Customer Reviews

The Loner

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

 

 

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

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.

This book was wonderful. Joan Johnston never fails to write a book that is exciting and romantic within its intertwined plots. I reccomend this book to everyone. I cannot wait until I can read Luke Creed's story.

It is hard to believe that Ms. Johnston has a masters degree in arts and a law degree. This book has to be one of the worst novels I have ever read, and I am an avid reader of romantic fiction. The characters are cardboardish and depthless. The plot is thin and contrived. The action is laughable and predictable. It read like a rejected Dallas or Dinasty script written by a 12 year old...It is hard to understand, or to care for the reasons behind the characters'impulsive actions. They go from liking to loving with remarkable ease and I could never get to "feel" for them. Ms. Johnston pretends to disguise her lack of writing skills with a novel full of black and white characters, subplots that don't make sense, and horrid melodrama (and no, I don't need to read the previous novels in the series to "understand" this one). The only reason I finished reading this novel was to punish myself for spending $...on trash. Don't waste your money on this one. BEWARE!

In Bitter Creek, the Blackthorne and Creed clans have detested each other for eternity (or at least three series that has begot double-digit novels). Billy Coburn loves his father's daughter Summer, but they do not share a blood relationship. He is the illegitimate son of Jackson Blackthorne while she is the daughter of the lover of Jackson's wife.

Billy has an affair that results in a child. He wants to raise the boy with Summer, but the biological mother sees the infant as a chance to bleed money from the wealthy Blackthornes. Billy proposes to Summer feeling he has a better chance of winning custody if he is a married man. She loves Billy and though angry that he deserted once before, she marries him. They return to his family home since he feels he needs to help his dying mother and his pregnant sister. However, Billy's female relatives loathe Summer though she is kind and sacrificed a comfortable lifestyle to marry her beloved.. The rest of the broods are in the midst of a soap opera too.

The latest tale in the Blackthorne-Creed universe, THE LONER, requires a scorecard to keep track of the players. The tale will remind readers of when Bay City and Another World were running stories at the same time. The characters are fun to watch as hatred flows stronger than love in most cases. Fans of the series will find Joan Johnston's latest entry a triumph. For newcomers develop a distribution chart to follow who does what or wants to do what to whom.

Harriet Klausner

I am a follower of this series and I have to say that this one is another winner. Billy and Summer fell in love two years ago. But things happened that made there being together impossible. Now two years later Billy needs help with his son and Summer just needs to feel wanted. Blackjack and Ren will finally be able to be together if they finally say the heck with everybody else, and Sam finally comes out of his shell and falls for the most unexpected one of all. Luke is treated to a surprise and everyone must overcomes so much to be together. I loved it. If anyone missed the first two I suggest that you read them in order and fall in love with them all. Then you can wait in suspence like the rest of us for the next installment in this most loved saga.

I have read the CAPTIVE HEART series, then SISTERS OF THE LONE STAR series and now I've been reading the BITTER CREEK series. These series lead from one to the next. I liked all the books up to this one, J. Johnston was doing a great job! She almost did a good job on this one, but one thing spoiled the whole book for me and that could have been left out whith out spoiling the story. She has the main male character, Billy Coburn, having sex with a bar-maid as soon as he left town and she getting pregnant. He pays her to have the baby and then he keeps the baby and brings it back to his home town. What happened to birth control? That made Billy look stupid and uneducated. The story tells that he had had sex since he was in high-school and never got any other woman pregnant, so why now? If the woman was old enough to be a bar-maid why didn't she know enough to use birth control? The baby was an unnecessary addition to what could have been a good book. I had great hopes for Billy, he was a decent person with a lot of problems in the other books, the author did not treat him well.

After reading the The Cowboy and the The Texan, I could not wait for The Loner to come out. Having said that it was not a good book especially if you read the first two books in the series.

This was a wonderful read of romance, life and relationships!!! I am new to reading Joan Johnston books and she does a superb job!!! I have read The Cowboy, The Texan and just finished this book. You feel as though you are living with the characters and experiencing all the feelings and trials they are. Great story of the families!

Based on Joan Johnston's books one would assume that all of Texas is a soap opera. That said, if you liked the other books in this series and want some closure, it's worth reading. However, if you're looking for depth of characterization or innovative plotting or story lines, don't go here.