Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Zumaya Publications, LLC (2006), Paperback, 184 pages
Description
It seemed like a simple job--guide Josh and Sarah to Bow Ridge to live with their aunt until they reached their 18th birthday. It was what their aunt Rebecca wanted, and with their uncle Dan murdered in cold blood for no reason anyone can fathom, the best choice Calico Ramsey thought he could make.But someone wants them dead, which makes no sense to Calico. Neither do the feelings aroused by the nearness of the handsome young man from Chicago--feelings that seem to be returned, and nothing in his past has prepared him for either.
User reviews
LibraryThing member Zehavit_Lamasu
CALICO by Dorien Grey can't quite reach its full potential. It isn't a bad book, it just doesn't do the most out of a theme that can deliver quite a lot. It is a historical Western. I am a sucker for adventure and a good dose of gun slinging. But where THE GOD EATERS delivered with spicy
The story of CALICO who find himself escorting two beatiful twin brother and sister to their aunt and being pusued by mysterious gun slingers, fire starters and general unwashed scum is in itself a great, if not fantastically original premise. I don't mind familiar themes as long as they deliver a good story and few hours of shameless fun. Romance novels do that all the time, and although I am not that versed in the Western Genre - I understand it happens there quite frequently too.
Let me make it clear- The adventure itself IS fun. There are chases and stampedes and caravan trails, fires and gun shots and a plot that slowly comes to light. The main problem is the characters. When the characters are flat you would be hard pressed to flesh the plot around them. In fact I think it would be impossible. Good characters are like the skeleton of a story - without them the flesh just falls off into a suelchy mass... ok... bad metaphor... squelchy mass would be disgusting but at least interesting. This is not the case with Calico, which is a shame because the story IS pleasant enough.
Calico himself desplays one of the phenomenon I can't stand - The Token of Wierdness. This happens when an author can't make a character deep enough or complex enough in personality and dumps some form of odd physical feature or eccentric behaviour. I think the only person to ever get away with this and make it superb was Agatha Christy but just because she could do it doesn't mean anyone else can... infact I can't think of anyone else who does right now. In the case of CALICO the characteristic happen to be his odd coloured eyes... it just isn't enough.
The twins are very pretty , very loveable and that is just the problem. I don't like un-flawed characters. Full stop. Lovable characters send me to sleep. HELL - even the bible is crammed with absolute arse-holes - surely there is a lesson for us there XD Josh - the twin brother shows imediate romatic interest in Calico and you would think that with Calico's reluctance you would have some stolen moments of smut brought by the overly eager youth throwing himself on the older rancher because like any other 17 year old - he can't take NO for an answer especially since Calico confess that he believe they are destined for each other... but no luck... HE IS TOO GOOD AND SELF DICIPLINED - and that goes for the both of them.
There is a reek of marality there in the way Calico refuses to give in to passion until Josh hits 18. The way Josh desplay 21st century open mindedness of a 20 something adult who has finished grappling with their sexuality already and came up of the closet to the sounds of trampets and a shower of sequins. It just doesn't work. It can work. It just isn't convincing.
There are so many points this book miss oportunities. The sex is the least of them (there isn't any by the way only a couple of tepid kisses). Calico past as a boy on a caravan trail rescued by a rancher after natives slaughtered his family... not that I can feel any sympathy because I AM a politically correct bitch and take the side of the natives any time - but I would like to feel the child fear and loss. There doesn't seem to be any REASON to the mutual atraction of the two characters. It happens because the author tells us so and it is not enough. No one seem to have a past of any significance. actually no one has a personality of much description so it is hardly a surprise that it doesn't develope.
The story is short and it COULD have been longer. I hate fat novels where authors churn water for chapters on chapters on end but THIS novel needs padding and lots of it.
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installments of whorehouses and renegade priests, violence and great sex, CALICO just barely dips its little toe in the teppid water. It feel as if it is too scared of its own shadow.The story of CALICO who find himself escorting two beatiful twin brother and sister to their aunt and being pusued by mysterious gun slingers, fire starters and general unwashed scum is in itself a great, if not fantastically original premise. I don't mind familiar themes as long as they deliver a good story and few hours of shameless fun. Romance novels do that all the time, and although I am not that versed in the Western Genre - I understand it happens there quite frequently too.
Let me make it clear- The adventure itself IS fun. There are chases and stampedes and caravan trails, fires and gun shots and a plot that slowly comes to light. The main problem is the characters. When the characters are flat you would be hard pressed to flesh the plot around them. In fact I think it would be impossible. Good characters are like the skeleton of a story - without them the flesh just falls off into a suelchy mass... ok... bad metaphor... squelchy mass would be disgusting but at least interesting. This is not the case with Calico, which is a shame because the story IS pleasant enough.
Calico himself desplays one of the phenomenon I can't stand - The Token of Wierdness. This happens when an author can't make a character deep enough or complex enough in personality and dumps some form of odd physical feature or eccentric behaviour. I think the only person to ever get away with this and make it superb was Agatha Christy but just because she could do it doesn't mean anyone else can... infact I can't think of anyone else who does right now. In the case of CALICO the characteristic happen to be his odd coloured eyes... it just isn't enough.
The twins are very pretty , very loveable and that is just the problem. I don't like un-flawed characters. Full stop. Lovable characters send me to sleep. HELL - even the bible is crammed with absolute arse-holes - surely there is a lesson for us there XD Josh - the twin brother shows imediate romatic interest in Calico and you would think that with Calico's reluctance you would have some stolen moments of smut brought by the overly eager youth throwing himself on the older rancher because like any other 17 year old - he can't take NO for an answer especially since Calico confess that he believe they are destined for each other... but no luck... HE IS TOO GOOD AND SELF DICIPLINED - and that goes for the both of them.
There is a reek of marality there in the way Calico refuses to give in to passion until Josh hits 18. The way Josh desplay 21st century open mindedness of a 20 something adult who has finished grappling with their sexuality already and came up of the closet to the sounds of trampets and a shower of sequins. It just doesn't work. It can work. It just isn't convincing.
There are so many points this book miss oportunities. The sex is the least of them (there isn't any by the way only a couple of tepid kisses). Calico past as a boy on a caravan trail rescued by a rancher after natives slaughtered his family... not that I can feel any sympathy because I AM a politically correct bitch and take the side of the natives any time - but I would like to feel the child fear and loss. There doesn't seem to be any REASON to the mutual atraction of the two characters. It happens because the author tells us so and it is not enough. No one seem to have a past of any significance. actually no one has a personality of much description so it is hardly a surprise that it doesn't develope.
The story is short and it COULD have been longer. I hate fat novels where authors churn water for chapters on chapters on end but THIS novel needs padding and lots of it.
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Subjects
Language
Original publication date
2004
Physical description
184 p.; 5.91 x 0.43 inches
ISBN
193413533X / 9781934135334