What do you think?
Rate this book
Keeping Christmas
Ten years ago Dixie Bonner was the favorite wild child of a powerful Texas oilman. But after uncovering a dark family secret that cast suspicion on everyone close to her, she took off for a new life and never looked back.
Chance Walker was the cool-eyed cowboy hired to bring her home by Christmas. But after catching her, he couldn't decide if she was a blackmailer or a victim. Was he tempted to protect her because she told the truth—or was he falling for her? Holed up in a remote Montana cabin with the bad guys closing in, two stubborn souls needed to trust each other if they hoped to survive the season.
Chance Walker was the cool-eyed cowboy hired to bring her home by Christmas. But after catching her, he couldn't decide if she was a blackmailer or a victim. Was he tempted to protect her because she told the truth—or was he falling for her? Holed up in a remote Montana cabin with the bad guys closing in, two stubborn souls needed to trust each other if they hoped to survive the season.
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 2006
65 people are currently reading
245 people want to read
About the author
B.J. Daniels
512 books1,254 followersB.J. Daniels started her life in Houston, Texas, before her family moved to Montana at age five. She grew up in a cabin in the Gallatin Canyon near Big Sky and later on Hebgen Lake near West Yellowstone. Because of her love for Montana, most of her books are set there.
Born into a storytelling family, all she'd ever wanted to do was write stories. After a career as an award-winning newspaper journalist, she wrote and sold 37 short stories before she finally wrote her first book, ODD MAN OUT. Since then she has won numerous awards including a career achievement award for romantic suspense.
She lives in Montana with her husband, Parker, two Springer Spaniels. When she isn't writing, she quilts, boats and. makes rope/fabric baskets. She always reads, loving to lose herself in a good book.
Born into a storytelling family, all she'd ever wanted to do was write stories. After a career as an award-winning newspaper journalist, she wrote and sold 37 short stories before she finally wrote her first book, ODD MAN OUT. Since then she has won numerous awards including a career achievement award for romantic suspense.
She lives in Montana with her husband, Parker, two Springer Spaniels. When she isn't writing, she quilts, boats and. makes rope/fabric baskets. She always reads, loving to lose herself in a good book.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 4, 2013
Decades of lies make for dysfunctional families. There is no refuting that. Throw in multiple generations of illegitimate children and new money and you have a recipe for disaster. Chance Walker thought he had rid himself of the Bonner family when his first love, Rebecca chose to marry an old money name to bolster the respect for her family. He made himself a new life as a private investigator in Wyoming. That was until Beauregard Bonner ruined his holiday plans of sequestering himself in his cabin in the mountains with an offer he could refuse - find his youngest daughter, Dixie, who had been kidnapped.
This story really isn't missing anything - secrets, lies, gambling, kidnapping, hit men, car chases, gun shots, Christmas in the mountains, Texas oil money, deceit... You name it and it probably in this book. Somehow B.J. Daniels pulls it off though. It doesn't feel too contrived or unbelievable. It just feels suspenseful and the romantic tension helps keep the book a tad lighter and even a but playful at points.
I wouldn't have minded a tad more romance in the mix, but all-in-all a very enjoyable read! I will definitely continue reading other titles in this series and by this author.
This story really isn't missing anything - secrets, lies, gambling, kidnapping, hit men, car chases, gun shots, Christmas in the mountains, Texas oil money, deceit... You name it and it probably in this book. Somehow B.J. Daniels pulls it off though. It doesn't feel too contrived or unbelievable. It just feels suspenseful and the romantic tension helps keep the book a tad lighter and even a but playful at points.
I wouldn't have minded a tad more romance in the mix, but all-in-all a very enjoyable read! I will definitely continue reading other titles in this series and by this author.
February 21, 2017
There are few authors who can weave such involving plots as B.J. Daniels can. Add to that, this is a short book and you have a fast pace with a real good who done it. This book does not give up its secrets until the very end. It keeps you guessing all the way.
Someone is trying to kill Dixie. She takes off from Houston, TX and heads to Montana and the only person she feels she can trust, Chance Walker. Who is the driving question in the book. The why is also an unknown. It appears that someone is after Dixie because she is digging into her family history, but is that all?
Someone is trying to kill Dixie. She takes off from Houston, TX and heads to Montana and the only person she feels she can trust, Chance Walker. Who is the driving question in the book. The why is also an unknown. It appears that someone is after Dixie because she is digging into her family history, but is that all?
August 10, 2010
This book was great...not fantastic by anymeans but great. It was fast paced, exciting, sad, and funny. I really enjoyed reading this one.
November 9, 2017
Chance Walker receives a call from Beauregard Bonner asking him to find his missing daughter Dixie. Chance has a feeling she is headed his way and he’s right. He has always been Dixie’s hero and she has been in love with him since she was 12 and he was dating her older sister. She believes he is the only one who can save her from the two men who tried to kill her. When she got a chance to escape from them, she headed right to Chance. A great story as you try to determine who is trying to kill Dixie and why.
January 18, 2021
Dixie was kidnapped, not that anyone truly believed that. She did get free. She was researching her mother's family. Someone didn't want her to find out the truth. Chance is trying to find her. The ending surprised me. Not who I thought was the killer.
August 2, 2022
Dixie Bonner is being pursued. She finds herself seeking out her sister’s former boyfriend who is now a private eye. The story of who is after her is great. I didn’t have the correct killer but the story was perfect.
B. J. Daniels writes compelling stories.
B. J. Daniels writes compelling stories.
December 22, 2022
Not so bad
A good read. Goes to show you secrets do come out eventually and people are hurt. Never saw the ending be as it may. loved Dixie with her spunky and tell it Luke it is attitude.
A good read. Goes to show you secrets do come out eventually and people are hurt. Never saw the ending be as it may. loved Dixie with her spunky and tell it Luke it is attitude.
Want to read
July 19, 2020elibrary
January 7, 2025
Better than I expected!
September 14, 2023
I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this book. I was prepared to, if not dislike it, find it difficult to get into or get through based on my past experiances with some of BJ Daniels' books. She seems to be hit or miss for me. But this book was fast paced and kept you moving. It was written from several different POVs, mostly the MCs but there were scenes from various other characters' POVs. The timeline was basically in real time so as things were happening at the same time, the author would switch scens from what was happening in Montana to what was happening in Texas at that same time, then back again. This could have been disastrous but the author did it well and is also the reason we have POVs besides the MCs. I think if she'd done the scene switching without the POVs of the characters in the scene, it wouldn't have worked. This is also what gave the book a fast paced feel because it felt like there was always something going on.
This book was more suspense than romance, not steamy though those elements were there(only one mild sex scene, though). As for the romance itself, there was history between the MCs even though they hadn't seen each other for around 10 years, and she was still an early teen when they saw each other. He was dating her older sister and she had a crush on him during that time. After the older sister and he split, he left the state but apparently she never got over her crush, 'comparing' all other men to him. He remembered her as a the bratty younger sister who he did have a friendship with. He did feel a bit weird at first finding himself attracted to his ex's little sister who in his mind was still a teenager until they met up again. I'm not sure I totally believed that she would carry such strong feelings for him over the years but the development of thier relationship now felt right.
I was a little disappointed in the ending because he didn't really fight for her. Yes, he needed to let her go for awhile to deal with the things that happened, but it didn't feel like he was ever going to get to the place where he'd go get her - he was waiting on her to come to him. We didn't really get to see that scene - the author told us she left to go heal and there was no sense of how they actually left things between each other. And since he let communication between them wither to almost nothing, it was a bit surprising when she showed up on his doorstep practically prosposing marriage to him (with 3 kids in tow). We also never got her POV during this time, so we have no idea how she was feeling or what she was thinking during all this time. That was disappointing too.
All in all, it was a good story and we ended up with our HEA, so it's all good!
This book was more suspense than romance, not steamy though those elements were there(only one mild sex scene, though). As for the romance itself, there was history between the MCs even though they hadn't seen each other for around 10 years, and she was still an early teen when they saw each other. He was dating her older sister and she had a crush on him during that time. After the older sister and he split, he left the state but apparently she never got over her crush, 'comparing' all other men to him. He remembered her as a the bratty younger sister who he did have a friendship with. He did feel a bit weird at first finding himself attracted to his ex's little sister who in his mind was still a teenager until they met up again. I'm not sure I totally believed that she would carry such strong feelings for him over the years but the development of thier relationship now felt right.
I was a little disappointed in the ending because he didn't really fight for her. Yes, he needed to let her go for awhile to deal with the things that happened, but it didn't feel like he was ever going to get to the place where he'd go get her - he was waiting on her to come to him. We didn't really get to see that scene - the author told us she left to go heal and there was no sense of how they actually left things between each other. And since he let communication between them wither to almost nothing, it was a bit surprising when she showed up on his doorstep practically prosposing marriage to him (with 3 kids in tow). We also never got her POV during this time, so we have no idea how she was feeling or what she was thinking during all this time. That was disappointing too.
All in all, it was a good story and we ended up with our HEA, so it's all good!
February 5, 2020
Dixie is attacked, locked in her car trunk, and eventually overhears what her attackers are looking for as they enter her house in Texas and start ransacking it. She manages to escape with her car and goes on the run, heading to Montana and Chance, the only person she trusts and the man she has had a crush on since she was 12.
In Montana, PI Chance and his dog Beauregard are looking forward to a quiet if melancholy Christmas at his isolated cabin, and ignores the message light on his office answering machine, uninterested in taking on new cases. As he leaves his office he is stopped by a man from his past. Beau Bonneris the extremely wealthy oilman father of Dixie and he wants Chance to find his daughter and bring her home for Christmas. Beau believes Dixie is faking being kidnapped to extract money from him for some cause, something she did in her younger days more than once (the description of Dixie's prior 'kidnappings' are hysterical and make you like her even more).
Against his better judgment, he takes the job, hunts down Dixie, and eventually helps her investigate the secret about her mother that someone seems determined to kill to prevent coming to light. Along the way we meet and learn much about Dixie's extended family and how money does not buy happiness, and about Chance and his past. Naturally Chance and Dixie are meant for each other and before the final deadly confrontations and inevitable happy ever afters, there is one hot night in a snowed in mountain cabin on a Montana lake, a Christmas tree scenting the air.
This was very enjoyable with likeable characters, interesting story and villains, complex enough to keep me guessing for a while. I totally see why it is considered one of author's best, far better than a more recent one. I give it 3.5 stars actually.
In Montana, PI Chance and his dog Beauregard are looking forward to a quiet if melancholy Christmas at his isolated cabin, and ignores the message light on his office answering machine, uninterested in taking on new cases. As he leaves his office he is stopped by a man from his past. Beau Bonneris the extremely wealthy oilman father of Dixie and he wants Chance to find his daughter and bring her home for Christmas. Beau believes Dixie is faking being kidnapped to extract money from him for some cause, something she did in her younger days more than once (the description of Dixie's prior 'kidnappings' are hysterical and make you like her even more).
Against his better judgment, he takes the job, hunts down Dixie, and eventually helps her investigate the secret about her mother that someone seems determined to kill to prevent coming to light. Along the way we meet and learn much about Dixie's extended family and how money does not buy happiness, and about Chance and his past. Naturally Chance and Dixie are meant for each other and before the final deadly confrontations and inevitable happy ever afters, there is one hot night in a snowed in mountain cabin on a Montana lake, a Christmas tree scenting the air.
This was very enjoyable with likeable characters, interesting story and villains, complex enough to keep me guessing for a while. I totally see why it is considered one of author's best, far better than a more recent one. I give it 3.5 stars actually.
August 31, 2013
Dixie Bonner is kidnapped, but manages to escape. She is staying one step ahead of her abductors. Dixie's father hires Private Investigator Chance Walker to find Dixie and bring her home, not realizing the extent of the danger that is threatening her. Family rivalries and greed are all part of the mix. B.J. Daniels tells a good story.
February 26, 2014
it was an interesting book
September 21, 2012
Another good round with Ms Daniels in Montana. It's is fun to read about places I've been and things I've done myself - and actually get cold reading about snow! brrrr.
December 26, 2012
Kept me guessing!
January 11, 2021
2.5 stars
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews