Narrated by Luke Daniels

The Pride of Jared MacKade was published in 1995 but has only just been released in audio format. I was thinking that the story was a little dated but then I remembered that in 1995 I was about the same age as the heroine, Savannah Morningstar, and I don’t recall the times being quite as conservative as the book suggests. Perhaps my South Australian life was just more liberal?

Jared MacKade is the eldest of the MacKade brothers, a lawyer who was relatively recently divorced. He wasn’t terribly cut up over it – his relationship with his wife was more practical than passionate. He’s sold his house in Hagerstown and moved back to live with Shane and Devin on the family farm.

Savannah Morningstar and her nine-year-old son, Brian, have recently moved into the neighbouring property. She is beautiful and full of prickly defensiveness. She got pregnant at sixteen and was kicked out of home by her rodeo-riding father. Since then, she has made her own way and worked hard to support herself and her son. She has been a waitress, a carnival assistant, an exotic dancer, a sidewalk artist – she took whatever opportunity she could along the way to keep a roof over their heads and build a future. She is now an illustrator of children’s books – a career that allows her to work from home and be present for her son and also brings in enough income that she can finally afford to buy a small house with a big yard. She wants Brian to have the home she never had.

Jared is immediately attracted to Savannah (well, to be fair, she’s so beautiful just about any man would be attracted to her) and he starts to court her. They gradually fall into a relationship and he slowly works his way under Savannah’s defences and into her heart. It was kind of a shock to me then, when all of a sudden Jared is angsting over Savannah’s past. Of course, Jared doesn’t question his own past. Oh, no. It is only Savannah’s sexual history that ought to be scrutinised. I was disappointed by the conflict because it felt old-fashioned (even for 1995) and kind of manufactured. If he was that bothered, why did he start something with her anyway??

I listened to The Return of Rafe MacKade recently and I was kind of scared of Rafe’s temper. Jared earned many black marks for being a hypocritical snob with a side of misogyny – I’m hoping for better with Devin and Shane. Even though Jared lost points, Savannah gained many with her “revenge”. I still think Jared didn’t grovel nearly enough, however.

The narration was good. In general, Luke Daniels’ female voices were only okay. There was one secondary character, Mrs. Metz, who was very well done indeed however. Cassie, Regan and Savannah were all distinctly portrayed and so were the four MacKade brothers – although I think Shane sounds a bit on the dumb side and I don’t think he actually is.

I enjoyed the way Mr. Daniels portrayed the banter and deep affection between the brothers and the growing friendship between the women of the story, but there’s only so much he could do with a main character who can be a big jerk sometimes. (I trust that Savannah will work that all out of him in time. She seems up to the task.)

I did end up liking the story overall, but I wish the conflict had been different – it didn’t show Jared in the best light.

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