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Christmas #6

A Colorado Christmas

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THE GREATEST WESTERN WRITERS OF THE 21ST CENTURY
 
At the Sugarloaf Ranch, Smoke and Sally Jensen prepare to welcome Preacher home for the holidays—unaware that their friend is trailed by a storm full of trouble.
 
On a mission of vengeance, an old trapper is rescued by Ace and Chance Jensen from ruthless outlaws—and wanted by a driven bounty hunter named Luke Jensen.
 
And, just released from prison, a criminal mastermind assembles a vicious gang of cutthroats to extract his final revenge against his enemy—the sheriff of Big Rock, Colorado . . .
 
With a snowstorm brewing, a community in jeopardy, and a showdown ready to explode, these courageous pioneers are brought together by fate and fury to forge peace on earth. But they’re going to have to fight for it. With guns. With grit. With glory. Because this Christmas, the greatest gift of all is . . . staying alive.

RAVES FOR  BUTCH CASSIDY THE LOST YEARS !

“Johnstone is a masterful storyteller, creating a tale that is fanciful and funny, exciting and surprisingly convincing. This is  great fun.”— Publishers Weekly

“An entertaining story with lots of plot twists.”— Booklist

RAVES FOR JOHNSTONE’S CHRISTMAS EPICS!

“An absorbing tale of Christmas with a side of magic . . . An exciting visit to the old west of gunfights and cattle drives. Four stars!”— RT Book Reviews on A Rocky Mountain Christmas

“This is an exciting visit to the old west of gunfights and cattle drives . . . the story draws one in and the modern world fades away. An absorbing tale of Christmas with a side of magic. Four stars!”— RT Book Reviews  on A Lone Star Christmas

“This rollicking Western is full of gunfights, outlaws, and an unforgettable holiday."— Library Journal on A Texas Hill Country Christmas

371 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published October 25, 2016

126 people are currently reading
797 people want to read

About the author

William W. Johnstone

1,040 books1,390 followers
William 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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5 stars
234 (51%)
4 stars
144 (31%)
3 stars
60 (13%)
2 stars
13 (2%)
1 star
6 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
Profile Image for Bill Riggs.
927 reviews15 followers
December 21, 2024
Another Johnstone Christmas crossover featuring most of the Jensen clan, Preacher, and Frank Morgan. Trouble is headed to Big Rock, Colorado from various directions and is looking to culminate on Christmas Eve. Smoke and his friends find themselves in the fight of their lives as they do their best to silence this bloody violent night.
Profile Image for Rob Smith, Jr..
1,289 reviews35 followers
December 31, 2019
Certainly one the best books in the Johnstone Clan corral. I say in the top 20, but think after 100 plus of these I'm past that number. So, I'd push this into the top 10.

First is the plot: A handful of threads coming from many directions that coalesce in a satisfying story and ending. Most, especially recent Johnstone books contain a rather easy or lazy plot model. This one does not. This is one of the few most complicated Johnstone novels I've read.

What this entry has that is most often missing in a Johnstone novel is a firm setting of atmosphere. Rare one could read a Johnstone novel and feel chilly in warmth, but this ghost writer does it in excellent form.

The characters are typically very strong. The ghost writer does a really terrific job entering the various Johnstone characters from other novels.

Involving dialogue the effort to give clear voices to all characters is very good. Excellent is the writing of the children speaking. Children's dialogue can be tricky and usually is a miss. This ghost writer nails the speaking of a child.

There are some inconsistencies with the Johnstone character's canon, could be better written and hardly on the level of the greatest classics. But it's a great book.

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 10 out of 10 points.
Profile Image for Cheryl.
6,559 reviews237 followers
December 19, 2016
I am a fan of Westerns. Yet, it seems that I have been lacking in my reading of this genre for a bit. Thus the reason I was looking forward to checking this book out. In addition, to the fact that it has the word "Colorado" in the title. Living in Colorado myself, I tend to gravitate towards books with the word "Colorado" in the title, in the story, or the author is from Colorado or currently resides in Colorado.

I did enjoy the setting of this story and the rough and tumble manners of the characters. It did feel like a good ole fashion Western story to me. What I realized is that this time it did not work for me to have jumped into this series for the first time. I did find the lack of a strong connection with the characters to be a minus. Therefore, I was only semi-interested in the story and attached to the characters. Some of the other readers have commented on the fact that this book did not feel very Christmas like due to the gruesome killings and towards children. Yes, the killings towards children was not great but I did not find the killings towards the adults to be that gruesome. For myself, it was just the lack of a connection that got to me with this book. In fact, I don't remember most of what I read.

281 reviews1 follower
November 20, 2025
Christmas was supposed to be a peaceful, loving celebration in Big Rock, but two different gangs of cutthroats had killing on their mind, but a force of good squashed those plans. Read more about the Smoke Jenson and Preacher story in this awesome book.
Profile Image for ElectricOutcast.
40 reviews3 followers
December 20, 2021
Review of audiobook: https://www.graphicaudio.net/christma...

On multiple occasions, I’ve listened to this special audiobook series that focuses on the Christmas season. I’ve listened to A Lone Star Christmas back in 2011, and I thought at first that it would be a one-shot thing. But as the years pass, I later admit that this is basically a sub-series focusing on characters that were created by William and J.A. Johnstone, and this series is basically the brainchild of the latter. I have skipped a few volumes because as much as I like violence, doing violence on Christmas can make me feel queasy sometimes.
A lot of people tend to get into debates about Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Batman Returns, and other mainstream movies being set in Christmas, are real Christmas movies. Well, if the Jensen Christmas series is any indication, this series basically fits the mold of those movies and then some.

There’s some violence, but the little I’ve read of The Jensen characters, they don’t look for violence unless someone draws first blood. I respect characters that don’t kill because they feel like it. A Colorado Christmas, in particular, Smoke Jensen and his family run into a group of outlaws that want to burn down a town that Smoke Jensen and his wife call home.

To top it all off, Smoke and his wife are looking after orphaned children with The Preacher, and (because I read The Jensen Family Christmas) his nephews Ace and Chance Jensen are in the neighborhood to help out.

To comment on the audio production, James Lewis performing as Smoke Jensen reminds me mostly of David Hayter and his work on Metal Gear Solid. That alone makes me curious to try out his solo series in the next year. Elizabeth Jernigen performing as Smoke’s wife, Sally, I felt a pretty organic chemistry between them, and it makes me feel like that they’re married in real life, but I highly doubt it, plus that’s really none of my business.

The story is a slow build to the climax of the plot, but the build-up does go pretty steadily, but once the action happens, the buildup is pretty worth it. Bottom line: if any of you need something related to Christmas that doesn’t involve Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, or Batman Returns, then by all means try this series, it’ll definitely be worth your time.
Profile Image for GG Stewart’s Bookhouse .
170 reviews22 followers
December 20, 2022
It’s become a Christmas tradition for me to read a book from William Johnstone’s Christmas series during the holiday, they are filed with ruthless outlaws and gunsling heroes. I found this one had a little less Christmas sprite than the other Christmas books. It does have a little more gore and violence
but it is a well written action packed book. The suspense is in high gear and Smoke, Ace, Chance and even Luke save the day. Preacher and Frank Morgan show up to give a little help as well, so that was nice. All the favorites together for the holiday ready to save some orphaned children and then enjoy some of Sally’s bear sign. Great book.
Profile Image for Ellen Spes.
1,082 reviews7 followers
July 31, 2024
Western town and ranch. Both full of exgun men who are now ranchers. 20 kids from an orphan train stuck in Christmas blizzard along with packs of gunmen there for a killing.
96 reviews2 followers
Read
January 7, 2022
Another DNF.

Unfortunately this is my second back to back DNF in the last 2 years (which sometimes is bad enough to get you off the reading track entirely). I tried to read this in time for Christmas, but I couldn’t, and this was due to the fact that there were just too many threads and characters—like multiple bad guy factions and multiple good guy groups to the point where I had no idea who was even supposed to be the main character, the antagonist etc. No joke, in the first 130 pages, there were probably about 25-30 characters introduced. Eventually you just get exhausted and can’t even visualize anyone. The not-terrific writing and cheesy dialogue did no favors in saving this for me. Which is a shame, bc I REALLY wanted to like this
Profile Image for Steph.
75 reviews2 followers
November 16, 2016
A very entertaining read. Well written, action packed and suspenseful. The book treats us to Smoke, Ace, Chance, Luke and (most importantly) Preacher (dog and horse!), along with Frank Morgan - the Drifter. These Christmas stories where many fan favorites come together are a lot of fun and great for the holiday season. I also was excited to see the mention of Breckinridge Wallace - the Frontiersman, and hope there's more books about him soon, and that he and Preacher raise a little hell in the future.

This book rates more a 4.5 out of 5 stars, but goodreads does not do the half star system.
31 reviews1 follower
December 4, 2016
Not long enough

The only negative I can say about this book is that it was not long enough. I could have read that much again. Thanks Mr. Johnstone for a great book with Christmas spirit.
Profile Image for Brittany.
606 reviews15 followers
December 8, 2023
Every time I read a Johnstone Western, it keeps getting better and better. From the action to the cozy days spent in Big Rock, each time I read these books, I oddly feel cozy and warm inside.

A Colorado Christmas tells the story of a Christmas in Big Rock, with Smoke and his wife, Sally, and Chance and Ace Jensen, who may or may not be related to Smoke, and also his brother, Luke. Preacher, the old mountain man, does appear to come to the Sugarloaf, but he came to hide from another mountain man named Eagle-Eye Callahan...for a misunderstanding that doesn't even sound right. Eagle-Eye thought that something was going on between Preacher and his wife after he found some letters that Eagle-Eye's wife wrote to Preacher. Preacher swore up and down that he had nothing to do with it, and that it was all up in poor Eagle-Eye's head.

While the town of Big Rock is preparing for Christmas, someone from the sheriff's past gets out of jail and wants revenge, while a group of people from New York, that is hired by William Litchfield to kill a boy who witnessed his family murder (ow...but why, though?), along with a group of orphans who got stuck on a train, and a private detective following the orphans and the people around, to make sure that they boy called Caleb is the one he's looking for.

This book was pretty funny at times, and also very sweet. The action was there, and it was nice looking up what a bear sign was-which I do believe is cowboy slang for doughnuts. I also really liked how the Jensens opened up their homes to the orphan children, Chance and Ace, and Preacher and Eagle-Eye, through them meeting up again and almost scrapping was funny. At the Christmas Eve pagent, I did get worried that this might be the day something really bad happens to Smoke, but thank god for Luke Jensen (which this is the first time I've meet him, to be honest).

This might be my favorite book to read and come back to every year that Christmas comes around, and I'm glad that I read it.
Profile Image for Chris Elliott.
46 reviews
December 21, 2025
It was stupid. I thoroughly hated it. I love reading a holiday book this time of year but man, this one just… it sucked.

First off, there were WAAAAAAY too many characters and sub plots. I didn’t realize when I started this book that it was part of a long series of holiday westerns. Having said that, it was still too hard to follow everyone. I was halfway through the book and found myself still flipping back to the beginning to remind myself who the hell this character was I was reading about. And then they’d never be mentioned again. Why mention them to begin with?! It just added to the confusion. Oh and then giving unrelated characters the same last name… yeah that didn’t confuse me at all. And the sub plots. Soooooo many unnecessary pages filled with crap that meant NOTHING to the story.

The back cover of the book says that the author is “the greatest Western writer of the 21st century.” I beg to differ. The writing was juvenile and frankly boring to read. His attempt at suspense made me laugh. Never before have I seen such badly written cliffhangers at the end of the chapter. It was borderline funny, kinda reminiscent of the way RL Stine would end a chapter of Goosebumps. At least Stine was aimed towards children so I could understand the juvenile writing style. Here? Not so much.

Overall this seemed like a badly written Hallmark Christmas movie. The characters were too many, the dialogue was corny, the events absurd… and I swear if I had taken a shot every time the author mentioned bear sign, I’d be crocked right now.

2 stars. And I hope I never read anything by this guy again. It was that bad.
Profile Image for Mark Luongo.
609 reviews10 followers
December 18, 2017
Another one of the Johnstones' Christmas tales that bring the Jensen family and friends together for the holiday only to find that the town they call home is under siege by 2 disparate groups of outlaws.
The ending is predictable but the tale is in the telling as they say and the Johnstones' tell it well. As I've said before these are the kind of stories where you can feel the wind on your face and smell the pine in the Colorado countryside as well as the gun smoke.
I also like how they weave historical material into the yarn. In this case the "Orphan trains" that brought disadvantaged "youngins" West in the hope of finding homes and new lives for them.
Profile Image for B.J. Burgess.
790 reviews24 followers
December 25, 2025
Overall, A Colorado Christmas felt somewhat overwhelming, drowning in its own abundance of plots and characters. The pace was often sluggish, but the allure of returning characters from Johnstone's expansive Wild West universe kept me invested. It wasn't the finest read I’ve encountered, but it certainly wasn’t the worst either. In the grand tapestry of holiday Westerns, it’s a bustling saloon stop—worth a visit if you’re in the mood for a bit of chaotic cheer amidst the snow drifts. ╌★★★½✰

Find my full review at https://www.coffeeaddictedwriter.com/....
Profile Image for Austin.
42 reviews
December 23, 2020
I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. To be honest, I tend to be fearful of the books with authors names written in large letters on the top. I'm not quite sure why. But this book wasn't intimidating at all. The writing was easy to follow and the story line was fun. The only complaint I have is that it was very gory. I found the depictions of violence, especially involving children, to be unnecessary.
Profile Image for Elaine .
649 reviews7 followers
December 23, 2024
I actually did not finish this book because it was not my cup of tea. There were so many characters and plots introduced in the first 25% that I got lost. Maybe if you are a fan of his books, these are characters that you follow and will enjoy the updates, but for a first time reader it is overwhelming. One of the plots involving an orphan train was too contrived to be believable but the other plots were mainly rip-roaring cowboy action stories.
374 reviews2 followers
June 6, 2024
A Colorado Christmas

Lots of action around Big Rock and Sugar loaf ranch a few days before Christmas. With the help of Ace and Chance Jensen, Oreach, One eyed Callahan, Sheriff Monte Carson, Frank Morgan, detective Ed Rinehart of New York, they were able to save the lives of 20 orphans and the people of Big Rock.
Profile Image for Cynthia.
3,201 reviews100 followers
October 4, 2017
I won this book from Goodreads giveaways. I was not required to give a favorable review. This was a very well written book about a time when a lot of things getting into Colorado by train had to deal with the chance of so much snow. But the people made Christmas special. This was a great story.
39 reviews
December 27, 2021
A good ol' fashion western Christmas book with plenty of drama as two vicious gangs of killers comes to Big Rock with vengeance on their minds. But there are heroes of a sort also in town too so who will win?
Profile Image for Jenny.
34 reviews2 followers
December 15, 2023
In the audio version, I’ll admit at the beginning I found the great cast of characters and settings a bit confusing. However, the author wove them all together into an interesting, albeit grisly tale of cowboys, bounty hunters, killers and revenge.
Profile Image for Nolan.
1,038 reviews3 followers
December 6, 2024
Pretty good story. However. Why didn't Frank Morgan just send a telegram to Monte Carlson on the trouble coming to Big Rock? Instead, he just shows up? No trains could get through, so he would have to ride a horse in the blinding cold snow to get there. Rather stupid.
Profile Image for Martha Peebles.
902 reviews11 followers
November 14, 2016
Great!!!!

What a great story, I always love reading about Smoke but having the rest of the family in the book was great!
40 reviews1 follower
November 17, 2017
Best ever

I have read a lot of Johnstone's books over the last few years. This is one of the best. If you like mysteries or western you will love this one.
174 reviews
December 20, 2020
4 1/2 Sears. I loved the book, it was like watching a western movie. Good story.
Profile Image for Malia.
1,165 reviews15 followers
March 23, 2021
Hail hail the characters are all present in this christmas book. Smoke, Preacher,...the bad guys, hell bent to die. Action packed!
22 reviews
February 4, 2022
Christmas Rendezvous

Rip snortin' western fun, filled with evil villains who get their comeuppance in the end. Another exciting Smoke and Preacher yarn.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews

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