Meet the Delaneys
May contain Spoilers.
You meet the Delaneys of Cambria. The Delaneys consist of Orrin and Sandra and their children: their son, Ryan and his wife Gen; Breanne and her two sons, Mike and Lucas; and the Delaneys' other sons, Liam and Colin. The Delaneys have two ranches, one in Cambria and one in Montana. The book opens with the burial of Orrin's brother, Redmond. The Delaney are billionaires but you couldn't tell it from their lifestyles. They own two ranches, the one in Montana was run by Redmond and Liam who were extremely close as Redmond had no children; or, so they thought. The others lived on the ranch in Cambria and ran it except for Colin who was an attorney. Colin was the only one who never worked on the ranch plus he went to Harvard and graduated from Harvard Law School. He handled all of the Delaneys' vast real estate holdings and other investments. He always felt like an outsider and never stayed at the ranch when he was home and the only one who dressed like a wealthy person due to his career.
They gathered for Redmond's sudden death and the contents of his shocking will threw them all for a loop. He had a son, Drew McCray, that no one knew about including his brother Orrin. It's up to Colin to find Drew to tell him about his inheritance and the family. Drew's family consisted of his mother Isabelle, her new husband Matt and Drew's sister, Julia. Julia was aware of Drew's anger with his mother but didn't know why. She's about to find out.
Colin has to deal with an angry Drew who thinks the Delaneys didn't want him and were probably angry about his inheritance. Liam was the closest to Redmond and resented Drew, who he thought just wanted their money to which he had no right. Then you throw in the immediate attraction between Colin and Julia.
The book has lots of family love, angst, misunderstandings and intrigue to keep you reading into to the night. It's a very good start to a family saga. The biggest problem for me was the profanity. Not just profanity but taking the Lord's name in vain. It's surprising that all the Delaneys used that type of language. It was a bit strange considering they were down to earth people who were taught to respect family and other people. Yet, they took the Lord's name in vain without a second thought led by the matriarch, Sandra. It was so unnecessary because it was well written for the most part. Yes, people who work close to the land and animals curse but the constant taking God's name in vain was totally unnecessary. Other salty language would have sufficed.
I would love to read the other books in the series but afraid the use of the Lord's name in vain may be too pervasive for me it overlook. Perhaps I'll read one of the books in the Main Street Merchants series, which has some of the same characters before I become too invested in the Delaneys. The first book in that series is free.