Setting: contemporary Montana and Texas
Sensuality: 7

Cat Calder is grief stricken when her young fiancé is killed in a car accident. Emotionally devastated and vulnerable, Cat's final evening in town--meant to be spent with close college friends--ends instead in the arms of a handsome, gray-eyed stranger. Nine months later, Cat gives birth to a healthy baby boy and raises him in the protective bosom of her powerful family; everything changes the day a lawman--with arresting gray eyes--arrives in Blue Moon, Montana. Logan Echohawk has never forgotten that night or the beautiful stranger, and it only takes one long look at the boy to know that the brief, passionate encounter had created a child.

While Cat struggles to come to grips with Logan's appearance, an enemy's long-smoldering thirst for revenge flares to life, threatening Logan, Cat, and their beloved son. Will Logan's training as a lawman be enough to save his family? And even if everyone survives, will Cat have the courage to chance her heart and love again?

The newest installment in Janet Dailey's much loved Calder family saga, Calder Pride possesses both complex characters and a compelling plot line--one infused with a suspense element that Dailey conveys as effortlessly as the essence of a Montana ranching community that will charm the reader throughout. Intelligent and strong, Cat is well balanced by Logan, who is her equal, whether they're riding horses, roping cattle, battling bad guys, or making love. Fans who fell in love with earlier Calder novels will be delighted with this latest chapter in the family chronicle. --Lois Faye Dyer


From Publishers Weekly
Fifteen years after Calder Born, Calder Bred, the last novel in her popular family saga, and two years after her well-publicized legal battle with Nora Roberts, who successfully sued her for plagiarism (Dailey's stressful domestic situation was generally accepted as the cause), Dailey has written a tale as clearly branded with her imprimatur as the herd on the Triple C Ranch is branded with the Calders' "C"s. Under the big sky of Blue Moon, Mont., Chase Calder still strides the land as a giant, despite the limp left by the plane crash that claimed his beloved wife, Maggie. His daughter, Cat, now a slender green-eyed brunette of 20, is his match in will if not in size. Thirsting for tough justice after her fianc?, Repp Taylor, is killed by a drunk driver, she helps ensure that culprit Rollie Anderson gets jail time, cold-shouldering his parents' plea for mercy and earning their vengeful hatred. Frankly lusting for a man to relieve her of the virginity Repp had insisted on honoring, she tumbles into bed with smoke-eyed treasury agent Logan Echohawk one torrid night in Fort Worth, Tex. Names aren't exchanged, but bodily fluids are. Cat becomes pregnant with a son she names Quint Benteen Calder and raises on her own in Calder country. Just before Quint's fifth birthday, Echohawk trades in his treasury job for the position of sheriff of Blue Moon, and the tease begins. Of course Logan wants Cat and she wants him. Of course he loves their son, and their son fairly worships him. And of course Cat stubbornly refuses to do what her body and spirit are urging her to do; her Calder pride is the deterrent. Meanwhile, Rollie Anderson is out of prison, and he and his brother plot revenge. By turns an old-fashioned western, complete with cattle rustling, and a thoroughly modern romance, this update on the Calder family shows Dailey gamely back on the horse and riding well. Simultaneous Harper audio, 9-city author tour. (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Kirkus Reviews
Dailey confirms her place as a top megaseller in her fifth roundup with the Calder family on the Triple C Ranch, home of the Calder Cattle Company, which she abandoned some 15 years ago (Calder Born, Calder Bred, etc.). Her sentence-stuffing, wordspinning excesses, though, are hardly an improvement over romance hackers of a century past (Logan picked up the receiver on the old rotary dial phone and depressed the cradles disconnect button, silencing the irritating beepi.e., Logan hung up the phone). Dailey asks a question early in the novel that readers will know the answer to long before heroine Cat Calder does. Cat is engaged to marry Repp before she finishes college, but Repp is killed instantly in a car accident with drunken Rollie, one of the story's heavies. The death leaves Cat with a gaping emptiness in her life she didnt think she could endure. But she does, vowing to avoid this pain forever and never to marry. So when sturdy, gray-eyed Logan Echohawk comes into her life for an overnighter, then departs, Cat chooses to raise their issue, gray-eyed Quint, on her own and as a Calder. Years pass, and when Logan returns as a sheriff, the melodrama deepens. Cat resists every feeling that might make her break her vow to long-lost Repp. Will she ever surrender again to Logan Echohawk and give Quint a father? Get serious. With 300 million copies of her books in print, would Dailey dare to create her first heartbroken reader? -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.



"Janet Dailey's name is synonymous with romance."



"Janet Dailey's name is synonymous with romance."


Book Description
The Long-Awaited Addition to the Beloved Calder Series from the Queen of the Western Romance!

Cat is a Calder, through and through: proud, headstrong, intelligent, and beautiful. When her fiance is accidentally killed, she vows never to love again. But one reckless night with a handsome, gray-eyed stranger changes everything, giving her a son with striking gray eyes.Deciding to raise the baby on the Triple C Ranch, Cat thinks she's finally got life under control--until the new sheriff, Logan Echohawk, arrives in town. He's a ruggedly handsome man with striking gray eyes...The harder Cat tries to ignore Logan the more she finds herself torn between her promise to her first love and powerful, unexpected feelings for her child's father. With the whole Calder clan standing firmly behind her, and her son's future in her hands, Cat must decide: Will she keep her heart safe or take a chance on a new, true love?


About the Author
Janet Dailey's first book -- a Harlequin romance -- was published in 1976. In the twenty years since, she has written 89 more novels and become the third largest selling female author in the world, with 300 million copies of her books sold in 19 languages in 98 countries. Her most recent bestsellers, Masquerade, Rivals, and Heiress, have all sold more than one million copies each. She is known for her strong, decisive characters, her extraordinary ability to re-create a time and place, and her unerring courage to confront important, controversial issues, like alcoholism and sexual abuse, in her stories.All of her novels are meticulously researched, an endeavor she shares with her husband, Bill Dailey. The couple met in 1963, when Janet worked as a secretary for the construction company Bill owned. The two travel extensively to scout story locations, and have visited all 50 states; these days, they are likely to fly, but miss the time when they drove cross country, a trailer attached to their car. Janet Dailey also reads voraciously about every aspect of any subject she writes about; as she remarks, "Accuracy is important in genre fiction; you have to get it right, zero in on the real details. That's the way to make writing come alive and not irritate the readers with carelessness."When they are not traveling, the couple spend time at their home on the shore of Lake Taneycomo in Branson, Missouri. It is the part of the country Dailey loves best, partly because, she says, "The people around me are more interested in their problems and their lives, and that sort of keeps me in touch with reality. They think it's nice that I write, but they really couldn't care less."Allison Janney has been featured on Broadway (Present Laughter), in films (Big Night and First Wives Club) and on television shows on all four networks.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Cat is a Calder through and through: proud, headstrong, intelligent, and extremely beautiful. When her fiancé is accidentally killed, she retreats to the family homestead to mourn, vowing never to give her heart to another man. But one reckless night with a handsome, gray-eyed stranger changes her life forever -- and gives her a son with striking gray eyes.

Cat decides to raise the child on her own, but the town treats her as an outcast when they learn she is an unwed mother. Cat is gossiped about meanly, and it takes all her pride to hold her head up and ignore what she knows is being said behind her back.

But Cat cannot ignore the new sheriff. It isn't his rugged good looks that cause her heart to skip a beat when he first arrives in town -- it's his striking gray eyes. It seems impossible, but the man she never thought she would see again is now a part of her life.

Cat finds herself torn between her promise to her first love and powerful, unexpected feelings for her child's father. Cat must decide: Will she take a chance on a new, true love?

SYNOPSIS

August 1999


Dailey's Pride

Romance author Janet Dailey is one of the most successful writers in the world. More than 300 million copies of her books have been sold worldwide. Dailey wrote her first novel, No Quarter Asked, in 1974, after her husband, Bill, challenged her to back up her claim that she could write a better romance novel than the ones she had read.

After four novels, Dailey ended one of her most successful series, about the Calder family of Montana, but fans wrote begging her to write a fifth book. After 15 years, she obliged them. "The Calders hold a special place in my heart. As soon as I picked up my pen...it was as if I had never left," she said.

The Calder family members -- who comprise an all-American clan of Irish, English, and American Indian ancestry -- are proud, headstrong, and intelligent. From their vast Montana ranch, the Triple C, they run the Calder Cattle Company.

Beautiful Cat Calder, female scion of the powerful clan, suffers a devastating blow when her fiancé is accidentally killed. She retreats to the Calder homestead to mourn and vows that she will never give her heart to another man. All that changes one night when she has a liaison with a gray-eyed stranger who subsequently disappears. Cat is pregnant with a baby boy she chooses to raise on her own, as a Calder.

In a twist of fate, a handsome new sheriff with striking gray eyes arrives in town. Torn between her promise to her first love and her powerful feelings for her child's father, Cat must decide whether to take on love.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Fifteen years after Calder Born, Calder Bred, the last novel in her popular family saga, and two years after her well-publicized legal battle with Nora Roberts, who successfully sued her for plagiarism (Dailey's stressful domestic situation was generally accepted as the cause), Dailey has written a tale as clearly branded with her imprimatur as the herd on the Triple C Ranch is branded with the Calders' "C"s. Under the big sky of Blue Moon, Mont., Chase Calder still strides the land as a giant, despite the limp left by the plane crash that claimed his beloved wife, Maggie. His daughter, Cat, now a slender green-eyed brunette of 20, is his match in will if not in size. Thirsting for tough justice after her fianc , Repp Taylor, is killed by a drunk driver, she helps ensure that culprit Rollie Anderson gets jail time, cold-shouldering his parents' plea for mercy and earning their vengeful hatred. Frankly lusting for a man to relieve her of the virginity Repp had insisted on honoring, she tumbles into bed with smoke-eyed treasury agent Logan Echohawk one torrid night in Fort Worth, Tex. Names aren't exchanged, but bodily fluids are. Cat becomes pregnant with a son she names Quint Benteen Calder and raises on her own in Calder country. Just before Quint's fifth birthday, Echohawk trades in his treasury job for the position of sheriff of Blue Moon, and the tease begins. Of course Logan wants Cat and she wants him. Of course he loves their son, and their son fairly worships him. And of course Cat stubbornly refuses to do what her body and spirit are urging her to do; her Calder pride is the deterrent. Meanwhile, Rollie Anderson is out of prison, and he and his brother plot revenge. By turns an old-fashioned western, complete with cattle rustling, and a thoroughly modern romance, this update on the Calder family shows Dailey gamely back on the horse and riding well. Simultaneous Harper audio, 9-city author tour. (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Cat Calder uses her Calder pride as a shield against the world. When she finds herself pregnant, that resolve straightens her spine and keeps her head high. But when the baby's father suddenly appears, that stiff family pride stands between Cat and her destiny. Judith Ivey is competent but unmemorable as the narrator. Although her characterizations improve over the six-hour reading time, she has a tendency to lapse into melodrama. Unfortunately, Ivey's narration doesn't compensate for the trite plots. The "Calder" series has enough fans to make this a necessary purchase, but Dailey is capable of better.--Jodi L. Israel, Jamaica Plain, MA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Dailey confirms her place as a top megaseller in her fifth roundup with the Calder family on the Triple C Ranch, home of the Calder Cattle Company, which she abandoned some 15 years ago (Calder Born, Calder Bred, etc.). Her sentence-stuffing, wordspinning excesses, though, are hardly an improvement over romance hackers of a century past ("Logan picked up the receiver on the old rotary dial phone and depressed the cradle's disconnect button, silencing the irritating beep"—i.e., Logan hung up the phone). Dailey asks a question early in the novel that readers will know the answer to long before heroine Cat Calder does. Cat is engaged to marry Repp before she finishes college, but Repp is killed instantly in a car accident with drunken Rollie, one of the story's heavies. The death leaves Cat "with a gaping emptiness in her life she didn't think she could endure." But she does, vowing to avoid this pain forever and never to marry. So when sturdy, gray-eyed Logan Echohawk comes into her life for an overnighter, then departs, Cat chooses to raise their issue, gray-eyed Quint, on her own and as a Calder. Years pass, and when Logan returns as a sheriff, the melodrama deepens. Cat resists every feeling that might make her break her vow to long-lost Repp. Will she ever surrender again to Logan Echohawk and give Quint a father? Get serious. With 300 million copies of her books in print, would Dailey dare to create her first heartbroken reader?