10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
6th In The BitterCreek Series...A Blackthorne/Grayhawk Story, January 12, 2007
"The Next Mrs. Blackthorne" by Joan Johnston" is 6th in the Bittercreek series. It follows:The Cowboy - The Texan - The Loner - The Price - and The Rivals. This series is modern day romance/western adventures that revolve around feuding families.The Blackthornes, The Creeds(descendants of the "Sisters of the Lone Star" Trilogy) and most recently The Grayhawks, who in this series were introduced in "The Rivals". The Blackthornes and Creeds had pretty much laid their feud to rest, but the Blackthornes and Grayhawks have another long standing hatred for each other, which escalated 20 years earlier by the affair of son Clay Blacthorne and daughter Libby Grayhawk, which produced grandaughter Kate, who being a Blackthorne-Grayhawk is caught in the middle.
So in the last book "The Rivals", teenaged Kate had been kidnapped and Libby and Clay had to work together to save their daughter. You knew that sparks still flew between them and hoped someday they would put aside their differences and marry and bring together these two feuding families. But alas, Clay is engaged to another and neither admit their true feelings. Now in "The Next Mrs. Blackthorne", Kate is once again in serious trouble as a result of trying to trick her parents into reuniting.She announces her engagement to an older mysterious fellow who's reputation is not exactly pristine, in hopes her parents will unite in order to stop the relationship. Clay now a federal Judge, is trying a high-profile case of a "bomber" and Kate has also befriended the son of the defendant. Now she has turned up missing and the hunt for Kate, her kidnapper and a bomb makes for an exciting and suspenseful adventure.
I enjoyed the mystery/adventure aspect of the story and found that quite intriguing,and also following the family saga, but the rest didn't seem up to par with the earlier romance stories. Libby who we want all the time to be The Next Mrs. Blackthorne,and make some of those sparks fly with Clay, doesn't even enter the picture until chapter 6 about 125 pages in. Clay's fiance, Jocelyn and Libby's brother North, are the focus at first, and although their story eventually becomes pretty hot(romantically speaking), it begins with an unrealistic ploy by Jocelyn as she offers her body to North, in exchange for some property the Blackthornes do not want to lose to him.Also, Kate, now a college student seems as mischievous and naive as a grade school girl, especially taking into consideration the life-threatening situation she had already had in the last story.
This is also the one book in this series, that I would say does not stand on it's own. You really need to read, at least "The Rivals" to get a full understanding of the characters. If you have already been following this series, you probably want to read it for the adventure and to catch up with the families. At the end of the book, Ms Johnston lets you know that the next story will continue to tell Kate's story(but doesn't give the title, so I am not sure if it is even out yet). I am hoping the "older/mysterious" guy(Jack) she pretended to love, will be back in the next story. He was the most interesting character in the story.
All in all, a good story to take you away for a while, just not quite up their with some of the others in the series. Enjoy the read....Laurie
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Silly and boring., November 10, 2005
I read the other reviews and felt kind of bad giving this book only 2 stars but I just didn't think it was very good. I found the characters to be shallow and uninteresting, the dialogue choppy and boring. The only reason I kept reading it was to see if Jack and Kate would wind up together but apparently this book is one in a series and this was not their story. I first rolled my eyes when Joss left Clay's home and went to North's just as easy as that and then Clay came begging her to come home. What made him even more of a flop for a hero was when he told her he'd wait for her while North used her. I think it would have been much better reading had the author spent a little more time developing the characters and their feelings, maybe given us a little more detail about their lives and how they felt about the people they were involved with. There were three storylines in this book and not near enough time was spent on any of them. I never connected with any of the characters and frankly, I don't know how they connected with each other. It just didn't seem like there was much thought put into the writing of this book.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Read, October 18, 2005
Joan Johnston has done it again - drawn us into the bitter feud between the Grayhawks and Blackthornes and wrapped us in the not-to-be-denied emotional bond between Libby Grayhawk and Clay Blackthorne.
At eighteen, Kate Grayhawk is still waging a campaign to get her parents together and married. One big stumbling block - Jocelyn Montrose, sister to Clay's late wife and now his fiancee. When she appeals to her Uncle North Grayhawk for help, he takes a step that will have a far-reaching effect on everyone - especially him. A man whose view of women is colored by his father's multiple marriages and lost love, he has held himself apart from emotional entanglement. Until Joss, trying to help Clay, offers him a bargain that turns out to be almost more than he can handle.
Clay and Libby, meanwhile, are thrown together through the plottings of their daughter. History has made them both stubborn and wary of each other, but circumstances will teach them, too, the meaning of real love.
As Joan Johnston takes the reader through the emotional turmoil of these four people, as she skillfully involves us in their conflicts and battles, we see the depth of character in each of them that directs their course for the future. The decisions they will ultimately make will effect everyone, and have a major impact on the Grayhawk-Blackthorn feud.
Who will be the next Mrs. Blackthorne? You'll have to read the book and see, but it is a most staisfying read, and will leave you waiting at the bookstore for the next Bitter Creek novel.
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