4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Missing The Adventure Of The Others In The Series, November 25, 2005
This review is from: The Loner (Mass Market Paperback)
Joan Johnston's, "The Loner" is the third in the Bitter Creek series. The stories of family feuds between the Blackthornes and Creeds, and Romeo and Juliette type romances over many years.These are the modern day ancestors of the Sisters of the Lone Star series("Frontier Woman", "Comanche Woman", and "Texas Woman"), which is a prequel to Bitter Creek. "The Loner" follows, "The Texan", and "The Cowboy".
If you have read those first two in the series, you shouldn't have too much trouble following the intricatcies of the family trees. Also there is some mention of previous characters and their roles touched upon in the story. If you haven't read the other two, I would highly recommend those first, to get a better idea of the complicated history these feudin' folks have with each other. This is the first in the Joan Johnston's books, that I felt would probably not stand on it's own.
"The Loner", is the story of "Bad" Billy Coburn", the illegitimate son of the Blackthorne patriarch("Blackjack"), and Summer Blackthorne, heiress to the Bitter Creek fortune, and daughter of "Blackjack". Okay now, don't worry, it had already been established that Summer was not really the biological daughter of Blackjack(see what I mean, it can get very complicated). There are other star-crossed love affairs going on as well. The older generation, has a serious and deadly triangle going on, and "Sam", the eldest of the Creed siblings, who you will remember from the first story is in a wheelchair due to one of the Blackthorne kids, has also fallen in love, and almost off the wagon as well! Whew!, are you with me so far?
So there are a ton of romantic complications, and there is even a homicide to be solved, although the reader will already know who is at fault, even though the characters will try to solve the case on their own. This story though, was not up to par with the others of Miss Johnston's wonderful works. The others in both the Lone Star and the Bitter Creek series, always had some other exciting, page turner, intriguing adventure going on. Miss Johnston had previously seemed to do much research to support the sub-plots. Often even a bit of a history lesson was gained from the read as well. This story had none of that.
Even without the adventure,if you have already been reading the Bitter Creek series, you will want to read this one, to catch up with the family story, before moving on the the next one, "The Price". "The Loner" wrapped up some of the story lines nicely, and was good but not great, as far as romance novels go. I personally prefer a little more of the action and adventure to go along with it.
One of these days, one of the characters will fall for someone who isn't part of the family feud, and that should make for a pretty fresh take. So a bit predictable, but worth the read for fans of the series.
Enjoy....Laurie
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
The Trainwreck, August 19, 2009
This review is from: The Loner (Mass Market Paperback)
This is the first book I've read by Joan Johnston and it was OK. Whether or not I read another by her remains to be seen.
For me, there was too much going on. Perhaps if I had followed the other books about the Blackthrornes and the Creeds I would have enjoyed it more, but I doubt that. Just because a book is part of a series doesn't mean every character in the series has to be included.
According to the back, this is the story of Billy Coburn and Summer Blackthorne. And it is; to an extent. It is also the story of Eve and Blackjack and Ren and Sam and Emma. There are also lots of babies with other people. It was like a theme.
I hated most of the characters. Eve was a total fruit loop; Blackjack was an ass and I was never rooting for him. I think the author wanted us to. I think the author wanted the reader to want him to find happiness with Ren Creed. However, he achieved this goal by cheating on his wife. She was a nutter but his wife nonetheless. I also hated the way Blackjack treated Billy, his illegitimate son.
It was mentioned at one point that Blackjack and his sons beat Billy so badly he ended up in the hospital. That issue was never dealt with. And then, later in the book, Billy punches the brothers and Summer is all hurt that he could do that to her brothers. On top of the beating, Blackjack went out of his way to make Billy's life hell. Why he was doing this was never fully explained.
I liked Billy. He was a good hero to root for and I wanted him and Summer to be together. I wanted Billy to overcome his obstacles. I would have liked it better had he done it on his own. I wish he had come back a self-made millionaire instead of having to wait around on the Blackthornes to decide his fate.
I even liked Summer and appreciated that she was not painted as a ditz. I do wish she had chosen Billy of Bitter Creek and the love of her "father".
The book also became a mystery towards the end when Eve died in a helicopter crash thus sending Billy and Summer on a quest to free Blackjack from jail. Why Billy would do anything to help this man who made his life hell is beyond me. This also didn't add anything to the story.
Overall for me, there was too much going on. Too many people were having babies with other people either in the past or the present. It was ridiculous. There were too many people and sometimes I felt like I needed a family tree to keep everyone straight. I wish more time had been spent developing the relationship between Billy and Summer because I liked them. For me, The Loner was too much of a soap opera.
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