No Quarter Asked by Janet DaileyMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
No Quarter Asked by Janet Daley is a 2014 Open Road Media Publication. I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Stacy's father dies and she feels compelled to spend a little time alone to grieve and sort out what she should do next. An out of the way cabin in the Texas Valley seems the perfect place. Bringing along her high strung horse and her loyal dog, Stacy arrives and before she can even get to the cabin she has a run in with her landlord, Cord Harris. From the very instant they set eyes on one another sparks fly, but not in a good way. Stacy's future dealings with Cord becomes more and more tense until Stacy actually comes to despise the man... or could it be something else about Cord that has Stacy so unsettled?
This book was originally published in 1974 and is now available in digital format. This contemporary romance with a western tone was pretty typical stuff for the time period it was written in. The big male with a bad attitude toward women that decides to display and voice his displeasure toward them every chance he has, while the woman fights against the attacks. The verbal sparring can be fun but it gets a little old if it goes on for too long. How on earth someone falls in love with a man that was so mean is beyond me. I think if it were me I would not be capable of feeling anything but anger toward a man that treated me so badly. This theme still crops up in contemporary romance but it's toned down quite a bit. I just felt Cord came on too strong, was too over the top , and Stacy's falling for him under those conditions didn't seem realistic. Again, the times were different then and so I took that into consideration. I liked that Stacy stood her ground and held her own in many trying circumstances. I'm really on the fence about how to rate this one. I'm thinking 2.5 is about right but I will round it up to a 3 star rating.
