Customer Reviews

Montana Creeds: Logan

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

STORY BRIEF:
Logan and his two brothers lost their parents years ago. The three brothers had a fight and all three left home. They inherited their dad's Montana ranch, but it stood vacant for 12 years. Now, Logan returns to the ranch to start working it as a cattle ranch. He also wants to find a wife and start a family.

Two years ago, Brianna's husband abandoned her and her two sons nearby. She has been living in the small house on the ranch. The house is owned by Dylan, Logan's brother. Dylan saw her when she was first abandoned and offered help by letting her live in the house rent free and use his truck. Dylan has been away since then. Brianna got divorced, and she is raising her sons by working in a nearby casino. She meets Logan, they get along, and he likes her boys. Soon, Brianna's ex-husband and his new wife come to town. Problems start happening.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
The characters were good, with a couple of bad guy influences for conflict. It reminds me of a typical Harlequin romance novel, nice but nothing special. There was nothing wrong with it. I just wanted to be a little more surprised or delighted in order to give it more stars. I liked it which is my definition for 3 stars. The author has two sequels coming out in 2009, one for each of the brothers: Dylan and Tyler.

DATA:
Story length: 366 pages. Swearing language: strong. Sexual language: none to mild. Number of sex scenes: 3. Total number of sex scene pages: 7. Setting: current day Stillwater Springs, Montana. Copyright: 2009. Genre: contemporary romance.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought the characters were likeable and seemed fairly "normal" as far as book characters go. There are no parts of the book that make you go "yeah right, that's not possible." If you've read any of her other books and liked them then you'll like this one as well. The only slight complaint I have is that the kids seemed to always be fighting and that got a little distracting, but hey at the same time it made it a little more real. I'm really looking forward to the next 2 books in this series. I'm predicting that Dylan is going to be my favorite character of the series.

Oh my gosh this story was absolutely wonderful. The characters comadarie was just so real that it was funny. I zipped thru this book in no time and wanted to read about Dylan and Tyler right then and there. Course they weren't out yet so I had to suffice reading about the McKettrick men instead. However, I love this Montana series. I'm so glad she spun them off from Meg's story, I always wondered after I read that book if there would be something about the Creeds. The video on her website promoting the book is just absolutely delish. I just want to jump into the book with thema nd become part of the story line! As my babysitter told me.. oh to be a cowgirl. **sigh**. Storyline was a little predictable and it wasn't overly filled with sex scenes, what was nice is she had a great buildup of it to those scenes. I found the book very hard to put down and just wanted to keep reading it. Now my mother is reading it along with a couple other friends, they are hooked just as I am. Can't wait to read Dylan and Tyler's stories. Maybe I relate better to the books about 3 brothers, I have 3 boys close in age, I read these and think of my boys being this age and have to wonder.. Read it if you're not sure give it a chance, very enjoyable book.

After a successful career with the rodeo and a failure twice at marriage, Logan Creed returns to the family dilapidated Stillwater Springs Ranch in Montana; though he is somewhat estranged with his brothers Dylan and Tyler. He is wealthy, but ironically he made his money not from the rodeo, but from self-help legal services over the net.

Dylan has allowed Briana Grant and her two sons ten year old Josh and eight year old Alec to live in Logan's house since her rat of an ex Vance deserted her, their kids and their dog two years ago in Stillwater Springs. Logan likes the children and is attracted to their mother. When it appears that someone wants to hurt Briana, Logan vows to keep her and her children safe while fixing up the ranch and reconciling with his brothers.

Linda Lael Miller expands her McKettrick universe with their Big Sky cousins: the Creeds. The first tale stars big brother Logan and a courageous single mom who shows how much she cares about people by making it her mission to pull weeds from the nearby cemetery's gravesites. The Creeds are as dysfunctional as a family can be. Ms. Miller uses broken relationships like a master mage. Obviously targeting the McKettrick mob, fans of the author will appreciate her latest entry as the saga grows and two more siblings to follow.

Harriet Klausner

Montana Creeds: Logan

Linda Lael Miller has written another excellent book. I am a HUGE Linda Lael Miller fan, will read anything with her name on it, and particularly enjoy her western themed novels. This one would have to go straight to the top of my all time favourite books. There is nothing that I didn't like about this book - Logan, the hero, is incredibly real and charming and I fell in love with him within 2 or 3 chapters. Briana, the heroine is strong, independent and makes a perfect partner for the twice-divorced, ex-rodeo star Logan. Her kids remind me of my nephews and the whole arc between Brianna, her ex and his new wife is wonderful. The sex scenes are spicy, but not over the top and I really believe that this series, including Dylan and Tyler, are going to be really fantastic.

I truly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys not only Linda Lael Millers writing, but also anyone who enjoys western themed novels. Cant wait for the next 2!

This contemporary western romantic story had all the elements I love to read about: an alpha male who is sweet and respectful to women, a woman in need, tender moments between family... and even some excitement, tension and suspense to boot. And there were some really good moments in the storyline and an abundance of strong characters.

I still found the book to be a bit frustrating and unsatisfying though. In some ways it gave too much and it was overkill. Like Logan, our hero, was way too much of everything. Not only has he inherited a valuable, beautiful ranch but he's also an ex rodeo star, has served in the special forces in Iraq, started his own dot.com company (and became a millionaire off it) AND he had time to go to law school. Wow. Yet none of these roles are ever really defined. He starts to sorta get into the ranching thing... but that is the only thing he doesn't have experience in, ironically. (When he was a kid on the ranch, they didn't use it as a ranch, his family were loggers?) I'm not sure why the author felt the need to make Logan SO MUCH but still sorta nothing. Because he doesn't get to wear any of his hats at all.

In comparison, Briana, the heroine, is the opposite. She really has no history, except for her famous father, and no hobbies, besides reading. She's uneducated and has a routine management job, her first, at a casino. She seems to be a wonderful mother but doesn't have a clue in many ways. It's interesting that author made the hero so incredible and experienced and adventurous and made the heroine so boring.

Then in other ways the author just didn't give enough in the plot. Like there's a suspense plot introduced that never really pans out. Seems awfully coincidental the way it ends too. And it's not even really closed up completely. I can't really argue this point without giving away spoilers so I'll leave it to the reader! And why the ominous overtone from the Indian grandmother that never pans out? What did the election have to do with anything? Basically the story just left me feeling like it was incomplete.

BUT even still I did really enjoy the characters. I loved Logan's inner thoughts- he's all male. I really liked Jim, Briana's boss. The kiddos are pretty cute too. Hey, I even enjoyed reading about Vance, the ex. And the book carries a wholesome, Montana awesomeness that was irresistible. I rated it 3 stars because it kept my attention the whole time and I really enjoyed it. But it really could use a redraft!

Logan Creed, the oldest of three brothers, has returned home to Stillwaters Springs Ranch, the families run-down ranch, determined to re-build the Creed legacy. Logan and his brothers, Dylan and Tyler, have equal shares in the ranch but since their falling out after their dad's funeral all had gone their seperate ways.

Tired of the rift between he and his brothers, Logan uses the repairs needed on the ranch as a way to get he, Dylan and Tyler back to talking again. Dylan comes around when Logan calls him wanting to know if it's okay to re-place the fencing around Dylan's old nemesis, Cimarron, a rodeo brahmer bull. Dylan doesn't want Logan doing any repairs to his part of the ranch so comes home for a short time to see what needs to be done. Logan also asks about his pretty young neighbor, who is house sitting for Dylan. Logan met Briana his first day back when he went to the old family cemetery. Briana and her boys were there having a picnic, which they did once a week. Briana finding the old cemetery not long after her and the boys moved into Dylan's place. It was overgrown and in a terrible mess so she decided to clean it up and keep it that way.

Briana Grant and her two sons were left stranded by her husband in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Stillwaters Springs, Montana, with only forty dollars to her name. Dylan, in town on business, just happened to see Vance, Briana's then husband, throw the money out of the truck window and speed away. Sizing up the situation, Dylan handed her a set of keys, gave her directions to his ranch house and strolled off. He did warn her to stay clear of Cimarron. The next morning, a load of groceries arrived along with a note from Dylan saying there was an old Chevy truck parked in the barn and she could use it if she coud get it running. Since then, nearly two years now, they'd had no communication beyond the occasional e-mail or phone call. When something needed fixing, Dylan was quick to send a check. Briana was very thankful for Dylan's kindness.

Briana has heard stories of her good looking neighbor, but his kindness with her sons makes her stop and think of what life could be like with the right man. Since Logan and Briana both felt a kind of electricity in their first meeting, a relationship, slow but steady, begins to bloom and holds firm even when her ex reappears and an unknown assailant vandalizes her home.

This story reads so easily that you might think your reading about someone in your own small town community. The very first sentence puts you in the frame of mind that you're the one standing in front of that old sign and not Logan Creed. Anyone having even a slight knowledge of their own family history, will enjoy this book. It's a great comfortable reading story. I was so hooked that I read it one night.

I absolutely loved this book. Being raised on a ranch/farm really took me back to my beginnings. Logan is a loner and wanderer returning to his family's badly neglected ranch; however, he meets his next door neighbor Briana and her two sons, Alex and Josh, and his life is forever changed. This book is such a great tribute to life in the west. Thank you Linda Lael Miller.

I wavered between three and four stars for this book.

On the one hand, Miller has written a wonderful book of fully fleshed out characters. The children are neither too wise nor too cute. Alec, 8 and Josh, 10 are as exasperating and wonderful as boys that age are in real life. Their mother Briana is holding it together as a single mom after getting dumped at Wal-Mart by her husband. She's not played out as a heroic WonderMom, but as your average woman doing what she must, occasionally doing things wrong, to keep on trucking. She felt real to me, reminding me of my own mom in many ways.

Their neighbor Logan Creed has come back to his family's Montana ranch after two failed marriages, a stint in Iraq in the Army and a law career that netted him 30 million dollars. Somehow, he's still in his early to mid-thirties. The math doesn't work for me, but whatever. God forbid we have working-class heroes. He's estranged from his brothers, Dylan and Tyler, after a drunken brawl the day their boozebag father died twelve years ago. (In another bout of fuzzy math, she says the father died when Logan was a college junior, so age 20-21, right? Now if Tyler is 8 years younger than Logan, as she describes, what were they doing drinking whiskey and brawling with a 12-13 year old boy in a bar? But I digress.)He's come back to make a fresh start of it, reconcile with his brothers, get married again and have kids.

The hero, heroine and the cast of supporting characters felt real to me. I felt Logan's confusion, bitterness, sadness and regret without ever once pitying him. Miller does a great job showing the awkwardness between the brothers when they talk to each other. There's no magical, tear-filled bromantic reconciliation moment. Briana frets about her ex-husband's return and how it will affect the boys. She's wary of Vance, her ex, while willing to work with him for the kids' sakes. Her ex starts the book a self-indulgent boor, and ends it a mere flawed human trying to fix his mistakes. The assorted villains are more pitiable than evil. I could've done without the American Indian grandmother with prophetic dreams, but you can't have it all.

** spoiler alert ** The book failed me near the end. A suspense subplot involving Briana's house getting vandalized was both unnecessary and unresolved. The HEA was not only unbelievable but unwanted. Miller has a divorcee with two impressionable boys marry a twice-divorced man after knowing each other less than two weeks. I don't think that's romantic, I think that's reckless, especially because Miller never spent any of Logan's POV time assessing what went wrong in those marriages, who those women were or what sort of man he was then. We're just supposed to believe he's in it for the long haul this time because He's The Hero.** spoiler alert **

Despite these somewhat major flaws, the characters were compelling and Miller's voice was evocative, so I couldn't put the book down. I eventually settled on a four because I am invested enough in the brothers to want to continue the series, and that must count for something.

Abandoned by the brothers, the Creed ranch had been unkempt for years. Logan, Tyler and Dylan had found success in others areas. Their father's death, funeral, and the ensuing fight were memories no one wanted to revisit.

Time has a way of changing perspective. Logan, a big city lawyer, had sold out and headed home to Stillwater Springs. His goal, to resurrect the Creed name into one of respect and honor, would be no easy task. Money was not an issue. The sooner he got started the better.

Taken aback at the disrepair of the main house, Logan wastes no time throwing himself into the task at hand. Caught showing his soft side, he surprises many and opens the door to trust. It is not long before his lovely neighbor makes a lasting impression and the sparks soon fly. But that is only the beginning...

You will surly relate too many of the supportive characters and the challenges that often come on a daily basis. Single parenthood, traditions of the past, old wounds, and new dangers make this story one you won't forget.

The writing is alive with details. You can visualize events and feel the emotions like you were there. It flows smoothly and transitions are made with ease. You will find it hard to set the book down.

There is a good balance between humor, suspense, and light hearted fun. However, there are lusty thoughts and actions intermingled as well.

All in all it was an enjoyable story.