The Texan Rancher

by Jane Corrie

Josie was furious to hear her future being discussed. Especially by Kade Boston, her grandfather's arrogant neighbor. She had come all the way to Texas to repay her debt to her grandfather a debt of love. To her chagrin, she soon found herself in debt to Kade as well.But Kade, as head of the school board, had denied her the teaching job she wanted. He had a nerve thinking he could make other plans for her!

Genres: Harlequin, Teachers, Romance

Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Naksed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice, chaste, vintage, small town romance between arrogant Alpha rancher hero and plucky Mary Sue teacher heroine. OW is suitably nasty but no angst there as the hero continually puts OW down. Biggest excitement of the story occurs when hero'spoiled little madam of a niece puts a sand lizard in heroine's purse. Sand lizards have no legs so heroine thought it was a snake and almost blacks out. Though I could see her point that a legless lizard is really just a snake lol.

I doubt I will remember this story in the long run. It missed something. Maybe some humor. Maybe some palpable tension between the leads. Imho, Yvonne Whittal did this trope better in Magic of the Baobab. That book somehow still makes me laugh out loud after the nth re-read.

[Margo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another Jane Corrie where the H is ridiculously alpha in a very cartoony way, the OW is no real threat at any time, and ultimately the H reveals that he is absolutely crazy about her and always has been. This story actually has a very unusual aspect to it, which is that there is an interaction where the OW tries to publicly humiliate the h (using a rather childish taunt that most Hs would fail to acknowledge or even laugh/smirk at the h alongside the OW), and the H is ENRAGED and shuts her down so aggressively that the other people at the gathering comment on his set down.

[StMargarets · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow burn romance where all the angst is in the heroine's head. English rose heroine returns to the Texas ranch of her grandfather after her evil aunt dies and she realizes her grandfather has been supporting her for the last 12 years. Evil aunt never showed her the letters or allowed her to use the money.

Both heroine and grandfather are bitter about that, but they have a happy reunion. Heroine vows to get a job (hopefully as a teacher) and live with her grandfather on his rundown ranch. There is a new bigwig in town (hero) and heroine takes a dislike to him since he has been trying to buy her grandfather's ranch and he insists he maintain his fences.

Hero is obviously smitten since he:
fixes the fence properly after she tries to fix it herself
offers her a job teaching his horrible niece and three Mexican kids at his estate
sides with heroine over the OW in the snake/lizard incident
tries to dance with her at the town dance
drives her home from Dallas so she doesn't have to take the midnight bus
tells her he has "special job" for her and that's why he blackballs her for the fall teaching term

It's shades of Betty Neels - that he keeps telling her (in cryptic language) that he wants to marry her.

Heroine is too strung out on her own angst to see his obvious interest, but somehow she manages to find love somewhere in her torrent of "feelings" about the hero.

It's a silly, simple vintage ending. I also enjoyed all the Britishisms transferred to a Texas setting - from the summer school term, to the abundance of buses, to the plimsols the children wore, to putting a cardigan on at night since it was cool. (LOL - in Texas in July)

[Tenaya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charming and harmless.

Hero is grumpy and irritated at first, says some nasty things that understandably set the heroine off, but after that, he is a more benign type of alpha male. He spends most of the novel being kind to the heroine (but misunderstood by her). The heroine imagines all sorts of motives that are obviously not true, but she won’t let go of them.

The hero and heroine don’t spend as much time together as is typical in these kinds of novels, but I didn’t mind as I liked the secondary characters (especially the grandfather) so who cares.

I read it in one sitting. I’m no speed reader but these kinds of books are easy to zip through.

I just found it pleasant and easy to like. For once the hero wasn’t a complete douche. It was refreshing. I also liked the ending. Very sweet.

Cute, harmless, very clean little romance. I can see why it might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I really liked it. It was downright wholesome compared to some of the toxic crap coming out of this era of romance novels.

[Elizabeth Meadows · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it would be fun to read an old Harlequin and I had this one on hand. However, it was disappointing. It was written by a European author and originally published by Mills & Boon. The setting was Texas and the author's knowledge of the setting as well as lingo and speech patterns was severely lacking. The main character had spent the last twelve years in England, but that would not explain why the other characters (all from Texas) would use European lingo and speech patterns.
I was also disappointed in the story. There was really no romance. The heroine didn't even acknowledge that she had feelings for the male lead until the last chapter. Then the man basically told her she would marry him without as much as a bit of romance and just expected her to fall at his feet. UGH!

[RomLibrary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Josie was furious to hear her future being discussed. Especially by Kade Boston, her grandfather's arrogant neighbor. She had come all the way to Texas to repay her debt to her grandfather a debt of love. To her chagrin, she soon found herself in debt to Kade as well.

But Kade, as head of the school board, had denied her the teaching job she wanted. He had a nerve thinking he could make other plans for her!

[Last Chance Saloon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this one another try after reading others that Jane Corrie had written and understanding her style more. I liked it a lot more this time. The hero is actually quite attractive, and although the heroine is a little dim in seeing his obvious attraction (would have been a quite story otherwise), I found her more likeable the second time as well.
It is actually quite wholesome and the OW (want to be) never stood a chance as the hero is not a player. Lucky heroine.
3 1/2 stars.

[Myrna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yet another girl generally considered a gold-digger catches the fancy of a wealthy rancher. This one comes with a spoilt niece in need of tutoring.