Official Review: Ransom Canyon by Jodi Thomas

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Rancher Staten Kirkland, the last descendent of Ransom Canyon's founding father, is rugged and practical to the last. No one knows that when his troubling memories threaten to overwhelm him, he runs to lovely, reclusive Quinn O'Grady… or that she has her own secret that no one living knows.

Young Lucas Reyes has his eye on the prize—college, and the chance to become something more than a ranch hand's son. But one night, one wrong decision, will set his life on a course even he hadn't imagined.

Yancy Grey is running hard from his troubled past. He doesn't plan to stick around Ransom Canyon, just long enough to learn the town's weaknesses and how to use them for personal gain. Only Yancy, a common criminal since he was old enough to reach a car's pedals, isn't prepared for what he encounters.

In this dramatic new series, the lives, loves and ambitions of four families will converge, set against a landscape that can be as unforgiving as it is beautiful, where passion, property and pride are worth fighting—and even dying—for.

I was hesitant with the cover and title of this book expecting an extremely southern story, but this book was a treasure to read. The author didn’t depend on the country setting but let it complement her characters. The book was not written as a western, although it had touches of horse riding and farming mentioned which was a pleasant surprise. This story stood out because I loved how modern it was as well as all that is described below. It didn’t go overboard building sympathy on a teenager’s poverty background, but it showed the optimistic side that he had a plan and was going to college through his own hard work. The stories held wonder and hope but were realistic and relatable, which I loved.

I loved the intermingling of stories into one great, intriguing plot line. The authors’ construction with balancing each individual’s story and keeping them all captivating was outstanding. I was impressed at how easy the stories blended together, which I know takes an extreme talent to not have one story that outshined the others as well as to not have too much going on that you couldn’t keep up with the different angles. It was beautifully written and read like a movie.

I enjoyed how much both the main and background characters developed and was surprised I wasn’t overwhelmed by that many characters. I think it had to do with how spread out the introductions were as you slowly made the connections on how the lives intermixed. Reflecting on the characters I liked that the stories held different generations. It held young, naïve love, young adult abandoned love, middle-aged damaged love, as well as some sparks in the background of flirting old timers. I would rate this four out of four stars.