A Stone Creek
Christmas by Linda Lael Miller
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| This month's category was We Love Short Shorts! |
Stone Creek
veterinarian Olivia O’Ballivan communicates easily with animals, but men are
another story. Especially rugged
architect-turned-rancher Tanner Quinn.
Olivia’s uncanny bond with his daughter Sophie’s pony, Butterpie, has
him questioning her sanity, while she wonders if he’s not just a drugstore
cowboy. Then twelve-year-old Sophie
conspires with Olivia to get Tanner into the spirit of Christmas with all the
trimmings, including a tree-lighting ceremony and a man named Kris Kringle in a
sleigh driven by seven reindeer…and a donkey.
But will a holiday miracle transform the globe-trotting Tanner into a
rancher—and family man—for all seasons?
My biggest thought when I finished this book was that while
I enjoyed both of the main protagonists, I did not at all believe in their
HEA. Olivia is a vet in the small town
of Stone Creek and has an older brother, famous country singer Brad O’Ballivan
and younger twin sisters, one a lawyer and one a bed and breakfast owner. She is close with all of them and they all
interfere and help out in each other’s lives as a matter of course. Olivia is also able to communicate with
animals…as in speak telepathically with them.
This was a part of the story that I really enjoyed, mostly because of
Olivia’s dog, Ginger who was a hoot.
This ability is the device used to intro Olivia to Tanner when she goes
to introduce herself to him as he is her new neighbor. While there, she “meets” Butterpie, a sad
pony who misses her owner, Tanner’s daughter Sophie.
Tanner is in Stone Creek to build a new state-of-the-art
animal shelter and has left his daughter Sophie back east in a maximum security
boarding school. Tanner’s wife was
gunned down while he was working on a project in a country that wasn’t always
welcoming of westerners and he is fanatical about Sophie’s protection as a
result. Between being neighbors and
both being involved in the animal shelter enterprise, Olivia and Tanner are in
each other’s company quite often.
However, I never really bought into their relationship. It really seemed to me that there was an
attraction, they had sex and voila…insta-love.
Add in the other characters, a side story involving a Rudolph named
Rodney and a Kris Kringle who may or may not be that Kris Kringle and there is a lot going on that further
distracts the reader from Olivia, Tanner, and their relationship.
Reading Challenges
TBR Challenge 2015
2015 Alphabet Soup
Literary Pickers 2015
2015 Reading Roadtrip
2015 Contemporary Romance
2015 A to Z Authors
2015 Full House
2015 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
I purchased this book with my own funds
Too bad. I have kind of a thing for architect heroes so I perked up a bit when I saw that. But it sounds like all the extras would irritate me. Still, one more book off the pile, right?
ReplyDeleteHuh. This sounds cute, but maybe too cutesy and too full of sequel bait for me. Small town romances with adorable animals tend to be that way. :)
ReplyDeleteI have never been able to get into one of Ms Lael Miller's stories. Something about her voice--plus, most small town romances do seem to get shortchanged by the over abundance of sequel bait.
ReplyDelete