****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
This is the 2nd in the 9 book series about Johnny McCabe & his family. Though it is a series, each book is a complete stand alone. However, reading all of the books enhances the experience of reading each book.Johnny McCabe is the father of 3 sons and a daughter so far. 2 sons, Josh and Jack, are legitimate as is his only daughter Bree. His other son, Dusty, was conceived during a drunken night with a saloon whore. He was completely unaware he'd fathered another son until 20 years later when Dusty just showed up at the ranch in Montana looking for the father he'd just discovered he had. Josh and Bree had lived almost their entire lives on the ranch, as did Jack until he left for medical school in Boston.The story begins as Jack is packing to go to the ranch for his annual summer visit to the ranch. What he hasn't told anyone because he's afraid of disappointing them is that he is not going to return to school or to Boston. He plans to just pretend he's home for just another visit, then when he leaves to return to school, he'll just keep going and find a new start for himself. Rather than take the stage for the last leg of his journey home, he ends up escorting a small train of 3 wagons of farm families to the area of his ranch and the fertile soil there. We have the Ford family, the Brewster family and the Harding family. Jessica Brewster, the daughter, is about Jack's age as is Nina Harding. Jessica Brewster, though she behaves like a very dangerous brat, is at least honest and fairly open about who she is and what she wants. Not so everyone else except maybe Carter Harding, Nina's father, who's name isn't really Carter Harding. He has no problem being quite open in his hostility, he's just a whole lot of double standard, in my opinion.At first, I didn't care very much for Jack. He's never even hinted to his family that all he ever wanted was to work the ranch beside his Pa, he let himself be railroaded into a medical career without a single word of complaint, yet as soon as Dusty shows up at the ranch and he learns not only of his existence in a letter from Aunt Ginny, he learns that Dusty is just like his Pa without even trying and suddenly he's upset because he was never given the opportunity to be who he always wanted to be. He's upset because they never understood him. He spends most of his time slinking around with his tail between his legs feeling sorry for himself. Once the family learns by accident that he's leaving but not going back to school, he becomes marshal of the little town near the ranch.And Nina? I can't stand that girl.It's a great book and Jack finds his missing balls in the end. But, i still don't like Nina!I highly recommend this series of books!
