Nevada Bounty #2
Margaret Madigan
Historical Romance/Western
Published in 2016
H/h - Emmett Wilder/Lydia Templeton
Setting: Nevada, 1872.
Read in April, 2016.
My rating:
[spoiler alert]
Depending on the Doctor
by Margaret Madigan is the second in her western historical romance
series, Nevada Bounty. I’ve recently rediscovered my love for western
historical and been checking out new authors regularly. This series was a
part of that quest. I liked the first book quite a bit because, if you
talk about action and adventures, it had plenty. Unfortunately, this new
installment wasn’t quite up to my expectation.
Why I said
expectation is because Lydia, the h, was the one out
of 4 lead women of this series, whose story I was looking forward to the
most. Nevada Bounty is based on the stories of Beth, Lydia, Daisy and
Nellie. Beth, previously a gambler’s widow, had given other social
‘misfits’ a home because she could connect with them due to her negative
reputation. She herself was a gambler when Frank was alive, something
that never died down in this small town. Beth is the bold one who’d get
into any situation head first, sometimes without even thinking it
through. Lydia, the shy and bookish one, always tends to stay within
herself. She loves to cook and quite protective of her little family.
Daisy is a former prostitute who is trying to mend her ways for a better
living. She’s the most flirtatious of the bunch, but that’s only a
leftover, harmless trait of her former profession. Nelly is a Native
American woman who was raped by a white man, which left a deep scar
within her soul. Her only healing balm is her little boy, born after
that incident. She seems to be the wisest, though she also tends to keep
to herself.
Beth, the h of book 1, Gambling on the Outlaw,
is the leader of her little family. She took care of the girls making a
living as a midwife and the earnings from her small, but prosperous,
ranch. Lydia, though, works as the school-teacher but I’m not sure if
Daisy and Nellie do anything to provide for the group. On the course of
the story, Beth meets a runaway outlaw named Isaac Collins and they fell
in lust headlong, which turned into something akin to love rather
quickly. It’s proven again that Beth’s old attraction to bad boys never
died down. Not even after the way Frank lost his life after a night of
gambling gone wrong. But at the least, he’d bought her this farmland,
helped her start her ranch so she’s got some leverage over her
situation.
Beth and Isaac had a common enemy throughout the
story, who was after Isaac. He was the one who spread the false news
regarding a murder which Isaac never committed. That guy was just
looking for a convenient scapegoat. Isaac was a victim of evil and rich
peeps controlling the top tier of the society. The law was what they
made and dish out how they see fit. The same guy, a very rich rancher,
was also Beth’s neighbor and had eyes on not only her, but her
profitable little land. He wanted both. As the story progress, Beth and
Isaac both had to fight their way through to reach a solution but not
quite. There were a lot of blood-shed on the path to their HEA.
One
good thing, apart from the fact that Beth and Isaac found each-other,
was that Beth had stumbled upon a gold mine while on the run from the
“law” with Isaac. Apparently at that time, anyone discovering an unowned
mine could immediately stake their claim on it. Beth didn’t waste time.
The moment she got the chance she had the mind registered, making all 4
of them joint owners. It rather improved their overall situation.
After
Beth and Isaac got married, he moved into the ranch. A man was needed
for all around lookout, no doubt about that. Lydia did something in book
1 that cast a negative light on her character, which also had shaken
her relationship with Beth. But I get it now that she was the one most
insecure among the girls and felt the need to protect her “sisters”.
Now, even after months, she hasn’t forgiven herself for it, even though
it was apparent that Beth and Isaac understood and had already forgiven
her.
I’d recommend that you start with book 1 since book 2 rather
takes off right after it. Depending on the Doctor was a good enough
standalone but reading book 1 may clear some things up and help explain
the backstory.
When the story starts, Lydia is still teaching. On
her way from the school, she meets a handsome stranger; the type of man
who never looks at her twice. Even though Beth is somewhat of a beauty
with her blonde hair, Daisy attractive and flirtatious, Lydia has always
considered herself the mouse of the lot; too shy, too insecure... too
plain. An on-the-shelf spinster without any hope of ever getting
married. It didn’t help that her own past wasn’t anything to be proud of
or be happy about, abandoned by her own family, then by the man with
whom her father arranged a marriage because he deemed her “too plain” to
even consider it. She’d just arrived in Palmer and that’s how things
ended. Her father refused to take her back, calling her “useless”
because she was born a girl. All of it took a big toll on Lydia’s
self-esteem, crushed her self-confidence. It was because of Beth’s
generosity that today she has a home. Yet the way Emmett Wilder has been
looking at her and treating her… well, it’s too good to be true for
Lydia. What maybe the reason behind it? Besides, he is new-to-town, what
is his business here anyway?
Turns out, Emmett is here to take
Lydia back to her brother. The brother who hasn’t even bothered or cared
if she was dead or alive these past few years, let alone ever making
any contact since her father dumped her. Apparently he knew she was
alive, so the moment their mother died and the parish needed help, he
had summoned Lydia to do her “duty”. Randall, who has followed their
vicar of a father’s footsteps, is cut from the same cloth. He’d always
been as presumptuous and rude with the same type of bullying nature as
their father possessed. Lydia’s father treated his parishioners way
better than he’d ever treated his wife and daughter. It was a complete
horror story, the abuse and the neglect. Her mother lost hope, and the
wish to live, a long time ago. Lydia had seen the abuse she’d suffered
all through her life. She, herself, had been a disappointment simply
because of her sex. All these have shaped the person Lydia is today.
Someone too fragile and vulnerable; too doubtful of herself and of her
own abilities.
Even though, having some idea of her past, Beth,
Isaac and the rest of her adopted family urge Lydia to stay behind,
Lydia decides she’d travel. It was mainly because she wanted to know
what happened to her mother, even though she was never really a mother
to Lydia, completely withdrawn from herself and her surroundings to cope
with a cruel husband and the daily beatings. Lydia could only wonder
how Randall had treated her all these years.
In between, we get
glimpses of Emmett’s past. He used to be a doctor and a surgeon in the
war, and as with any veteran, it has left a deep, dark scar within him.
Moreover, there were some other secrets from which he was running.
Randall blackmailing was the main reason why Emmett travelled here to
fetch his sister. He knew Randall to be a nasty piece of work, so he had
no idea what to expect where Lydia was concerned. Soon in their
journey, the more he got to know her the more he learned that Lydia had a
beautiful soul. And though the judgmental world has done everything to
solidify this notion in her that she’s unappealing, there’s no truth in
it. Her beautiful smile and her kindness makes up for any lack she
thinks she has in the looks department. He’d also
learn that underneath that vulnerability, a strong woman resides, who’s
just waiting to emerge with the right support by her side. She’s nothing
like the fragile woman Emmett had first thought her to be.
With a
promise to return ASAP, Lydia and Emmett ride out towards an unknown
future, not knowing how she’d be received by Randall. On the train is
where their much unexpected and quite dangerous adventure begins when
they’re set upon by train robbers, who then kidnap Emmett after learning
he’s a doctor. Lydia wouldn’t leave his side so they take her as well.
Things take a drastic turn as they try to escape their captivity and
find themselves in a severe snowstorm. Though a sadly inadequate cave
shelters them for a while, Emmett was badly injured in the skirmish that
took place before they could ride away. Lydia didn’t know if she could
keep him, and herself, alive in this raging snowstorm and the deadly
cold without adequate provisions, not to mention with his injury. Prayer
comes in the form of a band of Native Americans who find them, then
take them to their camp.
After more adventures, which led to a
very unconventional “Indian marriage”, Lydia and Emmett find themselves
to be well and truly bound by love. After all they’ve been through
together, that connection had only solidified. Both were already
fighting the attraction before the wedding took place. Lydia was, of
course, very unsure of Emmett’s feelings, who made every effort with his
words and love making to prove what he feels for her. But they still
had a long way to go. Even if Lydia wanted to be Emmett’s wife, who was
more than glad to her by his side, they still needed to face Randall...
and the wrath that was sure to come when he learned of their “heathenish
marriage” and Lydia “living in sin” with Emmett. For him, Emmett was
more afraid that Lydia wouldn’t wanna be with him if she ever learns of
his own past misgivings; things he’d done that he regrets to this day.
As
expected, when they reach Randall’s home, Lydia and Emmett get the
verbal thrashing from him, all pompous and self-righteous about their
heathenish marriage. He even cows Lydia quite a bit into praying for her
soul, which she does one whole night. Randall was obviously expecting
Lydia to start being the “servant” he’d been missing since his mother’s
death, to handle all the parish work without a noise. When she was busy
praying for her soul, Emmett drops by to tell Randall that he has no say
into anything anymore... but Randall totally deflates all by
blackmailing Emmett over a long ago secret, forcing him to bow out with a
promise to never to return again. When Randall taunts Lydia into
believing that Emmett has finally come to his senses and dumped her too,
it kills Lydia inside. I was scared that she’d become her mousy self
once again, worse still, the news would shatter her completely.
Believing Randall knowing what an a$$hole he is would’ve been quite the
folly. But I was so wrong!
Lydia wasn’t one of your feisty
heroines, who went into everything head first, mentally strong and very
courageous. She was SO shy and so unsure of herself that at times it was
hard to believe that she can be anything else. However she surprised me
by showing her quiet strength over and over again. So when Randall
thought he’d at last broken her down to do his bidding, she refuses up
front for the first time. She also asks him about their mother, which
confirmed that he may have killed her through regular beating. Really,
how much can an old woman, who has suffered all her life, take at that
age? Lydia confronts him by telling Randall exactly what he is; an a$$, a
murderous one at that. Quite taken by surprise and faced with the
accusation, Randall finally snaps and starts beating Lydia
too........... thankfully, the housekeeper sees it all and finds Emmett
immediately. I wasn’t angry at Emmett because, though he had said he’d
leave town, he was already reconsidering his decision about leaving
Lydia all alone in the mercy of that PoS.
The next chapter sort
of jumps some months and whatever happened to Randall and the aftermath
was forgotten, leaving me quite speechless. It wasn’t even mentioned
again, and bam, they’re back to Palmer?? Umm... I don’t know, but it
caught me totally by surprise. The ending, though it brings the much
sought after HEA for Emmett and Lydia, wasn’t at all satisfactory. It
felt rushed, as if chunk of the story was cut off from it.
Apart from this, the following bugged me too:
1.
The first person POV. I’m not saying I dislike first person POV but the
first book wasn’t written that way, so it was quite unexpected. It sort
of smacked dab on my face, and took me a long time to get used to with.
2.
Too contemporary-sounding dialogue. At times you couldn’t tell you were
reading a book set in the post Civil-war era. The word “sexy” was used
once in the story, from Lydia’s POV (if I’m not wrong) which just
sounded so wrong. I’m sure the author has done her research well, but
whatever I found online told me sexy wasn’t a word that was used before
early 20th c. Though the dates vary in different sites (I did consult
Merriam-Webster online edition, which says 1912), it certainly wasn’t
1872, the year this story is set! Even if I’m wrong, I’d never associate
“sexy” as a word coming from someone living in that era to emphasize
the attractiveness of another person.
3. What happened to that gold
mine? It was never mentioned here once! I was curious as to what was
going on and how the girls were managing it etc., but there was no
answer to that.
In the end, TBH I enjoyed Lydia’s story but I
still think it could’ve been much better. I’m still very eager know
Daisy and Nelly’s fate. Three of Isaac’s brothers were introduced here,
which also left me intrigued. Really loved their banters, so wondering
if any of them would either be paired with Daisy or Nelly, or would they
have their own stories to tell.
3.5 stars.
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