Customer Reviews

Caleb (The Shadow Wranglers)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I've been reading Sarah's books since her debut on Ellora's Cave and loved every single title she put out for them. I've since read and re-read my copies of the Promise Series until the spine was fair ready to collapse. I was extremely worried when she was picked up by a mainstream publishing and had reason to be as every title since hasn't had the same sparkling, well written story plots as the ones she released as e-books. I'm about 50% done with Caleb and I'm forcing myself to read the rest in hopes it'll get better. The story jumps right in and we are left with very little background for the characters or any character development for that matter. The hero and heroine have no development nor do any of the secondary characters. As with her prior books I always felt a connection to both the main characters and secondary characters, not the case in many of her newer books. The love scenes begin wonderfully well but are quickly cut shortly and started up again with the sex being over and the characters either in a brand new situation/scene or discussing something else. Being half way through the book I haven't yet seen a full love scene just a chopped off version...the author has written steaming scenes in prior books but this falls short.

The lack of plot, the confusing twists and turns (which may or may not be resolved by the end of the novel), and the lack of character development have me pressing myself to finish the book. I use to devour Sarah's books...what happened?!

Hopefully it gets better. The only reason I gave it three stars was because it has her name on the cover and I've been a long time fan...but I must say since going mainstream her novels have gone down stream for me.

I am a huge fan of the Promises Books under the Elloras Cave publisher, they were great, perfect mix of romance, drama, and great sex scenes. The books in the Spice series are also good (Tuckers Claim, etc) so I figured this new series would be just as good.

Four vampire/cowboy ranchers live on a ranch with one werewolf. Caleb, one of the vamp-ranchers comes to the rescue of "Allie" who runs a bakery, and of course, is in love/lust with Caleb. Ok. SPOLIER ALERT>>>>>>>>>Early in the book Caleb turns Allie into a vamp as well. Allie accepts this with no problems at all??? We never read about how she feels about never seeing her family again, we don't talk about how she now can't go into sunlight...it's just ...Ok I'm a vamp, lets get it on.

I never understood what the ranchers do on the ranch...how do they make a living? I don't need huge details, but a small amount will help me to understand the paranormal world the author is taking us to. We skip from scene to scene...and then there is so much dialouge I couldn't figure out who was saying what!

And honestly...the line about it was too hot in the kitchen so she didn't wear a bra!!!!! Come on, that has got to be the craziest line I have ever read.

Also there seemed to be some very intimate scenes between Caleb and Allie, but yet they would be saying all this in front of all the brothers - or in front of the villian...(Vincent). Geeze. I feel like this series could have promise but it was all over the place. I am sorry I paid the hefty price tag of $15.00.

I am still shaking my head that this was written by Sarah McCarty.

Never in my life have I read a book where I wanted to see the heroine end her life, until I read this book that is. I read halfway through this book before flinging it down in anger. The characters are boring and cliched, the story line lame, the heroine is whiny and insipid, the hero is a ridiculous stereotype, and the sex is beyond boring.

Save your money, there are a ton of better books in this genre.

I have on my keeper shelf Conception by Sarah McCarty and also the entire Promise series and the Hell's Eight series and months ago when I heard about this new series I thought "oh boy! Cowboy vampires!" I was so disappointed in this book I did not even want to finish it. As a matter of fact, I wanted to kill off the female lead character within the first few chapters. She was so annoying. And where was the romance? There was very lackluster sex, but no romance! Since Sarah has went to mainstream publishing she has lost the spark that made her books keepers. I'm not even going to try to read anymore in this series.

I just bought and read Tucker's Claim and - as I have with most of Sarah McCarty's books in the past - really enjoyed it.

So you can imagine my surprise when buying and reading this one to find that I could barely wade through the hackneyed dialog and convoluted plot devices to finish what was a truly disappointing read. I enjoyed the alpha male cowboy vampires, and it is actually a compliment to her writing that I am curious to discover what is in store for the other brothers. I also enjoyed the general premise of the plot and the mystery of the heroine's vampire future and the voices in her head. This mystery is what kept me reading. That being said, I had to FORCE myself to finish this book. I skipped major pieces of dialog to get on with the plot, which I never do. It was so tedious, predictable, and cliched in places that I winced. How could a story with a great premise and the introduction of some interesting characters be such a chore? Why didn't an editor tighten up the dialog? Is this book supposed to be imitating the BDB brothers in style? If so, it failed.

However, if the future books have an equally interesting plot, develop the genuinely intriguing characters and acquire much better editing, the rest of the series good be much better.
I truly hope so.

After finishing this book, I felt like maybe the author had created this series for this publisher as a watered down romance series, with less erotica than her usual books. Maybe it is meant to reach a difference audience? The sex was skipped over, like in a typical mainstream romance, which is not what this author usually writes.

I also had problems with the plot. First, too much of the world was left for me to figure out. I think if you are going to do something different with paranormals, like have the vamps turn into wolves even though they are not werewolves, you need to explain it, because I was really confused for a few chapters. Allie never asked him "how can you turn into a wolf" and he never offered an explaination. It was just left up to the audience to eventually figure out.

Second, I also agree with previous reviewers who said they had to keep looking back through the book to see if they had missed something, because the conversations and actions weren't making much sense. Like when she says "you called our baby a freak!" Um, no he didn't, what is she talking about? Also there's something about a mark on her finger. Maybe I fell asleep while I was reading about that, because I have no idea where the mark came from.

This book was a lot like Conception (from McCarty's unfinished series "The Others"). Conception had a similar plot but was written so much better. It had a miraculous vampire pregnancy, an alliance between vamps and weres, a mysterious enemy who talks in the heroine's mind, a war between paranormals and an evil society, and a cliff hanger ending - a lot of the same stuff Caleb has. But Conception also has more of a backstory between the main characters, more emotion between H & h, more interaction with secondary characters. I felt like McCarty should have just written the second book in The Others series, instead of starting over with an almost identical new series that isn't as well written.

I gave this one 3 stars, because "it was okay," but I can't see myself ever reading this again. There just wasn't the build up or emotional "pull" of books like Cain's Reckoning or Promises Linger, and the plot was all over the place and left me confused several times. I will definitely give this author another chance, but I don't know if I can give this series another chance.

I stopped reading this, just can't find the motivation and there are only maybe 30 pages left.
I thought the idea of cowboy vampires would be interesting (as I can't imagine how that would work - and still don't know how it works since the book was soooo confusing, and boring).

Blah! :(

No. That's not a type-o. I'm a big fan of PNR and I own the Sarah McCarty "library", so I pre-ordered this book. Sarah writes great super-macho men meet heroine in need of rescue spiced up with really hot sex. The characters she creates are likeable and the books are full of enough historical detail and plot twists to keep you from just skipping to the next hot scene. Well, one would think that "formula" should have transferred nicely to the PNR genre. Unfortunately, this book is so boring, that I felt sorry for the vampires in it who were stuck with a life of eternal humdrum! The lack of action and flat characters made me want to take a wooden stake to this book and leave it out in a sunny place. The book opens with Allie, the baker, tempting hunky rancher Caleb with yummy bear claw pastries and a new push-up bra. The action heats up as she gets attacked by a bunch of werewolves on her way home. Allie ends up getting saved by Caleb, the rancher and shape-changing vampire in wolf form, who is so badly injured that she needs to save him. Once Allie gets Caleb back to the ranch, she gets changed into a vampire. The characters are extended to include Caleb's brothers, fueding werewolf packs and an evil mind-slimeing vampire cabal. None of the characters or plot lines are developed to the point of enough reading tension to make this worth your money. In general, I salute authors who want to branch out to other genre, and are brave enough to do so without resorting to an alias. I actually think that Julie Garwood,for example, writes good Romantic Suspense (although much of her fan base would like her to stick to castles and ball gowns). Sorry Sarah! As a "whole new level of PNR" this installment comes in as one of the worst PNR I've ever read. If the "Shadow Wranglers" are going to be a series, the plot and character development need more bite if the books are going to go from "Fizzling" to your usual "Sizzling".

I loved Sarah McCarty's previous books. I've read the Promises series, the Hell's Eight series (so far), Running Wild, and am eagerly awaiting Wild Instinct. I was excited to pick this one up (even though I'm kind of falling off the vampire bandwagon) but found myself bored with this story. I've neither skimmed nor forced myself to finish any of her books - until this one.

While reading, I found myself confused by sudden shifts from one scene to another. I also found myself looking back at pages trying to make sense of certain conversations (I never did find what the characters were referring to). The lead characters didn't have the chemistry that permeates her other books and I didn't really connect with either of them. I also don't usually care for stories that have so much focus on the internal (to the detriment of what's happening externally), whether it's what the characters are thinking and feeling, or real battles that take place in the mind (but of course the latter is more of a personal preference and not a reflection of the writing).

I felt like this book was a watered-down version of what I've come to expect from this author. I did give her 3 stars because I couldn't bring myself to give anything lower. She's always been on my automatic-search-for-and-buy list, but if her next book is more like this one than her previous ones, then she'll probably be on my if-there's-nothing-else-to-pick-up-then-maybe list.

"I just love reading a story where the hero has a strong sense of honor, family commitment, and integrity. Caleb is this hero, as well as his brothers. Allie's resilience makes her the perfect foil to Caleb. She keeps him on his toes, and doesn't bow down to his aggressive alpha attitude. The characters were great but the storyline hooked me. I had a hard time putting down this book. Little things happened throughout that when put together in the end made for an excellent read. The sex scenes were very sensual on the most part, but sometimes the brothers added a humorous touch. I really enjoyed the camaraderie between the brothers and how they adapted to one brother having a partner when they didn't have one for themselves. I'm already anticipating the next story in this series and can't help but wonder which brother will be next." 5 Hearts, Lisa Freeman