Review: Merciful Lord Deliver Me
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 02 7, 2014
Oh, for the love of God!  That was quite possibly THE stupidest book I've ever read.Sad thing is, I was warned. I often check out one Goodreads friend's rating before reading something, because I almost always agree with her exactly (or within one star) in the rating.  Well, I agreed alright!  One star and that's only because you can't give negative stars.  Good heavens, why do I allow my morbid curiosity get the better of me.  Will I ever learn?  It's like I can't resist reading something if I'm strongly warned off of it and, so far, I've always regretted it.I've read several Hess books and enjoyed them. Fancy is a favorite re-read of mine. This, however, seemed to have been written by a different person.  I know this was one of her earlier novels and apparently she grew a lot as a writer.  The characters were one dimensional.  The romance was non-existent.  There was absolutely NO emotional depth.  I can't think of even one nice thing to say.Some disturbing things happen in this book (lots of slapping women around, including the H slapping the h twice. Women getting raped left and right, and a rather detailed description of one character's brutal rape by her uncle at 12 followed by all her cousins piling on). Thing is, I wasn't emotionally disturbed, because I didn't give enough of a crap about anyone in the book to even bother being disturbed.  I just couldn't bring myself to take any of it seriously.It was just WEIRD and insulting to those of us who are from the mountains of the southeast. Ms. Hess owes the entire state of KY an apology.Yes, I'm sure there were some rough characters in what was considered the frontier in 1776. I'm sure women (and men) had a rough life.  But I seriously doubt that EVERY single man was screwing EVERY woman they encountered and then passing them around to their friends.  Even the h's uncle (who was portrayed as a good guy) had sex with his mistress right in front of the heroine. Oh and the mistress was freely shared with his son.  Apparently sometimes they even went to see her together.  And these were the 'good guys'. Talk about good family fun.The heroine was completely unbelievable. She was a properly raised young lady from Boston, but she sure caught on fast to the bizarre behavior going on in KY.  She flopped her boob out right in front of her male cousin to make the H jealous and to turn him on.  Really?!?!This had all the depth, dialogue, and substance of your average 1970s  porno. It was almost funny.