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Rating: Summary: A winning romance Review: Fifteen years ago Jay Lawrence, then known as Jacob Steele, left his hometown of Riverbend, Indiana after being betrayed by his father, Abraham, the town patriarch. Legally changing his name, Jay vowed to never return, but his company ComputerConcepts desperately needs cash and Jay stands to inherit a fortune if he meets the stipulations in the will of the recently deceased Abraham. He also wants to insure his two spinster aunts do not lose their inheritance to a gold digging woman who used Abraham as her personal sugar daddy. If Jay fails to stay in town for two months or defaults on working in the bookstore, Kate McMann obtains the estate.Jay believes Kate is the worst kind of woman and plans too not only expose her, but also protect his aunts from her ruthlessness. However, when he meets her, to his chagrin, Jay finds himself attracted to the single mother of five-year old twins. As love blossoms between them, Jay betrays Kate, but will a matchmaker from the grave help them realize what really matters in life? The latest Riverbend Rats tale, A CHRISTMAS LEGACY, is a warm drama that centers on the long-term impact of a broken father-son relationship on other personal interactions. The story line is enjoyable though somewhat melodramatic as the lead protagonist struggles with the concepts of love and mistrust. The return of characters from previous novels is a Christmas present to series fans. Kathryn Shay keeps up the tradition of quality in one of the better long running romantic series on the market today. Harriet Klausner
Rating: Summary: The capstone--and standout--of Riverbend Series Review: I first bought this book strictly because Kathryn Shay was the author, having stumbled onto an aunt's copy of "Cop of the Year" and getting hooked on her work from there. She's absolutely outdone herself in this one. I bought it at Thanksgiving when it first came out, read it over Thanksgiving break, and then re-read it at bedtime the entire month of December. Riverbend was a place I didn't want to leave--and it wasn't just because of Jay and Kate, either. Kathryn did such a masterful job weaving the characters from the first four Riverbend books back into "Christmas Legacy," I felt just as at home with them as I did with the Steele family. So after Christmas, I came here to amazon.com and bought the first four books in the series, which I have reviewed also. (In case you missed them, they are: Birthright, That Summer Thing, Homecoming, and Last-Minute Marriage) Jay has been gone from Riverbend, Indiana for 15 years. He left abruptly following a bitter betrayal that he's never, ever talked about with anyone else. His departure broke his aunts' hearts--they'd help his dad raise him after his mom's death from breast cancer--and deep down, his own, too. As a younger man, he'd dreamed of marrying a Riverbend girl and having a whole houseful of children. But in his years away from home, he buried that dream and channeled his energies into becoming the perfect yuppie clear down to his Rolex watch. He's selfish, too. His only reason to come back to Riverbend now is that he's been left some lucrative property and a thriving bookstore, and to claim it, he has to move back there for two months and work in the bookstore with Kate McMann--who will get the inheritance if he doesn't fulfill the terms of the will. Jay has no idea why Kate stands to inherit--he figures she was just a smooth operator who was after Jay's dad's money. So he decides to keep his true identity a secret and spy on her. What he doesn't realize as he's doing it is that he's falling in love with her, and that her little girls have already found their way into his heart. That's not all he finds in Riverbend. Many of the old River Rats (his group of friends from high school) either stayed there or have also moved back, and he has some issues to work out with them, too. He also hurt them deeply when he left Riverbend without a backward look, and some of them are worried about what will happen to Kate if he sells the farmhouse and bookstore from underneath her. Jay has some tough decisions to make. Through all of this, he realizes that he doesn't want New York anymore, but instead a second chance at happiness in his hometown. He still wants to be the smalltown guy with a wife and kids--and there's only one woman he wants for the job. It's just a matter of whether or not he can find closure from the last fifteen years before it's too late. There are fun trips to Chicago, a wedding between two characters from one of the previous books, the birth of a baby to another couple, some down-home humor from Jay's aunts, great "love scenes" and a beautifully written epilogue that ties together the characters from the series--all of whom received special bequests from Abraham Steele, who is not a "living" character in these books, but whose presence is felt throughout the series, especially in this installment. The beauty of how Kathryn Shay writes is that she took someone as initially unsympathetic as Jay and got me to care deeply for him. In fact, I even like Mallory--Jay's New York girlfriend--and Nick and Paul, the two other guys who were interested in Kate. I wanted them to have happy endings, too. I can see it now. . .maybe the publishers could give us another installment where Mallory comes back to Riverbend and becomes half of a power couple with Nick or Paul:) But even if this really is the last we see of Riverbend, I hope Kathryn Shay keeps 'em coming. She's the best writer in the genre!
Rating: Summary: The capstone--and standout--of Riverbend Series Review: I first bought this book strictly because Kathryn Shay was the author, having stumbled onto an aunt's copy of "Cop of the Year" and getting hooked on her work from there. She's absolutely outdone herself in this one. I bought it at Thanksgiving when it first came out, read it over Thanksgiving break, and then re-read it at bedtime the entire month of December. Riverbend was a place I didn't want to leave--and it wasn't just because of Jay and Kate, either. Kathryn did such a masterful job weaving the characters from the first four Riverbend books back into "Christmas Legacy," I felt just as at home with them as I did with the Steele family. So after Christmas, I came here to amazon.com and bought the first four books in the series, which I have reviewed also. (In case you missed them, they are: Birthright, That Summer Thing, Homecoming, and Last-Minute Marriage) Jay has been gone from Riverbend, Indiana for 15 years. He left abruptly following a bitter betrayal that he's never, ever talked about with anyone else. His departure broke his aunts' hearts--they'd help his dad raise him after his mom's death from breast cancer--and deep down, his own, too. As a younger man, he'd dreamed of marrying a Riverbend girl and having a whole houseful of children. But in his years away from home, he buried that dream and channeled his energies into becoming the perfect yuppie clear down to his Rolex watch. He's selfish, too. His only reason to come back to Riverbend now is that he's been left some lucrative property and a thriving bookstore, and to claim it, he has to move back there for two months and work in the bookstore with Kate McMann--who will get the inheritance if he doesn't fulfill the terms of the will. Jay has no idea why Kate stands to inherit--he figures she was just a smooth operator who was after Jay's dad's money. So he decides to keep his true identity a secret and spy on her. What he doesn't realize as he's doing it is that he's falling in love with her, and that her little girls have already found their way into his heart. That's not all he finds in Riverbend. Many of the old River Rats (his group of friends from high school) either stayed there or have also moved back, and he has some issues to work out with them, too. He also hurt them deeply when he left Riverbend without a backward look, and some of them are worried about what will happen to Kate if he sells the farmhouse and bookstore from underneath her. Jay has some tough decisions to make. Through all of this, he realizes that he doesn't want New York anymore, but instead a second chance at happiness in his hometown. He still wants to be the smalltown guy with a wife and kids--and there's only one woman he wants for the job. It's just a matter of whether or not he can find closure from the last fifteen years before it's too late. There are fun trips to Chicago, a wedding between two characters from one of the previous books, the birth of a baby to another couple, some down-home humor from Jay's aunts, great "love scenes" and a beautifully written epilogue that ties together the characters from the series--all of whom received special bequests from Abraham Steele, who is not a "living" character in these books, but whose presence is felt throughout the series, especially in this installment. The beauty of how Kathryn Shay writes is that she took someone as initially unsympathetic as Jay and got me to care deeply for him. In fact, I even like Mallory--Jay's New York girlfriend--and Nick and Paul, the two other guys who were interested in Kate. I wanted them to have happy endings, too. I can see it now. . .maybe the publishers could give us another installment where Mallory comes back to Riverbend and becomes half of a power couple with Nick or Paul:) But even if this really is the last we see of Riverbend, I hope Kathryn Shay keeps 'em coming. She's the best writer in the genre!
Rating: Summary: The capstone--and standout--of Riverbend Series Review: I first bought this book strictly because Kathryn Shay was the author, having stumbled onto an aunt's copy of "Cop of the Year" and getting hooked on her work from there. She's absolutely outdone herself in this one. I bought it at Thanksgiving when it first came out, read it over Thanksgiving break, and then re-read it at bedtime the entire month of December. Riverbend was a place I didn't want to leave--and it wasn't just because of Jay and Kate, either. Kathryn did such a masterful job weaving the characters from the first four Riverbend books back into "Christmas Legacy," I felt just as at home with them as I did with the Steele family. So after Christmas, I came here to amazon.com and bought the first four books in the series, which I have reviewed also. (In case you missed them, they are: Birthright, That Summer Thing, Homecoming, and Last-Minute Marriage) Jay has been gone from Riverbend, Indiana for 15 years. He left abruptly following a bitter betrayal that he's never, ever talked about with anyone else. His departure broke his aunts' hearts--they'd help his dad raise him after his mom's death from breast cancer--and deep down, his own, too. As a younger man, he'd dreamed of marrying a Riverbend girl and having a whole houseful of children. But in his years away from home, he buried that dream and channeled his energies into becoming the perfect yuppie clear down to his Rolex watch. He's selfish, too. His only reason to come back to Riverbend now is that he's been left some lucrative property and a thriving bookstore, and to claim it, he has to move back there for two months and work in the bookstore with Kate McMann--who will get the inheritance if he doesn't fulfill the terms of the will. Jay has no idea why Kate stands to inherit--he figures she was just a smooth operator who was after Jay's dad's money. So he decides to keep his true identity a secret and spy on her. What he doesn't realize as he's doing it is that he's falling in love with her, and that her little girls have already found their way into his heart. That's not all he finds in Riverbend. Many of the old River Rats (his group of friends from high school) either stayed there or have also moved back, and he has some issues to work out with them, too. He also hurt them deeply when he left Riverbend without a backward look, and some of them are worried about what will happen to Kate if he sells the farmhouse and bookstore from underneath her. Jay has some tough decisions to make. Through all of this, he realizes that he doesn't want New York anymore, but instead a second chance at happiness in his hometown. He still wants to be the smalltown guy with a wife and kids--and there's only one woman he wants for the job. It's just a matter of whether or not he can find closure from the last fifteen years before it's too late. There are fun trips to Chicago, a wedding between two characters from one of the previous books, the birth of a baby to another couple, some down-home humor from Jay's aunts, great "love scenes" and a beautifully written epilogue that ties together the characters from the series--all of whom received special bequests from Abraham Steele, who is not a "living" character in these books, but whose presence is felt throughout the series, especially in this installment. The beauty of how Kathryn Shay writes is that she took someone as initially unsympathetic as Jay and got me to care deeply for him. In fact, I even like Mallory--Jay's New York girlfriend--and Nick and Paul, the two other guys who were interested in Kate. I wanted them to have happy endings, too. I can see it now. . .maybe the publishers could give us another installment where Mallory comes back to Riverbend and becomes half of a power couple with Nick or Paul:) But even if this really is the last we see of Riverbend, I hope Kathryn Shay keeps 'em coming. She's the best writer in the genre!
Rating: Summary: The prodigal son returns Review: When Jacob Steele returned home after fifteen years, it wasn't to reconnect with the town that loved him. Instead, his motivation was purely financial. He needed capital and he wasn't above claiming the inheritance bequeathed to him by the father whom he felt betrayed him. Unfortunately for the man who now calls himself Jay Lawrence, the inheritance comes with conditions. These conditions will keep Jay in Riverbend for a month working in the family bookstore. If he decides not to fulfill the terms, the bookstore and the farmhouse he used to cherish, go to the manager, Kate McMann. Jay isn't about to let a woman, whose ambiguous relationship with his father is questionable, get her hands on his inheritance. He sets out to confront her never knowing that she and her twin daughters would change his plans, not to mention his life, forever. Kathryn Shay's installment of the Riverbend mini-series is clearly a conclusion to this diverse cast of characters. She ties up all the loose ends with a strong narrative and wonderful character development on the part of Jay Lawrence. Our hero is clearly a man tormented by his falling out with his father, whom he used to adore. Although he tries to hide his heart from Kate, he finds it impossible to keep from connecting with her and her dreams all the while knowing that he will destroy them. In addition, Shay implements fragments from Jacob's past during his stay at the old farmhouse with the McManns, which stir up wonderful memories of a town he had come to hate. Though Kate is a solid and admirable character, it is truly Jay who makes this book stand out as he finds himself drawn to reconnect with Riverbend family and friends, to doubt his own heartlessness as he connects to Kate and her girls, and to finally come to terms with the imperfections of Abraham Steele.
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