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Title: Ranch Dressing
ISBN: 082178014X
Author:
Janet Dailey
Publicate Date: 2006-07-01
Publish: 2006-07-01
List Price: $4.99
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $0.99
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $0.01
Amazon Merchant Price: $4.99
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Five stars for the old books
These are revised and recycled books from the halcyon days of light romance, when Janet Dailey was queen.
After gothic paperback novels and nurse-loves-doctor books fell out of favor, the new genre of choice was the light romance. The formula always included a heroine who was young and virginal, and a hero who was rich and had a first name of one strong syllable, like Roarke, Clay, Bret, or Judd. There was plenty of sexual tension, but the sex itself usually happened after the closing chapter, and one had to use ones imagination, which worked well at the time. If you wanted steam, the historical novel was making its debut, with Rosemary Rogers at the head of the pack.
The story went at the time (1970s and early '80s) that Janet Dailey and her husband, Bill, had sold their construction company, bought a recreational vehicle and taken off to see the country. To pass the time, she read the new light romance paperbacks and developed a really bad opinion of the writing. She made the comment that she could write a better one, and her husband told her to prove it. After that, she whipped out some of the most popular, eagerly anticipated romance novels of the decade. She did it at a rate of about one every month or two, if you can believe that, and she used different states of the US in each one, eventually hoping to have one book showcasing each state. I don't know if she ended up with 50 books or not, before she took off on the Calder series and other projects, but I know I was usually waiting at the book store for them to unpack her latest.
I wouldn't mind seeing all of Ms. Dailey's books reprinted in their original form, but I think a partially updated version is neither here nor there, and loses too much in the "translation". You can throw in as many references to computers and cell phones and career women as you want but, despite Janet's considerable talent as a writer, the attitudes and action in her old books are fairly dated.
That's just my personal opinion. I thought these revamped books would be very puzzling to anyone under 40 or 50, but I see that some readers are finding the strong male character and the understated sex to be refreshing. Glad to hear it - maybe Janet will write some new books in her classic "old" style!
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2: 3 1/2 * -Pretty Good Cowboy Romance Short Stories
This book contains two novels: The Traveling Kind & Dakota Dreamer
The Traveling Kind:
Charely Collins needs a hired hand to help around her Idaho ranch since her brother was in an accident and broke his leg. Sexy and handsome drifter Shad Russell is just the man to get the job done. Shad's experienced on the ranch and with the ladies. Soon their both fighting temptation knowing that after the season, Shad's going back on the road, back to the life as a drifter. Charley is crushed when Shad leaves and decides -hell with him- to start dating her besotted neighbor Chuck. Engagement comes soon, after all, Chuck is everthing a girl wants, right? Will Shad ever come to his senses?
Dakota Dreamer:
Edie Gibbs just received the shock of her life. Still mourning her boring/staid husbands death, she expects to find herself in even deeper dept after the funeral. She's in for a surprise when its discovered that Edie is now a wealthy woman. Apparently, her dearly-departed has been keeping her in the dark. Now with all this money she and her stepson and daughter decide to buy a Dakota ranch -their long forgotten dream. Eight months later, everthing is set and they move into a delapitated ranch in hopes of bringing it back to its former glory. Only one problem, Will Maddock owner of the neighboring Diamond D ranch has other ideas. He wants the ranch and will do anything to get it. As far as he's concerned, greenies don't belong here. Its the war of the wills, Edie vs. Maddock, but something strange happens along the way -they fall in love.
I enjoyed both of these, pretty good light reads. The writng is not bad, flows well, but they lack love scenes which could have helped. There's no roller coaster of emotions or heavy ~sigh~ here. I would recommend that you get this one from the library. Not a shelf keeper. If you want some steamy contemporary romances, try the *bad boys* anthologies.
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