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jbuck1975's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoy how Linda Lael Miller creates families and then revisits them with new installments. You get a chance to catch up with familiar characters who already found their special someones and get to know some of the ones who are still waiting. While I have read two of the other books in this series they were published a while back and the characters were not all that fresh in my mind. Luckily Lael Miller included refreshers on who was who and what had happened in their pasts. This story is about Ashley O'Ballivan who has been in love with Jack McCall for years, but due to his job as a mercenary he frequently gets called away for prolonged periods of time. Each time he reappears she tries to stay away from him, but the attraction is just too strong and they get drawn back together again. This time Jack shows up at her Bed and Breakfast in an ambulance having been injected with a toxin while on an assignment to rescue a kidnapped seven-year-old from her drug dealing father. The toxin is not contagious but is slowly killing him and doctors don't know how to cure it. Ashley's family is leery of Jack and his tendency to hurt Ashley by disappearing without saying goodbye and the drug dealer is working to find both his daughter and Jack to exact his revenge. To complicate things Ashley's twin sister Melissa is thinking about leaving town after her romance with a local rancher ended, their sister Olivia is giving birth to twins, her brother Brad and his wife are also expecting a child, there are multiple blizzards and Jack has a family who believes he is dead. It was a nice quick read for a busy holiday time and there was plenty of fun in it. It features more passion than I usually look for in a novel, so if that isn't your thing this might not be the book for you.
alannabarras's review against another edition
4.0
This book was written in the 40s and it shows. The most exciting thing that happens in the first half is that an unmarried couple KISS. It is very slow, a nice end-of-day read if you don't want to have to think. I appreciated how aggressively wholesome the main character is, purely from the entertainment value of trying to imagine a real person ever behaving like that. At the very end of the book the plot escalates to a crazy finale without warning, and once its resolved the characters just kind of shrug it off and there are no real lasting consequences. Overall, this book was ridiculous, a clear product of its time, and super fun to read. Definitely recommend!
lumbermouth's review against another edition
2.0
Yawn. I didn't even remember finishing this the next morning. And that's only partly due to the ambien.
booksuperpower's review against another edition
3.0
At Home in Stone Creek by Linda Lael Miller is a 2009 Silhouette publication.
This is one of those books I picked up in a bargain bin at my local paperback swap store. I’ve always loved this author, but I haven’t even come close to reading all of her books. So, it’s always fun to find one of these older titles, but this book is not one this author’s best efforts.
Ashley and Jack have had an on and off relationship over the years, but the last time they got together, he just up and left without a word, forcing Ashley to pick up the pieces and try to move forward with her life without him, while her siblings are all living blissfully happy lives.
But, out of the blue, Jack returns to Ashley’s B&B by way of an ambulance, a very sick man, and in need of a place to recuperate. Desperate for lodgers, Ashley allows him to stay with her, but at triple the rate she usually charges.
Jack is a ‘mercenary’, but not in the illegal sense. He’s on the run from a notorious drug lord who has injected him with something which is slowly killing him, which prompts him to finally explain his professional life to Ashley.
With time running out, Jack will have to face his mortal enemy and his mortality, which means he will have to leave Ashley again, and this time it could be forever.
This story isn’t bad, and is certainly a nice enough way to while away a hot Texas afternoon. But, the story has a lot going on with too many characters involved. I know it’s nice to revisit characters from previous installments of a series, but there was a bit too much of that here and not enough focus on Ashley and Jack’s relationship. They were in bed or dealing with his professional problems or health issues, which didn’t leave a lot of time for any real emotional connection to develop.
The suspense element in the story is pretty intense, with a child’s safety on the line and Jack’s race against time to find a treatment which will keep him alive.
Overall, this was an enjoyable enough read, but not the best representation of this author’s work.
3 stars
This is one of those books I picked up in a bargain bin at my local paperback swap store. I’ve always loved this author, but I haven’t even come close to reading all of her books. So, it’s always fun to find one of these older titles, but this book is not one this author’s best efforts.
Ashley and Jack have had an on and off relationship over the years, but the last time they got together, he just up and left without a word, forcing Ashley to pick up the pieces and try to move forward with her life without him, while her siblings are all living blissfully happy lives.
But, out of the blue, Jack returns to Ashley’s B&B by way of an ambulance, a very sick man, and in need of a place to recuperate. Desperate for lodgers, Ashley allows him to stay with her, but at triple the rate she usually charges.
Jack is a ‘mercenary’, but not in the illegal sense. He’s on the run from a notorious drug lord who has injected him with something which is slowly killing him, which prompts him to finally explain his professional life to Ashley.
With time running out, Jack will have to face his mortal enemy and his mortality, which means he will have to leave Ashley again, and this time it could be forever.
This story isn’t bad, and is certainly a nice enough way to while away a hot Texas afternoon. But, the story has a lot going on with too many characters involved. I know it’s nice to revisit characters from previous installments of a series, but there was a bit too much of that here and not enough focus on Ashley and Jack’s relationship. They were in bed or dealing with his professional problems or health issues, which didn’t leave a lot of time for any real emotional connection to develop.
The suspense element in the story is pretty intense, with a child’s safety on the line and Jack’s race against time to find a treatment which will keep him alive.
Overall, this was an enjoyable enough read, but not the best representation of this author’s work.
3 stars
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