take-no-prisoners yang. I think they complemented each other superbly. The entire story was enjoyable from beginning to end with none of the doormatty behavior or psychotic Alpha actions that have made me dislike some of Howard's other books.

John begins the story as a typical Linda Howard troglodyte but he soon changes his tune because this persona of the unfeeling, rakish "stud" is simply not who he is, deep down, but merely the character he plays up to annoy Michelle. In time, he becomes utterly smitten with the heroine, and one of the best romantic heroes I have read about: loyal, passionate, single-minded, and protective, without losing even an inch of what makes him the hot, Alpha male that Howard can write so well.

This romance was sizzling hot as well as tender and sweet. Really some of her best work, imho, along with her other cowboy romance, Running Wild.

[StMargarets · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trigger alert: domestic violence

Heroine is a poor little rich girl who has lost everything. Hero is the neighboring ranch owner who thought she was a “parasite” on her father’s legacy. They were attracted to each other at 18 and 22 and ten years later, when the heroine returns home after her divorce and father’s death, they still are.

Hero offers to help in exchange for sex and then modifies his offer to taking over some land in exchange for help. The H/h quickly end up in bed and quickly set aside their hostility.
Since the author resolved that conflict so easily (they spend the rest of the relationship thread exchanging backstories and falling in love), she brings back the heroine’s abusive ex to stalk the heroine and add some suspense. It was suspenseful and creepy – the creepiest part being that no one in the 1980’s believes a rich guy could act this way.

I’m not a fan of suspense in my romances, so I’m not the right reviewer of this novel. The suspense thread felt very TV movie. However, I did like the romance and how the hero slowly figured out the heroine. I'm also a sucker for women trying to ranch alone. I blame Susan Fox.

[Vintage · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started out like the typical longterm enemies to lovers romance, with a typical LH uber alpha hero and a surprisingly strong heroine who makes choices about the hero knowing the potential consequences of getting involved with a big-time player. Their “enemy” status and his shallow slut shaming lasts for all about five minutes.

Lots of chemistry and when I say chemistry, lots of life-changing sex.

If you like the dynamic chemistry LH creates with her characters, this is for you.

However, I wanted to pull my hair out over the heroine’s responses to the evil-doer in her life. Sitting weaponless and waiting on the steps of your abandoned house for your homicidal and abusive husband to show up with his gun and willingness to kill you is a sign of idiocy. She hopes the H gets her message in time. Ugh. Could you at least throw the hot coffee in his face. Something!

Checking the pub date, 1987. Okay, LH and the heroine get a pass as apparently proactive, kickass heroines came later in Romance World.

[Saly · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Rafferty is a cynic and he has reason to be, his mother couldn't take ranch life and ran out when he was very small, when John took over and made the ranch successful she kept contacting him for money, he was also briefly married. He's a heart-breaker with a reputation of a womanizer but for ten years one woman has tormented him, Michelle, his neighbours daughter, rich, spoiled, haughty and high-maintenance. John doesn't have a very flattering opinion of her since her father borrowed heavily to give her life luxuries and she even married a very rich guy but that's all wrong.

Michelle was a late blessing in life to her parents so she allowed them to pamper her. When she met John a decade ago, she felt too much for him but knew about his reputation so she has always acted haughty in front of him. Now, her father is dead and she discovers he took a loan from John. Michelle just wants to make a living from the ranch, she calls John to strike some agreement.

John comes to the ranch thinking he finally has Michelle where he wants, he will make her his mistress since he can afford to support her and she would not like working. He is proved wrong he sees her working and Michelle refuses his demeaning offer. She wants to do things for herself now and wants freedom, years ago she married another man, who turned out to be possessive and later abusive, his wealth and parents protected him and her father didn't want to believe that she was right, but she got out and now doesn't want someone else like her father, who wants to cosset her.

Now, till then I didn't like John he was somewhat of a jerk and chauvinist.
He just wants her in bed and to take care of her, they fall in bed of course but Michelle refuses to move in with him, later on she does of course but I liked how she didn't just sit idle and told John he was a chauvinist and slowly started working. She loves him of course and so does John but he feels alarmed voicing his feelings.

Then there is the ex of course. I enjoyed the book and John did grow on me but never completely.

[Izzah ꒰Duchess of Cabria ಇ ⭑✧ ᴏɴ ᴘᴀᴛʀᴇᴏɴ ✧ ⋆꒱ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The ultimate classic romance prototype

There are a lot of clichés and tropes people have (rightly) become tired of and new generations of romance have tried with varying degrees of success to shake these deeply ingrained plot devices.

Nonetheless,
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🕮⋆˚࿔✎𓂃 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
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[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Every time that I read a new book by Linda Howard I find myself becoming an even "bigger" fan of this well established and wonderful romance author.
How can you not???

This is such an old style romance with a pushy and dominant alpha hero (John Rafferty), a male chauvinist, a cowboy and a cattle rancher... I do have to say that I seriously loved and enjoyed reading this book...it is very much a second chance love story... and the heroine (Michelle) is a victim of physical and psychological abuse by her ex....it is very probable that this romantic suspense might not appeal as much to younger readers as it did to me because it has a somewhat dated feel to it..... but for me it was a totally blissful experience. 😊😊😊


Gotta ask though, Linda. What is going on with all the moustache references....not quite as appealing!!!

[Jacqueline J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Liked this more on my second reading. It just has a level of passion and angst that I like. I also enjoyed how at first he was all about how she'd been so spoiled all her life but that soon all he wanted to do was spoil her himself. I liked how he had wanted her for 10 years but had thought she didn't like him. That makes a difference from many romance where the hero can always tell the heroine is hot for him. Just another fun older LH.

[edith · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Just thinking about her made him want to grab her and shake her, hard. Or better yet, take a belt to her backside. She was exactly what he disliked most: a spoiled, selfish parasite who’d never done a day’s work in her life."


I smell a extremely outdated romance novel....


"...thinking about the satisfaction of having Michelle dependent on him for everything she ate and wore. It was a hard, primitive satisfaction. He would use her to satisfy his burning physical hunger for her, but he wouldn’t let her get close enough to cloud his mind and judgment."


Michelle used to be a little spoiled rich girl until her father died, and she inherited a large sum of debt, to a gentlemen✨ called John.


She's in a BIG ranch, trying to manage it by herself, this man is HAPPY that she's broke as hell, he's glad her father died. Michelle calls him over, he happily obliges.


John has this sugar daddy kink, he fantasizes about Michelle asking him to fuck her, to erease the debt, he's happy like a KID that he's going to be a sugar daddy, he's sure of it.


"He’d never paid for a woman before, never been a sugar daddy, but if that was what it took to get Michelle Cabot, he’d do it. He’d never wanted another woman the way he wanted her, so he guessed it evened out."


She says no💀


"He almost wanted her to say something snide, so he’d have a reason to put his hands on her, even in anger. He wanted to touch her, no matter what the reason; he wanted to feel her warm and soft in his hands; he wanted to make her respond to him."


He is HUNGRYYY🤭


He sends men over the help her at the ranch, even though all she wanted was extented time to pay her debt. He is always deaf in her presence, he just does not give a fuck about anything that she has to say.


“Well, I’ll tell you something else you don’t have: a choice. You’re going. Now get dressed.”


John doesn't stay an asshole, the very first chapters, he was, but after that he becomes a sweetheart.


Now, I would like to add a trigger warning for a ex abusive husband that Michelle had. He was overall mentally unwell and he beat her with a belt buckle, resulting in scars all over her back.


That piece of trash is what makes the story, John stops being an asshole, but after that "drama" is over this BITCH comes back.


"A shaky bubble of laughter escaped her trembling lips. The way things were going, the phone service would be disconnected soon because she couldn’t pay her bill. That would certainly take care of the problem; Roger couldn’t call if she didn’t have a telephone. Maybe being broke had some advantages, after all."


Roger calls her to harass and scare her. And when John gives Michelle his car, Roger causes a car crash.


Nothing big, but when Michelle tries to say that somebody was trying to cause a crash, NOBODY BELIEVED HER LMMAOO??? Not even the police officer. These dumb fuckers istg💀


Roger causes a lot of drama, he shoots John, he keeps calling Michelle just to breathe like a pervert💀, oop, he's in her house.


Ohhh y'all, I forgot to say, when John sees the scars on her back, he goes fucking crazy, BATSHIT CRAZY. That was so HOTTT🤤

"Who did this to you?" girlies, come over HEREEEE.


Anywayysss, Roger is in her home, he has a gun. As he points the gun to Michelle, he's caught. Problem over, happy ever after.


These are the cores of the story, fine. But, I expected something more from a Linda Howard novel. I don't know why but I just didn't feel the story as much as her other books. It's maybe because the hero stopped being an asshole, maybe because of the cliche tropes, but it lacked a certain feeling that I can't pinpoint.


OK, enough of being serious💀


“Michelle.” His voice was low, and he hadn’t moved. She’d lifted her head to stare through the darkness at him. “Yes?”
“I love you,” he had said quietly.

[Jena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread 2021
Still a 5 stars read for me and a personal favorite from LH.
Keep in mind,this is outdated with shoulder pad outfits😁.

[Cheesecake · Rating 3 out of 5]

John and Michelle. Not my fave by this author but a solidly enjoyable listen. The audio reader, Amy Landon was good. Michelle first met John when she was 18 and already knew of John's reputation with the ladies. She is unfriendly to him to keep him and his magnetic charm at bay. John pigeon holes her as he does all women he meets, using his harshly skewed measuring stick for women. Skewed because of his first wife and his mother. So 10 years later, Michelle comes back after a horribly failed marriage and the death of her father. John still makes assumptions about her character, but just can't seem to deny the attraction between them any longer. Once they are together, his misconceptions of her start to waver and fall away. But of course there's a bad guy out to get her before they can have their HEA.
The one thing that bugged me was how the h handled the final confrontation with the bad guy she is pregnant, yet she still puts her life in danger using herself as bait, thereby endangering her child as well.
I liked both the h and the H. He starts out as the close-minded asshat, but after a couple chapters starts to evolve into an awesomely, devoted alpha guy, but somehow never really grovels. Yet I didn't mind... well actually it still bugged me that he had boinked most of the local female population and the h will likely have to socialize with these copious OWs for the rest of their lives...
No names are mentioned, but it just stands to reason.

[KatieV · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poor little rich girl is misjudged by the arrogant, man's man rancher. Mostly it is because he wants her and he thought she didn't want him.

In typical old-school LH style, the hero is a pushy alpha and a sexist jerk, but LH manages to pull off those characters well IMHO.

The heroine is on-the-run from her abusive ex and trying to make it on her own for once after a lifetime of being taken care of by her overprotective father. The hero comes in and steamrolls her off her ranch and onto his. She does try and stave him off, but circumstances are always working against her.

This one was missing something that many of the old LH novels had. The ingredients were there, but it was kind of luke warm. It kept me listening though.

[Lady Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Patrick Rafferty: An original Alpha Male.

Michelle Langley: Broken, strong woman that has to face her past before she can have a future with the only man she has ever loved.

Amazing story of people who had a past and are destined to be together.

Full review to come. :)

[Shabby Girl ~ aka Lady Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, this book was rather disappointing, especially after the first two in this series, which I enjoyed immensely. One of the reasons I love Linda Howard is her superior, effortlessly good writing, but I don’t know, it didn’t seem like her in this one. It seemed to lack any depth. I liked the set up of the storyline and was quite excited by the theme when it started, but LH’s magic definitely was lacking in the execution. It should have been good, but it just wasn’t. The heroine was TSTL, the hero was a macho shithead and neither of them spoke to each other. I get it like in real life if you're not sure of the other person, you keep things to yourself, but these two were just stupid together, neither one of them talking about a stalker that was trying to kill them both. I didn't like the hero in the first part of the book, and he didn’t get much better to the end, he was just basically a jerk and she personified stupid. Oh, well, onto the last one in the series and I just hope it will be up to the standard of the first two and not like this one.

[Mindy Lou's Book Review · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I really liked that the hero had a misconception about the heroine. He thought she was a spoiled brat who seduced men for fun. He was still drawn to her despite not having a good opinion of her. When he finally gave himself permission to pursue her, he was almost obsessed. He despised her spoiled persona and yet he wanted to be the one to spoil her. It made it way more enjoyable when he slowly learned she was actually a good person and someone he admired. I will be reading this one again.

[mwana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dnf at 7%

It's been a while since a book made me physically gag. But the male lead's behaviour is just something I can't subject myself to.

[Melanie♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[♥ℳelody · Rating 2 out of 5]

Way way waaaaay too much summarizing. 90% of this book is filled with pages of just narration and the other 10% is minimal dialogue which made for a really flat boring story. There was nothing realistic or dimensional about this. And the completely dense slow-on-the-uptake lead characters just added to the overall misery. The fact that the hero John couldn't pick up on the fact that the heroine Michelle was physically abused till the very end amazed me. She was beaten by her ex-husband with a belt and it left countless scars all over her back. You're telling me he couldn't feel them every time they had sex? Seriously?? I didn't buy for a second the excuse that she hid it from him by putting on a nightgown after sex every time. Oh give me a break. He doesn't touch your back the whole time? <_< And the 'suspense' angle of the story was not all that suspenseful or a mystery. It took ages for Michelle to figure out who her stalker was when it was so damn obvious since page one who it was. You are getting threatening creepy phone calls from your ex-husband yet you can't figure out who is trying to kill you?? Nobody can be this dense. Unreal. Made both her and John look like idiots. And Michelle's willingness to stay on a secluded ranch all by herself just so John wouldn't know about her stalker was so ridiculous. You are being stalked by a crazy psycho and instead of leaving with John and being safe you'd rather be left behind completely alone and vulnerable?! Ooookay. Common sense is a foreign concept in this entire story clearly.

The dated hokey writing in this reminded me a lot of a Diana Palmer book. The similarities here were endless and just freaking eerie. Were all harlequin CR books written this way in the 80s? It was very formulaic. You could definitely tell this was LH's earlier harlequin work and it showed big time. The over-exaggerated dialogue, Rated-PG nonexistent love scenes and the jerk alpha hero who screams 'sexual outlaw' (her words not mine) with black devilish eyes (what the heck is it with cowboys in these books all having black eyes??). Yup. Not for me.

[Sandy.between.books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entre 3.5 y 4

Me ha gustado. Cuando lo empecé no sabía que era el tercero de una serie, pero se puede leer independientemente, pues la autora se centra exclusivamente en los protagonistas y no nombra a otros. Soy incondicional de la autora, y aunque tiene historias mejores, no he podido dejar de leer :D

[Duchess Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Derp...I got almost all the way to the end when I realized that this hero is the neighbor from Diamond Bay. Great LH read. Gotta love a hero that heroes so well :D

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaker
4.5 Stars

Series note: This is book #3 in Howard's Rescues series; however, it is only loosely connected to the first 2 and can easily be read as a standalone.

John Rafferty and Michelle Cabot have a difficult history, but when Michelle's father dies and she inherits his mountain of debt, she has no choice but to approach John for help. John and Michelle's love/hate relationship is intense and satisfying. Their chemistry simply sizzles on the page.

While John is more than a little overbearing and possessive, his obvious love and intense desire for Michelle is very appealing and more than compensates for some of his more questionable actions.

Michelle is an interesting mix of opposites. On the one hand, she is very strong and resilient in confronting the trauma of her past as well as her attempts to stand up for herself on the face of John's arrogance. On the other hand, she caves too easily to his demands and has several TSTL moments.

The minor suspense plot takes a back seat to the romance and the villain comes across as pathetic rather than threatening. I'm not a fan of Howard's attempt to rationalize his actions.

Overall, a delightful read, and I'm looking forward to the last book in the series.

[Namera [The Literary Invertebrate] · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wanted to enjoy this one, but the hero and heroine had literally NO personality other than their respective masculinity and femininity. Literally, Michelle is just a blonde, pale, elegant, beautiful woman, while John is a swarthy, dark, muscled, aggressive man. Zero personality other than that.

[atomickitten · Rating 5 out of 5]

5+ swooned stars!!!

Perfection!!!



That was exactly what I was in a mood for.
If you like the 'I've loved you since I met you' kinda story with a fantastic heroine, a hot and possessive alpha hero, with some intense chemistry and heart gripping secrets, look no further.
This book is a fucking perfection and I absolutely loved every bit of it.

Michelle and John Rafferty are the kind of couple you just love.
The one that makes sense.
And not because the author says so but because you feel so.
They click. In every area.
You root for them.
You want them happy.
And when they finally overcome all the shit that life decided to throw at them?
Well, not gonna lie.
I grinned like a madwoman.



HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!

******
Reread: 02/11/23
It's still one of the best books from Linda.
Man, the way Rafferty loves Michelle?
Dang, that is exactly what I want in my romance reads...



HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!

[Jackie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Me and Linda Howard need to have a break ...its not you its me. I know a lot of her books have the dated feel... poor weak heroine...rescued by big strong alpha (preferably with moustache) that is irresistible but the constant repetitive story telling and its mainly telling not showing just leaves me feeling flat with no interest to continue only for my need to see books through until the end.
Don't even get me started with all the talk of burning loins....

anyway same method mix and repeat here. Weak poor heroine -rescued by burly alpha rancher who lives on neighboring ranch, they've loved each other secretly for years yada yada yada...now reunited through circumstances (her father dies and leaves her run down ranch - she owes the hero 100k) he tells her she can sleep with him to pay it off - she slaps him and kisses him, signs over land to pay the debt then jumps into bed with him where you guessed it ...ITS AMAZING!! small sub plot of psycho ex husband. He would make her his woman and she thought that he would dump her as soon as he was sick of her...

Just boring and I should like it because LH really focuses on the romantic relationship in her stories instead of too much side characters or sub plots but its all too cringe for me!

[HJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow, I didn't realize how old-school this one would come off. I read and enjoyed White Lies from the same series, but this one didn't work as well for me. I don't know why this one felt so dated versus the other one, but this definitely didn't feel like a Linda Howard book to me.

A bit too much misogyny, and a bit too much of a TSTL heroine, oh!, and the trite lack of communication skills between characters...

[Carla Vitale · Rating 5 out of 5]

For some reason this is one of my favorite books of all time.