Romancing the Stacks: Lone Calder Star

Welcome to Romancing the Stacks. This is a series of reviews featuring one of my favorite genres: Romance Novels! Nothing is better than curling up with a good romance. This review will explore Lone Calder Star by Janet Dailey.

I had a patron recommend Janet Dailey to me. She just started reading her and said her books were wonderful. One of the things I love about being a librarian is learning about wonderful new authors to checkout. It seems a lot of Janet Dailey’s book are about cowboys, one of my favorite romance subgenre! I love a good Victorian romance, but Cowboys always make for a great read. I choose this book for the name as it reminded me of the Lone Ranger. My dad introduced me to the old black and white TV show when I was younger, and I have enjoyed cowboys ever since. I didn’t know until after I picked the book that it was number nine in a book series. After looking up the series, I think each book focuses on a particular member of the family, so reading so out of order shouldn’t effect any understanding.

Summary:

Quint Echohawk is a lawman, not a rancher, but he’s a Calder through and through. And when someone sets out to undermine the Calders’ Texas outfit, it’s time for him to step in and investigate.

From the moment Quint’s boots touch Texas dirt, it’s clear that everyone in town is running scared from Max Rutledge, the ruthless owner of a competing ranch. Posing as a cowboy looking for work, Quint has no one to trust but “Empty” Garner and his granddaughter, Dallas. In Empty, Quint finds a steadfast ally; in Dallas, Quint finds something more–the promise of a future.

In a town where betrayal lies around every corner, where every unlocked door, thrown punch, or suspicious fire is just a hint of deadlier things to come, the Calders will be tested as never before. And this time, it could cost them more than their land. . .it could cost them everything

Book Review:

This book was not great. That is the nicest I can be about it. I feel bad for not liking it because a patron recommended the author to me. When Quinn first sees Dallas he thinks she is 17. It took five chapters to confirm she was not, but later in the book he says he fell in love at first sight with her. That made me cringe. He is 27 and thought she was 17 at first sight. Dallas was just an awful character. She complained how everyone in the town was bought by the villains only to offer to sell information to the same people. What a hypocrite. I couldn’t find anything to like about her and she was the heroine. Quinn was just dull. He was a former lawman who decided to return to the family business, no reason why, no tragic backstory about being in law enforcement. He was just a stand up guy who always does the right thing. I need my characters to have some depth to enjoy a good romance and these characters were about as shallow as a puddle on a sunny day. Also I hated how the book kept cutting back to the villains and revealing their plan. You know right from the start that everything bad that happens is via the villains who are your basic soap opera villains and don’t feel like real people. I might have enjoyed the book if there was a twist like the people we thought were the villains were not behind all the bad stuff. I do think you might need to read book 8: Calder Promise if you want to read this book. There is some backstory that they never cover in this book with the villains and Quinn’s family that would have been helpful. I might try more books by the author in the future, but not this series.

The Calder Saga:

  1. This Calder Range
  2. Stands a Calder Man
  3. This Calder Sky
  4. Calder Born, Calder Breed
  5. Calder Pride
  6. Green Calder Grass
  7. Shifting Calder Wind
  8. Calder Promise
  9. Lone Calder Star
  10. Calder Storm
  11. Santa in Montana

Rating:

Out of

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