Customer Reviews

Lone Star Woman (Signet Eclipse)

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

 

 

STORY BRIEF:
The Strayhorn family is one of the richest in West Texas. They have a huge cattle ranch. Jude's mother ran off shortly after Jude was born. Jude grew up lonely, a single child. Her dream is to take over the running of the family ranch. She obtained college degrees in agriculture and genetics to prepare her for this. Her father won't give her the job. He claims it a man's work. He wants Jude to get married and make babies. He even arranges a couple of marriage engagements for her which she manages to get out of. Jude teaches at the local school to be able to feel useful.

Brady just inherited a large ranch next to the Strayhorn's from his aunt. It is run-down but livable. Brady is recently divorced. He lost all his money fighting and losing a custody battle for his son. He needs money to build up the ranch, so he gets a job as a ranch hand working for the Strayhorns. Jude's father has demanded that Jude stay away from the ranch hands her entire life, but she's attracted to Brady.

REVIEWER'S OPINION WITH SOME VAGUE SPOILERS:
While reading this book, I felt like I just came back from a nice long vacation in Texas, being on a cattle ranch. It has the feel of real people with regular problems. It's life like. I felt sympathy for Jude. Brady was smart, competent and didn't talk much. I liked both of them, and I enjoyed reading about them. I liked the way Jude helped Brady work on his own ranch. It was interesting how they were attracted to each other but backed off because Brady didn't want to jeopardize his job working on her family's ranch.

I did not like the ending. It was too subtle for me. Brady and Jude had fought and separated. I assumed they were going to get back together, but the author didn't show it. Instead, Brady makes one statement which implies they would get together, but that was all. I wanted to see what would happen with Jude and Brady. I wanted to see and feel a more romantic ending. I felt like the story was chopped off. At the least, I would have liked an epilogue showing them together. I also wanted to know what was going to happen with Brady's son and stepson. The author implies that the boys might be spending more time with Brady or live with him, but it's not told.

This is the author's first romance novel. Her prior books were written under the name Anna Jeffrey and were relationship stories, leaning toward women's fiction. As a human relationships story, I would give "Lone Star Woman" 4 stars. But since it was advertised as a romance novel, I'm giving it 3.5 stars for weak closure at the end. Closure is part of "feel good" for me.

DATA:
Story length: 342 pages. Swearing language: strong. Sexual language: moderate. Number of sex scenes: 3. Total number of sex scene pages: 15. Setting: current day Texas. Copyright: 2009. Genre: contemporary romance and human relationships fiction.

Jude Strayhorn, of the famous Texan cattle family, is ready to prove she can run her family's ranch. She sees the 6-0 property as the key to her goals, but her plans are scuttled when she discovers a mysterious heir has come to claim it. For reasons she can't explain, she feels drawn to Brady Fallon and can't seem to resist offering her help - in whatever way he wants.

Brady Fallon has a history and he knows he's just not quite good enough for Jude. But he can't help his attraction to her, despite all the complications. Things only get worse when he starts working for the Strayhorn family as a ranch hand. Brady and Jude have conflicting goals, and their attraction to each other only makes it harder to decide what's more important - their careers or each other.

Lone Star Woman was a fun, modern Western love story. Jude is not a simple woman. She is kind, helpful, spirited and willful. She thinks she knows her place in the world, so she is rattled by Brady and what he means to her future. Brady is all a woman could want - gorgeous, sexy, and with a heart of gold. But the complications that could keep them apart are difficult to overcome and make the whole story fun to read. You find yourself rooting for them both to get everything they want and the resolution is satisfying.

Niki
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

I gave this book 4-stars because I was fascinated by the cattle-ranching business described in this book -- it's very detailed and colorful. If you already know about cattle-ranching and/or don't find it interesting, then this book may drop to 3-stars for you. Overall, it was a well-written book with well-drawn characters. The hero, a sexy cowboy, and heroine -- a woman who, annoyingly, won't stand up to her father for what she wants -- were three-dimensional. Their love-story, interestingly (and maybe annoyingly), was paced like a real-time romance (not a whole lot of excitement here, just a lot of talking and learning about each other). The one main sex scene was very well done. The major complaint I have is that this kind of plot has been done and over-done. The hero and heroine can't get together because of class differences? She's rich and he's not. She's the bosses daughter and he's an employee. Ugh! These deterrents just didn't play as believable to me, not in this day and age, and for much of the book I was rolling my eyes. And, FOR ONCE, I'd like to see a hero and heroine not regret having sex the day after they have it, and then get into a big fight. Can't authors find more creative ways to keep the characters apart? This book would've been much better if the author had wrapped the characters in tension and conflict in ways that we haven't seen since time immemorial.

I enjoyed the story of Jude and Brady, even with its vague cowboy male chauvinism. The writing was good, less surprising since finding out that author Sadie Callahan is also Anna Jeffrey, whom I enjoy reading. But a couple of things near the end left me disappointed. Because the relationship between Jude and Brady felt so right and inevitable, I found it hard to accept that they could so easily walk away from each other. One of the things I love about romance novels is the idea that the main characters each cannot conceive of a world without the other. Jude and Brady did not seem to want to fight to be together. They reunite three pages from the end of the book. Could their reconciliation have been more cryptic? What about the fire? Did Brady get custody of his son? Is there a sequel? I found myself flipping pages to see if I missed something or there were pages gone. I like romances for the delicious happy endings. I felt a little cheated by this one.

Jude Strayhorn is determined to be the one to bring her family's ranching dynasty into the future. After all it only makes sense that she be the one to inherit the Circle C. Unfortunately her dad and grandfather don't see things the same way she does - they're old fashioned and because she's a female they're pushing her to marry. Jude is smart enough to realize that if she intends to ever convince them that she's capable of running the Circle C she's going to have to take matters into her own hands.

Brady Fallon is newly divorced and moved to Willard County where he's inherited the 6-0 ranch from his aunt. The place is rundown and in need of some serious TLC and cash in order to get it turned around into a profitable ranch again. Along with his divorce he had been forced to liquidate his company and then there's always child support to worry about but for now Brady feels a ray of hope in owning this small piece of land.

Despite the fact that her family is well-to-do and she's an heiress Jude working isn't necessary but she holds a job teaching at a local school. Her true dream lies in acquiring the 6-0 ranch which butts up against the Circle C and making a success out of the run down ranch with the money her grandmother left in trust for her. However that plan meets with disappointment when she discovers that Margie Wallace left the property to her nephew. Fortunately she hadn't informed her father or grandfather of her plans so she won't have to listen to them rant over that. The same night she discovers that Brady's inherited the 6-0 she learns that he's also been hired on as a Circle C ranch hand. What's even more confusing is her grandfather's reaction to the whole situation. Sure the Campbell-Strayhorn family has skeletons in the closet but something tells Jude that there's more to the story than she's been privy to and she makes the decision to help Brady - even if it displeases her family. Brady knows that getting involved in any fashion with Jude is going to be disastrous if/when her family finds out but denying her is almost impossible. Can he trust this woman who has designs of her own on his property to not betray him and help him make it a success?

LONE STAR WOMAN is full of family secrets, disappointments, heartbreak, friendship, love and hope. Sadie Callahan successfully brings these characters to life and involves the reader in every step of their transition from casual acquaintances to friends to lovers. Jude's need to prove herself to her family is what truly caught my interest though. There's no doubt that she loves her father, grandfather and various other people who reside at the Circle C but she's never been given the opportunity to do what her heart desires and be a real part of the ranching operation - because she was born a female. Brody's situation with his ex-wife and son is equally captivating and heart wrenching. When you combine these two spirited characters there are sure to be sparks and it's impossible not to love getting burned - just a little.

Chrissy Dionne (courtesy of Romance Junkies)

In West Texas three generations of Campbell-Strayhorn blood own the Circle C Ranch. Grandpa may be the family patriarch, but his son J.D. runs the spread while his granddaughter Jude looks forward to soon take over from her dad. However, the two men in her life prefer Jude to marry and raise the next generation, preferably males.

Independent and upset with her dad and granddad, Jude buys the nearby 6-0 ranch to prove to her chauvinistic kin she can run a spread. However, she finds a stranger nesting on her new property; to her chagrin, recently divorced Brady Fallon makes her warm all over until he asserts he inherited the ranch she just bought. Brady is attracted to Jude, but he is coming off of a nasty divorce and knows better than to fool around with the daughter of his neighbor, who has given him a job that he needs to bring in money to restore the 6-0 ranch. As J.D. mentors Brady to replace him at Circle C, her daddy breaks Jude's heart again.

LONE STAR WOMAN is a fabulous contemporary ranch romance that is kept fresh by the lifestyle depth of the three generations of Campbell-Strayhorn's. The storyline is fast-paced as Brady struggles between loyalties and Jude by betrayal by the three men in her life. Readers will appreciate this fine Texas tale starring a strong female and three chauvinists who love her but fail to give her the chance she deserves.

Harriet Klausner

A true West Texas romance.

Lone Star Woman has everything you love in a Texas romance: a determined woman, a strong handsome man, expansive settings, surprises and complications galore.

This is a wonderfully satisfying read.

Jude Strayhorm has the perfect plan to show how well she can manage a ranch. Her plan fails when Brady Fallon inherits the ranch she'd plan to buy. What's this bad boy doing back in Willard County?

Sadie Callahan writes a sizzling romance between two fully-developed characters. But this is more than just a romance--it is the perfect family sage and demonstrates the dynamics between generations of stron-willed characters. Anyone who loves romance will love this book!