In exquisite Linda Windsor form,
ALONG CAME JONES is a just-one-more-page-can’t-put-it-down fun read.
Citified Diana Manetti is on the run. Her naiveté led her to a situation which now has
her fleeing a ruined life, a broken heart, and a stark realization that she truly is
alone. A run into a ditch to avoid a runaway sorrel horse brings her to ex-Marshal
Shepherd Jones. Diana has lost trust in anyone or anything, and can’t be sure if
Shepherd is a kind stranger, an axe murderer, or one of those who might be looking for
her. The rescue is just the beginning of their delightful encounters.
Diana was raised in a faith believing family, but her struggle for success in New York had
her stuff family values deep within her. As Diana strives to re-build her life, those
values surface in remembrances of her grandmother’s words of wisdom. Will she be able
to find the faith that had sustained her grandmother, or will the past be her demise?
Ex-Marshal Shepherd Jones, lost his job after a failed mission with the FBI. Although the
fault was not his, and his body will forever carry the scars, he has made peace with God
and now enjoys the solitude of his family’s ghost town and ranch. The tiny filly in
the fancy sports car wedged snugly in the ditch seems lost in more ways then one. He finds
himself drawn to her and her keen sense of humor. Little does he know she is the
anti-Martha Stewart and a exact recipe for disaster. When the challenges become too much,
Shep considers turning Diana out, but then he remembers how patiently God waited for him
to return and he offers the same to her.
While her car is repaired, Shep and Diana make the best of being together. In the
meantime, the mob (who accused her of embezzling money), and FBI agents, who attempt to
find her ex-love, (who actually DID embezzle the money), mix it up on the ranch in
sometimes humorous and sometimes scary situations.
Linda Windsor’s writing style is fresh and fun. You can’t help but love Diana
and Shep, who so clearly exhibit the adage - opposites attract. Put them together with a
small group of nosey but helpful town folk, and a realistic look at the struggle ordinary
folk have with faith, and you have ALONG CAME JONES.
I highly recommend ALONG CAME JONES. Whether you are engaged by plot or characters, you
won’t be disappointed because ALONG CAME JONES is a rare instance where both are
relevant, and real.
Reviewed for Road to Romance by Linda Mae Baldwin
August 23, 2003 |
