Zoe's Reviews > Texas Glory

Ahhhhh it hurts to know that I could have loved the book but somehow something was not right.

When I started this book I thought, oh I think I am going to like Dallas's story better than Houston. A marriage of convenience, Dallas and Cordelia both sound extremely promising, what is not to like?

Then Cordelia's fears started to get on my nerves. I tried to be more understanding of her fears, but even I got annoyed. Dallas was a saint. Cordelia's character started out fine, but once she married Dallas, she kept thinking about how she "could not stay". She was too fearful in the beginning of the marriage, then too much of a ambitious woman once she started with her hotel plan, which Dallas kind of "allowed" to happen. I could see what Lorraine Heath was doing: Cordelia was transforming from a fearful woman to a woman of her own mind, from having little self-esteem to feeling confident and in control of her destiny. I respect that, but I found it hard to relate to her personal growth. The kind of woman that she was turning to seems too much like a managing sort. And I do despise a manaing sort of a woman. Like I said, I respect her aspirations but find her goal hard to relate to.

Dallas wanted a son. This was a theme from book 1. So I was half afraid from the beginning that he would not get his heart's wish. I won't go into details because that would be spoilerish. While I understood why Heath wrote the story this way, I secretly wish for another ending for Dallas and Cordelia. If we could not have our happily ever after with all our wishes fulfilled in a romance novel, where are we ever going to find it?

I am glad that I read the book. It was a good story with intriguing characters. I could not relate to Cordelia but that was a personal thing. However I feel that the story was stuck in some kind of a limbo: it could have been really great but somehow could not get there. It just dangled between "good" and "could have been good". I feel that Dallas and Cordelia did not have enough foundation for their "coming together" to be special. And the drama with the pregnancy and Cordelia's despicable brothers were just too over the top and pushed the relationship into the shadow.

I feel this is really quite a shame. Dallas deserves a better story, from where I see it. But from this book's high rating, I guess most people are happy with his HEA. I for one, wish that he had a different story.