Review: Historical Romance = Excellent Western!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 30, 2014
I read my last western novel as a preteen. In those days, I’d devoured everything that Louis L’Amour published. Since those early years, I’ve moved through several favorite genres to include horror, high intensity political thrillers, science fiction, and more recently alternative history and religious conspiracy action and adventure stories. So, it was with some trepidation that I took on Ms. Farrelly’s “Terms of Surrender”.  Listed as historical romance, it still spelled “western” to me and I expected a simple, purist tale of hero defeats bad guy, wins girl, lives happily ever after.Something of a history buff, I was mostly drawn to this novel by the blurb that began with the American Civil War. From the first chapter, I was captivated by Ms. Farrelly’s wordsmith skills, as well as the verisimilitude and historical accuracy she brought to the narratives and dialogue about the War, the soldiers and their language. As the story moved into a more traditional western/romance storyline – single woman in danger of losing her ranch to the unscrupulous owner of a larger, neighboring ranch – I worried that I’d become bored with a plot that I instantly remembered from the past. I knew immediately where the story was headed and how it would end.My misgivings were misplaced and I remained captivated by superb characterization and narrative. I was pleasantly surprised to see that sex in this genre, and even most romance novels, has moved forward from a chaste kiss where everything else was relegated to the furthest, darkest corner of off-stage, to several full-blown scenes of real human passion. These scenes were nowhere near pornographic or offensive, and certainly less graphic than what one can find on the movie screens today; yet, the author didn’t beat around the bush, either. At the end, Ms Farrelly delivered a twist to the plot that was unexpected, shocking and utterly real. I turned off my e-reader, completely satisfied and convinced that Ms. Farrelly is a far more romantic and entertaining writer than Louis L’Amour, with his cookie-cutter westerns, ever was.I highly recommend Terms of Surrender to all readers of westerns, romance and 19th century American history. I would add that anyone who loves a great story, well written, will find this tale thoroughly entertaining.