Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

McCabe Multiples #4

Lone Star Daddy

Rate this book
HER GAME, HIS RULES

Is Clint McCulloch really thinking of bulldozing one hundred acres of prime blackberries? Not if Rose McCabe has her way! The enterprising single mother's plan will benefit the rodeo-champion-turned-rancher and her natural-food co-op. Too bad the sexy six-foot-four Texan is more stubborn—and devastatingly attractive—than when they were kids growing up in Laramie.

Clint just wants to restore his family ranch to its former glory, but the sassy entrepreneur can be awfully persuasive. Their mutual attraction is an added incentive. Until Rose lays down the ground rules: a no-strings affair because she's never, ever marrying again. Only now Clint wants the whole shebang—a future where he can be daddy to Rose's adorable preschool triplets and husband to his Lone Star cowgirl!

224 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 2015

22 people are currently reading
58 people want to read

About the author

Cathy Gillen Thacker

384 books107 followers

Dear Readers,

The love stories in my family have always been fodder for romance novels.

My maternal grandmother and grandfather simultaneously ran a business together and raised four daughters, long before it was an accepted thing to do.  Grandpa O’Dell ran the gas station and the barber shop; Grandma O’Dell managed the grocery and cooked for customers.  They were true partners and madly in love and parted, tragically, way too soon when he succumbed to cancer when he was in his early fifties.  Grandma grieved deeply but eventually picked herself up, started a new career as a cafeteria chef, and eventually found deep romantic love and happiness again, in the form of a second marriage.

Read more here...

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
31 (50%)
4 stars
16 (26%)
3 stars
12 (19%)
2 stars
1 (1%)
1 star
1 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
Profile Image for Carmen.
1,794 reviews2,444 followers
August 19, 2020
"You really are difficult."

Clint shrugged his shirt back on. Winked. "And in other respects, I am apparently oh-so-easy."

Not from what she had heard.

He hadn't dated anyone since he had been back in town. In fact, he had been as monk-like in his life as she had been nun-like in hers.
pg. 39

Actually a cute book. You'd never know it from the terrible title, Lone Star Daddy. Never judge a Harlequin book by its cover or its title.

Rose is a hardworking and ambitious woman who is angling to convince her neighbor, Clint, to allow her to sell the blackberries that grow on his land. They enter into an agreement.


GOOD POINTS

This book has a lot of good points. Clint admires Rose for raising up her triplets alone. He loves children, is great with children, and is more than just 'comfortable' adopting her three children and raising them, he desires it. She's stubbornly convinced she'll never marry again, and he's angling to patiently and gently change her mind. IRL I think any single mother would snap up this guy in 0.2 seconds, but since this is a romance novel Gillen Thacker makes her resistant to the idea of getting married and leery of men.

Clint and Rose are also, for the most part, mature adults who discuss their problems. This is admirable and a great relief to this reader. I hate romances that feature easily solvable problems which don't get solved because the hero and heroine are acting like children. When Clint starts to get angry with Rose about something, she's just like, "What's this about?" and then he just tells her and then the air is cleared. It's refreshing.

The only complaints I would have about this book are some mild sexism that can be overlooked IMO (stuff about 'being a woman' and 'being a man' and 'being feminine' ect.) and the fact that the book ends with Rose pretty much My sympathy mainly lie with Clint on this one.

Other than that, surprisingly enjoyable read.


HOW'S THE SEX, CARMEN?

I already liked Clint because he is great with children, is happy to spend time with Rose's children, knows and respects how seriously Rose takes sex, and seems like a man who is willing to gently and patiently deal with a woman who is hesitant about getting involved.

But thanks to Gillen Thacker, he's also good in bed. I've said this before about Gillen Thacker, and I'll probably say it again: she doesn't let Harlequin American Romance erase the sexiness from her books.

That DOESN'T mean I've rated all her books highly - certainly not. But I respect her as one of the few HAR authors who writes sexual couples, has multiple sex scenes in one book, and usually tries to make the hero capable in bed. You could say, "Of course, this is romance!" but if you are a romance reader you know that plenty of romance novels are unsexy and feature heroes who frankly are terrible in bed. Sad but true.

Clint is slow and thorough in bed. He likes going down on Rose and does it frequently. Making Rose cum makes him proud and happy. The sex in here isn't all realistic - there's one sex scene in the shower that had me skeptical - but at least they are having good sex, enjoying it, and Gillen Thacker is allowing them to have sex more than once.


TL;DR - Never judge a Harlequin by its cover or its title. This was a little gem I appreciated. It's not as sexy as I like my romance - which would be quite steamy - but for a HAR, Gillen Thacker sure delivered. It was refreshing both to have a man who knew what he was doing in bed and a couple that felt comfortable bringing up complaints to each other and talking through problems instead of getting in a huff. A rare trait in romance couples. Both Rose and Clint are pretty straight-forward with each other and behave mostly in admirable, mature ways. There are cutesy triplets (age three-and-a-half) and lots of talk about blackberry farming, but I found that to be fine.

ROMANCE CATEGORIES
Contemporary Romance
Cowboy/Western Romance
Non-Virgin Heroine
He's a Rancher, former Rodeo Star; She's a Farmer.
Takes Place in Texas, U.S.A.

NAMES IN THIS BOOK
Profile Image for Harlequin Books.
18.4k reviews2,811 followers
Read
June 30, 2016
"Sexy and sweet, Thacker fills the fourth McCabe Multiples story with humor, drama and passion, gently pushing her two reluctant leads into the future they deserve" (RT Book Reviews, 4 stars).

Miniseries: McCabe Multiples
Profile Image for Pauline Frost.
1,491 reviews5 followers
November 17, 2017
A well written perfectly paced story pulling you in from the start. The triplets are just adorable and easy to fall in love with. Struggles being a single mom Rose has a lot to deal with and Clint comes along at the right time.
Profile Image for Susan.
4,843 reviews130 followers
June 11, 2015
Good book. Rose McCabe lives next door to Clint's Double Creek Ranch, which he has recently returned to. He plans to turn it back into a cattle ranch, and intends to mow down the hundred acres of blackberry bushes and return that land to grassland. Rose is equally determined to talk him out of those plans. She intends to show him that they can be good for both of them. What neither expected was the intense mutual attraction they felt.

I really liked Clint and Rose and seeing the relationship that grew between them. Both were wary of their attraction at first, as both had had relationships go bad on them. Clint is a former rodeo star who had been engaged to a woman who ended up being far more interested in what he was than who he was. She had been intent on managing his career, and when he gave up rodeo to become a rancher she didn't want him any more. Rose had been married to a man who, when it came down to what was important to Rose, wasn't interested. When their triplets were born he decided that fatherhood wasn't for him and left her. While Clint hasn't given up the hope of finding the right woman and settling down, Rose has no intention of ever marrying again. Her kids and her business are enough for her - or so she tries to convince herself.

Clint's attraction to Rose motivated him to at least listen to what she had to say. He went along with her plans because he could see the benefits to them both. It also gave him the chance to spend more time with her and her kids. I really liked seeing the way that he and the triplets really took to each other. It wasn't long before he was picturing them as a family. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't getting anywhere trying to convince Rose. She is determined that she isn't going to let attraction lead her into making another mistake. She'll have an affair with him, but that's all.

All the time they spend together brings them closer together. But there are still issues that make a future together something of a problem. Rose thinks that everything is progressing well and that she and Clint have the same goal. And Clint hasn't really made it clear that his plans for the land haven't really changed, they've only been postponed. When the truth comes out, both feel betrayed. It takes some hard looks at what they really want and are willing to give before they can see what is really possible between them.

There were some really fun moments in the book that made what was happening between them seem like it was meant to be. I especially loved some of the interactions between Clint and the kids. His attempts to get them to eat vegetables were really funny, and I could see them happening in real life. I also loved the sweetness of seeing him read to them and play with them. Some of the attempts that Clint made to derail the publicity filming were also interesting. I could easily see why he was so frustrated, especially since none of it had been his idea. His work around was pretty smart, even if it didn't have quite the result he was looking for. I also loved seeing Rose with her sisters and the great relationships they had. They had some fun moments in their attempts to get Rose and Clint together.
934 reviews5 followers
June 23, 2015
Lone Star Daddy a McCabe Multiples by Cathy Gillen Thacker was a very good book. Two girls and a boy all 3 1/2 years old. Children of Rose McCabe. Sooooo cute and funny at times. Clint McCulloch moved back to his hometown family ranch. One hundred acres of the ranch was covered in wild blackberries. He planned to mow it all down. His neighbor, Rose McCabe, knew about the blackberries and convinced him to have a big blackberry machine come in to pick the blackberries. After this season he wants to mow them down. BUT......Rose doesn't want him to. In the meantime Clint gets attached to Rose and her three children. A lot goes on in this story.
Profile Image for Delacey.
1,204 reviews8 followers
November 21, 2019
I liked this story, though I have to say I read it a few months ago (I'm a little behind on my paperback reviews) so I'm going on memory. The kids were cute and some of Rose's reluctance was realistic, others were a bit odd (I hate the "I had one bad relationship, I'll never have another one" mentality). I also struggled with Clint's mentality- why get rid of something that is such a good source of income for your farm because you ranch needs to be exactly like it was before?? Overall, an enjoyable story.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews