When Wolf Hayward and Molly Donivan gazed into each other's eyes in a crowded train station during the Civil War, they knew they were meant to be--and sealed their commitment with a passionate kiss. He promised to find her after the war--until he realized she was the daughter of a Union General when he was a Southern spy behind enemy lines. But he'll never forget her and Molly will pledge to wait for the man she only knows as "Benjamin."
Eight years later, Wolf--now a Texas ranger--is chasing down some outlaws when he is struck down by a falling signpost--and wakes up to see the beautiful woman he has never forgotten. Molly doesn't recognize him as the handsome soldier who swept her away so long ago, but she can't help being intrigued by his kindness and charm. And she can't help imagining what it's like to be in his arms after the sun goes down...
Parts sucked me in, and parts bored me. I liked the story plot that revolves around Callie Ann. She was so funny and cute. I loved how she instantly takes to Wolf, and then Molly. Her 'Uncle Orson' moments, and people's reactions, were priceless.
I loved the unlikely friendship, and the possibility of more, between Early and Charlie.
I fully love how Wolf and Molly originally meet, and what transpired during the short time on the train platform.
However, I wasn't a fan of the secret Wolf keeps until the end, and how it wraps up. I wanted it to come out earlier, and I wanted her to have her moment when she finds out. I wanted to see how unfolded. I also didn't like how Wolf had to compete with the ghost of Benjamin- though he couldn't come out and call her on it completely. This was the annoying part of the story for me.
I like slow burns at times, but not a dragged out one, then a quick oh 'I do love you' from the heroine. How can she change her tune so fast? Especially when she doesn't know what Wolf knows until close to the end? FRUSTRATING!!!
I love this series. Jodi Thomas knows how to give me heroes I can love and heroines after my own heart.
There wasn't anything phenomenal about this story but I just love me a big-bear of a hero... and Wolf was seriously a bear. His size, his personality, his habits= all bear-like.
And a doctor heroine? I mean com'on how awesome is that?
This is the last one from this series that I hadn't read but I just noticed I haven't reviewed the others so I guess I'll havta read them again to give proper reviews (which will not be a problem:).
Apothecary Pestle, Civil War era. ★★★★☆ I love this author, this series, and these characters; however, this one took a bit of denial on my part to believe the plausibility of several plotlines. Some good stuff here, but I had to refrain from eye-rolling on occasion.
I really love how it starts out how Wolf just thinks about Molly all the time and then how the whole book ends!! Once again Jodi Thomas is my favorite author both westerns and all of the above. She is my go to book author for westerns!! Wolf is definitely my top book husband…. Something about Hume makes me 🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠
Texas Ranger, Benjamin Wolf Hayward was headed in with a murderer, Francis Digger, whose brother, Carrell, was still on the loose. Wolf was almost at the sheriff's office when Carrell tried to shoot him. Wolf saw Carrell's reflection in the window and ducked out of the way of the bullet. He got hit in the forehead by a shingle and then a sign fell loose. Wolf was knocked unconscious but read the sign as he was going out. It read Molly Donivan, Alchemist. The name triggered a memory of Wolf as a Confederate spy in the Civil War. He was up North and caught the eye of a woman boarding a train whose name she told him was Molly Donivan. He kissed her and asked her if she believed in love at first sight. She said she did and he promised to find her after the war. Wolf found out that she was a Union General's daughter. He never forgot her but he never tried to find her either. Molly had never forgotten Benjamin either. She determined that she would never love another. Molly thought that Benjamin had died in the war. Molly's father had been killed and she became a person who mixes chemicals to make medicine. Wolf asked Molly to go to dinner with him as payment for treating him when he was knocked out in front of her store. She agreed. After dinner they returned to her shop and there were Rangers inside. The Rangers had brought the Digger's three yr. old niece with them. Callie Ann Digger or Princess was her name and she had an invisible Uncle Orson. She had been living with her grandmother but the grandmother had died. Whoever had sent Callie to her uncles must have thought that with the Digger's names that at least one of them was a woman. Molly agreed to keep Callie until they could make other arrangements for her in exchange for protection. Molly had been threatened a few times and her business wasn't doing very well with her being a single woman. She had come to Texas with Ephraim who was an old soldier that had fought with Molly's father and promised he'd take care of her. Part of the reason Molly came to Texas was for his health. He had consumption and soon after meeting Wolf, he died. While at his funeral, someone broke into Molly's medicine store and dumped out all her supplies and cut up her books of notes and instructions to make medicines. Molly asked Wolf if he would marry her to give her his name to help her fight those who were harassing her. Wolf agreed. The next morning, Wolf got a note brought to him by one of the Rangers. John, the brother of Allie, Wes's wife, was in trouble. Wes was the closest thing to a brother that Wolf had. Wes was his best friend. Wolf met up with Wes on his way from Austin to Waco. Wes had taken John to a school in Dallas and he ran away. He ended up in Waco where he was the only one left standing in a bar fight where a man died. John would not speak to anyone and was blamed for the death. Notes were sent to the McLain brother's for help. Wolf didn't want to leave Molly but felt he had to help save the life of John if he could. Someone broke into Molly's store the night after Wolf left and set it on fire. The doors were blocked from the outside preventing anyone from being able to get out. Someone wanted them dead. The town drunk, Charlie Filmore, moved the boxes away from the back door so Molly and Callie got out. Charlie had been shot 3 times during the war and the wounds were left untreated because each of the doctors expected him to die, yet Charlie survived. He was badly disfigured from the wounds to his face. Wolf made him an honorary Ranger and asked him to watch over Molly and Callie while he had to leave town and Charlie took this job seriously and stopped drinking and sobered up. Wolf returned home to find out that the Digger brothers had escaped from jail. Wolf quickly left town again to try and find the brothers. Wolf followed them for days and was shot and left for dead. He was found and taken to a mission near San Marcos. Once he left town, Molly started to rebuild her shop with the help of the undertaker next door. She started looking for a house and located one with the help of Charlie Filmore. Word got to Molly that Wolf had been shot and she went to see him. On the way, there was a girl and her mother on the stagecoach with her and Callie. The mother didn't seem to care much for Early, who was 19. Her mother had tried to convince the man she married that she had come early but he didn't believe her and never gave Early his last name. Early was all her mother had ever called her and treated Early like she was an idiot. Early had decided to run away from home and didn't get back on the stagecoach when the stopped in San Marcus. Her mother continued on to San Antonio and didn't notice that Early was gone until she arrived. Molly rented a wagon to get to the mission and took Early with her. Molly found Wolf and he developed an infection and fever. He started to get well a few days after being cared for by Molly. Molly also helped treat quite a few people at the mission with sickness and injuries from a recent Cherokee Indian attack. Early took care of Callie. Wolf, Molly, Early and Callie all went home on the stage and Charlie met them and took them to Molly's new house. Molly's aunts were there when they arrived. The aunts were complainers and left the morning after they found out that the Digger brothers were out and set to kill Callie Ann. Callie's grandmother had left her money and property to Callie and the brothers wanted it. When the aunts left on the stage Wolf patted the stage twice like he would pat a horse and it triggered a memory of Benjamin doing the same thing to the train that Molly was leaving on when she first met him. As they headed home, she noticed that Charlie was yelling for help and bleeding from a head wound. The Digger brothers had shot Early in the chest, beaten Josh, a ranger, and taken Callie. Wolf asked Molly to take care of the three wounded and he was going after Callie. Two other doctors showed up at Molly's house to help treat Charlie's head injuries and Early's bullet wound. One of the doctors asked Wolf for permission to remove some bone fragments from Charlie's head. He said that it would greatly reduce the pain Charlie had to have been in. Wolf told him to go ahead and do whatever he could to help Charlie. Wolf searched all day through a storm and had no luck finding Callie. He then went home to Molly and made love to her for the first time that night. Wolf woke early the next morning and continued the search for Callie. Callie worked with the nurse to take care of both Charlie and Early throughout the day and sometime after midnight decided to go for a walk. She noticed there were lights on at Miller's place, next to her shop that was half built. She went closer to investigate and was quickly grabbed by one of the Digger's guys. They were having Miller build caskets to carry them out of town. Wolf was watching the shop and figured out their plan. He didn't realize that they had Molly until they brought her out to put into one of the coffins. Wolf offered to trade his life for Molly and Callie. The brother's quickly agreed. They wanted Wolf. Shortly after they had Wolf inside, Miller ran out and he was shot in the back. There were gunshots and the sound of fighting immediately after. Carrell had been shot and the other two had been taken out by Wolf. The rangers went in and got the two and put them in jail. When Wolf had agreed to trade himself for Molly, he told Molly to wait for him. He said that he would love her until his heart beats no more. Molly recognized it as what Benjamin had told her when he left her at the train station. That's when Molly realized that Wolf and Benjamin were the same person. Wolf became the sheriff of Austin and Molly was soon carrying his child. Callie Ann became their child until she came of age to decide what to do with the inheritance left to her by her grandmother. John now was called Jonathan and moved back to live with his grandmother. She agreed not to send him back to school but to fund his desire to travel. The aunts came back for another visit...
As I said in the progress comment, the hero and heroine spend time apart for almost half the book and it irks me until now.. The remaining 100+ pages aren't enough I think to catch up with the lost time. And even during those remaining chapters and pages they still not spend too much time because the hero has villains he has to take care of.... But what I like about these couple is that they actually TALK.... They talk about what they really thought, want, and expect with each other and their relationship....
But the trouble is the heroine is in love with another man...She's in love with the young man she met 8 years ago... The HERO himself, but the war changed him and he is reluctant because they (hero and heroine) fought for different sides and the heroine is a daughter of a general which made it harder for the hero to go to her an confess when the war is over... he never thought to meet her again.... Single,more beautiful, and most especially still in love with him, or the man she thought he was. But the heroine didn't recognize him, he isn't that handsome young fellow anymore, he's a hairy bear now. (chuckles)
The heroine is a good character and I can't help but have a two different opinion about her.. I adore her for loving a man for as long as she could but at the same time I felt annoyed because I am hurt for the hero... She won't settle for anyone less than her Benjamin and she loves him too much that she has spend fantasizing about him that she become blinded and can't see the man in front of her... She won't open up for anyone, I applause her for that she's loyal and faithful but it took her too much time to wake up on what she really needs... She needs a man, a man who's always there for her and not just a man in her distant past and memory. In the end she fell in love twice with the same man... and it's sooo good that she finally see him for what he is NOW and not for what she imagine him to be... His love made her see and realize that, and she did not only fell in love with his new/true self but she fell in love with him moreeeeeee than the first time...
Of all the books in the series I think I like this one the best. As I have said another reviews I didn’t read these books in order and it took me a little bit to figure out which ones were aware in the order of things and to remember how everybody fit together. Anyway, Wolf was a great character and reading about him and his army and Texas Ranger days was interesting. I like the way they introduced how Molly and “Benjamin“ had met several years before rather than having a prologue or a complete flashback. I also liked Molly a lot. She was stubborn in her way and certainly had the gumption to make it Texas. It was interesting how Early came into their lives and how she and Charlie connected up. And the child was an interesting development along with her uncles. You had to figure that something like an inheritance had to play a role. Anyway by the end of the book I was just about crying. Maybe it’s hormones… But I guess that’s the mark of a good book. The ability to touch your emotions and make you feel like the characters really are alive.
"there she went again, just like her father always said she did, making dragons out of clouds and wars from battles."
"the mind is a fragile thing. folks reach a point sometimes -even strong folks full of spirit- when they don't want to fight anymore. they just want to rest. their minds would rather drift in dreams than face loss and failure."
"the world is made up of fools and nitwits. it's my job to point out the difference."
"she'd tried all her life to be the daughter her father wanted, the niece her aunts insisted she be. none of it had made her happy. she felt suffocated and a disappointment to all. when she'd finally broken free and come to texas, she'd found peace. being a failure here was better than being a success at what other people wanted her to be."
"i think i'm finally starting to understand something my father once said. 'happiness in life comes in the production, not the consumption'. my aunts have always been consumers, they'll never understand my need to work."
It's funny. I did not realize I had read this book the first time a few years ago and did not finish. This time around, I also read it until 150 or so pages - to ALSO not finish it. I guess I'm still the same me. The book was very interesting in the beginning, up to a certain point - halfway. Then it became boring with the Hero pinning over the heroine and being very nice to her about it. If you know me, I like my Heroes gruff (on the outside) even though he's secretly pinning over the heroine. With this one, there's no more 'anything' to explore about the couple's relationship, everything was clear. The only thing pending was the mystery as to who's been vandalizing the heroine's store. It's not much of a romance book anymore.
2.5 stars rounded up. this was my least favorite of the series. I really disliked that it was insta-love on both their parts - just entirely not believable at all. Also, Wolf and Molly were apart for a lot of the story and I didn't like how the main point of contention/confusion between them was handled. I was also just bored in some parts. the author is a good writer and I've enjoyed the other books, so I'll continue to read her; this one just underwhelmed me.
I have reread this book and series many times since it was published. It is a wonderful story filled with love, heart ache, compassion and depth. The characters are well developed and interesting as well as loveable. I enjoyed the storyline of the Texas Ranger Wolf and his love Molly who carries a lot of burdens who our hero aims to protect her from...and I chuckle every time I thinks of ants...
Yes we have Aunts. They are just a very small part of the book. But they make the people around them seem more real. I love the Princess. I happen to know a few like her. Wolf deserves happiness and I’m glad he found his Molly.
The Heroine was a good doctor and pharmacist، but sometimes she was on my nerves for she wanted to be a true wife for her kind and honorable husband even in bed, but when he wanted to bed her, she would pull away because she was disgusted by his whisker! But the rest of the story was good.
On to the last in this series. Don't want to have it end. A wonderful series about a family, not necessarily by blood, who always have each other's backs and anyone else they call family.
I was not disappointed in this book. So much excitement. As always the story kept me from putting the book down. The family, friends and neighbors that came together. Love it. Thank you again. Kristy Cromer
This is about Wolf or Benjamin and Molly. It’s their love story. How Molly has always loved him since meeting him in a train station during the Civil War. Many years later they meet. At that time he is Wolf. This story also has danger and excitement. Good story.
By golly gosh!!! Book four in the spectacular McLain series. I was at the edge of my set the entire time internally yelling at Wolf to tell Molly that he WAS Benjamin. I kept freaking out that when Molly did find out, she was going to get so mad and leave him. Jodi's work is like a jigsaw puzzle, it ALWAYS works out in the end no matter how much you don't think it can.