Customer Reviews

Calder Promise

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

After the last Calder book I promised myself not to read another Calder book again. I went to the library and Calder Promise was on the new bookshelf. Being a glutton for punishment and since it was raining I decided to read it. It must be a formula for Janet Dailey! Add new characters, kill off beloved ones. Does she use the same outline for every book? I loved the first three Calder books and Cat's book so I think that's why it so upsets me the way Janet Dailey kills off a Calder in every book. In this book it made no sense at all to me when she killed off Logan Echohawk. It didn't even seem plot driven which is why I say the Calder books have almost become an outline of the book that came before. Laura, Ty and Jessie's daughter, who was the center of this book is torn between two love intrests. I couldn't get involved with Laura or her men because you know once you marry a Calder it's just about certain that either you or your spouse will die from unnatural causes in a future book!

Do not buy this book, not new, not used. If you just have to read Janet Dailey check it out from a library. There is nothing in this book that is remotely interesting, and the main character is totally unlikeable. Ms. Dailey has lost her touch, I suspected so when the last Calder book was less than expected, but this one isn't worth wasting time on.

I, too, started reading this series when I was just a kid, sneaking into my mom's "secret stash" of romance novels she thought she hid from me! I just knew at an early age this continuing series was something great! But, I am so sorry to say I am disappointed with this latest in the Calder family. This girl is rather annoying, she thinks she says clever things and acts tantalyzing, when she is completely immoral! How is she playing hard to get by stripping naked to retrieve a coin she tossed into the Trevi Fountain!? I will most likely read the next book as it is about Quint Echohawk and the Logan/Cat story was pretty good. If you have to read this because you hate to miss anything in this series then please pick it up at the library in the free pile or library book sale like I did (sorry amazon, I do love you though)I give this 2 stars because I just love the Calder's.

Where's the story line? I don't feel as though the first part of the book had anything to do with the second part. Introduction of characters really. Bury a family member....no tears/emotions.....They are a strong, close family but not heartless. Plot just kinda dwindled down at the end w/strangers really with the hubby abusing wife....who were these people? Ghost town inhibitants. Hope it gets better with the next one.

There were no real redeeming qualities to this one--no endering characters, no emotional tugs, no interesting plot developments. It was just several hundred pages of the narcistic heroine and the emotionally detached machinations of the people around her. A hundred pages into it I found myself wondering if we would ever get back to Montana where there were at least characters I liked. (We did, eventually, but all those characters were unfortunately marginalized even then.)
Because I had already bought it, I followed this up with "Lone Calder Star" and liked it much better. I wish I had just skipped Laura's story. I have a suggestion: if Ms. Dailey insists on killing off main characters, I vote for Laura and Tara.

I'm not one who enjoys writing scathing reviews, but as someone who has read all eight of Janet Dailey's Calder books, I feel qualified to review this one. Each book in this series seems to get worse and worse! I hope Ms. Dailey checks Amazon to see how her loyal readers feel about her latest books. Maybe then she'll get back on track. From what I can tell, most of the reviewers have read the series from the beginning and feel the same way I do. I loved "This Calder Sky" so much in '81 when it came out. And the next couple were good, too. But the last story I liked even a little bit was "Calder Pride". The three since then have been such disappointments. This book tells the story of Laura Calder, Ty's daughter, Chase's granddaughter. It's pretty bad when you can't even work up any liking for the heroine, let alone the men she's supposed to be "torn" between. Laura is spoiled and shallow. Although she's said to be beautiful, I had a hard time believing that two men would fall in love with her on the night they meet her. It appears maybe Boone isn't really in love with her, but he wants her for a trophy wife to satisfy his father. I did like Sebastian a little, and I actually thought he was too good for Laura. Dailey continues her alarming trend of killing off beloved characters. By the next book, Chase will probably have died, since he's suddenly in his 80's. (Wasn't he about 22 in 1981?) Although I find it annoying, I do understand the rapid aging of the characters. They do it on soap operas, too. It's the only way to keep the stories going. But, considering how the stories are going downhill so fast, maybe Janet Dailey should just quit while she's behind.

I've always been one of the first to buy Janet Dailey books and have read all of the Calder writings. This in NO way compares to her previous Calder stories, in fact I had to actually make myself finish it. No real point of the story unless we zero in on Laura and her inability to choose which one of the available men to sleep with ... and how soon. It will be a LONG time before I buy another Janet Dailey book -- believe she's lost her touch -- it's time to look at other authors.

Expecting the great Calder saga that came alive in her first three books, it is so disappointing to see the way Janet Dailey is now writing. I bought her first book over 25 years ago when it was released. This Calder edition has another beloved character killed and not even mentioning some of the family. It's hard to get a close feeling to the new characters because we miss the old ones too much!!!

This was my least favorite of the Calder Series. Laura Calder did not come across as an endearing heroine as did Lorna, Maggie, Cat, and even Jessy. Even her twin brother, Trey, is not thrilled with her overall behavior. I would suspect if Janet Dailey writes a story about Trey, his sister's treatment of men will become an issue for him when he tries to fall in love. The first four or five books in the series were very good and loaded with interesting information about the geographical area in Eastern Montana. I am happy to say, Ms. Dailey's last Calder book "Lone Calder Star" does come back around.

I purchased Janet Dailey's complete 10 volume Calder Series because of my love of western/ranchland fiction. This, the 7th of the series, diverts the reader completely away from the plains of Montana and centers around the hoidy toidy carryings on of aristocratic Europeans. If I had been interested in this type of novel, there are plenty others out there. There was no need to stray so far from the central story-line of this series. I found myself reading entire chapters then realizing I had no idea of what I had read. This installment was a waste of her time as a writer and my time as a reader.