by Y Tian

Created on: December 12, 2009

Against the backdrop of the harsh yet beautiful Texas, where cattle is the way of life and old traditions still run true, Diana Palmer brings another timeless romantic tale about a Texas Ranger and his discovery of love aptly termed “Lawless.”

Christabel Gaines was a twenty years old lady who was desperately in love with her husband Jude Dunn. Unfortunately for her, they were only married on paper to save the run-down ranch that Christabel inherited when she was just sixteen. Over the years, the couple have struggled to pull their farm up but with the drought and harsh economic times, things were looking rough.

As a way to make extra income, the Dunns let a Hollywood production team move onto their property. The producers wanted to use their farm as the setting for their latest film, starring the gorgeous Tippy Moore, who was probably more famously known as the Georgia Firefly gracing the cover of numerous magazines. For some reason, Tippy Moore wanted Jude all for herself and no-one, especially not the plain shy Christabel, was going to do anything about it. There was also Cash Grier, the mysterious assistant police chief, who seems to have taken a liking to Christabel. And with a convicted criminal on the loose seeking revenge against Jude, peace is unlikely to be achieved in the foreseeable future.

Diana Palmer is known for her heart-wrenching romance where the heroine undergoes terrible heartbreaks and obstacles before finally snagging the man of her dreams. While this method makes her stories sincerely heartfelt and truly unforgettable, it also makes those heartbreaking sections of the novel almost unbearable as the reader feels the pain Christabel is going through. But the ability to make the readers feel for the characters certainly highlights Palmer’s talent as a writer.

In addition, the switch in Tippy’s personality was badly established. Readers are accustomed to the stereotypical good characters pitting against bad characters. After loathing Tippy for the majority of the novel as she purposely came between Jude and Christabel time and time again, culminating in Jude discovering her deceit, the reader finds it hard to adjust to the fact that two pages down the track, Tippy is actually a caring girl who doesn’t like to poach on married men. But in retrospect, Diana Palmer probably needed to make the personality switch as Tippy stars in the sequel “Renegade.”

 “Lawless” is a heartfelt romance novel that millions of readers have enjoyed. However, the fact that Christabel still loves Jude after all she had to go through is probably something modern feminism finds difficult to swallow. Despite these shortcomings, Diana Palmer is definitely a giant figure in the romance genre and her message of “love conquers all” is certainly crystal clear in this novel.

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