Review: Anything for Love

Anything for Love by Connie Brockway
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this for the #TBRChallenge, previous updates with my full thoughts, comments, and quotes can be found: 

Reading Update: 20% 

Reading Update: 40% 

Reading Update: 60% 

Reading Update: 100% 

This is one of Brockway's very early pubs and while I do think you can tell, there was still some of the Brockway magic. The hero is the softy and the one declaring his love and trying to get the heroine to marry him. He was rescued by her father from the slums of New York as a young Irish boy and then sent to Yale. The father decided that he didn't like that his daughter had a friendship with him and decided to pull his financial support and give the draft office the hero's name which causes the hero to fight in the American Civil War before then going back to school on his own dime. The hero ends up surveying for the Smithsonian and trying to get a law in place that would make land in Colorado into a National Park (what is now Yellowstone). 

The heroine ends up in the same CO town as she's trying to prove to her father that she can run or be apart of their companies charitable foundation. The whole father pulling support to the hero wasn't exactly written crisply along with the heroine's motives toward proving herself and way she was going about it. 

The small western town in CO in the late 1800s vibe is sort of there and some secondary characters, like the Gold Dust owner Katie add some personality. The highlight though is the relationship between the hero and heroine, they have some funny, cute, and sweet byplay. The hero is the softy here and has no problems declaring his love. The ending drags some with the heroine using her parent's love lost at the end marriage as the angst to keep them apart.

View all my reviews

#TBRChallenge Reading Update: 100%

 

Chapters 17 - end discussion (spoilers in updates)......................

Oh, maybe not the fairy tale, ever-after sort of love. That didn't exist. He loved her enough to be jealous of her; loved her enough to want to touch her, kiss her, hold her; loved her enough to follow her into the mountains so that he could make sure she was safe. It was more than she'd ever had… or hoped for. "Adventures are dangerous only if you don't have a knight in shining armor standing by," she said softly.

Not fairy tale, ever after sort of love??? Venice is goofed. From here on out, the angst between them is all from Venice thinking, because of how her parent's marriage went, that marriage between her and Noble is doomed to end up with them hating each other. Really used to seeing this from the hero and kind of refreshing that it is the hero here who is constantly spouting the love lines, saying he'll keep fighting for the heroine, and trying to break down her wall.

Venice finally admits that she loves Noble to him and while he is worried that she could get disowned by her dad and friends, he decides to just accept it and, like I said, all the angst/difficulty comes from Venice.

We have some scenes with their Ute guides that doesn't really move away from trite or caricature Native Americans, from speech patterns to not understanding how the white men coddle the woman and other simplistic looks at culture clashes. 

"Trevor hated Juliette. That's why he divorced her." 

"What?" Noble straightened and looked down at the older man in disbelief. "I thought Venice's mother was dead. That she died when Venice was a baby." 

"That's what everyone was supposed to think. That's what Trevor made Venice tell everyone."

So we get this little bomb, Venice's mother didn't die when she was a baby but her dad divorced her. But then just a few minutes later we learn that her mom is dead, she just died when Venice was sixteen. I'm not sure I get why this was written in. It's not a surprise that created any emotional pull from me and then it doesn't really change any thinking or different understanding with Venice's character, she still has the same issue of her parent's marriage being "bad". Very meh on this. 

I don't know if it was how busy I was or if the ending of this did drag but drag it did for me. 

#TBRChallenge Reading Update: 60%

 

Chapters 11-16 discussion (spoilers in updates).....................

He didn't want to watch her concern become pity. He really did not think he could stand her pity.

Now that Venice knows who Noble is, our new hurdle is some of that popular "I'm not good enough for her" from Noble. He still refuses to tell her about her father cutting him off and how he was drafted into the war. You know all things that could explain matters instead of letting antagonisms feed off confusion.

She'd expected he would take her to his uncle, she'd expected he'd want to be with her, she'd expected they'd pick up the friendship that had been left hanging ten years ago. She twisted her fingers in her skirt, her childlike sense of betrayal still fresh and raw. You'd think she'd have learned not to expect things from people by now.

I really liked this moment because it shows how Venice gets lost in her own head with her own wants and expectations. She wanted Noble to do all those things and that became expectation, instead of her stopping and listening and understanding who the man Noble is today.

"Cook's kid? Is that what he told you?" Venice asked. "He didn't tell you we were friends?" 

"Ah, no. He just said his ma used to work for your daddy and he had to, ah, wipe your nose." 

Had to?! So that was all she'd meant to him. A snotty-nosed brat he'd had to keep an eye on. That was probably why he was so loath to take her to her uncle. He didn't want to resume old responsibilities.

I think Venice's pain gets lost a bit in the slightly humorous tone here, but it shows that from Venice's side their friendship was genuine. Noble expressed his emotions more sweetly in the beginning but this shows that he's not alone.

"You mean he's going after her?" Katie asked, wide-eyes with confusion. 

"Yup. Told me so when he came into the bar. He's going to trail them to make sure nothing happens. He isn't all that happy about it, though." 

"I'll be damned! But if he ain't so happy about it, how come he's doin' it?" 

Tim, still watching Noble striding up the mud-choked street, shook his head. "I don't think he can help himself."

Besides themselves heroes, gah, I love. So, obviously, Noble isn't let Venice take her trip to her uncle with just the two Ute guides and Reed (who we learned gambled away his family fortune and that is why he is pursuing marriage with Venice so hard). I sense some Reed villainy and Noble rescuing. 

It was okay. It was all right. Venice was safe. He stood, eyes closed, head thrown back. The heat behind his eyes turned into tears of relief, mingling with the cold rain streaming down his cheeks. "Venice!" She turned. There was no surprise in her eyes, just an overwhelming gladness. 

************

He loved her. It didn't matter if she was Trevor Leiland's child and as beyond his reach as the moon. He loved her. He always had. He closed his eyes. Loving Venice didn't make her any more attainable. He could never say the words. But he could no longer deny it to himself.

So our boy kind of goes through it. Reed paid off the Ute guides to leave him alone with Venice but he leads them into a flash flood. I need to back up a second and say Reed did do one good thing, he unknowingly told Venice, he didn't know her father was the one who started to pay for Noble's Yale schooling, that Noble's sponsor had pulled his funding and given Noble's name to the drafting office. So now Venice knows more of her father's underhandedness and what Noble went through. 

Back to the flash flood, I love how when Noble sees that Venice is ok, he cries! Man tears! But of course back to the "I'm not good enough" a little while latter.

Reed is in danger and Noble being noble (ha!) fights to save him but of course Reed being the villain of the piece makes it show Noble ends up in the raging waters. Venice demands they have to stay and search for Noble but Reed is all peace out and eventually decides Venice isn't worth it because he know thinks she slept with Reed. Who knew men who want to marry you for your money could still be so slut shame-y?

Venice finds Noble and through the grit and fight in both, they end up finally safe as Noble seems to have some bad injuries. 

All the secrets seem to out between these two, I guess still questions about the rich girl Noble seemed to have fling with, and I'm waiting for the bedroom (tent?) scene to happen. I sense some Noble loving Venice then pushing away in "I'm not good enough" third act drama coming but hoping it's not too dragged out.

#TBRChallenge Reading Update: 40%

 

Chapters 6-10 discussion (spoilers in updates)......................

"You're just another thrill-seeking society hussy."

Did I mention our hero's feefees are hurt? 'Cause they are hurt. He's angry over her not recognizing him, makes him feel like she hasn't thought about him once since they parted 10yrs ago, and he's going off the only knowledge he has of her since those years, which are gossipy newspaper articles. He bouncing back and forth a bit much and this aspect could definitely be refined. 

He was glad Trevor had barred him from the Leiland mansion… and Venice.

Another alluding that something went down that neither the reader or Venice knows about. I wish in the prologue could have given us this scene, as a reader I would have liked to know. But I'm a nosy a**.

"Ten years ago I was drafted into the union army, sweetheart."

Well, there's our American Civil War mention. I guess it has been brought up with soldiers looking for work, too. I feel like there is some story that has happened off screen that I wish we could have read to solidify these characters more. 

"I'll tell you what I mean! You promised you'd always, always, be my friend and then you left, disappeared without a word, not one word, in ten years!" She had taken a step closer and Noble found he'd backed up.

Well, there's that emotion and evidence of feeling that Noble was looking for. I liked how this read because Noble has been feeling pretty justified with his angry and selfish with it and him backing up shows his shock and hopefully leads to him relaxing towards Venice.

"You are so! You sweep in here without so much as a by-your-leave, kiss me, and then start shouting at me because I didn't recognize you!" 

"That is not why—" 

"How could I have recognized you! You're six inches taller, sixty pounds heavier, and—" she reached up and grabbed his ponytail, "—you have hair!" She gave it a sharp yank. 

"Ouch!" 

She put her hands on her hips. "And, I might point out, you didn't recognize me either!" 

He had begun to feel a bit sheepish, uncomfortably aware that her accusations were justified. But the reminder of her wanton behavior rekindled his righteous indignation. "I would have recognized you if you hadn't been hiding in the shadows, whispering throaty come-ons to me." 

A muscle jumped in her cheek. "Well," she said stiffly, "I may have acted impetuously in whistling at your ridiculous masculine posturing earlier today, but I certainly wasn't whistling out the window a few minutes ago." 

"Ridiculous masculine—!" Noble sputtered. "You seemed to like it all right when you were sighing from your balcony. In fact I thought you were gonna throw yourself off the damn—" 

"You awful man! The way you're acting, one would suppose I'd set this dratted place on fire myself, just to lure you out of whatever hole you've spent the night in, for the extremely dubious pleasure of being slobbered on by you!"

She pulled his hair! I wonder if the cover artist read this scene! Lol. I love this scene, it's light, they're expressing and getting some emotion out, and it showcases their back and forth by play. It's like watching a dance. This moment also reminded me of The Songbird's Seduction which I thought had a similar beat as this moment.

It was a male-dominated world and women— even rich, privileged women such as herself—had been given a completely unsatisfactory arsenal with which to compete. A woman would have to be a fool or a saint not to use every weapon at her disposal. Venice didn't claim to be either.

I feel wishy-washy on Venice but then I try to remind myself that she is twenty-three. She shows maturity and immaturity, which at that age, is probably a battle for a lot of us.

"It wasn't like that," Venice said. "Mr. McCaneaghy is not at all what I expected."

 "Better?" Katie asked in an awed voice.

Katie thinks Venice had sex with Noble, so the awed "Better" is hilarious. Katie is a secondary character that I could probably read a novella about.

We get more alluding with Venice thinking back to her father telling her that Noble had dropped out of Yale stating that he just didn't have the fortitude to complete his degree. We know that Noble was drafted into the Union Army and then returned to complete his degree. 

When Venice receives a letter from her uncle she decides that she must trek out to him to find his ledgers that document the financials of the spur line and town. She offers to pay Noble to guide but does it because she thinks he is poor and could use the money. She's naive, idealistic, and rich girl to save the world about it all and this of course makes Noble bristle to where he rejects her. But our old pal Reed (aka Thorny) says he'll take her and this makes Noble bristle more because he still feels protective over Venice and obviously cares for her. 

To the side we still have Venice throwing the town a party, which kind of makes sense, I guess, the mercantile bros sending her Frankenstein fossils which is scaring her, and Reed trying to worm his way into a marriage with Venice. It's shy of feeling frenzied but definitely unrefined.

#TBRChallenge Reading Update: 20%

Chapters Prologue - 5 (spoilers in updates).........

I have to start by saying that I love that this couple is smiling/laughing at each other, usually these covers have the couple have either lustyface or seriousface, so this is a nice, sweet little alternative. I can appreciate the heroine's grip on the hero's hair, too. Hey-o!

The prologue starts us off in Manhattan in 1862 and I'm wondering if there is going to be some American Civil War in this, the blurb didn't have me thinking that but, we'll see.

The thought of being unable to watch over her cut him like a knife. And it twisted his gut that nobody else seemed to give a damn whether or not she was safe.

Our hero's thoughts have him calling himself Noble but the heroine calls him "Slats" but Noble is seventeen and the heroine Venice is 12yrs old. Venice's dad, Trevor Leiland seems to be a philanthropist and do-gooder. He seems to have taken Noble from the "slums" and given him a job. Noble is annoyed how Trevor is so trusting and so he tries to keep an eye on Venice. He does some rescuing (the villain Noble rescues her from is the target of constant fat shaming) she isn't aware of it sets up their dynamic of worldly boy and spunky gal. 

The first chapter then fast forwards us 10 yrs in the future and Venice is on a train to Salvage, CO. She's looking for her paleontologist uncle that hasn't been heard from in 6months and wanting to prove to her father that her adventures that the New York papers have twisted to make her seem naïve rich girl aren't true. Her father's trying to get elected to a council and just wants her to get married. Venice realizes she'll have to eventually get married but wants to prove that she deserves a seat on her father's foundation to help write grants. Her uncle hasn't found any bones in the area so far and so the spur line that the Leiland pays for into Salvage, a tiny town in the Rockies, will probably be shut down. This will obviously devastate the town so Venice wants to come up with a way to make the town self-sufficient. 

On the train, Venice meets a Katie Jones who won The Gold Dust Emporium in a card game. They have some fun women bonding but when they get to the town, the Salvage Ladies' Conviviality League of the town's nine "proper" women are there to greet Venice and end up thinking she's Katie. The ladies are mad and the townspeople think Venice is there to show their town isn't worth keeping the line going and so Venice isn't exactly welcomed. 

The body looked like some sort of rodent, but the head was definitely a bird's, possibly a crow's. What made it so revolting was that someone had fitted the bird's head onto the rodent's body, securing it with a twist of wire threaded through the base of the skull. The wire was all but invisible until you turned the gruesome thing over. Somewhere in this town lurked some mighty disturbed children. Or perhaps, Venice thought, some perverse cult. The thought raised gooseflesh on her arms

Brockway gives the town a handful of characters that help set the small late 1800s town in the Rockies vibe. There's two brothers who got lucky and ended up owning the town's mercantile store and made a lot of money. They think if Venice finds skeletons, she'll keep the train line open and that gives us the previous scene. I had no idea what to think about it when I was reading it, lol.

There, arms braced on either side of the trough, just about to plunge his head once more into the muddy, grass-flecked water, was the most extravagantly masculine being Venice had ever seen.

EXTRAVAGANTLY MASCULINE

He was a Greek Olympian, a satyr, a pagan deity, and a Christian saint all in one.

All I can say, is girl is feeling it.

There was no way such a physical ideal could contain a mind worthy of it, she thought. Please, don't ruin it by doing something stupid, Venice silently begged the man. Like talking.

LOL. Who among us has not whispered this wish?

I don't think I'm going to surprise anyone but the guy Venice is jonesing over is Noble. Talk about coinky dinks! It seems Noble has been doing some scouting to help get a federal law to create some land around Savage into a National Park. I forgot to mention that while on the train, Venice had a thought about "Slats" but it was with her thinking about how he said he'd never leave her and he lied. So, some drama/angst there but we're left in the dark so far. Since it's been ten years, Venice doesn't recognize Noble because of all the muscle and manness he's packed on. 

With a sound of annoyance, the man wrenched the shirt from the rail and started to push an arm through a sleeve. Overwhelmed by the fear that he was going to cover all that wonderful sculptured flesh, Venice, without conscious volition, pursed her lips and let loose a low, clear, absolutely unmistakable whistle of appreciation. The man's head snapped up. This time Venice caught the flash of amber-colored eyes as his gaze moved across the verandah, seeking her. An expression Of puzzlement replaced his wariness. He punched his other arm through a sleeve. Venice sighed. "Why do you want to go and do that for?" she said softly, not recognizing the low, throaty drawl as her own, certain she had lost her mind but unable to stop the words from coming. "You're so… so… pretty just as you are!" The words arrested him in mid-motion. He stood still; not a nerve twitched. Slowly, captivatingly, a boyish smile spread across his face. A quiver of pure attraction nearly brought Venice to her knees. With a shrug, the man pulled the shirt off and casually tossed it over the rail. 

Looking up, he parted his lips. His straight teeth gleamed whitely. "Lady," he drawled on a grin, "you ain't seen nothin' yet."

I had to put this little scene up, it was so cute and then Noble getting playful and flexing his muscles and posing for her. A bit cheesy but still some cute playfulness. Venice is on a balcony and shadowed so he can't see her and then since she is at the Gold Dust he thinks she's a prostitute and they have some misunderstanding, sending Noble grumpily away.

"Venice is here, in Salvage?" The whispered words were drawn from his throat against his will.

Ooooh, the way Noble reacts to learning Venice is in town. The boy is still clearly so smitten with her. I know she was 12 and he 17 and there was no sexualness behind his protectiveness of her but he has read the newspaper accounts of her over the years and he is still clearly interested in her. It's obvious how his feelings will morph when he sees her grown up.

When he shows up to see Venice, Noble runs into a Cassius Thornton Reed, that he calls "Thorny" and obvious no love lost between the two. Reed's clearly there to get Venice to marry him and lined up to be our villain by the way he is portrayed.

Whatever she'd become, she'd been the one bright spot in the gray, dirty world of his youth. And he hadn't realized she'd left an empty place in him, until she returned to fill it. 

*********************

"Darling, you don't have to defend yourself to me. I thought all those newspaper stories I read about you would make a difference in how I feel, but they don't. I don't give a damn about them or what you think you are." Lord help him, it was the truth. "All I know is that you're here and it seems like I've spent the past decade waiting for you." 

*********************

"I know you like I know the rhythm of my heart."

See, smitten! Off hand, I can't think of a hero who so early on delivers some hell of lines, that show him deeper than the heroine. I mean, "All I know is that you're here and it seems like I've spent the past decade waiting for you." and "I know you like I know the rhythm of my heart." Gah! 

Venice didn't know who he was, Noble realized. It was an odd sensation. As though all of his flesh was hardening into stone, while inside he was shattering into thousands of lethal, piercing shards. He kept his eyes on the crown of her head. He couldn't look into her eyes. It was all he could do to stand before her.

And then you have the heroine still not recognizing him. The dude's feefees are mega hurt and look, I've read enough stories where the heroine is in this position, so I kind of enjoyed it. But dang, after the spouting off he did, ouch, my man. Noble leaves without telling her who is and I just hope this not knowing doesn't go on too long.

His golden eyes gleamed; the moonlight washed over his clean, angular features. They were set in a fierce, familiar expression. And suddenly she knew. "Slats McCaneaghy," she breathed.

Ok, well, yay! Her not knowing doesn't last long. 

There seems to be a parent's messed up marriage that could be affecting Venice and some rich girl burned him from Noble to create some angst to keep them from simply getting together. The town and it's people are nicely vibed, we have a villain set-up, a heroine that could veer into annoying territory but seems to have depth to back up her actions and thoughts, and a hero who seems to be a pining mess. I'm liking!

#TBRChallenge: Mar. Book By a Favorite Author

 

It's another TBRChallenge! This one came up fast for me, March is my birthday month and my favorite holiday, St. Paddy's Day. I've had such incredible luck with my selections so far, so fingers crossed. This #TBRChallenge is set-up by @SuperWendy (blog). Besides the theme months, this is a pretty relaxing challenge. On the third day of every month participants are encouraged to use the hashtag TBRChallenge and discuss the book they plucked from obscurity. I decided to make a personal rule that a book had to be in my TBR for at least 5 years.

March's theme is Book by a Favorite Author. My mind immediately went to the new Courtney Milan that has been sitting on my Kindle (I preordered this!) but only for a second because I knew it wouldn't meet my personal rule of 5yrs. So then my mind skipped to Connie Brockway who has written some of my all time favorite stories. There aren't many books left of hers that I haven't read but one of her very first (possibly the first?) Anything for Love has been sitting on my tbr for probably around 15yrs. The reviews aren't the greatest for it, so I go in with some trepidation but hopeful that there will be at least some promise of the Brockway spark that has made me gobble up her other books. For the curious, if I had time to only save ONE Brockway book in a fire, it'd probably be Bridal Favors (I wouldn't like leave him to die but I'd shove my partner aside for The Rose Hunters Trilogy if I could save more books). 

For the #TBRChallenge, I'll be making posts like how I do for Buddy Reads. The longer, all my thoughts/comments with book quotes posts will be on my blog and GoodReads will get shorter snippets with a link to blog post. I'll just be tweeting out my final review link on Wednesday.

TBRChallenges:

January - Unbound by Cara McKenna

February - Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant