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Christmas #2
A Rocky Mountain Christmas
The Jensen and MacCallister families are of two of the most legendary clans in frontier fiction. Now, the "USA Today"-bestselling authors of "A Lone Star Christmas" bring them together in a gripping tale of tragedy, survival, love, betrayal, and maybe even a miracle. Original.
433 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
207 people are currently reading
383 people want to read
About the author
William W. Johnstone
1,040 books1,390 followersWilliam W. Johnstone is the #1 bestselling Western writer in America and the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of hundreds of books, with over 50 million copies sold. Born in southern Missouri, he was raised with strong moral and family values by his minister father, and tutored by his schoolteacher mother. He left school at fifteen to work in a carnival and then as a deputy sheriff before serving in the army. He went on to become known as "the Greatest Western writer of the 21st Century." Visit him online at WilliamJohnstone.net.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 109 reviews
December 13, 2025
4.5 stars
December 8, 2023
For a Christmas story it was very enjoyable. Kind of like a cheesy, sappy, western Hallmark Christmas movie.
December 26, 2017
This is the first I have read in this Christmas series and am looking forward to reading the next one in my que. Christmas set in the Wild West where the law was fast and loose. I loved the characters and the Christmas spirit they held. Not your typical cozy so beware that some of the events are brutal.
October 26, 2017
I've never really read a western novel before but since it was a Christmas book I figured I would try it. I actually enjoyed it. I was expecting the shoot-um-ups as they used to be called, but this didn't have all that. The passengers on the stranded train had quite interesting personalities. Glad I tried reading a new author for me.
December 17, 2017
My first (and probably last) book by Mr. Johnstone. This is the stuff that Hallmark specials are made of. It was sweet and thank god, it was short. I wasn't expecting Lonesome Dove Christmas style so I wasn't that disappointed but I was hoping for just a little less cheese and sap. Oh well, I read it for my Xmas challenge (PBT Challenge). Tis the season.
December 26, 2024
Matt Jensen is headed home for Christmas. He's headed to Sugarloaf Ranch and he is traveling by train. That train is also carrying a variety of passengers, including an outlaw set to be hanged, a Senator and his sick daughter, a young woman being chased out of town. As they near Trout Creek Pass an avalanche occurs and the train becomes trapped. Freezing temperatures, no food, armed criminals. Can the passengers survive until Smoke Jensen and Duff MacCallister arrive to hopefully save the day and Christmas?
This book features characters from other series by William Johnstone. You can easily jump into this book because it's a Christmas special and it really is all about Christmas. There is enough hint of previous exploits to intrigue you about the other books though.
The action doesn't start right away. Instead we get introduced to the characters and learn about things that have happened in their life before boarding the train. It's all interesting and helps you root for and against the right characters.
Once everyone boards the train the fun and action really begins. We also see the situation from the point of view from potential rescuers. The feeling you get reading while about the characters stuck together, some losing hope, others doing their best to hold it together, is like a Christmas episode of your favorite TV show. When things begin to look their worst a miracle seems to happen. I don't think it's spoiling anything to say the story ends like a Christmas story should.
This book features characters from other series by William Johnstone. You can easily jump into this book because it's a Christmas special and it really is all about Christmas. There is enough hint of previous exploits to intrigue you about the other books though.
The action doesn't start right away. Instead we get introduced to the characters and learn about things that have happened in their life before boarding the train. It's all interesting and helps you root for and against the right characters.
Once everyone boards the train the fun and action really begins. We also see the situation from the point of view from potential rescuers. The feeling you get reading while about the characters stuck together, some losing hope, others doing their best to hold it together, is like a Christmas episode of your favorite TV show. When things begin to look their worst a miracle seems to happen. I don't think it's spoiling anything to say the story ends like a Christmas story should.
February 23, 2016
From the Book Jacket: Three days before Christmas, Matt Jensen is traveling the Denver and Pacific railway, when an avalanche slams down onto the train, trapping it. But it wasn’t an act of nature that caused the accident; it was a gang of outlaws attempting to rescue their leader,who is being taken to Red Cliff to be hanged. As Smoke Jensen and Duff MacCallister frantically try to make their way to the scene, Matt struggles to save the survivors, among them a beautiful young woman with a dark past, a merchant seaman turned rancher, and a senator with his very ill young daughter.
My reaction
If that description sounds melodramatic … well that’s because the story is melodramatic. I picked this up strictly based on the cover because I needed to complete a challenge. I should have read the plot description first and gone looking for a different book.
The characters were all stereotypes and the message was heavy-handed. I don’t think I’m spoiling much by saying that the bad guys get what’s coming to them and the good guys win. It wouldn’t be a Western romantic Christmas story otherwise.
I couldn’t help but think of David Baldacci’s The Christmas Train … not a western, but a contemporary romance with mystery … also featuring an avalanche. Baldacci’s work was first published in 2001, eleven years before this effort. Hmmmm.
At least it was a fast read.
My reaction
If that description sounds melodramatic … well that’s because the story is melodramatic. I picked this up strictly based on the cover because I needed to complete a challenge. I should have read the plot description first and gone looking for a different book.
The characters were all stereotypes and the message was heavy-handed. I don’t think I’m spoiling much by saying that the bad guys get what’s coming to them and the good guys win. It wouldn’t be a Western romantic Christmas story otherwise.
I couldn’t help but think of David Baldacci’s The Christmas Train … not a western, but a contemporary romance with mystery … also featuring an avalanche. Baldacci’s work was first published in 2001, eleven years before this effort. Hmmmm.
At least it was a fast read.
December 3, 2020
The description of this book sounds great: villains cause an avalanche to free their leader from a train - cool! It takes a long time to get to this part of the book (nearly halfway), at which part it all becomes really tense.
(spoiler alert!!!)
However, this incredibly tense situation ends up being resolved not by the heroic acts of the good characters in the book, but by acts of God. It's one thing to believe that a good outcome was a result of God's will and another to have a messenger of God (in the form of a dead character called Preacher) repeatedly (and mystically) clearing paths in deep snow so that the saviors can get to the people trapped on the train. So even though we have two awesome cowboys on the train, they're not the ones who stops the evil cowboys. There's no final confrontation between them. I feel that Johnstone missed a great opportunity here to show good triumph over evil.
(spoiler alert!!!)
However, this incredibly tense situation ends up being resolved not by the heroic acts of the good characters in the book, but by acts of God. It's one thing to believe that a good outcome was a result of God's will and another to have a messenger of God (in the form of a dead character called Preacher) repeatedly (and mystically) clearing paths in deep snow so that the saviors can get to the people trapped on the train. So even though we have two awesome cowboys on the train, they're not the ones who stops the evil cowboys. There's no final confrontation between them. I feel that Johnstone missed a great opportunity here to show good triumph over evil.
January 1, 2022
A second Christmas book by William W Johnstone. Having just listened to A Lone Star Christmas, I thought I'd give this one a listen. I enjoyed it too. It is a story told by one of the characters looking back to an incident almost 70 years in the past. Again, as in the previous Christmas book, characters from other books the author has written are in this book. Lots of action with outlaws on their way to the gallows, a robbery leading to murder, an avalanche with a train full of passengers stuck on the tracks. Friends, family, politicians, and outlaws, add in a little romance and a sick child and this book kept my interest. I listened to a library copy of the audiobook and was not required to write a review. Jack Garrett did a great job narrating this Christmas time story.
December 15, 2019
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Review: This book was ok til Chapter 10-30 cause those chapters bored me a lot!! I thought this would be a story about Christmas when it was actually a Wilderness/Western Story set around Christmas which disappointed me a lot!!
I read this book for the Tis the Season Readathon in We Be Book'N Book CLub on Facebook for the prompt: Read a book that was gifted to you.
If it wasn't for the prompt I wouldn't of read this book at all, i'll give this author 1 more try in the future but if all his books end up disappointing I doubt i'd read the rest in this series!!!
Review: This book was ok til Chapter 10-30 cause those chapters bored me a lot!! I thought this would be a story about Christmas when it was actually a Wilderness/Western Story set around Christmas which disappointed me a lot!!
I read this book for the Tis the Season Readathon in We Be Book'N Book CLub on Facebook for the prompt: Read a book that was gifted to you.
If it wasn't for the prompt I wouldn't of read this book at all, i'll give this author 1 more try in the future but if all his books end up disappointing I doubt i'd read the rest in this series!!!
January 3, 2023
Engaging 'old west' tale about good guys versus bad guys. Thieves, murders, and general no-good-nicks are challenged by the white hats. The setting is a train ride through the Colorado Rockies just before Christmas in a time before the snow was tamed and avalanches were a real danger.
It is a classic feel-good story that will leave you hoping for goodness and worrying about the outcome.
It is a classic feel-good story that will leave you hoping for goodness and worrying about the outcome.
December 9, 2021
These Christmas novellas are utterly ridiculous. But then most Holiday stories are kind of ridiculous. And I find these super charming. This one took a long time to get all the different storylines together. But I really enjoyed the difficult situation and the miraculous resolution. It was also lovely how people with different talents all work together.
December 26, 2012
I don't read very many westerns, but I absolutely fell in love with "A Rocky Mountain Christmas." Having lived in Colorado for many years, it was a delight to recognize many of the places that are described in this fast-paced, lively story.
While the characters of this tale are familiar to fans of the Johnstones, as a first time reader I was able to grasp their back-stories and become acquainted with them quickly. I also loved the story of the prodigal son as well as the Christmas story that was a part of the over-all tale.
I just really enjoyed reading this book, and will be looking at the other books from William W. and J.A. Johnstone on more regular basis!
For more information on William W. Johnston or J.A. Johnstone's books, check out the websites at www.williamwjohnstone.net
While the characters of this tale are familiar to fans of the Johnstones, as a first time reader I was able to grasp their back-stories and become acquainted with them quickly. I also loved the story of the prodigal son as well as the Christmas story that was a part of the over-all tale.
I just really enjoyed reading this book, and will be looking at the other books from William W. and J.A. Johnstone on more regular basis!
For more information on William W. Johnston or J.A. Johnstone's books, check out the websites at www.williamwjohnstone.net
December 14, 2017
Since this is the Christmas season, I always read Christmas stories. I noticed this one and since I live in Colorado near the Rocky Mountains, it peaked my interest.
It has well developed characters and is quite descriptive of the area. I know the town of Pueblo, CO and Buena Vista, CO, and did a search on Trout Creek Pass and Red Cliff. The last two do exist on the map of Colorado.
Matt Jensen is coming up to Big Rock to spend Christmas with Smoke Jensen and Duff MacCallister. He boarded the train in Nevada and made it up to Pueblo where he changes trains that will take him to Red Cliff. On that train he meets Jenny who is being run out of town, Luke, a seaman turned rancher who is going to jail for killing a deputy sheriff, and others. Among them is a killer, Michael Santelli.
The train leaves and heads up to Trout Creek Pass. There it is stopped by men who intend on rescuing Santelli, causing an avalanche. Then the problems begin, The hold up men hole up in the dining car and the rest of the passengers end up in the last car without much heat and no food. What happens to them is surprising.
It turned out to be a great read and one that I will want to read again. It is such a heart warming tale.
It has well developed characters and is quite descriptive of the area. I know the town of Pueblo, CO and Buena Vista, CO, and did a search on Trout Creek Pass and Red Cliff. The last two do exist on the map of Colorado.
Matt Jensen is coming up to Big Rock to spend Christmas with Smoke Jensen and Duff MacCallister. He boarded the train in Nevada and made it up to Pueblo where he changes trains that will take him to Red Cliff. On that train he meets Jenny who is being run out of town, Luke, a seaman turned rancher who is going to jail for killing a deputy sheriff, and others. Among them is a killer, Michael Santelli.
The train leaves and heads up to Trout Creek Pass. There it is stopped by men who intend on rescuing Santelli, causing an avalanche. Then the problems begin, The hold up men hole up in the dining car and the rest of the passengers end up in the last car without much heat and no food. What happens to them is surprising.
It turned out to be a great read and one that I will want to read again. It is such a heart warming tale.
November 14, 2018
Matt Jensen is on his way home for Christmas or so he thought until the train he is on is stopped by an avalanche in the Colorado Mountains. All he can think of now is how to keep the other people on the train from freezing or starving to death because there is now a group of gunmen who are there to rescue their leader who will be hanged in just a few days. T hose gunmen don't care who dies as long as they get their man back.
On board, with Jensen, is a very sick young girl, along with her mother and her father, a senator, who seems to think more of his career than his daughter. Also, a man who will spend the next 4 years in jail for something he didn't do, a young woman who was a pawn in a political scandal and now has been run out of town and of course the railroad employees and other travelers. And, then there are the gunmen who are in control of the coal needed for warmth and all the food on the train.
Jensen has his hands full. However, he is resourceful and manages to turn the situation around as Christmas arrives.
On board, with Jensen, is a very sick young girl, along with her mother and her father, a senator, who seems to think more of his career than his daughter. Also, a man who will spend the next 4 years in jail for something he didn't do, a young woman who was a pawn in a political scandal and now has been run out of town and of course the railroad employees and other travelers. And, then there are the gunmen who are in control of the coal needed for warmth and all the food on the train.
Jensen has his hands full. However, he is resourceful and manages to turn the situation around as Christmas arrives.
January 11, 2019
THE AVALANCHE AT TRUCK CREEK PASS
Matt Jensen helps a Sheriff apprehend a wanted murderer and bank robber by the name Santelli. Now Mr. Santelli knows he's been made and tries to go for bad by challenging the local Sheriff but Matt Jensen puts in with the Sheriff and off to jail Mr. Santelli and the next day he's tried and sentence to prison. On his way to Sugar Loaf, Smoke Jensen's ranch, but to get there they will have to go through the Rocky Mountains which are covered with snow and the pass they will go through is called Truck Creek Pass. The snow up in the mountains was thick and the possibility of a avalanche which was imminent. There were a lot of train passengers going to spend Christmas with family and friends.
Matt Jensen helps a Sheriff apprehend a wanted murderer and bank robber by the name Santelli. Now Mr. Santelli knows he's been made and tries to go for bad by challenging the local Sheriff but Matt Jensen puts in with the Sheriff and off to jail Mr. Santelli and the next day he's tried and sentence to prison. On his way to Sugar Loaf, Smoke Jensen's ranch, but to get there they will have to go through the Rocky Mountains which are covered with snow and the pass they will go through is called Truck Creek Pass. The snow up in the mountains was thick and the possibility of a avalanche which was imminent. There were a lot of train passengers going to spend Christmas with family and friends.
December 16, 2022
I wasn't expecting much from this book. I wanted something with a Christmas theme that would be available at my local library, and the pickings for classics/literature were slim. I decided to take a chance on something a little different. The first 40% or so read like a classic western, or so I imagine. That was alright, but for me the story picked up after that, or at least my interest did. What started off as frustration and disappointment, watching good people get a bad deal, turned into warmth, companionship, and happiness. There were several biblical references. The ending may have been over the top/a little too perfect, but overall, I thought it was not bad, all things considered! 3.75 stars
November 25, 2019
Christmas 2, AudioBk-B, RBDigital, @ 1/1/12, listened 11/25/19, release date 8/1/13, Jack Garrett, duration approx. 9-1/2 hours. Fiction, Western, Christmas. A huge avalanche forces a train with 40 passengers plus the crew to be stalled on the tracks at the top of the rail line in the Rockies. A sheriff's agent is aboard, with two convicted men being transported to prison, and a supposed prostitute being run out of town. Westerns are not my usual genre, but this is one of the best Christmas stories I have ever read (other than the true Christmas story, of course)! 5 ☆'s = Excellent. I loved it!
August 11, 2025
Smoke and Duff set out to rescue what they think is a stranded train, with Matt being trapped on it because of an avalanche. Neither Smoke nor Duff knows that the avalanche was started by a gang of killers as they attempted to free one of their low down friends, who is on his way to prison. All looks lost until Smoke thinks he sees Preacher and a little girl named Becky, who he does not even know. The strange thing is Duff can not see either, and he is basically right beside Smoke.
September 8, 2017
I chose this book because it was Christmas time and I was in the mood. Also, I've read all Louis L'Amour's books multiple times.
This is the book that was set in something like the 1870's yet one of the people in it had a 30-06 rifle. The '06 in that rifle cartridge name comes from 1906, the year the cartridge came about. I couldn't take any more.
This is the book that was set in something like the 1870's yet one of the people in it had a 30-06 rifle. The '06 in that rifle cartridge name comes from 1906, the year the cartridge came about. I couldn't take any more.
December 7, 2017
Love this book
I love Mr. Johnstone's books. I have read quite a few since I discovered him. This one was a delight with twists and turns I did not see coming. With heart and soul and visiting characters I have come to love, reading this chapter of the Jensen's and Preacher, just fit beautifully into the season. Looking forward to my next visit into their world.
I love Mr. Johnstone's books. I have read quite a few since I discovered him. This one was a delight with twists and turns I did not see coming. With heart and soul and visiting characters I have come to love, reading this chapter of the Jensen's and Preacher, just fit beautifully into the season. Looking forward to my next visit into their world.
January 1, 2018
This certainly wasn't what I expected ... being more of a wild west story with gunfights, burials, etc. But it did keep my interest, and I enjoyed the developing characters ... when I could keep them straight. There were quite a few, and they had similar names, and it was difficult to remember who was who. Still, a nice piece of Christmas fluff to finish off the year!
December 20, 2020
I had never read a western before but I remember watching Western movies w my grandpa and what better way to get into the Christmas spirit than w some nostalgic reading?! It was a fun read and i especially loved the back story on all the characters, which culminated nicely w them all being stuck together thanks to an avalanche. Really enjoyed this book!
November 28, 2017
This was enjoyable but what does this book want to be? An adventure? Love story? Christian? It begins following a bunch of characters who all end up being on the same train together. When outlaws take to over and an avalanche stops the train - who will survive.
December 16, 2017
I’ve never read a western so I don’t know if I’m the best judge of this book. But it had cowboy saviors, dirty outlaws, saloon women, spiritual visions, and a touch of Christmas heart. Cheesy, good for a Christmas read, not too shabby.
November 26, 2018
I found this story to be annoy.....ing good. It was full of tough times and happy endings. I would recommend this story to friends, family, and strangers alike, especially around Christmas. I hope you all have a good season.
October 22, 2019
What a Beautiful Story
Continuing on with this series is almost too good to describe. This family is always wherever they are needed. The love and respect they have for their family and extended family is very inspiring. A really great read.
Continuing on with this series is almost too good to describe. This family is always wherever they are needed. The love and respect they have for their family and extended family is very inspiring. A really great read.
December 29, 2019
Corrupt sheriff, judge, romance, politician, avalanche, rescue
This is truly one of the best stories I've read. Trying to summarize I am rewriting the book. The title hits some of the points but on rereading it I missed several. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
This is truly one of the best stories I've read. Trying to summarize I am rewriting the book. The title hits some of the points but on rereading it I missed several. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
November 11, 2020
The first Christmas book by Johnstone that I read didn't disappoint, and this one certainly didn't either! This was a great read, and it's especially great for those who want to get into the holiday mood!
December 7, 2020
3.5/5
Leaned a little too heavy into divine intervention come the end, which felt very out of place, but if you want your Christmas sprinkled with a bit of outlaws, bandits and cowboys and such, this'll cover that itch.
Leaned a little too heavy into divine intervention come the end, which felt very out of place, but if you want your Christmas sprinkled with a bit of outlaws, bandits and cowboys and such, this'll cover that itch.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 109 reviews