Arlene James

A friend sent me this book in a box of books. A different friend would probably say that this belongs in the subgenre of medical related romances since the plot revolves around nurse Kaylie Chatham assisting with the recovery of professional hockey player Steven "Hangman" Gallow.

The two main characters engaged me as did the three aunts in whose home Steve is recovering. I appreciated the thoughts about God's calling to remain single, however topical they might have been in this novel. show more Steve's agent seems a somewhat stereotypical portrayal of an agent, though he does seem to really care about Steve. Kaylie's father seems rather inflexible and unreasonable in his expectations of Kaylie.

For me, it took a while to realize Nick was Steve's cousin (not his brother), and though I remembered Kaylie's rodeo brother, I forgot she had 2 more brothers until the end of the book. I'm sure Kaylie's father thought her brothers would be on his side, though I found it hard to decide whether all were on her side or only some.

As for the romance--well, fiction, where you can make characters do what you want, is different than real life where people do not always. First off Kaylie's (a Christian) is falling in love with a man who has claimed to not be a Christian. Most Christian faiths teach on the unequally yoked idea where if you're a Christian, you shouldn't marry a non-Christian--with the thought apparently being that it is easier for the non-Christian to pull the Christian away than it is for the Christian to direct the non-Christian to Christ (especially when the believer is a woman who is supposed to obey her husband). So, while in this novel, Steve becomes a Christian prior to them dating etc. (partly because he's laid up for most of the book so dating as we usually think of it isn't much of an option), that may not always be the case in real life. Secondly, their romance happens in the space of a few months at most (at the beginning of the book, Steve has just been released to recover outside the hospital, and by the end, he's still on crutches and in a leg cast--also, the span of slightly more than a 7 game series of playoff games.) In reality, I'm not sure this is realistic. He's in pain and under the influence of medications and pretty much helpless during most of his time with Kaylie. Will their feelings remain the same as that situation changes? Again, fiction is one thing, reality is another. But in real life, I'm not sure that's enough time to really know you want to commit your life to being with this person. I'm not saying it can't happen, just that in reality it might not work out in the way romance books paint it. show less

This book contains two unrelated stories (both are set at Christmas and a ranch favors prominently in each story). If I could rate the two stories individually, I would rate Arlene James' story a 4 and Lois Richer's a 3.

I really enjoyed Arlene James' "The Rancher's Christmas Baby". Rancher Dixon Lyons returns home one night to find his estranged mother has returned, bringing with her a baby and a Lenape woman. Dixon wrestles with his past feelings and beliefs and comes to have a show more relationship with his mother--and surprisingly, his father (and the family he now has) also accept her into their fold. (Too often these stories make the exes a point of contention in the plot.) I feel that Dixon changed and learned life lessons. I do feel the romance part of the story came on rather quickly to know if it truly was a life-long love had this happened in real life. Of course, in fiction, it's the author who decides if the characters stay together or break apart.

In contrast, Lois Richer's "Christmas Eve Cowboy" seemed to start off too slowly and I never seemed to care for her characters as much as I did for James'. I can understand another reviewer's point that too much time was spent on Elizabeth dwelling on her ex-husband's trashing of her self-esteem. Perhaps that wasn't the best choice for a short piece of fiction. In real life, that kind of tearing down probably takes years to repair--probably needing more than a friendly small town and one man who's learning to love you and a few short months to accomplish. I did like that Brett was so encouraging in pushing Elizabeth to do things she liked to do but had given up because of he ex's criticism.

I wish more page time had been given to how Brett resolved his conflicts of wanting to be a veterinarian/not wanting his father to give up the ranch that was his dream/wanting to take care of his father/not wanting to leave Elizabeth instead of just a quick sum up that tells us he's figured out a way to do a distance learning program (not quite sure how you do that for something as competitive as veterinary school, but--as I said above, it's fiction and the author can mold events to her/his liking.) show less

This book is a compilation of two stories by two different authors but each wrote about one of the brothers in the Ender family.

Marcus Ender goes on a trip to Colorado to transport two horses for his grandmother and ends up finding his high school sweetheart who has fallen on hard times.

Matthew's been away on the rodeo circuit, but now, hurt, he returns to his grandmother's.

Of course, both brothers find love. I'd find Marcus's story easier to believe--at least he and Sarah knew each other show more in high school and dated in high school, so they have a history. Sheryl has known Neely longer than Matthew has, and I doubt Sheryl would have let her stay if Neely wasn't up to par, but still. . . I have trouble with Matthew proposing to her as quickly as he did. show less

I was all set to give this book a one star. I felt the author concentrated too much on details and there wasn't enough dialogue. I still think so, but she certainly made up for it in the final chapter!!! I was laughing and crying as I read the climax of this wonderful book!!!

I too am currently praying that God will send that special someone into my life. I feel the older I get, the less of a chance I have but I keep holding on, having faith in God's timing and God's decision.

This book was show more wonderful. My heart ached for Layne and the pain she went through when Rod broke up with her for a pretty stupid reason. I still don't know that Rod deserved her after hurting her like he did, but for some reason she loved him enough to not give up on him. I think Rod was a sweetheart, and I'm glad the two got together in the end, but oh how I felt like punching him! I kept thinking he deserved a good punch in the nose a few times, but Layne kept egging him on. She didn't know when to leave it alone.

Their final fight in chapter ten was the BEST one ever. I could just see them standing in her living room yelling at each other. At times the things that left their lips was just pure craziness, but we don't think straight when we are fighting, now do we? I LOVED the scene where they argue about their breaking up or not..."Were we going together?" It was a hoot! And I loved the comment about the wedding...something about "I don't want to wait until after the wedding, but I will because I love you." But she never really heard what he said because her mind stopped at the word "wedding."

I could go on all night about this last chapter. It was so wonderful. That chapter alone deserves five stars!!! This was a good read.

This book was written outside the Christian Genre and later turned into a Christian book. Keep that in mind! show less