Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Calico Canyon by Mary Connealy



This week, the


Christian Fiction Blog Alliance


is introducing


Calico Canyon


Barbour Publishing, Inc (July 1, 2008)


by


Mary Connealy



Christy here: Want a book with a lotta heart? Want a book that's action packed with several plots? Want a book driven by characters that you can't help but love? If you want that and more, I suggest picking up this book by Mary Connealy. Book 2 in the Lassoed in Texas Series, Calico Canyon.

Mary graciously sent me Petticoat Junction, Book 1 in the series, several months ago. I've started it and like it, but I had to put it down to read this one in preparation for this tour. Don't worry if you haven't read Book 1. You can pick right up with Calico first and love it as a stand alone book.

The opening scene with Grace fighting off the Reeves boys in her own classroom was hilarious. This book takes place in the 1800s following the Civil War, but as I read about the boys antics, I pictured the movie "Overboard" with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. Remember that movie? Remember the principle of the school being chased out of the front door with toilet paper wrapped from head to toe? Remember good old dad, Kurt Russel saying: "Aww, they're just trying to have a little fun." That was hilarious and this book was even better.

This is a classic book where we watch the character's lives change. We live it with them. We see them change for the better. I only wished there were more romantic scenes between Grace and Daniel, but the author was true to life. With five wild boys around, there won't be much time for candlelight dinners.

While I was dying for more scenes with Daniel and Grace, laughing over the boys and them tumbling all over the ranch, I was pained by Hannah's situation, Grace's sister, of living homeless in cold, hard Chicago. Old Master Parrish's character as the villain was quite disturbing. I wanted to whack the crap out of him with a large hammer. Forget the ruler he carried around. Let him whack my daughter's hand.... Okay, getting a little too involved here... sorry...

What I'm thinking, back to Hannah, is will she have the next book? Or maybe one after that? I'd say she earned her time. Besides, she's own her way to Mosqueros Texas. I bet we'll be seeing her before too long....

Read Mary's latest book. Like me, you're going to love it!





ABOUT THE AUTHOR:



MARY CONNEALY is an award-winning author and playwright, married to Ivan a farmer, and the mother of four beautiful daughters, Joslyn, Wendy, Shelly and Katy. They live in Decatur, Nebraska. Mary is a GED Instructor by day and an author by night. And there is always a cape involved in her transformation.



Mary has also written Petticoat Ranch, Golden Days, and her latest, Alaska Brides that will debut in August.





ABOUT THE BOOK



Let yourself be swept away by this fast-paced romance, featuring Grace Calhoun, an instructor of reading, writing, and arithmetic, who, in an attempt to escape the clutches of a relentless pursuer, runs smack dab into even more trouble with the 6R's - widower Daniel Reeves, along with his five rowdy sons. When a marriage is forced upon this hapless pair - two people who couldn't dislike each other more - an avalanche isn't the only potential danger lurking amid the shadows of Calico Canyon. Will they make it out alive? Or end up killing each other in the process?



Running from her Abusive foster-father, a man intent on revenge, the prim and perfectly proper Grace Calhoun takes on the job of schoolmarm in Mosqueros, Texas.



As if being a wanted woman isn't bad enough, Grace has her hands full with the five rowdy and rambunctious Reeves boys─tough Texan tormentors who seem intent on making her life miserable. When, in an attempt to escape from the clutches of her pursuer, Grace is forced to marry widower Daniel Reeves, father of the miniature monsters, she thinks things couldn't get any worse. Or could they?



Daniel Reeves, happy in his all-male world, is doing the best he can, raising his five boys─rascals, each and every one. Since his wife's death in childbirth, Daniel has been determined never to risk marriage again.



When God throws Grace and Daniel together─two people who couldn't detest each other more─the trouble is only beginning.



Will this hapless pair find the courage to face life together in the isolated Calico Canyon? Or are their differences too broad a chasm to bridge?



If you would like to read the first chapter go HERE

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