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Searching For Santa
Determined to make this Christmas merry and bright, Casey Gilmore will stop at nothing to make Flint McAllister, the man her father hired to manage the family ranch after an injury, leave by proving that anything he can do, she can do better. Original.
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
2 people are currently reading
153 people want to read
About the author
Janet Dailey
396 books1,848 followersJanet Anne Haradon Dailey was an American author of numerous romance novels as Janet Dailey (her married name). Her novels have been translated into nineteen languages and have sold over 300 million copies worldwide.
Born in 1944 in Storm Lake, Iowa, she attended secretarial school in Omaha, Nebraska before meeting her husband, Bill. Bill and Janet worked together in construction and land development until they "retired" to travel throughout the United States, inspiring Janet to write the Americana series of romances, where she set a novel in every state of the Union. In 1974, Janet Dailey was the first American author to write for Harlequin. Her first novel was NO QUARTER ASKED.
She had since gone on to write approximately 90 novels, 21 of which have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List. She won many awards and accolades for her work, appearing widely on Radio and Television. Today, there are over three hundred million Janet Dailey books in print in 19 different languages, making her one of the most popular novelists in the world.
Janet Dailey passed away peacefully in her home in Branson on Saturday, December 14, 2013. She was 69.
Born in 1944 in Storm Lake, Iowa, she attended secretarial school in Omaha, Nebraska before meeting her husband, Bill. Bill and Janet worked together in construction and land development until they "retired" to travel throughout the United States, inspiring Janet to write the Americana series of romances, where she set a novel in every state of the Union. In 1974, Janet Dailey was the first American author to write for Harlequin. Her first novel was NO QUARTER ASKED.
She had since gone on to write approximately 90 novels, 21 of which have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List. She won many awards and accolades for her work, appearing widely on Radio and Television. Today, there are over three hundred million Janet Dailey books in print in 19 different languages, making her one of the most popular novelists in the world.
Janet Dailey passed away peacefully in her home in Branson on Saturday, December 14, 2013. She was 69.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
November 28, 2019
Not sure what I was expecting but not quite this. A nice story.
December 7, 2023
Hopefully the rest of my Christmas TBR goes better then this book.
This book was torture!! It was so long and so wordy for absolutely nothing to happen.
Casey’s dad owns a ranch and when he gets hurt, she thinks she’ll be taking over until he hires Flint McAllister.
Nothing happened. I literally skimmed this book because Casey was so ridiculous. She goes on and on about how she is below Flint. Flint goes on and on about how young Casey is.
By the last chapter he is giving her a Diamond ring. They haven’t even dated!
Also their language is more 50s then ranch style. Example: Casey’s brother Mark asked her if she and the neighbor were going steady…
This book was torture!! It was so long and so wordy for absolutely nothing to happen.
Casey’s dad owns a ranch and when he gets hurt, she thinks she’ll be taking over until he hires Flint McAllister.
Nothing happened. I literally skimmed this book because Casey was so ridiculous. She goes on and on about how she is below Flint. Flint goes on and on about how young Casey is.
By the last chapter he is giving her a Diamond ring. They haven’t even dated!
Also their language is more 50s then ranch style. Example: Casey’s brother Mark asked her if she and the neighbor were going steady…
December 13, 2016
There was a lot of angst with this book and not only with the characters. I sometime felt disbelief in the feelings Casey and Flint had for each other since they sure didn't show it. They were far apart in age, experiences and economics but fell in love anyway. They say hate is the opposite of love and for most of the book hate definitely won out. The wrap up was very quick and not enough built up to the conclusion. I was glad to see they got their happily ever after but it wasn't plausible and neither was the relationship of Smitty and Brenda especially since she is so different from Casey.
There were family and friends, townspeople, the ranch, the community, the animals, illness, injuries even death. There was some romance and loving. There was a lot of love that you could feel between Casey and her parents and younger brother, Mark. Older brother, Johnny, wasn't really in the picture since he was distancing himself from the ranch but he should have been mentioned when Casey and her dad were looking at family pictures especially since they were making a scrapbook for her mom.
There were vivid descriptions of the ranch, the animals, the weather, Casey's photographs and Flint's sister's cabin and the lake she lived on. Flint seemed to become a part of the community almost overnight but showed the kindness he had in his soul.
There was unexpected closure with most of the loose ends tied up. I've always enjoyed Dailey's books and I will be back for more.
There were family and friends, townspeople, the ranch, the community, the animals, illness, injuries even death. There was some romance and loving. There was a lot of love that you could feel between Casey and her parents and younger brother, Mark. Older brother, Johnny, wasn't really in the picture since he was distancing himself from the ranch but he should have been mentioned when Casey and her dad were looking at family pictures especially since they were making a scrapbook for her mom.
There were vivid descriptions of the ranch, the animals, the weather, Casey's photographs and Flint's sister's cabin and the lake she lived on. Flint seemed to become a part of the community almost overnight but showed the kindness he had in his soul.
There was unexpected closure with most of the loose ends tied up. I've always enjoyed Dailey's books and I will be back for more.
January 20, 2021
What a beautiful story of romance and making the most of a not so merry holiday! I like Casey right from the start, she’s one tough lady especially for being only 21 and I felt I could really relate to her she just seemed very realistic. Throughout the story Casey faces many hardships for one Flint McAllister comes to be the new “boss man” of her family ranch while her father recovers from an injury. Her main worry is if her dad will be home for Christmas, her second worry is to not let some man be the boss of her on her family land, her third worry may just be not to fall to hard in love with this mysterious Flint. From the beginning it was easy to tell Casey fell for Flint and Flint fell for Casey. It was truly a sweet love story, I just hate how long it took for them to finally surrender to their love for each other, I feel like every other character in the book knew about their love before they even did. Casey’s Christmas wish did not come true, but she still got her happy ending!
December 25, 2019
This is a traditionally predictable plot, but Dailey is able to establish the chemistry between the main characters without being graphic. I'd read another book by this author.
December 25, 2021
Literally just
Boring
Boring
December 28, 2024
Ending felt a little rushed but still cute and I read it in one sitting so an easy round up to 4!
January 7, 2019
This book is not believable. The characters were very superficial. They spent most of the book not liking each other only to end up engaged at the end. Didn't feel like they even tried to get to know each other.
May 11, 2013
I can't understand the good reviews. I usually read ebooks, but I have had such a craving for the dry rustle of paper books lately. I came across a box of books for $1 at the end of a garage sale recently, and this was one of the gems inside. Hey, I enjoy escapist lit as much as the next person, so I dug in with a bit of optimism.
I am only giving this book two stars because I actually read it till the end, somehow hoping against all the evidence that it would ultimately redeem itself. Nope. I won't bother you with the plot, but it involves two awful characters supposedly falling in love. The female protagonist is surly and rude with an inexplicable chip on her shoulder. The "hero" is better in general, but he is so sexist that I found it almost unbearable. I can't imagine anyone intelligent falling for either of these horrid characters. Luckily, they in no way resembled actual human beings.
I thought this might have been an anomaly among this author's books (perhaps a later book rushed to press), but when I looked her up, I found that Janet Dailey is perhaps best known for blatantly plagiarizing other authors, most notably Nora Robers who won a lawsuit against her. Lesson learned. Avoid this author if you value your time.
I am only giving this book two stars because I actually read it till the end, somehow hoping against all the evidence that it would ultimately redeem itself. Nope. I won't bother you with the plot, but it involves two awful characters supposedly falling in love. The female protagonist is surly and rude with an inexplicable chip on her shoulder. The "hero" is better in general, but he is so sexist that I found it almost unbearable. I can't imagine anyone intelligent falling for either of these horrid characters. Luckily, they in no way resembled actual human beings.
I thought this might have been an anomaly among this author's books (perhaps a later book rushed to press), but when I looked her up, I found that Janet Dailey is perhaps best known for blatantly plagiarizing other authors, most notably Nora Robers who won a lawsuit against her. Lesson learned. Avoid this author if you value your time.
December 16, 2013
Horrible.
Timelines were so off-base that the book lost all credibility for me before I was even 1/3 of the way through. Supposedly, by the time I stopped reading, it was still November, but they'd had Thanksgiving before the story even started, the main female character's father had been in the hospital for more than a week with a broken hip and was in "traction" (they don't do "traction" any more in hospitals and haven't for twenty years!!), a new ranch bossman was hired post this more-than-a-week-hospital-stay and had already worked 10 days... All in November and all after Thanksgiving. Last time I checked, Thanksgiving falls late in the month and there is never a time there is a week between T-Giving and December 1st, much less more than TWO weeks. Oh, and if you're riding home in a car at 8 p.m. on a late November day, you would not be watching the sun go down. Oh, and the ranch they all live on is going broke, yet they have money to drive SUV's, trucks, and go out to eat dinner in town 12 miles away.
If you're going to write a story, at least keep your facts straight when it comes to timelines. I will not finish this book.
Timelines were so off-base that the book lost all credibility for me before I was even 1/3 of the way through. Supposedly, by the time I stopped reading, it was still November, but they'd had Thanksgiving before the story even started, the main female character's father had been in the hospital for more than a week with a broken hip and was in "traction" (they don't do "traction" any more in hospitals and haven't for twenty years!!), a new ranch bossman was hired post this more-than-a-week-hospital-stay and had already worked 10 days... All in November and all after Thanksgiving. Last time I checked, Thanksgiving falls late in the month and there is never a time there is a week between T-Giving and December 1st, much less more than TWO weeks. Oh, and if you're riding home in a car at 8 p.m. on a late November day, you would not be watching the sun go down. Oh, and the ranch they all live on is going broke, yet they have money to drive SUV's, trucks, and go out to eat dinner in town 12 miles away.
If you're going to write a story, at least keep your facts straight when it comes to timelines. I will not finish this book.
December 1, 2008
Christmas makes me happy and nothing beats a good book AND Christmas as the setting. However, this story was only ok; mildly entertaining. Searching for Santa...well, maybe the author should have searched for a more fitting title. There was a rather pathetic attempt to make the title fit. Did the author just choose it to sell books? Perhaps. My other gripe is that the main characters (who were supposed to be falling in love) spent the majority of the book angry at each other. And why do men like woman who treat them badly? So ridiculous! However, I was just looking for a slice of Christmas in the book world and as imperfect as it was, I found it!
January 15, 2010
As with the other book by this author, I was not impressed. This book again had a weird vibe to it, and the end felt rushed. It was long and drawn out with unnecessary tension between the two main characters, and a reluctance to admit to any feelings between the two. Several times during the book I was tempted to stop reading it. However, I wanted to give the author a second chance to redeem herself. I will not be reading any others by this author.
January 31, 2013
Typical Janet Dailey Romance novel. Lots of "tension" between the two main characters. What surprised me was how quickly they admitted their feelings for each other at the end of the book ... and then the book kept going for approx. 8 more pages! That's unusual for Janet Dailey! Good, easy quick read.
December 5, 2009
Was very unhappy with this book. It starts out okay but then gets really involved with the antagonism (leading to you know) between the two main characters. But the storyline falls apart there's too much going on and the ending was so poor it wasn't worth it.
December 18, 2008
Very cute.
December 20, 2008
totally awesome!!! funny and romantic!
July 19, 2009
Silly easy read
September 26, 2009
cutesy romance with a sassy main characater
January 24, 2020
I didn't like the main character Casey. She was very whiney and wouldn't give cowboy Fling a chance. She had a chip on her shoulder.
August 22, 2023
This book was just okay for me. It was so predictable. There were no big twists or turns.
September 25, 2009
Modern
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews