Unforgiven

Customer Reviews:

Unsatisfactory.......2005-09-04

This may be my least favorite Balogh novel. Although I appreciate the fact that both lead characters are flawed people, Balogh makes too much of it -- so much that I never believe they really love each other, and there is certainly no assurance that their marriage will succeed. It's realistic, yes, but I do not read any book in any genre for realism. Moreover, there was little here that really touched my heart, and that's one of the things that I particularly like about Balogh's work -- she knows how to push those emotional buttons.

Balogh does write well, providing descriptions of people & events that the reader can buy into. And I did read the whole thing, having to know how things ended. But I was left unsatisfied with the bittersweet and uncertain result. Their constant feuding became tiresome, and there was too much narration for my taste. The Mr. Collins-like character was too much like Mr. Collins -- exasperatingly amusing, yes, too felt like the rip-off it was. But the big thing for me was the lack of joy and hope in the relationship. And the resolution of their long hatred for each other was too easily executed. Moira didn't NOT believe Kenneth for a moment -- after all the times she suspected him of the worst? It didn't ring true.

2 stars for a traditional but flawed Balogh .......2004-09-21

This is not one of Mary Balogh's better romances. I admit I have a problem with Mary Balogh's longer fiction. I find she crams an awful lot of plot twists & turns into her "Super" regencies, and in some of her longer novels...in place of character development, there's alot of dialog & plot weakness. There was just too much going on here, the romantic element & sexual tension (which Balogh can write so well in her shorter fiction) got overwhelmed. There was nothing particularly memorable about this hero or heroine; frankly, they seemed pretty blah. The reason they initially got separated seemed weak, and the reason they finally got together seemed weaker. So what if the hero cried when the heroine miscarried? I didn't feel anything for him, I just didn't care. This was kind of a "by the numbers" Balogh, with all her signature bits, but no heart.

A Clever Title........2004-02-07

This is romance? Try full-blown alienation. These two people do not like each other. I don't care how much the author tries to proclaim their love. I couldn't find the love scenes -- they waltz together and he appreciates her height? Ok . . .

Skillfully titled, these two characters cannot and will not "forgive" one another. A misunderstanding during their adolescence has developed into hatred. Ms. Balogh urges the reader to consider the characters' inner thoughts -- wishing us to believe these two quarrelsome people love each other! Unfortunately, the message is not delivered! Even at the story's end, the reader reads the love declarations with uneasiness.

Briefly summed -- the tale of a future earl, Kenneth Woodfall, and a wild, independent, free-spirit, Moira Hayes. Throughout one ill-fated summer, our lovers share an obsession, meet in secret, and fall in love. However, something goes terribly wrong and they replace youthful love with aggravated mistrust and betrayal.

Found in these pages is one of the most unconventional consummation scenes ever read in romance reading. They say if you live long enough you will experience it all -- add a new experience to this lady's life.

Mary Balogh may have faltered with the storyline but her writing is still first-rate. Moira's denial of her pregnancy and her waning health are quite believable. The author favorably portrays the book's secondary characters. Balogh has written Moira's betrothed, Sir Edwin Baillie, as a pompous, silly, flabbergasting man -- reminiscent of Jane Austen's Mr. Collins from "Pride and Prejudice". The reader will cherish the brief hilarious scenes featuring this absurd person -- anything to avoid spending time with our two love fragments.

Grace Atkinson, Ontario - Canada.

It started off ok but had really fallen flat by page 100.......2003-01-04

The heroine's view of the world seems cynical so one is forced to spend too much time with a negative woman prone to an attitude of victimization. One moment she seems to be slipping into self pity and the next she is 'proudly' declaring her independence. These sporatic reversals make her character hard to believe or sympathize with. Ultimately, her character is rather weak and unappealing. I had to stop reading the book when I encountered a truly absurd plot twist that I felt was merely a cheap device the author used to avoid having to think of a sincere way that these two people could fall in love.

A 'forced marriage' novel with quite a twist!.......2000-11-20

This is the sequel to Balogh's Indiscreet, and worth reading for that reason alone, since Indiscreet introduced the 'Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse', as Rex, Kenneth, Nat and Eden were known during the Peninsular war. For those who wanted to know more about all four characters, this book gives you what you were looking for.

At the end of Indiscreet, we're left with quite a cliffhanger concerning Kenneth: he has to return home to marry a woman who is having his baby and whom he says he dislikes more than he has ever disliked anyone in his life (and this can't be a spoiler, since it's part of the plot summary on the cover of Unforgiven and on this site!). I, for one, was desperate to find out exactly how this had come about.

Kenneth and Moira, we learn right at the start of the book, have known each other for years, but their families have been estranged for generations. We learn that Moira, Kenneth and their respective siblings were friends in secret as children, but it's apparent that something happened which not only tore apart those friendships and the burgeoning love Kenneth and Moira felt for each other, but also renewed the family quarrel with a vengeance.

Moira has just agreed to marry her distant cousin, a prosy, pompous, self-important bore who also happens to be the heir to her family home, at the point when she meets Kenneth again. It's very clear to the reader that their mutual dislike hides a very mutual attraction. However, both suppress it very heavily indeed, and more might never have come of it had Moira not attended the Christmas ball at Dunbarton and overheard some comments about herself spoken by Kenneth's mother and sister. She foolishly goes out to walk home alone in heavy snow...

I have to admit that the circumstances in which the child was conceived made me raise an eyebrow; I still find it a little difficult to accept that Kenneth would propose, and Moira would accept, that particular course of action in those particular circumstances. Nevertheless, that's the premise Balogh went with, and I was able to ignore my reservations and concentrate on the story.

The way in which two stubborn people who did not want to be married to each other, and who can't seem to be able to speak to each other without causing yet more misunderstandings, come to realise that they do actually love each other - and that they can actually *tell* each other that fact - is very well told by Balogh. She does do misunderstood lovers very well indeed.

Unlike some reviewers, I didn't find Moira's behaviour childish, although Kenneth accuses her of that more than once. She's certainly stubborn. And she believes, as we find out later, that she has very good reason to hate him, and therefore she resents the need to ask him for anything at all - and his own imperious, occasionally domineering Earl of Haverford manner doesn't help. As for her refusal to accept at first that she was pregnant, how many of us can exist in a state of denial over something we would rather wasn't happening? And she did face up to the truth eventually.

Book Description

Plucked from the depths of hell, former military sniper Reno Manchahi was hired by the government to kill a thief, but he had a mission of his own. Descended from a family of shape-shifters, Reno vowed to get the revenge he'd thirsted for all these years. But his assignment went awry when his target turned out to be a powerful seductress, a woman who risked everything to fight a potent evil.

They had a combustible connection, yet he struggled to reveal the truth about himself--his Apache upbringing, his Jaguar pride, his death plot. Soon, Reno had to transform himself into a true hero, accept this new love and conquer the enemy that threatened them all. He had to become a Warrior for the Light….

Customer Reviews:

Uneven..........2007-08-15

Reno Manchahi is finally given his chance for freedom from a military prison. All he has to do is capture and kill El Espanto. El Espanto is a ghostly figure plaguing the wealthy emerald mine owned by the mysterious Guild. The guards of the mine are willing to kill any of the poor esmeraldos who enter their lands, searching for just one emerald to change their fortune. Reno thought the task of killing El Espanto would be an easy one, till he met the lovely Calen Hernandez. An ancient prophecy is about to unfold....

UNFORGIVEN is the first book in the Silhouette Nocturne line and the first book in Lindsay McKenna's Warriors of Light series. As such, it is an uneven start to both. The story starts off strong, with Reno forced to choose between freedom and his quest for revenge. Calen's role is also initially very well done, as both characters evoke strong emotions in the reader. The tension begins building up to what looks to be a fabulous showdown. Instead, however, the book veers off course. Instead of focusing on the story at hand, another ongoing plotline begins emerging about an ancient prophecy. The transition does not go seamlessly, and it almost feels as if two books have been fused together into one.

The ancient prophecy has a few unusual twists. The concept of the Warriors of Light offers some promise that will hopefully develop in future installments. UNFORGIVEN reaches a point where it becomes almost preachy about the entire philosophy of metaphysicians. Instead of showing the reader and using the world of the jaguar shape shifters to make her points, Lindsay McKenna instead devotes far too many pages to explaining the philosophy. Perhaps, as the series begins to coalesce around the thread of the ancient prophecy, the stories will improve.

COURTESY OF CK2S KWIPS AND KRITIQUES

Boring and Stupid.......2007-07-31

This book was long and boring. Kept waiting for something to happen but ....nothing. No revenge on the bad General who hurt the hero's family, just a lady who rides endlessly on her horse and an emerald from the mine that works like a happy pill.Blah!!

Personally, I liked this one. .......2007-02-23

Sniper Reno Manchahi lives each day for revenge. His wife and little girl were murdered. When he threatens the General responsible, he's put in jail with a twenty year sentence. Coming from Apache heritage, Reno is in touch with nature. When he hears a hawk cry out with a message of freedom he's not sure he can believe it.

That day he's made an offer. If he's willing to use his skills as a sniper for a special assignment, he will gain his freedom. He's asked to travel to Ecuador to dispose of El Espanto, a mysterious figure scaring the guards away from an emerald mine. The catch is that he can never return to the United States.

Calen Hernandez leads a double life. By day she's a billionaire in charge of an oil empire. By night she's El Espanto protecting the poor esmeraldos from the cruelty of the guards at the emerald mine. When Reno comes to town, she knows that he's the sniper brought in to kill her, but despite that she finds herself drawn to him.

Soon Reno and Calen find they have a common destiny. They are Warriors for the Light and they are called to a higher duty. They will fight with others like themselves to save the world.

Not only is UNFORGIVEN the first book in Silhouette's new Nocturne series, but it's the first in Lindsay McKenna's new Warriors for the Light trilogy. This book is a wonderful start to both series. Reno and Calen are both vulnerable and real. Right from the start you care about what happens to them. The tension between them keeps you going until they come together in a wonderfully emotional scene. I can't wait for the next book from Lindsay about the Warriors for the Light.

[...]

Loved it.......2007-02-01

This book has gotten a bad rep. It is a really good book. The characters had a lot of depth and the paranormal aspects were really something special. I would like to see more stories that follow the theme of this book. The book was left open in such a way that other stories could be written and I hope Nocturne will be around long enough for those stories to be published.

Just.....Bad........2006-12-31

I don't think I got past the first couple of chapters, and that's really bad. With most books, I try to at least get through the first three chapters, thinking that most books start to hit their stride by then. This one never got out of the gate for me. Boring, trite, poorly written. 'Nuff said.

Average customer rating:

The Unforgiven
Excellent Book!!
The Unforgiven
Quiet Interesting
Enjoyable read

The Unforgiven
Patricia MacDonald
Manufacturer: Pocket Star
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0743423658

Book Description

She swore she was innocent.

Maggie Fraser has tried to forget. The body of the man she loved. The blood seeping into the snow. The scandalous murder trial. The twelve agonizing years in prison for a crime she did not commit. But now Maggie is free -- and ready to start a new life. Alone. Unknown. On a quiet island off the coast of New England, she accepts a job with the local newspaper. And slowly, she tries to put the past behind her, opening her heart to the paper's ruggedly handsome editor, Jess Herlie. Then the nightmare begins...again.

Now she must pay.

Someone is watching Maggie's every move -- and waiting for revenge. Someone who refuses to forgive and forget. Someone who would do anything, even destroy innocent lives, to teach the guilty that there is no sanctuary, no escape, for...

The Unforgiven

Download Description

" She swore she was innocent. Maggie Fraser has tried to forget. The body of the man she loved. The blood seeping into the snow. The scandalous murder trial. The twelve agonizing years in prison for a crime she did not commit. But now Maggie is free -- and ready to start a new life. Alone. Unknown. On a quiet island off the coast of New England, she accepts a job with the local newspaper. And slowly, she tries to put the past behind her, opening her heart to the paper's ruggedly handsome editor, Jess Herlie. Then the nightmare begins...again. Now she must pay. "

Customer Reviews:

The Unforgiven.......2006-11-04

This book was a very enjoyable read. I have enjoyed every one of the books I've read by this author. I highly recommend The Unforgiven.

Excellent Book!!.......2006-03-06

I read this book years ago and loved it and I recently came across it and read it again. This book rocks! It should be made into a movie. Gripping from the beginning, it kept me rapt until I turned the last page. I would recommend this book to just about everyone I know, except for maybe a couple of my pretentious, pseudo-intellectual friends. Give it a try. You'll like it a LOT.

The Unforgiven.......2006-03-06

This was an absolutely fantastic book. I literally read in in a day. I just couldn't put it down. The story was unique and had you on the edge of your seat. I have read other books by this author and she is really good, but so far this was my favorite.

Quiet Interesting.......2006-02-12

This is the first time i have a read any book by patricia Macdonald,though it starts on a slow note but as the story starts to unfold it leaves you amazed...good characterization...you dont feel like leaving the book until you finish..ends on an interesting note.A good read.

Enjoyable read.......2002-10-26

This was the first Patricia MacDonald book I read, about fifteen years ago, and I've read them all. Maggie, the main character, has been released from jail to rebuild her life after a wrongful and lengthy prison sentence for a murder. Maggie has secretly taken a job and is trying to hide her past from her new employer and the rest of the world. Unfortunately, someone is stalking her and trying to make sure her life is anything but restful. Complicating things are Maggie's growing attraction to her boss, and her lack of trust and unwillingness to confide in him.

Although the "mystery stalker" is revealed fairly early, the true identity surprised me and kept me guessing as to how the story could resolve. Maggie was a very sympathetic character, and her budding romance with Jess her boss rounded the book out nicely. Although this ending was a bit more farfetched than her later books, it was still worth reading. It would be interesting if P.M. revisted this book years later and wrote a sequel ...there's still one character out there with an axe to grind against Maggie.

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Unforgiven
Charles Walters
Manufacturer: Acres USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Economic History | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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Eco-Farm, An Acres U.S.A. Primer: The definitive guide to managing farm and ranch soil fertility, crops, fertilizers, weeds and insects while avoiding dangerous chemicals

Weeds: Control Without Poisons

ASIN: 091131167X

Book Description

Revised and updated second edition. Charles Walters recognized the national and international implications of applied raw material economics as revealed in the analyses of the U.S. economy by Carl H. Wilken, Charles B. Ray, John Lee Coulter and J. Carson Adkerson. They demonstrated how all new wealth enters an economy as raw materials provided by Nature. By fairly monetizing these raw materials, an economy is diverse, balanced, and free of debt.

Unforgiven is derived from Walters' research and in-depth interviews with Wilken, conducted shortly before Wilken's death in 1968. The crisis that this book addresses has become even more pronounced in the years since it first appeared — an increasing wealth gap, a crumbling internal economy, human and economic harm inflicted upon our trading partners, millions of family farmers driven from their land, and small, privately owned businesses becoming extinct, ultimately leaving millions of Americans either directly or indirectly dependent on government handouts for existence. Wilken feared the concentration of power "in a few strong hands" as the deadliest enemy of a free society and saw the demise of independent enterprise and the family farm as the final curtain for the most dramatic social experiment in history: the American Dream.

Walters presents not only the causes and effects of our continuing rural and urban decay, but also a way to stop it — the construction of an economy operating in tune with the laws of physics.

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The Unforgiven by Alan LeMay (Large Print Hardcover)

The Unforgiven
Alan Le May
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Searchers

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West of Nowhere

ASIN: 0425076806
Release Date: 2000-08-08

Book Description

The classic American novel depicting the 1870s settler-Indian conflict in the Texas Panhandle.

"This is how it must have been...this is the book about Indians and whites to read."-Jessamyn West

Customer Reviews:

The Unforgiven by Alan LeMay (Large Print Hardcover).......2006-06-07

Description from the book back cover:

The Texas Panhandle was a wild and lonely place in the 1870's. But even after his Pa's death, Ben and the rest of the Zachary family held on to the land. It was all they had. But then the Kiowa Moon came and one of Pa's old enemies saw an opportunity to get even ...

A story of human courage and family love, The Unforgiven is the powerful novel from which the American film classic starring Burt Lancaster, Audrey Hepburn, and Audie Murphy was made.

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Unforgiven
Alan Lemay
Manufacturer: Jove
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0515090611

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Excellent historical research
Compelling! A rare insiders view.
Enjoyable quick read, with lots of personal experience
Great and interesting read

The Unforgiven: Utah's Executed Men
L. Kay Gillespie
Manufacturer: Signature Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Criminal Law | Law | Subjects | Books

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Customer Reviews:

Excellent historical research.......2003-08-04

L. Kay Gillespie has done a marvelous job at investigating the lives and circumstances of Utah's executed men. While there might be a tendency to over-dramatize or sensationalize this very intriguing, yet macabre topic, Gillespie presents a very readable, detailed account of these men who were put to death, without completely losing sight of the interesting or weird.

The Unforgiven gives a snapshot of each man executed in Utah. Most of the time, the reader is left wanting more on each of the men Gillespie profiles. That's OK, however. Most of these men and the heinous crimes they committed are enigmatic and leave the average reader wanting to know more, wondering questions like - how could have they done this? What drove them to murder? What was buried in their past? How did they feel about a state that sentenced them to die? What was their family life like? Many of these questions Gillespie economically touches upon. However, to answer all of these questions in depth would take pages and pages, probably books and books. For example, Norman Mailer's "The Executioner's Song" is well over 1,000 pages and it only profiles Utah killer Gary Gilmore.

Granted, the appeal of this book probably doesn't extend much beyond the state of Utah, but it is a good model for how to take a large topic - like every person who has been sentenced to death by the state of Utah- and condense it down into a readable, managable narrative.

Gillespie, while mentioning the idea of a firing squad and its relation to the Mormon belief in blood atonement, doesn't skirt the issue; in fact, he presents it, but doesn't necessarily inject his own belief(s) into the book. This is appreciated. He manages to give objective, competent and well-researched views about the topic without sermonizing or slanting the facts.

Again, any student of Utah history would do well to examine this well-reseached, well-presented book.

Compelling! A rare insiders view........1999-09-27

Dr. Gillespie has captured and brought to us a rare insiders view of death row. Those not particularly intested in this subject will find themselves quickly reading the book. It's not a difficult read and you might learn something while you're at it!

Enjoyable quick read, with lots of personal experience.......1999-09-11

Dr. Gillespie has been on the Utah State Board of Pardons, has interviewed most (if not all) of Utah's recent executions (within the last 10-15 years). He tells of experiences -- one in particular when he spent half a day in a cell on death row. It's light but compelling reading -- quick but hooking.

Great and interesting read.......1999-09-10

I have the author as a professor in college. It's a quick and good read. He summarizes the stories of the men executed in Utah. Lots of fun!

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Unforgiven (BFI Modern Classics)
Edward Buscombe
Manufacturer: British Film Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1844570339

Book Description

Unforgiven is dedicated to Don Siegel and Sergio Leone, Clint Eastwood's two cinematic mentors, who represent, respectively, the legacy of the classic Hollywood Western and the radical updating of the genre by Italian Westerns in the 1960s. William Munny, wonderfully played by Eastwood himself, finds himself confronted not only by the formidable sheriff Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman) but also by his own inner demons and the awful realities of violence and death. On its appearance in 1992 the film proved a popular and critical success, securing Academy Awards for Best Picture, for Eastwood as Director, for Gene Hackman as Best Supporting Actor, and for Joel Cox as Editor. Unforgiven is Eastwood's last Western to date, and the film may prove to be his swan song in a genre he has graced for more than forty years.
Edward Buscombe explores the ways in which Unforgiven, sticking surprisingly close to the original script by David Webb Peoples, moves between the requirements of the traditional Western, with its generic conventions of revenge and male bravado, and more modern sensitivities.

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The Unforgiven
P. N. Krassnoff
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1419156985

Unforgiven (Zebra Splendor Historical Romances)

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~ A Enjoyable Love Story ~
Really Great Book
A real page turner!!
UNFORGIVEN
Sweet story.

Unforgiven (Zebra Splendor Historical Romances)
Lisa Higdon
Manufacturer: Zebra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Romance | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0821761781

Customer Reviews:

~ A Enjoyable Love Story ~.......2004-04-05

This is the first book by Lisa Higdon I have read, and let me tell you I enjoyed this book so much, I loved all the characters in this book, Well not uncle Will, he was such a jerk, as I was reading along I kept hoping that uncle Will would get what he deserved. I loved the way Caitlin loved Cole, and how Cole loved her, I thought there son Jamie was so cute, it was an enjoyable love story that I will remember for years to come.

Happy Reading Lisa

Really Great Book.......2003-07-11

This book is great. It will grab you from the very first page. If you want a really good book to read this one is it. It keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen to them next. If you haven't read this one, you should.

A real page turner!!.......2002-12-01

This book just grabs you from the first sentence: "He's going to kiss me". If you are a fan of romance you won't be able to put this book down. It is very fast paced and will take you through the full gamut of emotions of two persons in love!

UNFORGIVEN.......2000-03-04

This was a wonderful read for someone who enjoys historical romances. I had trouble putting it down. A story of an outlaw and a rancher's daughter who fall in love and face more obstacles than they can endure. Or can they! Read this wonderful story and see what happens. You can't miss with this one.

Sweet story........1999-05-12

This story prove just how hard it is to change sometimes. Change as Cole finds himself doing. Cole's father is a brutal outlaw and his uncle is no better. Cole falls in love with Caitlin McDonnel, but shortly after their meeting Cole's father stages another hold up, leaving him dead and Cole on the run from the law! Cole convinces Caitlin to go with him and they join Cole's uncle. The outlaw life is all Cole has ever known and though he wants to stop he finds it hard to resist the easy way out and steal. Do to a misunderstanding Caitlin returns to the protective arms of her father and then word gets out that Cole is dead. She finds herself pregnant. Three years later their son Jaimie is kidnapped by Cole's uncle and Cole magicly reappears in her life again. It is a while until either can trust the other but all work out in the end. This is a sweet story and well worth the time to read it.

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