LONESTAR ANGEL

When Eden Larson's estranged husband, Clay, delivers the news that their lost baby girl who was kidnapped years earlier may have been found, the couple's love for each other is rekindled as they investigate.

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LibraryThing member love2readnovels

Eden and Clay Larson's lives were devastated when their baby Bianna was stolen. When trying to deliver the ransom money there was an accident that killed the kidnapper and Brianna. Clay and Eden blamed themselves and each other which resulted in Eden leaving and filing for divorce. Now five years

later Eden is trying to move on with her life. She's found faith in God and has been dating a very sweet fella named Kent who she thinks she's going to marry. That is until Clay shows up in the restaurant where she and Kent are having dinner and announces they are still married and that Brianna is still alive. Five girls are currently at Bluebird Ranch and to find out which of the girls is theirs they must hire on as counselors specifically a married couple. As they work together to find out which girl is theirs they slowly rediscover their love for each other. But they also stir up a beehive of trouble. Will things end before they even have a chance to begin?

WOW!!! This is Colleen Coble's best yet! A story I absolutely could not put down. From beginning to end I was glued to the pages 'til my eyes crossed and I had to get some sleep. I found myself hiding out just to be able to read a few more pages. I must say the chemistry ran strong between Eden and Clay, which I love! And one thing I appreciated very much was all the interaction between them. They didn't spend the whole book fighting like in some stories. I also enjoyed seeing the couples from the other Lonestar stories play a role in this tale as well. This was most certainly a story filled with mystery, suspense and action that kept me wondering until the end who was responsible. I like trying to figure it out! I think the message that it's our choice whether or not we trust God even when we don't understand things was well played out. That's a great message because there are lots of things that happen that we don't understand but God does. This could be read as a stand alone and you wouldn't feel lost but I think reading the other stories (Lonestar Sanctuary, Lonestar Secrets, Lonestar Homecoming) make for a much richer reading experience. If you've read the others (or even if you haven't) I highly recommend you pick up Lonestar Angel and stop by the Bluebird Ranch to meet Clay and Eden for yourself! Be prepare to stay awhile! A thank you goes to Thomas Nelson for this complimentary ARC for my review through Netgalley.
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (November 8, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1595542698
ISBN-13: 978-1595542694

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LibraryThing member gincam

"Lonestar Angel" is a terrific and touching romantic suspense story from one of my favorite authors, Colleen Coble. Young married couple Eden and Clay Larson are devastated when their baby is kidnapped and the ransom delivery gone wrong results in the loss of their child. When their daughter

Brianna is presumed dead, their marriage does not survive the tragedy, and Eden and Clay go their separate ways. Eden moves away and makes a new life, finding a renewed faith, and a new relationship. Clay continues his work as a photojournalist. Unbeknownst to Eden, Clay never signed their divorce papers, and he has never stopped looking for Brianna. He suddenly appears in Eden's life, informing her that not only are they still married, but he has information that Brianna is still alive. He convinces Eden to leave the new life she has created and come with him to find their daughter. Their search leads them to the Bluebird Ranch, a sanctuary for children and animals. Clay and Eden sign on as counselors in an effort to determine which one of the children is Brianna. Since the ranch is not far from Clay's home place, he has friends in the area, and he shows Eden his childhood home, which has been abandoned for years. Due to an inheritance from his grandmother, Clay has hopes of rebuilding the ranch and settling there for good. His heart's desire is to find his daughter and for Eden to rejoin him in their marriage. While Clay always thought that his work in the military was the reason for Brianna's kidnapping, fresh evidence surfaces that indicates that Eden's newly discovered family ties to a drug lord may have been involved. Eden's painful childhood with her critical and unreliable mother have left Eden with lingering doubts about her own character. Eden's father was married to someone else during his affair with her mother, and he was never a part of Eden's life. Her mother "entertained" men at their trailer park home, and eventually walked out and left eight year old Eden on her own. Brought up by strict foster parents, Eden feels she never comes up to par. The time that Clay and Eden have spent apart has been a time for them to reflect upon their early marriage, how each of them contributed to their split, and how their own childhoods shaped their characters. While they have grown as individuals, they have also grown in their faith. Being reunited, reliving their memories, and finding a new appreciation of each other rekindles their love. Can they be true to their own hearts, be strong in their faith, and bring home their precious daughter? Colleen Coble is a wonderful storyteller who creates compelling characters and involving story lines. This is the fourth book in the "Lonestar Series", and I look forward to reading the first three books in the series.

Review Copy Gratis Amazon Vine

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LibraryThing member bella55075

I won this book through Goodreads.com giveaways. I was excited to reading this book after reading the summery on the giveaway page.

I understand that the main point of the book was about a husband and wife that had their baby kidnapped. Unfortunately I was so turned off by the negative narrative of

the Mexican characters that it took away from the story line. I understand that the Colombian drug cartel characters need to wrote in a negative form, but the character of the assistant? All of the references to illegals? It just seemed to me to be a way for the author to make her personal feelings known. I could not find one reference to a Spanish person in a positive way. There is no way that I could recommend this book to my in-laws, they would be so offended.

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LibraryThing member judyg54

I read on the cover of this book that Colleen Coble is a "master storyteller" and I would wholeheartedly agree. This story grabbed my attention from the very first scene in the book, where Eden is approached by what she thought was her divorced husband of 5 years, Clay, at a restaurant, where she

is in the middle of a proposal of marraige by her new boyfriend. She suddenly disovers 1) that her divorse was never finalized and 2) the child they had that had been kidnapped and killed over 5 years ago is really alive!. Quite a way to start a book, and let me tell you, it doesn't slow down much after that.
Eden and Clay set out for Buelbird, Texas to work at a youth ranch and try to figure out which little girl is theirs at the ranch and who has contacted them about their girl being at this ranch.

There are very few books that I have read that I have not been able to figure out the ending fairly quickly, but in this story I was never totally sure of who the "bad guys" were in this story until the very end. There was alot of mystery, intrigue, suspense, and danger in this story. But there was also alot of learning to love and trust going on between Eden and Clay. Eden had to learn that life is hard for everyone and everyone has different challenges. She needed to let those hardships strengthen her faith and to rely on God's grace through her trials. As one of the characters in this story so adequately stated, "We can choose to trust and let His love shine out of us, or we can let bitterness and disappointment steal our joy. It's your choice." Eden had a hard time with the trust issue, something we at one time or another all deal with, which makes her someone we can all relate to.

You will learn to love all the little girls at this ranch and love the way Clay and Eden responded to them all, and the way they learn to respond to each other. I really had a good time reading this story and had a hard time putting it down until I was finished. I want to thank BookSneeze for sending me this Thomas Nelson book to review. This story, as well as the 3 other Lonestar stories in this series, will be well worth the time you take to read them.

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LibraryThing member jnut1

Eden is about to be proposed to when what she thinks is her ex husband arrives and tells her a) they are still married, b) their daughter that they thought had died is still alive.
Eden and Clay leave her life behind and head to where they believe their daughter is. They get hired at a camp for

foster children taking care of the age group of their daughter. They take DNA samples of all of the girls in hope of finding out which one is theirs.
As you can tell just from that - there are a lot of things that do not hold true in the real world but we read books to get lost in the unreal world.
I enjoyed this book, I tried not to think too much about what was 'way out there' and just enjoyed the read, enjoyed the little Christian push, the romance, the mystery.

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LibraryThing member Robin661

Lonestar Angel
Published by Thomas Nelson

I enjoyed this story greatly. It was suspenseful throughout and kept me guessing for 2/3rds of the story. It was a good blend of who was their child and who sent them there. I also enjoy series where you can see previous characters in supporting roles. It

helps me determine whether their story is one that I would enjoy reading. I find Colleen Coble's style of writing to be varied, her ideas are to be realistic and make for exciting reads. Whether modern or historic her mysteries are ones that I wish to both rush through and hate to see end. It is always a treasure to see how people cling to the Lord during the hard times and this book is no exception to placing God as the one who leads. Ms. Coble's characters are always believable and promote the best in christian community. I would recommend this book to people and any other book written by Colleen Coble.

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LibraryThing member TheYodamom

It all started with one lost woman, a desperate father, and an abducted child.
The most terrible thing that can happen to parents happened to this couple. Their child is kidnaped and thought dead. Their new marriage doesn't hold up to the challenge and she runs and files for divorce. Five years

later, she is about to start her life over when the unthinkable happens. There is a photo of their daughter and they must work together to try to get her back. That is not the only blow, her ex-husband is not her ex but they are still married, he never signed the papers. This is a hard relationship, there are a lot of past hurts and a lot of misunderstandings and lack of communication. Working together will make them or break them. There is much to discover, many truths that need come out.
A sweet predictable story if love and forgiveness and some light bible moments. One big HEA ending. This is a Christian author, and she keeps it fairly light.

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