Customer Reviews

Blue Bayou (Callahan Brothers Trilogy)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This one was a real tear jerker, and I was eagerly turning the pages to see if Jack and Danielle could overcome their demons and realize they are soul mates who belong together. Blue Bayou is book one of a trilogy of the Callahan brothers, and I just can't wait for the others to come out!!

Jack and Danielle shared a summer of love when they were both 17 years old. At the end of the summer, Jack disappears without a word and leaves behind Danielle, who will soon find out she is pregnant. Danielle's father is a local judge and thrives on controlling her life. He manipulates her into giving her child up for adoption, and then manipulates her into a loveless marriage with a local politician.

Thirteen years later, Danielle (who is now a widow) returns to Blue Bayou with her eight year old son. While Danielle and Jack rekindle their love for each other, the past and their old secrets are inevitably dredged up.

I fell in love with these characters. Jack has a dark side, but I enjoyed how he was honest with himself about his feelings for Danielle. He never tried to deny how important she was. I also admired Danielle for her strength and how she survived all of the terrible things that happened to her. One thing I didn't understand was how she could possibly forgive her father for being such a lying, manipulative creep. I know forgiveness was the moral of this story, but I don't think I could personally forgive such heinous crimes were I in her shoes.

Overall, this was a great read, and along with the wonderful story I loved the descriptions of the Louisiana countryside. A keeper!!

This is the second book that I've read from the trilogy, the other being _River Road_. Although I didn't find this romance as steamy as the one in River Road, it still had the same qualities that make JoAnn Ross's fiction definitely riveting.

I only had one eye-rolling moment during this book; I found it very implausible that when the characters are embroiled in the climax of the book (no pun intended), they still can't get over their sexual attraction to each other and they go at it. I would think a major life-changing event as had been uncovered would be enough to calm the libido for a few moments!

I do, however, like JoAnn Ross's style of writing romance, and I hope to read more of her writing in the future. I'm a die-hard LaVyrle Spencer fan, and although Ross's writing is certainly more graphic than Spencer's, she still has the knack to keep the reader waiting for the big moments.

This is a first time read for me regarding this author and I am really looking forward to book 2 arriving in my mailbox!

Set in Steamy Southern Louisiana the romance of Danielle and Jack itself is steamy and page turning. These are two people that have loved before as young kids. Fate and circumstances have separted these two but they have never fully fallen out of love with each other. They now both find themselves back in Blue Bayou the small town that they each grew-up in now with each of them carrying their own emotional baggage and distrust from their past.

This was a great story that indeed has shades of Nora Roberts or earlier Sandra Brown stories. Still, this author manages to pen a love story that is touching, unique and worth reading. The story is well developed and the reader has plenty of understanding regarding the past that these two lovers shared. If you are a fan of the previous authors mentioned then you will no doubt like this story. It really is a strong beginning for the next two books in the series.

WOW! The sexual tension sizzles off page after page.

Dani and Jack were long ago lovers. To each others surprise and dismay they are both back in Blue Bayou.

Dani is an impoverished widow of a low down, no count, skirt chaser politician. The only good part of her marriage is her son, Matt. Jack is a burned out former DEA agent, who has become a big time writer. He has bought her childhood home. Jack has every carpenter in the area working for him on the renovations.

Dani has come home to be the town's new librarian. Just as she arrives the apartment she was to share with her son and her soon to be released from jail, ex-judge father, was set on fire.

Bureaucracy is the same for small towns as big cities. She finally gets all the forms and permits needed to do the repairs. Now, all she needs is a few workers. They are all employed by Jack.

Their meeting was inevitable, the sparks had never dimmed, but there were secrets keeping them apart.

Make sure when you start this book you have time to finish it. You won't want to put it down.

The plot and the characters are worthy of the great southern writers Williams, Faulkner and O'Connor. Ms Ross may not have been born southern, but she has found her southern voice.

Deborah Ledgerwood
30 Mar 2002

Dani Dupree is returning to Blue Bayou. She finds that everything has changed. The apartment she's supposed to be renting has burnt, her childhood home is owned by bad-boy Jack Callahan and her father is about to be released from jail. The only thing that hasn't changed is the feeling that she gets every time she sees Jack. But you can't go back, and what she and Jack once had ended years ago.

Jack was Blue Bayou's bad-boy, but he's reformed. He was a DEA agent, and now he's a best-selling author. His life should be perfect, but something's missing. When he sees Dani again he knows just what that is. But is it too late to go back and fix the past?

JoAnn Ross is a powerful storyteller who pens a story that practically sizzles.

After spending years away from her beloved BLUE BAYOU, Danielle Dupree, accompanied by her eight-year-old son, is coming home to serve as the librarian. Her father, a former judge jailed for corruption, will live with his daughter and grandson once he is freed from prison. However, instead of Beau Soleil, the Dupree clan has fallen as they will live in an apartment above the library. However, a fire that looks like arson somewhat ruins the apartment and the library. It looks like someone wants the Dupree brood not to return home.

Bad Jack Callahan, a successful author, now owns Beau Soleil and has begun a renovation to restore the home to its former glory. Jack and Dani also have a history as they shared a torrid summer, but he left town before learning she was pregnant with his child. Doubly burned by males from her time with Jack and a marriage to a rat of a Congressman, Dani tries to avoid her former lover even though both still experience deep feelings for one another.

JoAnn Ross has written a wonderful contemporary Bayou romance that readers who relish heat and distrust in their lead characters will enjoy. The subplot involving driving the Dupree family out of town takes away from the prime story line though it adds plenty of suspense. Ms. Ross turns BLUE BAYOU into a strong and powerful tale, due to strong characterizations, which includes a well-rounded support cast. This is the first in a trilogy starring the three Callahan Brothers novels and it demonstrates that the author is a born storyteller

Harriet Klausner

Danielle Dupree left Blue Bayou carrying a secret and a torch for bad boy Jack Callahan. She's returned to a broken woman. Her philandering politician husband managed to deplete her estate - even sold her family home right out from under her to Jack of all people. While the two were in the middle of a nasty divorce, some divine intervention happened, and a grand piano fell on his head. Meanwhile, her father the judgmental judge is about to be released from prison on trumped up charges and has asked for Jack's help to clear his name. The same Jack he ran out of town over a decade earlier when he discovered the affair with his daughter.

Jack has never stopped loving Danielle. Now a former DEA agent and bestselling author, he still wonders if he is good enough for the once golden girl. Sparks immediately ignite when they meet again, as secrets about the past and what ripped them apart threatens to resurface.

Ross, the queen of steamy romance hits another one out of the ballpark. Her hero is not only likable but also believable, and the chemistry between Jack and Dani drips off the pages. I especially liked how she brought out Jack's sensitive side when dealing with Dani's son, Matt. I am looking forward to the further adventures of the Callahan boys.

The novel starts when a southern rich girl, Dannielle, returns to her home widowed from an awful marriage and with a son to find her only love, Bad Jack, that she thought long lost fighting to enter back in her life and cure his own aching soul.
I personally prefer historical romances, but this one is touching since the very begining. I found Jack an extraordinary hero, he is strong and sexy but capable of long term love and forgive the ones who harm him in the past and the french words he often uses are so good on him that I have thougt to learn it myself. I fall inlove with him and you will too.

This is my first JoAnn Ross book but it won't be my last. I already have her upcoming book on my wish list!

This is my first JoAnn Ross book but it won't be my last. I already have her upcoming book on my wish list!