Customer Reviews

You and No Other (The Graysons, Book 2)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Those familiar with the family sagas in Francis Ray's Taggart, Falcon,
Grayson series will welcome the return of another piece of this legacy.
YOU AND NO OTHER unites readers with avid art collector and practicing
attorney, Morgan Grayson.

Since the marriage of her oldest son, Ruth Grayson has made a crusade
of getting her second oldest to the altar. Morgan stays on the defensive
as he keeps one step ahead of her overzealous attempts. For the moment,
he has outfoxed Ruth and can now devote his attention to his practice
and his duties as the chairperson of Santa Fe's art committee. Morgan
has brought a renowned sculptor to the city's annual art show and he
must finalize some legal loose ends. Alas, all of Morgan's fancy
footwork to outsmart his Mom seems for naught when he collides with
Phoenix Banister, the young protégée who is on tour with the sculptor.
Morgan is astounded; Phoenix takes his breath away. She makes him wonder
if he is ready for a serious relationship and leary that his interest
will add fuel to fan his mother's 'marriage' fire.

After being under the apprenticeship of the famous sculptor for the last
seven years, Phoenix believes her time has come, but only for her art;
she is afraid of a relationship. But her fears do not diminish the fact
that Morgan Grayson is not the kind of man a woman can easily ignore. A
timid and skeptical Phoenix wonders if he will still be interested once
he learns of her past and the secret she harbors that could destroy her
career. Also weighing on her mind is whether this is a good time to
focus attention on something other than her dream?

Ms. Ray has again created an intriguing story which captures and warms the
heart. Readers can expect a little suspense, a little family meddling and
a lot of love. An added treat to this story is a visit with some of our
favorite characters from the series. Ms. Ray continues to share her
inimitable style of storytelling and her love of writing. I would be
remiss however if I did not warn that this book will warm more than the
heart.

Reviewed by aNN
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers

I love Francis Ray and had been waiting on this story, but it didn't match up with her other great novels. The story was written differently. The tone just wasn't right. I'll buy the next one, but this one lacked something.

I was quite disappointed with this book. I am a longtime fan of Ms. Ray and rushed to the store to get this one. This time, Ms. Ray's Grayson family seemed a bit on the immature side. With the meetings of the single siblings and the extreme measures taken to avoid the matriarch of the family, Mrs. Grayson, this book did not have much time to develop the main characters and their romantic involvement. Also frustrating me was the mystery of Phoenix's past and how she dreaded Morgan's discovery - but yet, she blurted it out to him in all of 5 seconds. So what was the purpose? I haven't even finished the book. I was too frustrated with Ms. Ray's writing style in this book. I'll wait to read the reviews on Ms. Ray's next one before purchasing.

I am a huge fan of Francis Ray's books and I love the Taggart/Falcon/Grayson series, so I was really looking forward to this book. What a letdown. The first chapter had great promise, but it all went downhill from there.

The writing was poor - stilted, unnatural conversations and lots of repetitions. There was no chemistry between Morgan and Phoenix. The constant protests of the siblings against marriage and Morgan falling in love got old very quickly. It was annoying, unreasonable and silly.

It was great to catch up with Luke and Daniel, but they didn't even sound like the men we've come to know and love. Every word out of Luke's mouth was about the wonders of love. Sure, they love their wives, but when did they become simpering idiots??

I will still read Ms Ray's books because I think that she is a very talented writer and storyteller (read The Turning Point), but this book was a huge disappointment.

I love Francis Ray's book. I too like many other readers go back and read over her other books to get ready for my new one. I did not care much for this one, and I've been waiting since last year. Ms. Ray kept repeating stuff over and over, which got on my nerves. But my love of the Falcon/Taggart/Grayson clan keeps me coming back for more. I am still looking forward to her next installment. Until then I'll begin reading the installments of the Westmorland siblings by Brenda Jackson.

P.S. A message to my sister's. I know that reading romance novels is all about the hype because I am a sister who loves romance. But what I would like to see more of in our favorite writers such as Ms. Ray and Ms. Jackson are realistics features of their characters. Seems that every other female is mixed with hair down her back, and every man is tall and muscular. Give the notion thats what beauty is all about. We are people of many mixtures, colors, hair length, or eyes gray. Most of our men over thirty five don't have rippling muscles and how many women are still pure at almost 30 years old. Everyone does not have the ideal job and is a high powered executive. Ok, I'm playing devils advocate, but I would like to read some romantic stories with people who are like the average Joe and Jane Blow and actually look like Ms. Ray and Ms. Jackson themselves. Black love is beautiful even with out all the glamour.

Although I love Francis Ray and enjoy her books. I couldn't help being a little disappointed with this one.It was diffently missing "something" that I had always enjoyed in her other books. I have always read her past books more then once. This book I know I wont. I am and always will be a fan of your's Ms. Ray and look foward to your future books. Take Care and God Bless

I can't say how long I waited for this book. I went to my book shelf and re re-read all the books linked to this story and to find it had to believe this is what I waited for. I loved the storyline and I loved Morgan & Phoenix however I didn't feel their passion. I was like the book was lacking some of the spice MRS Ray usually writes about. I'm looking forward to the rest of the Grayson clan. I would love to hear more about Richard & Naomi, Trent mom and last but not least MRS. DIVA RUTH GRAYSON need some spice in her own life.

I love Mrs. Ray with a passion and love reading her books. I found out about her through my other fave . . . Mrs. Brenda Jackson. So intrigued by Mrs. Ray's work was I that I ordered everything that she had ever written just so that I could be up on all her other characters since she weaves them into her books so much, you have to preview to know who is who.

I waited patiently for this book to be finished because Luke and Catherine's story was so beautifully written, and even in this book, their love is still talked of and very evident from reading. But Morgan and Phoenix's story left me lacking. I CANNOT BELIEVE how "rushed" their lovemaking was. Normally there is such a build-up of emotion between the characters that the love scenes takes more than 1 page and I usually love to re-read it over and over again. But it was over in less than half a page each time it occurred.

I also have to agree with an earlier reader on how immature the family seemed to be in reference to falling in love and getting married. I love my mother with a passion and have been single for the last 5 years and no matter how much she wants me to re-marry, I will not avoid her because she wants me to find a "good Christian man". I will just allow her to talk until she realizes that my timing and hers will never agree.
It actually took me over 3 weeks to read this book when it normally takes me 1 day to read her work, but I will not pick it up again as I continuously do with "Heart of a Falcon", or Kane & Victoria's story. I will just have to wait and hope that Brandon's story is more developed and his siblings are more mature and accepting of their "destiny." But keep up the good work Mrs. Ray.

I'm new to the Falcon/Grayson series, and this was a nice novel to read. I just ordered the "Falcon Saga" and I can't wait to read that as well. I gave this novel "five stars" because of the romance, but I can see similar writing styles with Ms. Ray and fellow novelist Brenda Jackson. Case in point: the bachelor auction, being Native-American, it's the same as Brenda Jackson's "Surrender", and let's not forget the fact that everyone is wealthy, gorgeous, have bodies to die for, the women have hair down their backs, everyone is related and have connections, and in all the families it's older brothers and the baby sister. Did Ms. Ray and Ms. Jackson compare notes or something? Out of all the Grayson brothers, Brandon is my favorite because of his sense of humor. Ms. Ray you're a great writer, but you should stick with your own writing style and stay unique.

You and No Other was the fifth Francis Ray book that I read. The story of Phoenix Bannister and Morgan Grayson is compelling, thought-provoking and heartwarming story. Francis Ray takes readers on a journey of self-discovery, self-acceptance, self-fulfilment, love and romance. I fell in love with the character of Phoenix as she struggled to find herself as a person, an artist and an equal partner in her relationships. Ray, although creating a seemingly larger than life character in the person of Morgan, shows him to be all too human as he first fights against falling in love then fights not only to keep that love but build solid lasting relationship with Phoenix.

Overall, a fantastic book!