Title: Lawless
Author: Diana Palmer
Publishing Date: 2003
Genre: Contemporary
Rating: D
Sensuality: Warm
Christabel Gaines married Judd Dunn when she was only sixteen years old. It was a marriage in name only so that Judd could protect Christabel and her ranch. Now five years later Chrissy will almost be twenty-one years old and she has strong feelings for Judd and wishes her marriage was more than in name only. With Chrissy experiencing a threat to the ranch and possible danger to her life, Judd takes a more active role in Chrissy’s life. He starts to notice she is not a child any longer and starts to have more than platonic feelings for her. Judd likes the freedom he has and doesn’t want to be tied down.
I had a strong reaction to this book. It seemed like it hit all my hot buttons. First off, there is a huge age difference between Judd and Chrissy, fourteen years to be exact. I have a hard time believing in the validity of the May-December romance. The relationship is too uneven. The older person has more experience and knowledge and it leaves them with too much power over the younger person. I find I am uncomfortable with that. Add that to the fact that Judd is pretty much a big jerk and it becomes even more uncomfortable.
Another thing I can’t stand is when one of the characters decides that they are going to be less than honest with the other person because they know what is best for the other person. In this case, Chrissy decides that she doesn’t need to tell Judd about the trouble at the ranch because he won’t believe her anyway. Judd takes it upon himself to lie to Chrissy too. Uaahhhhhh! That is so annoying. Why can’t they just be honest with each other? There reasons are so noble though (insert eye-roll).
To summarize, I just didn’t like the characters and I didn’t like the plot. So, there wasn’t much I did like about this book. I will say there wasn’t anything wrong with the writing. I actually read the book relatively quickly. So that wasn’t the problem. I think people who like May-December romances might like this book. Beware of big misunderstandings because of LIES.