"Toss a passel of kids at a serious bachelor, who dedicates all of his time to his lifetime vocation of keeping the family ranch, and you have a recipe for disaster, and humor.
Janet Dailey weaves a great tale with the growth of a man to meet the challenges that are thrown his way, that he never wanted, and never could have anticipated.
Watching him more than live up to the responsibility is inspiring. Watching their unorthodox holiday celebration is a scream." amazon review
Janet Dailey weaves a great tale with the growth of a man to meet the challenges that are thrown his way, that he never wanted, and never could have anticipated.
Watching him more than live up to the responsibility is inspiring. Watching their unorthodox holiday celebration is a scream." amazon review
This story is so cute! A rancher inherits his late sister's four children, ages infant to seven, and he is ill-prepared to handle them. His former sweetheart seems to show up at just the right time each time things are getting out of control. This is a very amusing story, and it moves quickly.
Since romance novels aimed at the December holidays must ultimately resolve in a warm 'n' fuzzy, family-friendly manner, the question here is not whether relationships will work out, but rather whether all the lonely people will pair up happily in time to score a great tree. That seems unlikely in Dailey's (A Capital Holiday; Green Calder Grass) western-themed tale, since poor but proud stock rancher Eben MacCallister and dude ranch owner Maddie Williams, who is equally stubborn but financially flourishing, have resisted pairing since their painful broken engagement 20 years earlier. The apparently insoluble argument: He grimly prioritizes things ahead of personal joy things like working non-stop to pay off the loan threatening his ranch with an un-Happy New Year's foreclosure; she, a marriage-before-mortgage gal, passionately insists that only people count. Then four unexpected people arrive to complicate the Christmas chaos: the young, precocious orphaned children of Eben's recently deceased, long-lost sister. The children are as cute as candy canes and irrepressibly inventive... and they really want that tree. Unlike Dailey's intense Calder family saga, but very much like eggnog, this book is 100 percent frothy fun.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY REVIEW
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY REVIEW
Rancher Eben MacCallister has devoted his life to making his ranch profitble. Eben hopes that his late sister had left him some money. But his inheritance was four hungry kids with enough sass,energy and questions to make ranching look easy.
Story of stubborn emotionally withdrawn (m) rancher vs emotionally indecisive rich rancher (f).
romance book, not graghic ok read.
Janet Dailey at her best.
Another good read by Janet Dailey--a favorite author of mine.
A holiday treat!
LOVE JANET DAILEY
As hard as the land he works, rancher Eben MacCallister has devoted his life-and sacrificed his happiness-to making his ranch profitable. Now, with an unscrupulous banker threatening to foreclose on his land, Eben can only hope that his late sister has left him the money she took years ago before she abandoned him. But Eben's inheritance is a far cry from what he expected: four hungry kids with enough sass, energy, and questions to make ranching look easy.
As hard as the land he works, rancher Eben MacCallister has devoted his life-and sacrificed his happiness-to make his ranch profitable. Now with an unscroupulous banker threatening to foreclose on his land, Eben can only hope that his late sister has left him the money she took years ago before she abandoned him. But the inheritqance tuns out to be a far cry from what he expected: four hungary kids with enough sass, energy and questions to make ranching look easy...
Maggie knew she shouldn't laugh, but the sight of Eben trying to feed a squaking baby while coralling three more untamed little ones is poetic justice. Once, Maggie hoped to raise kids of their own with Eben...before life hardened his heartand turned them from lovers in sparring partners. But at Christmas, wishes have a way of coming true, and hearts have a way of healing-especially when love is waiting patiently under the tree.
Maggie knew she shouldn't laugh, but the sight of Eben trying to feed a squaking baby while coralling three more untamed little ones is poetic justice. Once, Maggie hoped to raise kids of their own with Eben...before life hardened his heartand turned them from lovers in sparring partners. But at Christmas, wishes have a way of coming true, and hearts have a way of healing-especially when love is waiting patiently under the tree.
very good read
