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Heartbreak Ranch
Saddle up with Heartbreak Ranch, a Western anthology that spans four generations of strong women who successively inherit the legacy of a ranch with a legendary history. It's a wild ride through the lives and loves of four women, from 1870 to the present. Original.
377 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
58 people are currently reading
215 people want to read
About the author
Fern Michaels
428 books6,565 followersFern Michaels isn’t a person. I’m not sure she’s an entity either since an entity is something with separate existence. Fern Michaels® is what I DO. Me, Mary Ruth Kuczkir. Growing up in Hastings, Pennsylvania, I was called Ruth. I became Mary when I entered the business world where first names were the order of the day. To this day, family and friends call me Dink, a name my father gave me when I was born because according to him I was ‘a dinky little thing’ weighing in at four and a half pounds. However, I answer to Fern since people are more comfortable with a name they can pronounce.
As they say, the past is prologue. I grew up, got a job, got married, had five kids. When my youngest went off to Kindergarten, my husband told me to get off my ass and get a job. Those were his exact words. I didn’t know how to do anything except be a wife and mother. I was also a voracious reader having cut my teeth on The Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Cherry Ames and the like. The library was a magical place for me. It still is to this day. Rather than face the outside world with no skills, I decided to write a book. For some reason that didn’t intimidate me. As my husband said at the time, stupid is as stupid does. Guess what, I don’t have that husband any more. Guess what else! I wrote 99 books, most of them New York Times Best Sellers.
Moving right along here . . . Several years ago I left Ballantine Books, parted company with my agent, sold my house in New Jersey that I had lived in all my married life and in 1993 moved to South Carolina. I figured if I was going to go through trauma let it be all at one time. It was a breeze. The kids were all on their own at that point. The dump was a 300 year old plantation house that is listed in the National Registry that I remodeled. Today it is beyond belief as are the gardens and the equally old Angel Oaks that drip Spanish moss. Unfortunately, I could not get my ghost to relocate. This ghost has been documented by previous owners. Mary Margaret as we call her, is “a friendly”. She is also mischievous. It took me two weeks to figure out that she didn’t like my coffee cups. They would slide off the table or counter or else they’d break in the dishwasher. I bought red checkered ones. All are intact as of this writing. She moves pillows from one room to the other and she stops all the clocks in the house at 9:10 in the a.m. at least once a week. When the Azaleas are in bloom, and only then, I find blooms on my night stand. I have this glorious front porch and during the warm months I see my swing moving early in the morning when the air is still and again late in the day. She doesn’t spook the dogs. I always know when she’s around because the five of them line up and look like they’re at a tennis match. As of this writing we’re co-habiting nicely.
Most writers love what they do and I’m no exception. I love it when I get a germ of an idea and get it down on paper. I love breathing life into my characters. I love writing about women who persevere and prevail because that’s what I had to do to get to this point in time. It’s another way of saying it doesn’t matter where you’ve been, what matters is where you’re going and how you get there. The day I finally prevailed was the day I was inducted into the New Jersey Literary Hall of Fame. For me it was an awesome day and there are no words to describe it.
I’ve been telling stories and scribbling for 37 years. I hope I can continue for another 37 years. It wasn’t easy during some of those years. As I said, I had to persevere. My old Polish grandmother said something to me when I was little that I never forgot. She said when God is good to you, you have to give back. For a while I didn’t know how to do that. When I finally figured it out I set up The Fern Michaels® Foundation.
READ FERN MICHAELS' FULL BIOGRAPHY HERE: http://www.fernmichaels.com/biography/
As they say, the past is prologue. I grew up, got a job, got married, had five kids. When my youngest went off to Kindergarten, my husband told me to get off my ass and get a job. Those were his exact words. I didn’t know how to do anything except be a wife and mother. I was also a voracious reader having cut my teeth on The Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Cherry Ames and the like. The library was a magical place for me. It still is to this day. Rather than face the outside world with no skills, I decided to write a book. For some reason that didn’t intimidate me. As my husband said at the time, stupid is as stupid does. Guess what, I don’t have that husband any more. Guess what else! I wrote 99 books, most of them New York Times Best Sellers.
Moving right along here . . . Several years ago I left Ballantine Books, parted company with my agent, sold my house in New Jersey that I had lived in all my married life and in 1993 moved to South Carolina. I figured if I was going to go through trauma let it be all at one time. It was a breeze. The kids were all on their own at that point. The dump was a 300 year old plantation house that is listed in the National Registry that I remodeled. Today it is beyond belief as are the gardens and the equally old Angel Oaks that drip Spanish moss. Unfortunately, I could not get my ghost to relocate. This ghost has been documented by previous owners. Mary Margaret as we call her, is “a friendly”. She is also mischievous. It took me two weeks to figure out that she didn’t like my coffee cups. They would slide off the table or counter or else they’d break in the dishwasher. I bought red checkered ones. All are intact as of this writing. She moves pillows from one room to the other and she stops all the clocks in the house at 9:10 in the a.m. at least once a week. When the Azaleas are in bloom, and only then, I find blooms on my night stand. I have this glorious front porch and during the warm months I see my swing moving early in the morning when the air is still and again late in the day. She doesn’t spook the dogs. I always know when she’s around because the five of them line up and look like they’re at a tennis match. As of this writing we’re co-habiting nicely.
Most writers love what they do and I’m no exception. I love it when I get a germ of an idea and get it down on paper. I love breathing life into my characters. I love writing about women who persevere and prevail because that’s what I had to do to get to this point in time. It’s another way of saying it doesn’t matter where you’ve been, what matters is where you’re going and how you get there. The day I finally prevailed was the day I was inducted into the New Jersey Literary Hall of Fame. For me it was an awesome day and there are no words to describe it.
I’ve been telling stories and scribbling for 37 years. I hope I can continue for another 37 years. It wasn’t easy during some of those years. As I said, I had to persevere. My old Polish grandmother said something to me when I was little that I never forgot. She said when God is good to you, you have to give back. For a while I didn’t know how to do that. When I finally figured it out I set up The Fern Michaels® Foundation.
READ FERN MICHAELS' FULL BIOGRAPHY HERE: http://www.fernmichaels.com/biography/
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 19, 2025
Heartbreak Ranch: Amy's Story\Josie's Story\Harmony's Story\Arabella's Story by Fern Michaels, Jill Marie Landis, Dorsey Kelley, Chelley Kitzmiller
1 star – would give it a minus 100% if I could
WARNING: blaspheming (taking the Lord’s name in vain); cursing; debauchery; drinking; drugs; abuse; thievery...to mention a few and all within the first few pages. I put this warning here for the sake of Christian readers and for those who are sensitive to these things.
First, I am supposed to be doing other things right now; however, this book was so bad that my conscience would not allow me to do nothing about it.
I first read another Jill Marie Landis book and because of it thought this book would be ‘safe’, since her name is associated with it. To my shock, this multi-authored book dregs the bottom of the sewer for its content. I will seriously reconsider reading another one of Landis' books because of it. It saddens me that she even participated in this book series.
The first novel is about the abuse and what could possibly be the murder of a man. A ‘Madam’ devises a manual on how to use and abuse men; she uses her dog as her teacher. She then defrauds a man out of all that he owns and leaves the manual to teach her descendants to do the same. I had to stop reading because it vexed my conscience.
What I find laughable is the fact that she does this to him because she overhears him bragging that he is going to get her to take him to her bed. This is a woman who runs a brothel. She stopped bedding men only because she didn’t want to create an unfair advantage for herself over her ‘girls’; she claimed to be that good at what she did.
It’s up to you if you want to read this filth. I can find better things to do with my time and conscience.
I don’t care the reason or whether it’s a man or woman, no one should be treated the way this ‘Madam’ did and trained her offspring to treat men.
I’ll leave it up to you, but you’ve been warned about the contents.
1 star – would give it a minus 100% if I could
WARNING: blaspheming (taking the Lord’s name in vain); cursing; debauchery; drinking; drugs; abuse; thievery...to mention a few and all within the first few pages. I put this warning here for the sake of Christian readers and for those who are sensitive to these things.
First, I am supposed to be doing other things right now; however, this book was so bad that my conscience would not allow me to do nothing about it.
I first read another Jill Marie Landis book and because of it thought this book would be ‘safe’, since her name is associated with it. To my shock, this multi-authored book dregs the bottom of the sewer for its content. I will seriously reconsider reading another one of Landis' books because of it. It saddens me that she even participated in this book series.
The first novel is about the abuse and what could possibly be the murder of a man. A ‘Madam’ devises a manual on how to use and abuse men; she uses her dog as her teacher. She then defrauds a man out of all that he owns and leaves the manual to teach her descendants to do the same. I had to stop reading because it vexed my conscience.
What I find laughable is the fact that she does this to him because she overhears him bragging that he is going to get her to take him to her bed. This is a woman who runs a brothel. She stopped bedding men only because she didn’t want to create an unfair advantage for herself over her ‘girls’; she claimed to be that good at what she did.
It’s up to you if you want to read this filth. I can find better things to do with my time and conscience.
I don’t care the reason or whether it’s a man or woman, no one should be treated the way this ‘Madam’ did and trained her offspring to treat men.
I’ll leave it up to you, but you’ve been warned about the contents.
June 15, 2018
Love Fern Michaels. This is 4 books in one. Generations of a family, the ranch and their loves. Good.
June 15, 2019
What a great idea; showing how the advice of one gutsy female helped four succeeding generations of women through tough patches in their lives. The back cover made this sound absolutely charming. An added benefit was having Jill Marie Landis writing one of the sections.
Well, the problem starts at the beginning. The reader learns about the ancestor who will guide four more generations. Bella Duprey was the best courtesan of the Barbary Coast. She owned a saloon and heard that Sam Heart, a man she was in love with, had bet that he would get Bella to invite him into her bed.
Although she was supposed to be in love with Sam, she decides to cheat at cards and win his most loved possession -- his Heartbreak Ranch. Worse than that, she has him shanghaied (dumped on a boat where he would become a slave until he escaped or died). This is someone we want to advise future generations of women?
Bella leaves a life-sized portrait of her nude self and a 4 part book called "The Art of Fascination." Her ideas were shocking; men are to be trained like dogs! At first, I thought it was a joke. Jill Marie Landis and Fern Michaels have had long careers in writing and should know better.
I'm only sorry that I have to give this junk a star at all; it certainly doesn't deserve it.
Well, the problem starts at the beginning. The reader learns about the ancestor who will guide four more generations. Bella Duprey was the best courtesan of the Barbary Coast. She owned a saloon and heard that Sam Heart, a man she was in love with, had bet that he would get Bella to invite him into her bed.
Although she was supposed to be in love with Sam, she decides to cheat at cards and win his most loved possession -- his Heartbreak Ranch. Worse than that, she has him shanghaied (dumped on a boat where he would become a slave until he escaped or died). This is someone we want to advise future generations of women?
Bella leaves a life-sized portrait of her nude self and a 4 part book called "The Art of Fascination." Her ideas were shocking; men are to be trained like dogs! At first, I thought it was a joke. Jill Marie Landis and Fern Michaels have had long careers in writing and should know better.
I'm only sorry that I have to give this junk a star at all; it certainly doesn't deserve it.
December 29, 2010
Well, is seemed like an interesting idea, and we all like linked / continuing stories, right? Plus who wouldn't like the idea that a each story would feature a woman influenced by advice of her ancestor?
Except that the stories were nothing like the back cover makes them out to be. The book starts off with a quick overview of Bella Duprey's story, and how she came to own the Heartbreak Ranch in the first place. Well, she drugs the man who owns it, cheats (yes, CHEATS, with marked cards) him out of the ranch, and has him shanghied. All in revenge for his betting his friends that he could get her to take him into her bed. Okay, I admit that his actions were despicable, but stealing his land from him (and his children/heirs!) and then having him shanghied into service on a slave boat (and almost certain death) seemed an unreasonable punishment for his crime. Yes, he toyed with her affections but did he really deserve to die for that? I don't think so. I was actually glad that she was killed in a fire; I felt she deserved it for being so vindictive.
And her book, THE ART OF FASCINATION, should be called THE ART OF CONTROLLING MEN. It wasn't funny, it was disgusting. She contends that men are like dogs, and need to be trained and treated accordingly. And one can even use potions and elixers to control a man if the woman deems it necessary. And this is supposed to be funny, or something? It's sick! If a man and woman are in a relationship, they should be equals, not master and slave. Men are not dogs. (If they were, why would women want to be with one of them?)
Funny, but if a man were saying such things about women, that they need to be trained and controlled, people everywhere would be screaming for his blood. If a man was drugging a woman, or using aphrodisiacs to get what he wants, women everywhere would be stringing him up by his...tender areas. But when a woman does it, it's okay? It's even amusing? I don't think so.
Except that the stories were nothing like the back cover makes them out to be. The book starts off with a quick overview of Bella Duprey's story, and how she came to own the Heartbreak Ranch in the first place. Well, she drugs the man who owns it, cheats (yes, CHEATS, with marked cards) him out of the ranch, and has him shanghied. All in revenge for his betting his friends that he could get her to take him into her bed. Okay, I admit that his actions were despicable, but stealing his land from him (and his children/heirs!) and then having him shanghied into service on a slave boat (and almost certain death) seemed an unreasonable punishment for his crime. Yes, he toyed with her affections but did he really deserve to die for that? I don't think so. I was actually glad that she was killed in a fire; I felt she deserved it for being so vindictive.
And her book, THE ART OF FASCINATION, should be called THE ART OF CONTROLLING MEN. It wasn't funny, it was disgusting. She contends that men are like dogs, and need to be trained and treated accordingly. And one can even use potions and elixers to control a man if the woman deems it necessary. And this is supposed to be funny, or something? It's sick! If a man and woman are in a relationship, they should be equals, not master and slave. Men are not dogs. (If they were, why would women want to be with one of them?)
Funny, but if a man were saying such things about women, that they need to be trained and controlled, people everywhere would be screaming for his blood. If a man was drugging a woman, or using aphrodisiacs to get what he wants, women everywhere would be stringing him up by his...tender areas. But when a woman does it, it's okay? It's even amusing? I don't think so.
February 18, 2017
Held my attention until 4:00am. Could not put it down!
Really enjoyed the stories and appreciation the way one led into another. Well written and well developed characters. Very enjoyable!
Really enjoyed the stories and appreciation the way one led into another. Well written and well developed characters. Very enjoyable!
July 16, 2013
Stories of women who inherit Heartbreak Ranch and fall in love. Stories are short, so the couple fall in love quickly. Sadly the couples you'd enjoyed in the previous stories were killed off in the next.
April 4, 2011
4 short stories about the Heartbreak Ranch. I just got this because the 2nd story "Josie's Story" was written by one of my favorite authors...Jill Marie Landis. Not one of her better writings.
April 29, 2013
Apparently, I'm "over" this kind of romance. It was far too predictable. I'm glad it was a library book and I didn't waste any money on it!
June 26, 2013
nice fast book...
July 6, 2013
I liked that each short story continued into the next; was really looking forward to Fern Michael's story, but it was just weird.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews