Title: A Lone Star Christmas
Author: William W. Johnstone
E-book: 401
Year: 2011
Publisher: Pinnacle
My rating is 5 out of 5 stars.
A Lone Star Christmas is the first of many Western Christmas stories that readers are sure to enjoy for years to come. When I first read the story some years back, I wasn’t familiar with the characters though I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Now, having once again sat down to reread the book, my appreciation for the tale has grown immensely!
The tale is wrought with epic battles against men who long to take what isn’t theirs no matter the cost. The novel brings together some of the best of Johnstone country fictional characters such as Smoke and Sally Jensen, Duff MacAllister, Falcon, and many others.
The pages weave the tale of a rancher named Big Jim who is going to raise a new breed of cattle in Texas. The drive will bring the new herd from the north thousands of miles to new and lush land. Along with that is the tale of a daughter who is invited to meet her birth mother and leaves home when her love for a cowboy appears spurned.
Get ready to ride the western frontier filled with all sorts of beauty though fraught with danger. Each day is an endless pursuit to survive and thrive. Romance is in the air and Christmas may bring both joy and sorrow to those in the western state of Texas!
Once you’ve read this book, look for the next book in the series titled, A Rocky Mountain Christmas. Each book in the Johnstone Christmas series can be read alone or read in order. The newest book coming out this year is titled, A Death Valley Christmas. I can’t wait to read it and other Johnstone adventures!
Visit the author’s website to view all the books just waiting to be enjoyed: https://williamjohnstonebooks.com
Note: The opinions shared in this review are solely my responsibility. ( )

ZERO stars

From the book jacket: It’s December 1890. A Texas rancher named Big Jim Conyers has a deal with Scottish-born, Wyoming cattleman named Duff MacCallister. Along with Smoke and Matt Jensen, the party bears down on Dodge, Kansas, to make a cattle drive back to Forth Worth. But before they can get out of Dodge, guns go off and a rich man’s son is killed. Soon the drive turns into a deadly pursuit, then a staggering series of clashes with trigger-happy rustlers. And the worst is yet to come – the party rides into a devastating blizzard, a storm so fierce that their very survival is at stake.

My Reactions
I was seduced by the title, but should have quit with the book jacket. The Texas rancher in the book is Big BEN (not Jim). And the city in Texas near his ranch is FORT Worth (not Forth). And the hyperbole of the jacket material is indicative of the quality of the writing inside.

It seems that the writers threw everything they’d ever come across in a Western into this book. A mysterious stranger who is stronger than an ox, a rancher’s daughter who instantly falls in love with the new man on the ranch, an immature rancher’s son who is too eager to go on an adventure and not very willing to do the hard work required, a pair of good guys with white hats and quick-as-lightning reflexes, a saloon gal with a heart of gold, a cheating card shark, and a criminal gang bent on getting revenge for having been previously thwarted. As if that isn’t enough to deal with, there are dust storms, blizzards, and fires.

It was a pretty fast read, and fit several challenges, but there’s really very little Christmas to this story. ( )

I ended up liking this very much! The writing isn't as sophisticated as I had expected, but it was alright. ( )

Just an okay story with to many subplots and historical inaccuracies that were to obvious to ignore. ( )

A Lone Star Christmas by William W and J.A. Johnstone
This book first appealed to me because of the cover. It has snow and horses, blizzard looking. After reading the back of the cover I was convinced I just had to read this book. I've read other series of books about cattle runs and thoroughly enjoyed them.

The lifestyle, the hardships and having to
survive by what you did mattered.

Book starts out with a female who is traveling back home after visiting relatives and there's a mystery as to her birth mother. She meets up with a man who sticks up for her when she arrives and he handles the problem men in his own way.

He's left his past in Boston but proves himself to her father who gives him a job on the ranch. They part ways, her to find her bio mom and him to learn about cowboying.

Things are going just too smoothly for the ranch and the cattle drive but it will be in December and a different type of cattle than what they are used to.

The cattle even appealed to me as my dad was in charge of an experimental cattle here in our hometown when he was young.

A lot of different things happen in a specific order that play havoc on everything to follow. Revenge for things done in the past: sometimes to friends, sometimes to family that trigger events.

The weather plays a major part in all that happens, it's just so unpredictable in the winter to begin with. The book talks of many different types of storms.

The generosity of people overwhelmed me and made this a true Christmas book to read. Love the scenery, people, story line, time frame and had a hard time putting it down at the end of my day.

I do rate this a 5 and wish the rating system was higher as my rating would then be higher as well. As this is
the first time reading the authors I will search out more of their works and read them as I know I will not be disappointed in the books. ( )