Something More (Zebra Contemporary Romance) [Mass Market Paperback]

Janet Dailey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 25, 2008 | Series: Zebra Contemporary Romance

From New York Times bestselling author Janet Dailey comes a captivating story of a man who's given up, a woman who won't let go, and a race to find a treasure that could bring them wealth and so much more...

Something More

Life in Glory, Wyoming, population fifty-one, isn't exactly exciting. The dusty old town isn't even on the map. And for rancher Luke McCallister, that's just fine. Broken by tragedy, the stoic cowboy spends his time at his Ten Bar Ranch or down at Ima Jane's Rimrock Bar, trying to avoid the gossip being served along with the food and drink. But the everyday quiet of his life is shattered when he finds a human skull--and possibly the key to Glory's oldest mystery.

It was one hundred years ago that a band of outlaws were said to have buried their gold in Glory. The one surviving bandit took the secret of the treasure's hiding place with him to the gallows. Angie Sommers knows the story cold: that man was her great-great-grandfather. She's come to Glory to see if the old legend of the gold is true, and she wants Luke to help her find it. She even has incentive: a possible clue written by the dead man himself.

Luke has no interest in chasing after pipe dreams. He's seen the damage too much hope can bring. Still, he can't deny that Angie makes him feel things he hasn't allowed himself to feel in years. Something about her sweet, trusting nature, her honest eyes, and unshakable belief makes him feel alive again--and that could be dangerous. For someone else is determined to stop Angie, someone who would do anything for the outlaws'gold. Now, bound by the thinnest of ties and shadowed by danger, Luke and Angie set off in search of a mystery as romantic as the west itself on a journey of faith that will take them into Wyoming's rugged, treacherous terrain and even deeper into the heart's tender graces...

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Known for her popular Calder saga set in Montana (Calder Storm, etc.), Dailey turns her attention to the Ten Bar Ranch, near Glory, Wyo. (pop. 51), run by a young, laid-back widower, Luke McCallister. Still grieving over losing his family four years earlier, Luke, who swigs whiskey to dull the pain, isn't particularly rattled when a skeleton turns up on his property. He is surprised, however, by his attraction to redheaded Angie Sommers, an Iowa school teacher who comes to Glory after being notified that the remains appear to be of Henry James Wilson, her long missing grandfather. Henry James's grandfather was Ike Wilson, a train robber executed on the gallows: the skeleton's presence on Luke's land suggests that Ike's missing treasure may be there, too. Saddlebags Smith, a local gold-hunting eccentric, warns the two that lookin' for that gold will make you crazy while Luke's ranch hands and another townie complicate matters. Veteran tale-spinner Dailey depicts ranching life with a sure-handed, affectionate humor. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

A skeleton discovered on the Ten Bar Ranch in eastern Wyoming and purported to be her long-lost grandfather sets Angie Sommers on a treasure hunt for the gold her train-robber ancestor supposedly hid there, and for which her grandfather was searching when he disappeared. Several inhabitants of Glory are equally desperate to claim the treasure for themselves, but Angie hires grief-stricken Luke McCallister, the Ten Bar's owner, to guide her. As the quest continues, it seems no one but Luke, still mourning the loss of his wife and child several years ago, is unaffected by greed and ambition. In a departure from her many romances, Dailey's mainstream tale of a moribund town's struggle to survive, fighting despair with faith and trying to reconcile their needs and desires with the demands of hospitality and neighborliness, is curiously gripping. Welch, Lynne --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Zebra Books (November 25, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821775448
• ISBN-13: 978-0821775448
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #413,863 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #9 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Romance > Authors, A-Z > ( D ) > Dailey, Janet

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Boring Waste of Time, March 6, 2009

By 

Rosekeet (CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Something More (Zebra Contemporary Romance) (Mass Market Paperback)

I really enjoy romance and westerns, so I was really looking forward to this book. The back has the promise of a good story. The hero Luke has a very tragic past. The heroine's ancestor stole some gold. Set in a small Wyoming town with the potential for great supporting characters. They're hunting for gold that was hidden on Luke's ranch. How Janet Dailey could write such a boring, predictable novel based on such a decent premise is beyond me.

First of all, it barely qualifies as romance. Luke and Angie kiss twice. And both kisses happen in the same scene. All the comments about them being attracted to one another seem forced and awkward. This is really frustrating because the premise is good for romance. Angie hires Luke to help her find the gold. This means they could be camping alone in the Wyoming wilderness, far from civilization. I've been to Wyoming, and it is beautiful and romantic in a rugged way. Plenty of potential for something more than a chaste kiss. Seriously--this book could be rated G. And the kiss doesn't happen until more than half-way through the book. What kind of self-respecting romance novelist writes like this?! I have never read a romance where a kiss happened this late. In fact, I don't think I've ever read a romance where sex wasn't at least implied. It wasn't even IMPLIED in this book. Seriously--the ending was totally open-ended. Not that the characters are interesting enough to warrant the purchase of a sequel. Which leads to complaint two---

The characters are boring. Granted, at first they don't seem boring. Luke has SOOOO much potential. Dailey should be ashamed of wasting him. He owns a ranch that's been in the family for generations. His wife and young son died in a fire that burned the ranch house down. He's tormented. And that's as far as you get. Until the big "reveal" all we get are veiled references to the ruins of the ranch house. Sure, Luke drinks to wash away the pain, but the descriptions of this are so boring. Honestly, there could be more about his memories of the event, bad dreams, etc. And why does he stay on the ranch? A love of the land? He feels connected to it because of his family? Does he love being a cowboy? Is it because of a sense of guilt? None of these questions are answered. NONE. Which begs the question--why does the heroine even like this guy? All we see is a rather mean guy who drinks a lot. Really attractive. He's not even nice to the little girl who lives with her brother on the ranch. He's kind of mean to her. I could see him ignoring her because of the pain it caused him to see a child, but nope. He just kind of acts like a dick.
The heroine is also boring. She's from Iowa, grew up on a farm. Her grandfather went looking for the gold and never came back (before her mother was born). She's a school teacher. That's it. Nothing more. I suppose she's honest and trusting, but unless one of the characters commented on it, I wouldn't have thought about it. Why doesn't Dailey make her think about her past? Angie says shes looking for the gold because of her family history and that she misses her grandma. How does she feel about her grandpa abandoning her grandma? How does her MOTHER feel about it? How did it effect her childhood? Did she study history to learn how to fix the problems this created in her family? What is her romantic history? Bad ex-boyfriends? No relationships? WHAT? There is NO substance to this character. Honestly, everything you need to know about her is on the back of the book.

Thirdly--the plot is boring and predictable. If it was at least a decent story I would have been less bugged by the lack of romance. Looking for lost gold may not be the most original plot, but it could be interesting. Angie has a letter from her ancestor that supposedly says where the gold is hidden. It's in code and Angie breaks the code. Or thinks she does. Once the main key is revealed, it is frustrating how STUPID these characters are. I wanted to shout at them. And the other big secret regarding the dead body that is supposedly Angie's grandpa--yeah, the "mystery" behind that is a real shocker.

All in all, this book is a TOTAL waste of time. I have never read a more boring "romance" novel in my LIFE. When you get a quarter of a way through a romance novel and the couple haven't kissed, you wonder. When you get HALF way through, be wary. Very wary. You could end up wasting hours of your LIFE.

This was the first Janet Dailey I've ever read and I won't waste my money on any more of her books again.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fast paced western, November 4, 2008

By 

Lauren Calder (FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Something More (Hardcover)

This modern day fast-paced western gave the reader a taste of the west. The abrupt ending left the reader feeling as if a segment of the story was missing. ~Affaire de Coeur

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another good novel by Janet Daily, August 7, 2007

By 

Simone Barrington (Oregon, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Something More (Hardcover)

I've been reading Janet Daily for over 25 years - since I was a teenager. Something More was delightful. The characters were from a western movie with twists and turns along the way. Daily wrote the plot wide open for a sequel. It will surely come.