Early Dawn (Catherine Anderson)

Early Dawn
Category:
Publisher:
Published: 12/29/2009
After breaking off their engagement, Eden Paxton's fiance spreads so many rumors about her that she is forced to leave San Francisco. Her pride bruised, an angry Eden heads for the wilds of Colorado to live with her half brothers. But murderous outlaws cut the trip short when they kidnap her, intending to sell her across the Mexican border. Ever since a gang murdered his wife, Matthew Coulter cannot see a woman being mistreated without…

Overall Response

This is one of those so-so kind of books. It’s an interesting story with mostly engaging characters, but there are portions of the book that just seem to drag on forever, and there are some tropes that I’m not a huge fan of. The writing is fine. I think my general lack of love for this book is more that it failed to connect with me. It’s one of those subjective things where I’m sure there are lot of people who would give this book a five-star rating because Catherine Anderson writes this genre very well.

Spoilers Ahead

This is definitely a trope issue for me. Eden is kidnapped and then sexually assaulted early in the book, and the author gives us not exactly a play by play, but just enough that I kind of look away. I’m not annoyed or put out that she’s acknowledged the horrors that Eden experienced, but earlier this year I read a book that went into insane graphic detail about a character’s brutal gang rape, and I think I’m just sort of sensitive to it right now. I don’t remember that it bothered me as much the first time I read it.

The second issue I have is towards the end when Eden tells Matthew that she doesn’t want him to go off hunting the Sebastians again. Matthew seems to understand, but he’s going anyway, and it looks like a really good, crunchy conflict for them. And then Eden is read for filth by her brothers for having given the ultimatum. It just rubbed me the wrong way that Eden backed down, and I would have preferred they both stick to their guns. Maybe Eden could have found a way to communicate and written, and Matthew could have returned on his own, etc.  I just didn’t like that Eden’s brothers cast her in the wrong — she is not insane for wanting Matthew to choose her and their future, and that’s how they make her feel.

I also think they dragged out the chase way too long. I didn’t buy that the Sebastian gang would have kept hunting them or that Matthew couldn’t have figured another way to get them to safety. I don’t know how else it would have unfolded, but it was starting to inch towards boring as the characters did the same thing over and over again.

What I did like was how well Eden and Matthew were written. None of my issues with this book are with the characters or the romance, just the plot.

3.0Overall Score

Early Dawn

Overall Response This is one of those so-so kind of books. It's an interesting story with mostly engaging characters, but there are portions of the book that just seem to drag on forever, and ...

  • Plot
    3.0
  • Characters
    3.0
  • Romance
    3.0

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