DNF-ing at about 65%.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!!! Don't read on unless you want the details.

I read this book in the past and remember liking it, although I do recall that the hero was a standout jerk at first. Upon this reread, I confirmed my earlier thoughts but honestly, he went way beyond jerk territory into complete asshole.

The premise is already an uncomfortable one at the beginning. In the opening scene, Lydia is giving birth to a stillborn baby conceived through rape via her stepbrother. She's ready to die and okay with the fact that the baby is dead. A couple of boys from a passing wagon train stumble upon her and the baby, and their ma and pa take her in. Coincidentally, Ross Coleman's wife dies in labor a few days later and Lydia is needed as a milk cow to keep the baby alive.

Ross is an unbelievable ass. I understand that he is grieving, but the way he treats others says so much about him. Lydia is dealing with a horrific past and a shaky, scary present, and yet she maintains her dignity and poise. Ross just turns into a mean, nasty person. He loves calling her a whore, treating her like a second class citizen, making her feel like a burden to him, and constantly letting her know how she could never measure up to his dead wife.

The cherry on the top of his degradation of Lydia is when he rapes her...literally holds her down, bruises her wrists, fucks her raw, and does this while she's screaming and crying out in pain, begging him to stop. There's no forced seduction here, nothing titillating or pleasing about this encounter. And yet somehow, when Lydia...who has never known sex to be anything but rape...thinks about this encounter the next day with tenderness and longing. What the actual fuck? This is the point where I lose interest in the story, because no matter what happens from here on out, I can't get past the rape, and I can't imagine a woman who is brutalized that way romanticizing it the very next day. I know sometimes I enjoy stories with forced seduction and scenes that ride fine line between that and rape. I have no excuses except that often there are subtleties that influence my opinion, and I don't feel the need to make excuses for my preferences. They are what they are

Seeing as how I'm a romance reader and let's face it...romance is often predictable...I'm fairly certain I know how the book will play out. But I'm listening to the audiobook, and still have something like four or five hours to go before the end. I'm just not interested in investing that much more time in it.

Que historia más bonita, me ha gustado un montón ... En algunos momentos Ross me ha sacado de quicio, vaya cabezota, pero Lydia me ha parecido muy dulce y comprensiva. Recomendable 100%

I wasn't expecting to enjoy this very much. But I'm glad to be proven wrong. All that lustful hatred and angst made this a very entertaining read.

DNF 72% in and this is abnormal for me. Usually, if I’m this far into a book, I grit my teeth and finish it. But I just can’t.
Let me give you a rundown:
Lydia has a stillborn baby via her stepbrother (who has raped her for what I assume is an extended period of time). She is found near death by a wagon train moving to Texas after the Civil War & they graciously take her in.

Ross’s wife dies the day she’s taken in. The baby survives and Lydia becomes his wet nurse. There are some people who are uncomfortable with them sharing a space so Ross and Lydia are forced to marry to keep from “living in sin.”

Ross is a straight up jerk for at least 50% of the book. Since no one knows about Lydia’s past, he assumes she’s a prostitute who killed her own baby. But he needs her for his son to survive so he tolerates her, but not without a few low blows.

Then it’s revealed: the stepbrother is still alive & is looking for her! He catches up with the wagon train (which is unrealistic, considering how long they’ve traveled, how unrealistic it is that he picked the *right* wagon train during a time of no phones or internet & the amount of time it took for him to recuperate from his injuries).

The final straw for me is when he threatens Lydia and instead of telling Ross about her abusive stepbrother and his threats (he even threatened to kill the baby!), she keeps it to herself.
Because....she can protect the wagon train alone?

I don’t know and I don’t care enough to stick around and find out.

I did love the buildup of the alphahole hero and the sweet and helpless heroine but now she’s just plain stupid and I really can’t get over the rape scene. Ross explicitly tells her that he raped her (HE DID) and she keeps denying it because...he’s hot?

Ugh. I wish I hadn’t spent money on this book. This needs to be on KU for all the disappointment it’s caused Goodreads readers.