This RITA® Reader Challenge 2016 review was written by Victoria R. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Long Contemporary category.
The summary:
From New York Times bestselling author Jodi Thomas comes the first book in a compelling, emotionally resonant series set in a remote west Texas town—where family can be made by blood or by choice…
Rancher Staten Kirkland, the last descendent of Ransom Canyon’s founding father, is rugged and practical to the last. No one knows that when his troubling memories threaten to overwhelm him, he runs to lovely, reclusive Quinn O’Grady… or that she has her own secret that no one living knows.
Young Lucas Reyes has his eye on the prize—college, and the chance to become something more than a ranch hand’s son. But one night, one wrong decision, will set his life on a course even he hadn’t imagined.
Yancy Grey is running hard from his troubled past. He doesn’t plan to stick around Ransom Canyon, just long enough to learn the town’s weaknesses and how to use them for personal gain. Only Frank Yancy, a common criminal since he was old enough to reach a car’s pedals, isn’t prepared for what he encounters.
In this dramatic new series, the lives, loves and ambitions of four families will converge, set against a landscape that can be as unforgiving as it is beautiful, where passion, property and pride are worth fighting—and even dying—for.
Here is Victoria R.'s review:
Ransom Canyon is the first in the new series set in Crossroads, Texas. Even though it’s not my usual thing, I liked this book. It focuses on five people individually, two couples and one ex-convict. The conversations and inner thoughts came across as authentic, and if I ever have a cattle-rustling problem, I know what to do. This book is sweet, and non-explicit. The characters have some major back story, but the romances themselves were mature, thoughtful, and kind. My only quibble is that too much happens in this book.
There are three relationships, a cattle-rustling ring…
That’s a lot. Every time something happened, the chapter would end and a different story line would be picked up.
First, though, a Trigger Warning for a past rape that is described, and the rapist does show up during the book.
The first couple, Staten and Quinn, are mature friends with benefits. Staten visits Quinn to release some pressure with a long-time friend who knows that he will Never Love Again, and thus has no expectations. Or so he thinks. Quinn has been in love with Staten for decades, and when she starts demanding actual affection during these visits, Staten realizes that Quinn might want more than just being Alone Together.
My problem with this story, and the book as a whole, is that there is SO MUCH going on. Quinn starts the book dealing with grief, guilt and a past trauma. Throw in a
That’s a lot of STUFF. Grief-stricken from the loss of his wife and son, and mostly abandoned by his politician father, Staten is emotionally closed-off. This whole book could have been just the two of them unpacking their feelings and figuring out how to move past their grief and be happy together. Instead, it felt a bit rushed. Staten makes a life-changing decision while driving his truck. There could have been so much more. And that’s the feeling I was left with when I finished the book. More, please. I want to see them work through it, day by day…
The cover copy talks about Lucas Reyes, but we mostly follow his crush, Lauren. Lucas and Lauren are in high school, and Lucas is ready graduate and go to college. He’s with Lauren and her friends one night when they all decide to explore an abandoned house. Things go awry, and an already mature-for-her-age Lauren gets a dose of real heroism and hypocrisy. The romance between these two is slow and chaste. I really liked Lauren. She doesn’t mind that her lawman father views all boys with suspicion, as she has no interest in them until Lucas. This conversation with her friend Reid sounded like actual teenagers:
“You know, some guys don’t want to date the sheriff’s daughter, and I hate to point it out, babe, but if you don’t fill out some, it’s going to be bad news in college.” He had the nerve to point at her chest.
“I know.” She managed to pull off a sad look. “Having my father is a cross I have to bear. Half the guys in town are afraid of him. Like he might arrest them for talking to me. Which he might.” She had no intention of discussing her lack of curves with Reid.
Lauren loves her over-protective father, and it looks like he is a main character in the next book. I really liked Lauren, and am hoping that a later book in the series focuses on her and Lucas.
My favorite storyline, though, is Yancy Grey’s. Yancy gets off the bus in Crossroads, an ex-con trying to start over. He falls into a job as a handyman at a retirement compound. Yancy is young, and has mostly spent life stealing or sitting in jail. He’s determined to go legit, even though he can’t help but case every place he walks into.
Everything that Yancy does is deliberate, as he tries to figure out what a non-criminal would do. Ordering lunch at the diner, and being friendly with the waitress, is an exercise for Yancy in How to Be Normal:
If he sat at the end, Yancy could talk to her when she wasn’t busy. In a way, he felt like a foreigner practicing English. She might not know it, but he was learning to speak.
Yancy develops a crush on the nurse that checks in with the senior citizens. It is sweet, and slow, and I could have read an entire book just about Yancy and how he finds his people.
Overall, I found the characters likable, sweet and mature. The plot was jam-packed, and it affected really getting to spend time with the well-developed characters.
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Thanks!
There is a prequel, Winter’s Camp, for $2.99, so I got them both. Thank you, Apple! *grin*
OK, I have to know: where does the concert pianist come in? Is he/she a cattle rustler? If you’re talking a murderous concert pianist/cattle rustler, I might have to read this.