strong entry in the long running feuding Grayhawk- Blackthorne dispute

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	• The Next Mrs. Blackthorne: A Bitter Creek Novel Joan Johnston Pocket, 2005 - 432 pages average customer review:based on 5 reviews view larger image
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strong entry in the long running feuding Grayhawk- Blackthorne dispute

Nineteen years old Kate Grayhawk thought that her rescue from a kidnapping would be the catalyst to bring her biological parents together, but one year since her harrowing experience, Libby Grayhawk and Clay Blackthorne remain apart. Though she knows the families feud, she still has hopes until her prayers seem to be forever unanswered when her father announces his engagement to Jocelyn Montrose.

With the gene pool she carries Kate is not a quitter so continues her efforts to bring her parents together. Surprisingly and serendipitously her Uncle North Grayhawk assists her by buying shares of stock in the Blackthorne Bitter Creek Cattle Company. Meanwhile Jocelyn who always wanted Clay even when he was married to her late sister meets North and is stunned as he sets her heart ablaze like no one else including her fiancé has ever done before. Feeling a need to make things right for Clay and his family she offers herself to North in exchange for the stock not realizing the inferno she and Kate, acting separately, set between the two of them and the fighting families.

This is a strong entry in the long running feuding Grayhawk- Blackthorne dispute. Fans will appreciate the internal battles of the obstinate cast as no one wants to take the first step for fear of rejection by the significant other they love and the consequent scorn by their family. Though Police Officer Jack hits it on the head that Kate is too spoiled and has pitied herself over the years due to the lack of a two parent home, readers will enjoy the latest in Joan Johnston's long running saga.

Harriet Klausner

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6th In The BitterCreek Series...A Blackthorne/Grayhawk Story

"The Next Mrs. Blackthorne" by Joan Johnston" is 6th in the Bitter creek series. It follows:The Cowboy - The Texan - The Loner - The Price - and The Rivals. This series is modern day romance/western adventures that revolve around feuding families.The Blackthornes, The Creeds(descendants of the "Sisters of the Lone Star" Trilogy) and most recently The Grayhawks, who in this series were introduced in "The Rivals". The Blackthornes and Creeds had pretty much laid their feud to rest, but the Blackthornes and Grayhawks have another long standing hatred for each other, which escalated 20 years earlier by the affair of son Clay Blacthorne and daughter Libby Grayhawk, which produced grandaughter Kate, who being a Blackthorne-Grayhawk is caught in the middle.

So in the last book "The Rivals", teenaged Kate had been kidnapped and Libby and Clay had to work together to save their daughter. You knew that sparks still flew between them and hoped someday they would put aside their differences and marry and bring together these two feuding families. But alas, Clay is engaged to another and neither admit their true feelings. Now in "The Next Mrs. Blackthorne", Kate is once again in serious trouble as a result of trying to trick her parents into reuniting.She announces her engagement to an older mysterious fellow who's reputation is not exactly pristine, in hopes her parents will unite in order to stop the relationship. Clay now a federal Judge, is trying a high-profile case of a "bomber" and Kate has also befriended the son of the defendant. Now she has turned up missing and the hunt for Kate, her kidnapper and a bomb makes for an exciting and suspenseful adventure.

I enjoyed the mystery/adventure aspect of the story and found that quite intriguing,and also following the family saga, but the rest didn't seem up to par with the earlier romance stories. Libby who we want all the time to be The Next Mrs. Blackthorne,and make some of those sparks fly with Clay, doesn't even enter the picture until chapter 6 about 125 pages in. Clay's fiance, Jocelyn and Libby's brother North, are the focus at first, and although their story eventually becomes pretty hot(romantically speaking), it begins with an unrealistic ploy by Jocelyn as she offers her body to North, in exchange for some property the Blackthornes do not want to lose to him.Also, Kate, now a college student seems as mischievous and naive as a grade school girl, especially taking into consideration the life-threatening situation she had already had in the last story.

This is also the one book in this series, that I would say does not stand on it's own. You really need to read, at least "The Rivals" to get a full understanding of the characters. If you have already been following this series, you probably want to read it for the adventure and to catch up with the families. At the end of the book, Ms Johnston lets you know that the next story will continue to tell Kate's story(but doesn't give the title, so I am not sure if it is even out yet). I am hoping the "older/mysterious" guy(Jack) she pretended to love, will be back in the next story. He was the most interesting character in the story.

All in all, a good story to take you away for a while, just not quite up their with some of the others in the series. Enjoy the read....Laurie

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satisfying

This was an easy to read romance that was very predictable, but it was still satisfying. The characters were interesting. The author writes with a style that is easy to read, as well as enjoyable

A Great Read

Joan Johnston has done it again - drawn us into the bitter feud between the Grayhawks and Blackthornes and wrapped us in the not-to-be-denied emotional bond between Libby Grayhawk and Clay Blackthorne.

At eighteen, Kate Grayhawk is still waging a campaign to get her parents together and married. One big stumbling block - Jocelyn Montrose, sister to Clay's late wife and now his fiancee. When she appeals to her Uncle North Grayhawk for help, he takes a step that will have a far-reaching effect on everyone - especially him. A man whose view of women is colored by his father's multiple marriages and lost love, he has held himself apart from emotional entanglement. Until Joss, trying to help Clay, offers him a bargain that turns out to be almost more than he can handle.

Clay and Libby, meanwhile, are thrown together through the plottings of their daughter. History has made them both stubborn and wary of each other, but circumstances will teach them, too, the meaning of real love.

As Joan Johnston takes the reader through the emotional turmoil of these four people, as she skillfully involves us in their conflicts and battles, we see the depth of character in each of them that directs their course for the future. The decisions they will ultimately make will effect everyone, and have a major impact on the Grayhawk-Blackthorn feud.

Who will be the next Mrs. Blackthorne? You'll have to read the book and see, but it is a most staisfying read, and will leave you waiting at the bookstore for the next Bitter Creek novel.

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A lavish summer wedding is being planned at Bitter Creek ranch. In one month, Clay Blackthorne will wed socialite Jocelyn Montrose. But when she hears stirrings of a corporate takeover by the family's archrival, North Grayhawk, Jocelyn covertly heads to North's ranch to offer a valuable commodity -- herself -- if North will call off his plans. Striking a deal to spend the summer with the steely, seductive North, Jocelyn fails to see that her sacrifice to protect the man she loves may have dire consequences.

Stunned by his fiancee's rejection, Clay, a newly appointed federal judge, begins presiding over an incendiary terrorism trial, which brings him face to face with his first love, Libby Grayhawk. As tensions mount, forces beyond Clay's control threaten the women most precious to him in the past and the present. And only in a daring act of sacrifice will he know which woman will become the next Mrs. Blackthorne.

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recommendations

The Joan Johnston Romance/Adventure Novels
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The Loner
Some Bitter Taste (Marshal Guarnaccia Investigation)
A Stranger's Game (Bitter Creek Novels)
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