Never Love A Lawman by Jo Goodman

Never Love A Lawman by Jo Goodman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

TBR Reading Challenge 2011- April category: Western

3.5* I wavered whether to round up or down on this one. Goodman is an excellent writer in many ways, and she's obviously done her research on life in the American west in the 19th century. The writing is clear and well-balanced, and the descriptions full of details of everyday life. That detail is both a positive and a negative, depending on the reader. Or, in my case, depending on the part of the story being detailed. At times it was enjoyable to read the small occurrences of everyday of life Goodman chose to describe, such as lighting the stove, walking down the street, the style of dress, and so forth. At other times, too many small details slowed down the story. It took the edge off the action, or diffused some of the tension between Wayne and Rachel.


The story starts out slowly, but it builds well and there are some great characters, both primary and secondary. The writing overall is above average and the plot was interesting and well-executed. I'm planning to check out some other books by Jo Goodman. However, the writing style could be called calm or sedate, and that dampened some of the energy of the book, so it misses the "great" mark by bit.



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