Sam O'Ballivan is in town on a school teachers assignment. Or at least that's what he wants everyone to believe. Sam's actually a lawman and he's there to stop a gang of bandits who have been causing mayhem and hijacking people. What he doesn't expect though is to get attached to the townspeople like he does. Especially Maddie who is infuriated with him from the start. The pretty mercantile keeper is very defensive of her younger brother and sees Sam as a rough teacher out to get him. But slowly she starts to see there's a little more to Sam then his gruff nature.
I liked Sam as a character, even if his feelings were a little flighty. He was there to do a job but still managed to provide a kind heart for everyone. Maddie wasn't too bad too. She was a go-getter and did well for her little brother and herself and that's admirable. I do have to say I feel sorry for poor Abigail. She didn't get a very fair deal in all this and seemed quite expendable. All the kid characters were great in this and had a lot of personality. They actually kind of made the book for me.
The plot line could jump all over the place at times. Sometimes we'd be in one storyline, jump to another part and it would take a second for my brain to catch up. I think too much happened with tiny plot off takes here and there when she could have just focused on a few areas. And honestly, it could get kind of graphic with the violence in this one which I wasn't used to from her. The sex scenes were a little more raunchy too. Those aren't necessarily bad things but she seemed to go more for the shock value than the good plotline in this book.
I certainly won't shy away from Miller in the future. I do like her stories, it just seems some are better than others.
The Man From Stone Creek
Copyright 2006
317 pages
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