Customer Reviews

The Man From Stone Creek

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Man From Stone Creek is a historical western romance set in 1903 in the Arizona Territory. The main romance is filled with suspense as the hero seeks to round up cattle rustlers and train robbers. The novel achieves an emotional depth as the heroine's romance heals a past tragedy. Linda Lael Miller's romance, however, is not just a hero-heroine romance --- it is the romance of a whole town where justice is found and the downtrodden find love.

Lawman Sam O'Ballivan has come to town to replace the schoolteacher. The minute he arrives, the local schoolboy fight and the boys learn justice O'Ballivan style. The boy who teased another is himself held by his feet with his head dangling down the well. The disciplined boy's complaints to his mother brings him to the attention of postmistress Maddie Chancelor. The sparks fly. When they collide, circumstances force Maddie into the sight of the most dangerous family in town. With Sam by her side, will she conquer the past or will his secret mission place her in the thick of even more trouble?

Sam may be working undercover to capture the castle rustlers and thieves terrorizing the local area, but his efforts to blend just seem to lead him into more trouble. Just as he realizes Maddie has his heart, his intended bride comes in on the stagecoach. Can it get any worse? Of course! The question is can all this danger change hearts so that romance succeeds?

Linda Lael Miller's magnificent romance is more than just Sam and Maddie. The reader sees problems that plagued the American West: the terrorists of the day, sickness, brothels which were often the only way for a woman to survive, children left orphaned or in need, and those left behind in the huge expansion of the West. The author does not shrink from the unpleasant realities of the historical setting, but she creates a romance where hearts are healed. Orphans and lost souls (children, adults and animals) find goodness, and justice is served. When her characters dare to opens their hearts and expose their vulnerabilities, love is found, and the lost or neglected who surround them get found.

There's a new schoolmaster in Haven, Arizona, and he's making waves. While the current teacher is the bookish wimp of a man the residents of Haven expect to find doing woman's work, his replacement is something else altogether. Sam O'Ballivan may be a schoolmaster but he's not like any this town has ever seen. In fact, he's big and he's broad and he's armed and he has the women of Haven, from housewives to ladies of the evening, swooning.

One woman who is immune to his sterling qualities, however, is postmistress and merchant Maddie Chancelor. Already overprotective of her younger brother, Terran, Miss Chancelor doesn't take kindly when the new schoolmaster upbraids him for a boyish but potentially harmful prank within minutes of riding into town. Maddie is determined to keep the undercover lawman at arm's length, but that proves harder and harder to do as they are repeatedly thrown together.

While Sam is taking on the local children as well as working undercover to round up a local band of train robbers and rustlers, Maddie Chancelor is a complication he didn't anticipate. He may be engaged to the girl back home, but it's Maddie who fills his mind and heats his loins even as she's railing at him for his shortcomings. He can't help but be enchanted by this woman's beauty and personality even as she hides her inner tenderness under a tough exterior designed to help her provide for herself and her brother in a man's world.

It doesn't take long for Sam to hone in on possible suspects for wrongdoing when he encounters the wild and wanton Donagher family. The patriarch, Mungo, is a stern and scowling man who keeps his four sons in line with fear and physical violence. Too bad he doesn't have the same effect on his hot-to-trot wife, Undine, who has developed a strong attraction to Sam.

It's hard for a man to get any work done, however, when there is a constant stream of the needy dropping in on him in the schoolhouse. From little Violet Perkins who needs to be taught to bathe and could use some new clothes, to Oralee Pringle, the proprietress of the Rattlesnake Saloon and a puppy in need of a home, everyone seems to need a piece of Sam's time. Even fancy woman Bird of Paradise comes bearing food and offers of other sensual delights enough to tempt a man. Somehow though, Sam manages to stick to his business even if his mind tends to wander to more pleasurable pursuits.

THE MAN FROM STONE CREEK by Linda Lael Miller is an absolutely delightful romance with plenty of action that transported me to the Old West and kept me there page after page as I got to know the endearing residents of Haven. It's a definite keeper for my bookshelf and one I'll take time to reread even when I'm tempted by the plethora of new books that constantly vie for my attention. It's one of those books that makes you wonder, long after you've read the last page, what the people you've come to know and love are doing.

--- Reviewed by Amie Taylor

With an impressive number of audio book titles to his credit stage actor Buck Schirner has established himself as a first rate narrator. His reading of the story of Ranger Sam O'Ballivan is arresting (no pun intended) and vital as he effectively captures Sam's first impression of Haven, Arizona, as well his gradually growing attraction to postmistress Maddie Chancelor.

Sam arrives in the border town of Haven in search of a rough gang of thieves who have been wrecking havoc throughout the surrounding territory. He comes disguised as a school teacher whose first order of business is to straighten out the ranchers' undisciplined children who have been creating a little havoc of their own. One of the most unruly young ones is Terran, Maddie's younger brother.

The self-sufficient Ranger is in for a surprise when he meets Maddie, a very pretty and proper young woman who has a temper and toughness all her own. She doesn't take kindly to his comments about her brother, yet finds the newcomer strangely appealing.

Before long Sam becomes aware of a planned train robbery and pulls out all the stops to capture the brigands before they make off with a load of Mexican gold. The surprise is in who the robbers turn out to be.

For those who like romance and skullduggery served with a Western flavor, this one's for you!

- Gail Cooke

I've read many books by this author. The last two books have been my favorites. The Man From Stone Creek is a western story that's beautifully told. You can picture the Arizona setting. Maddie is strong and vulnerable at the same time. Sam is everything you want in a hero. He's tender and caring, but he's all man. I could not put the book down. Very much worth the hardcover price, excellent read.

Linda Lael Miller has written a solid American Western with a wonderful hero. Strangely, much of the novel is told through her hero's eyes. And, what an interesting man he is. I can't remember a Western in which the hero is, on the one hand, a tough and seasoned Ranger, but on the other, a tender hearted teacher who constantly takes the downtrodden under his wings - whether they be poor children, women, or even animals. Miller made an interesting and unique character in Sam O'Ballivan. Her heroine is not as fleshed-out as Sam, but still likeable. One of the best aspects of the book, however, is the well-told and intriguing story in which the reader comes upon some form of crisis in almost every other chapter. It's quite a page-turner.

I am a recent fan of Linda Lael Miller and I really enjoy her books because she has a way with making her characters alive and interesting. The Man From Snowy River is about an under cover G-Man who is poseing as a school teacher of all things and the female lead is a shop owner with a young brother to support and of course they clash over the brother who the teacher feels is spoiled by his sister, you then have the bad guys who the G-man is out to get, i will not get into the nitty gritty of the story as it would spoil it for the readers but in a nutshell, it is a great story, the characters are well done and it will leave you with a smile on your face.

Back of book: There was trouble in Haven, Arizona, and Ranger Sam O'Ballivan was determined to sort it all out. Badge and gun hidden, he arrived posing as the new schoolteacher, and his first order of business was to bring the rough ranchers' children under control. To that end, he called on Maddie Chancelor, the local postmistress, whose young brother was in firm need of discipline.

Sam wasn't sure what to expect, but it was definitely not this graceful woman whose prim, proper stance was so at odds with the fire in her eyes. Working undercover to capture a dangerous band of rustlers and train robbers was a job that had always kept him apart from other people. He was a man with his heart firmly in check, until Maddie. Now she was unwittingly tempting him down a path he'd sworn he'd never travel.

This story has some wonderful twists and turns that are not expected. It has a very sweet and touching love story. The main characters are well developed and interesting. Hard to put down, once you start reading.

I'm never dissapointed when Linda Lael Miller's name is on the cover. Excellent book!

I am concerned I have read too many Miller books for I am now at the point of reading her RE-RUNS. It seems as though this story has been told several times over under different titles. I read it, it passed the time... BUT I'm sorry this book was very similar to some of her past books namely, Two Brothers. I will say there were times in this book where I did get very emotional. The loss that the Hero experiences is very well written and touching.

While I prefer Westerns in the 17 and 1800's, I have to say Linda Lael Miller does westerns proud and true. She writes me the way Like em. Gritty, hard, and filled with the heroes that you know you just have to love.

In The Man from Stone Creek, not romanticizes the hero Sam O Ballivan and the heroine Maddie Chancelor, but also the children and other disenfranchised people in a town that is besieged by Rustlers and train robbers.

Ms. Miller keeps filled with tension as the story goes from the disagreeable meeting between Sam and Maddie, right up to an including bringing the rustlers to justice.

I like the fact that he had promised himself to a woman whom he didn't love, and was in fact surprised when she turned up. I had to listen on well into the night to find out just how he was going to handle the little triad. I was rooting for Maddie, but you never know.

I guess the only thing I didn't like (and this is audiolistically speaking is the way the way the little girl kept referring to Sam O'Ballivan as Mr. S.O.B. It just became a little tedious to hear when listening to an audio book. Other than that, this was old time, swoon material and very few do it better. .