>
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
MARY CONNEALY is an award-winning author and playwright, married to Ivan a farmer, and the mother of four beautiful daughters, Joslyn, Wendy, Shelly and Katy. They live in Decatur, Nebraska. Mary is a GED Instructor by day and an author by night. And there is always a cape involved in her transformation.
Mary has also written Petticoat Ranch, Golden Days, and her latest, Alaska Brides that will debut in August.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Let yourself be swept away by this fast-paced romance, featuring Grace Calhoun, an instructor of reading, writing, and arithmetic, who, in an attempt to escape the clutchs of a relentless pursuer, runs smack dab into even more trouble with the 6R’s – widower Daniel Reeves, along with his five rowdy sons. When a marriage is forced upon this hapless pair – two people who couldn’t dislike each other more – an avalanche isn’t the only potential danger lurking amid the shadows of Calico Canyon. Will they make it out alive? Or end up killing each other in the process?
Running from her Abusive foster-father, a man intent on revenge, the prim and perfectly proper Grace Calhoun takes on the job of schoolmarm in Mosqueros, Texas.
As if being a wanted woman isn’t bad enough, Grace has her hands full with the five rowdy and rambunctious Reeves boys─tough Texan tormenters who seem intent on making her life miserable. When, in an attempt to escape from the clutches of her pursuer, Grace is forced to marry widower Daniel Reeves, father of the miniature monsters, she thinks things couldn’t get any worse. Or could they?
Daniel Reeves, happy in his all-male world, is doing the best he can, raising his five boys─rascals, each and every one. Since his wife’s death in childbirth, Daniel has been determined never to risk marriage again.
When God throws Grace and Daniel together─two people who couldn’t detest each other more─the trouble is only beginning.
Will this hapless pair find the courage to face life together in the isolated Calico Canyon? Or are their differences too broad a chasm to bridge?
If you would like to read the first chapter go HERE
MY REVIEW:
Funny. Tender. Winsome.
These are but a few of the adjectives that fit this fast-moving novel. Calico Canyon takes place in the dead of winter in Mosquero, Texas. Being stuck on a ranch with no way out in a blizzard and confined to a one room cave/home provides a setting with plenty of room for conflict. Daniel Reeves’ wild bunch—five onery boys—create havoc wherever they go. It starts with their teacher, Grace Calhoun, the last woman on earth Daniel expects to find stowed away in his wagon, and continues when Grace becomes their new mother.
A confession from me. I’m not usually drawn to romance or historical novels, but this one kept me turning the pages to see how the author would build the relationship between Grace and Daniel. Seeing what mischief the boys got into provided comic relief when the home fires heated up with sharp words or worse, bouts of silence.
Several subplots added a layer of mystery and pulled at my heart strings. Overall, the story was well crafted and a joy to read. Kudos to Mary Connealy for weaving humor, romance, and pathos into a great story.