Linda Howard Book Junkies discussion

Susan Blackstone is a young widow who's held her own, running a business empire and winning the affections and support of her dead husband's family. Until the black sheep of the family, Cord Blackstone, returns for a showdown against the family who robbed him of his birthright. Soon Susan is caught between family loyalty and desire for the man who has threatened her way of life and her heart.

Sounds wonderful! I haven't read Tears of the Renegade and am looking forward to it.

I haven't read it in quite awhile so I will be glad to reread it.

I had never read this book! I liked this more than I thought I would, and that is entirely because of Susan.

I started out really disliking her combination of fragility and sanctimonious use of the word "morals." Cord wasn't a favorite either. But Susan was a fighter. She followed through on what she thought was right, and grasped life where she could. I ended up admiring her a lot. It was also apparent that others around her saw the same qualities the whole time.

I have always agreed with Blair Mallory: walk out, crawl back. I feel that way about betrayal too, and this satisfied without being overly vindictive. There was a lot of love in this book.

Cord, who was basically a stranger, really put Susan on the spot early on trying to make her choose between him and the family she knew and, if not exactly loved, respected. Cord's attentions to Susan all seemed like a part of his revenge too.

I know! Cord had the emotional maturity of a toddler.

Cord having feelings for Susan put a real kink in his revenge plan because it ended up hurting her too. He didn't figure on her having such a deep level of involvement with the family or the company that she would put herself at risk in order to save them.

I liked this book and liked the characters of Cord and Susan. I thought they were both very strong people. At the end of the story, I admired Imogene and Preston for apologizing to Cord and admitting that they were wrong for doing what they had done.

It was interesting to go back and read one of Linda Howard's early books. Yes, the book lacked the complexity of plot and the witty, humorous banter that is present in many of her later books, but I still enjoyed it.

Totally agree about Imogene and Preston! It's impressive that they apologized.

I liked Susan, her sweetness and her loyalty to her dead husband's family. Cord was typical strong and ruthless man who was set out for revenge and he didn't seem to realize that his actions will hurt the woman he has come to care for. This story was not one of my favorites by LH but it was lovely and sexy "oldie" with some angst and redemption. And its good to see that even back then LH's heroines were something special.