Customer Reviews

McKettrick's Pride (The McKettrick Series #7)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

McKettrick's Pride is the second in Linda Lael Miller's newest contemporary trilogy. And what a terrific story it is!

Rance McKettrick is a widower, father and businessman. He lost his wife six years ago, and is struggling to balance being a single father with his work for McKettrickCo, the company he runs with his cousin, Keegan. Since his wife, Julie, died suddenly in a horseback accident, he's immersed himself in work, to the detriment of his relationship with his two daughters. His mother-in-law helps out as much as she can, but he struggles to relate to his girls, and carries around with him a bruise on his heart from working too hard and not spending enough time with the girls. All of this begins to change as he meets Echo Wells. Echo herself has had many difficult things happen in her life, but she believes in signs, and works very hard to make good things happen for her. When she and Rance meet, he is immediately attracted and realizes that he needs Echo in his life.

Once again, Miller has created a wonderful dynamic between two very different characters. Rance is a goal-oriented guy, and once he sets his sights on Echo, he is determined to do what he must to build a relationship with her.

You spend most of the book in Echo's head, hearing her thoughts, and experiencing both her exhilaration and confusion over Rance's attention. Being a practical woman, she realizes that she's confused by her attraction to him, and soon finds that she can't fight it. The tension between the two of them is delicious, and the sparks they set off of each other are entertaining to say the least.

Armchair Interviews says: If you are looking for a strong western love story, this book is for you!

Since the death of his wife, Rance McKettrick has thrown himself into his work with a passion. At least these transglobal flights and business deals hold down the overwhelming grief even if his two daughters suffer from his absence. Julie's mother Cora is there to pick up the pieces... and stir things up as well with the love potion she bought before Echo's move to Indian Rock.

When her fiance Justin leaves her at the altar, Echo Wells packs up and moves her bookstore and online business to Indian Rock, Arizona. From the very beginning, the residents are drawn to her including the mangy, wet, muddy lost dog that she names Avalon and shelters in her newly detailed VW Bug and names Avalon. When she runs smack into a handsome businessman who has parked his gas-guzzling SUV just a little too close to her Pepto-Bismal pink Volkswagen bug, the sparks fly. Can electricity turn into real love between a spooked skittish woman and a handsome man with a heart just as wounded as hers?

The first half or three-quarters of this book is one of the most moving romances I have read. The reader feels the pain of the characters as well as the electric energy between them. Even the hurt of Rance's two little daughters and their innocent exuberance for Echo Wells and pink Volkswagen bug grab the reader's heart throughout the story. Other than the animal abusers, every single character enchants the reader and creates a longing for a world like Miller's where lost souls no longer ring out like an echo in their emptiness but instead find their heart and family.

The ending of this romance disappoints and suffers from being the middle book in a terrific series. Miller tries to tie too many threads in too short a space and without enough preparation for the minor characters. Despite the slight stylistic imperfections, this second book grabbed deeply and put Linda Lael Miller on my favorite author list. A must read book!

If I could give this book more than five stars, I would. No one writes characters like Linda Lael Miller. I really feel like I know these people and didn't want the book to end. Rance and Echo are incredibly believable, warm, and passionate! And did I mention the dog and the kids??? I know of no other romance writer who includes dogs and children as major characters in their stories. I absolutely loved the entire storyline involving the stray dog. She reminded me of my own dog.
The romance here is top-notch and very hot! Are there really men like that out there?? One can only hope. This is a great second installment to a wonderful trilogy. Another must read from Linda Lael Miller.

It's really a toss up for me which of the McKettrick stories I liked the best. I loved them all. Rance McKettrick is a widower with two small girls and a meddling mother-in-law. He's all business in his three piece suits, no fun, no sense of humor and travels all over the world leaving his daughters behind, troubled by how his marriage was less than perfect when his wife died. Then Echo Wells, a hippy from Chicago whizzes into town in her little pink bug and nearly runs him down. Completely mismatched, it's both compelling and touching how Miller brings these two together. You won't want to miss any of these books. They're all so good they're hard to put down. I loved the dialogue, the humor, the witty way these stories were put together. Excellent reads!

This book was simply fascinating! I have read it three times and can't get enough. You will not be disappointed. It's such a lovely modern day romance that is very realistic. Bravo Linda Lael Miller for yet another outstanding book.

I picked this book up because every now and then I need to fuel my inner Marlborough Man fantasies, and I love a good contemporary western for that. I had not read the first book in the trilogy, or any of this author's other books. This book stands on its own, and I was not the least bit confused in getting caught up with who was who. Both characters were sympathetic, and there was a nice smattering of extended family members and a surprisingly good subplot involving a dog (and I am NOT an animal lover, but this storyline was actually quite important to illuminating the heroine's journey and character.)

What I really didn't like was the COUNTLESS references to this author's earlier books.... She seems to have included a reference to at least 6 or 8 earlier couples.... people who had lived hundreds of years ago. Every time the current hero & heroine pass a school house, we get a reference to "that was where my great-great granddaddy built his bride a school" Or shop. Or house. Or swimming hole. It went on and on and on. I actually found it a little sad. I don't like to think of H&H's being long-dead, although the author solved this problem by suggesting that they were all ghosts and had been seen riding on the range or laughing in the bedrooms. Puleease. Maybe I would not have minded if I'd read all those books, but the references interferred with my ability to enjoy this story and seemed very contrived.

Aside from that, it was a nice, average story...more about lust than love. The author did a terrific job exploring the hero's torment about his dead-wife and the emotional grappling he had to do to emerge from it. I especially liked the way the hero freely admits his initial attraction to Echo was just lust. The problem was that I never really saw any reason for that to evolve into love. At one point, the hero simply decides he loves her.... but I never really sensed any chemistry between them other than hot sex.

I liked it all the Mckettrick book are great, there could be more romance but great story lines,they have a long line of series.

I'm not one to read books of the romance genre typically so maybe that colors my opinion of this book.
I gave it 3 stars because there were touching parts of the book such as the story around the dog, and the story around the children without a mother and a too busy father. But the "love story" was more a "lust story" and not at all believable.

But okay, these books are really like a fantasy, I get that. But it was also poorly written. Nothing original and dialogue was just okay, nothing witty.

And someone tell me, how did she drive herself home after sleeping with him the first time around? Didn't he pick her up at the book store and then drive her all around the ranch before going to his house? So then how did she get up in the middle of the night and drive herself home?

This books is an easy read to wind down the evening. Somehow the writing lets you relax and forget about all the issues that you were faced with during the day. It works for me.

This is the 2nd in a little mini-series that Miller has written about some modern McKettrick men. It isn't necessary to read any of the rest of the series or other books about the McKettrick's, but it is a little nice for background. To me, this was actually one of the better ones.

Echo Wells has just moved to town to open a bookstore, and in the process she nearly runs over handsome Rance McKettrick. Ranch is a widower with two young daughters who spends his time mostly away from his home on big business deals. He doesn't really need to work, but it helps with the pain of losing his wife. Initially wary of Echo he finds himself attracted to her and wanting to protect her. But there's not much to be protected from in their town, or is there?

Echo was a great character. Unlike most of the other women roles in the McKettrick series, she wasn't volatile or super-independent. Not that those things are bad at all, it just made for a nice change from the other books. Rance is a little less likable but at least Miller takes the time to explain why he acts the way he does. He has a lot of conflicting emotions, which is pretty realistic compared to some of her other characters. The side characters in this book actually aren't as prominent as they usually are but they are characters we are all familiar with from the other books (if you've read them that is). They were just kind of there instead of moving the story along. I do have to say that I liked Echo's dog though; maybe its just because she's an animal but I thought her mentions in the book were very sweet.

For a plot this one was actually pretty tame. There wasn't a whole lot of serious action or adventure or large plotlines; but there were some minor plotlines carried throughout the book. Which made it seem more like real life than a book because often big events don't happen to everyone and its more the minute day to day life that people deal with. This was a romance so if you're not into the more risque type of reading, you probably don't want to read this one. Miller's writing style is pretty easy to read though and makes for a good book when you just want to relax.

Not a bad book in the series. I definitely enjoyed it and it helped me to look forward for more from her.

McKettrick's Pride
Copyright 2007
376 pages

Review by M. Reynard 2011