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MacKenzie-Blackthorn #4
Granite Man
Mariah had returned home to her sprawling Colorado ranch with nothing but a battered car, some clothes and a map for gold. And what she got was an ornery prospecting partner named Cash, with a chip on his shoulder as big as the Rockies and a past that was chasing him. Cash couldn't hide his distrust . . . or his awareness of her sensuality.
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 1, 1991
89 people are currently reading
416 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Lowell
210 books1,926 followersIndividually and with co-author/husband Evan, Ann Maxwell has written over 60 novels and one work of non-fiction. There are 30 million copies of these books in print, as well as reprints in 30 foreign languages. Her novels range from science fiction to historical fiction, from romance to mystery. After working in contemporary and historical romance, she became an innovator in the genre of romantic suspense.
In 1982, Ann began publishing as Elizabeth Lowell. Under that name she has received numerous professional awards in the romance field, including a Lifetime Achievement award from the Romance Writers of America (1994).
Since July of 1992, she has had over 30 novels on the New York Times bestseller list. In 1998 she began writing suspense with a passionate twist, capturing a new audience and generation of readers. Her new romance novel Perfect Touch will be available in July of 2015.
To get a full list of titles as well as read excerpts from her novels, visit www.elizabethlowell.com.
In 1982, Ann began publishing as Elizabeth Lowell. Under that name she has received numerous professional awards in the romance field, including a Lifetime Achievement award from the Romance Writers of America (1994).
Since July of 1992, she has had over 30 novels on the New York Times bestseller list. In 1998 she began writing suspense with a passionate twist, capturing a new audience and generation of readers. Her new romance novel Perfect Touch will be available in July of 2015.
To get a full list of titles as well as read excerpts from her novels, visit www.elizabethlowell.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
November 13, 2018
Just a little gem of a vintage story if you like grumpy heroes who hate women, virgin heroines and camping in spectacular locations. I parachuted into this series without reading the other books, but it's fairly obvious how all the characters are connected to this ranch and surrounding mountains in Colorado.
The story opens with the heroine returning to her home after 15 years. Her parents divorced when she was a child. Her mother took the heroine and a gold nugget necklace with her to Seattle and married a cold, uncaring man. Heroine spent most of her time in boarding schools. Her much older brother stayed on the ranch and inherited it when his father died.
Heroine and brother had written to each other but their letters were intercepted by their vindictive parents and heroine has no idea if her brother will be happy to see her or not. The door of the ranch house is opened by the Hero, aka Granite Man (because he's a geologist/part-time professor). Hero's sister is married to heroine's brother and he stays at the ranch during the summer to look for gold.
He is immediately attracted to the heroine, but is cruel/rude/suspicious of her because he had an evil mother and an evil ex-wife.
It's a familiar set-up, but it is told with intensity and economy. This is a Silhouette category, but EL introduces a lot of characters and backstory yet keeps everything moving along.
After a happy reunion with her brother, the action shifts to the H/h riding into the mountains to find a lost gold mine (where the nuggets from the necklace must have been found). They stay in a dilapidated shack and get to know one another.
The author shows the hero's change of heart subtly, but effectively. He has a fewer and fewer negative thoughts about the heroine until he starts having positive thoughts and . . .
Before you know it the heroine is a virgin no more.
The black moment comes after they return to the ranch (without finding the mine) and the hero has to leave for awhile. Heroine realizes she's pregnant and happily anticipates telling the H. When he returns, he is not amused. He thinks he's sterile because he had mumps as a teen, plus his evil ex got pregnant by another man and don't all women do this sort of thing?
Heroine is devastated and thinks she has to prove her love by finding the mine. She goes off to the mountains, finds the mine, but then a storm comes and she is in great danger. She calls the hero on her "flip phone" and sounds resigned to dying without his love. Hero rescues her and declares his love for an HEA.
Oh, the drama and angst - with some lovely scenery thrown in for fun - all in a two hour read. Old skool at it's finest - purple prose and all.
The story opens with the heroine returning to her home after 15 years. Her parents divorced when she was a child. Her mother took the heroine and a gold nugget necklace with her to Seattle and married a cold, uncaring man. Heroine spent most of her time in boarding schools. Her much older brother stayed on the ranch and inherited it when his father died.
Heroine and brother had written to each other but their letters were intercepted by their vindictive parents and heroine has no idea if her brother will be happy to see her or not. The door of the ranch house is opened by the Hero, aka Granite Man (because he's a geologist/part-time professor). Hero's sister is married to heroine's brother and he stays at the ranch during the summer to look for gold.
He is immediately attracted to the heroine, but is cruel/rude/suspicious of her because he had an evil mother and an evil ex-wife.
It's a familiar set-up, but it is told with intensity and economy. This is a Silhouette category, but EL introduces a lot of characters and backstory yet keeps everything moving along.
After a happy reunion with her brother, the action shifts to the H/h riding into the mountains to find a lost gold mine (where the nuggets from the necklace must have been found). They stay in a dilapidated shack and get to know one another.
The author shows the hero's change of heart subtly, but effectively. He has a fewer and fewer negative thoughts about the heroine until he starts having positive thoughts and . . .
Before you know it the heroine is a virgin no more.
The black moment comes after they return to the ranch (without finding the mine) and the hero has to leave for awhile. Heroine realizes she's pregnant and happily anticipates telling the H. When he returns, he is not amused. He thinks he's sterile because he had mumps as a teen, plus his evil ex got pregnant by another man and don't all women do this sort of thing?
Heroine is devastated and thinks she has to prove her love by finding the mine. She goes off to the mountains, finds the mine, but then a storm comes and she is in great danger. She calls the hero on her "flip phone" and sounds resigned to dying without his love. Hero rescues her and declares his love for an HEA.
Oh, the drama and angst - with some lovely scenery thrown in for fun - all in a two hour read. Old skool at it's finest - purple prose and all.
February 27, 2021
I'm addicted to melodrama.
December 14, 2020
This fourth book in Lowell's MacKenzie-Blackthorn series features as its MCs the siblings of the MCs in Fire and Rain (the second book). We're on familiar territory here--the Rocking M ranch, literally, but also a hero whose past experience (mommy issues, first wife) have left him cynical and suspicious of women, a virginal heroine with a case of instalove who is headed for angsty heartache, and a few visits with other characters in the series, all whom live on the ranch.
Lots of angst, a vulnerable (and somewhat doormatty) heroine, and Lowell's usual gorgeous descriptions of the high country and ranch life made this a decent read, but of the four, it was probably my least favorite. None the less, I rated it the same as the others because it doesn't differ that much from the others. Amazing how much successful retread Lowell got from this series, with her not-quite-cookie-cutter cynical, love-averse, damaged heroes and the women who "heal" them with them love and magic vaginas.
Lots of angst, a vulnerable (and somewhat doormatty) heroine, and Lowell's usual gorgeous descriptions of the high country and ranch life made this a decent read, but of the four, it was probably my least favorite. None the less, I rated it the same as the others because it doesn't differ that much from the others. Amazing how much successful retread Lowell got from this series, with her not-quite-cookie-cutter cynical, love-averse, damaged heroes and the women who "heal" them with them love and magic vaginas.
November 5, 2023
First book finished from my current stash of oldies bodice ripper romances. Really enjoyed the banter in the first 2/3 of the book, but didn’t like the ending. My man Cash should’ve gotten on his knees and GROVELED
November 11, 2018
3.5 stars
Unlike the previous book this time we have a woman-hating hero hero who has been burned before. h comes looking for her long-lost brother, and our hero starts doubting her motives from the start. Of course soon they are hot & heavy and like a typical HP hero he thinks he is sterile. Our poor besotted heroine would do anything even nearly die to prove herself, duh! Then, an HEA. I guess this series follows a carbon copy template but atleast they are quick entertaining reads that aren't reinventing the wheel.
Unlike the previous book this time we have a woman-hating hero hero who has been burned before. h comes looking for her long-lost brother, and our hero starts doubting her motives from the start. Of course soon they are hot & heavy and like a typical HP hero he thinks he is sterile. Our poor besotted heroine would do anything even nearly die to prove herself, duh! Then, an HEA. I guess this series follows a carbon copy template but atleast they are quick entertaining reads that aren't reinventing the wheel.
November 22, 2018
השם ישמור זה היה מזעזע.
July 19, 2015
I read this when it was first released as a paperback, for Silhouette in March, 1991. I bought all four of this series (at the time there were only four) and the paperbacks have moved with me through many states and many re-readings. Now that they are available as Kindle books, I purchased them again and am reading them on my Kindle.
I have to say, this IS a good book, but I wasn't impressed with Mariah and frankly I hated Cash periodically throughout the story. Nonetheless, I like the series, love the Rocking M and still love all the Blackthorn brothers even if they weren't MC's in this.
I have to say, this IS a good book, but I wasn't impressed with Mariah and frankly I hated Cash periodically throughout the story. Nonetheless, I like the series, love the Rocking M and still love all the Blackthorn brothers even if they weren't MC's in this.
February 8, 2016
full of melodrama and passion! loved, loved it but the ending was abrupt!
March 17, 2015
Every emotional scene is slightly overdone. When Mariah becomes desperate, she becomes really fucking desperate. When Cash turns cruel, he turns really fucking cruel. When Mariah becomes depressed and hopeless, she becomes really fucking depressed and hopeless. Everything is overdramatized just enough to come across as a bit ridiculous. And it was an entertaining read all the more for it.
January 28, 2016
2.5 stars
November 21, 2018
H33,h22
July 15, 2016
Okay, so I have read every book in the MacKenzie-Blackthorn series except the last one, which I will read shortly, and all I can really say is that they're all okay. Not great. Not super unique. Just okay. They all have essentially the same plotline: guy gets snubbed by previous wife/lover and doesn't trust women anymore. A remarkably gorgeous lady stranger shows up at the Rocking M, and while each of these men are cautious about the women sinking them into some type of marriage trap, it in no way impedes the men from sleeping with the women. The sex is always followed by misunderstanding or miscommunication of sorts and then it's resolved and they get married and live happily ever after. This is all fine, for the most part. What irked me is that there was so little interaction between the hero and heroine that by the time they did the deed, it still felt like they were strangers to me. I just need the main characters to get to know each other a little better before they start ripping off clothes and flesh starts throbbing and hearts start racing, you know?
March 31, 2018
You know whaaaat?
The trope "I've been hurt by a woman in the past so any other female in my vicinity is evil and will use all men, so I need to treat them like dirt" is just no for me. So sick of it. Grow the f**k up.
The trope "I've been hurt by a woman in the past so any other female in my vicinity is evil and will use all men, so I need to treat them like dirt" is just no for me. So sick of it. Grow the f**k up.
March 8, 2024
Quite boring.
The hero is a man with a sad past, and there’s the usual trope of he who is sterile but is actually not, so when he meets the heroine and he’s attracted to her he knows that it will only be a flirt since he can’t give her children. They start having sex. The heroine was a virgin but since his ex wife was a virgin too but a slutty one, he thinks this could also be the case of the heroine too, because you know, women are all hoes except your mum and your sister.
So when she gets pregnant he is cruel and mean and she tries to prove that she loves him basically endangering her life and that of her child in a silly attempt to find a gold mine and give it to him. In the meantime the hero starts having doubts, I must admit that he realizes he was wrong with her quite soon, and he tries to talk to her but she’s already left for her mad quest in the middle of a blizzard and the hero barely finds her alive. There’s not much more here, he’s not really bad except when he thinks she cheated on him with his bff, who, btw, should have punched him hard on his sorry face for him thinking that. The heroine is too naive imo, and the author makes her a child who suffered because her stepdad never loved her and her mum only tolerated her, so she can’t stand the hero’s rejection and behaved with reckless carelessness.
The lack of a real epilogue was really annoying, the author should have spent a couple of pages more before she could forgive his abismal behavior but apparently the number of pages available were over and she hurried thing a bit too much. It’s like, oh dear, I was wrong to think you are a cheater, will you marry me. Oh well, yes, why not. The end. Really?
The hero is a man with a sad past, and there’s the usual trope of he who is sterile but is actually not, so when he meets the heroine and he’s attracted to her he knows that it will only be a flirt since he can’t give her children. They start having sex. The heroine was a virgin but since his ex wife was a virgin too but a slutty one, he thinks this could also be the case of the heroine too, because you know, women are all hoes except your mum and your sister.
So when she gets pregnant he is cruel and mean and she tries to prove that she loves him basically endangering her life and that of her child in a silly attempt to find a gold mine and give it to him. In the meantime the hero starts having doubts, I must admit that he realizes he was wrong with her quite soon, and he tries to talk to her but she’s already left for her mad quest in the middle of a blizzard and the hero barely finds her alive. There’s not much more here, he’s not really bad except when he thinks she cheated on him with his bff, who, btw, should have punched him hard on his sorry face for him thinking that. The heroine is too naive imo, and the author makes her a child who suffered because her stepdad never loved her and her mum only tolerated her, so she can’t stand the hero’s rejection and behaved with reckless carelessness.
The lack of a real epilogue was really annoying, the author should have spent a couple of pages more before she could forgive his abismal behavior but apparently the number of pages available were over and she hurried thing a bit too much. It’s like, oh dear, I was wrong to think you are a cheater, will you marry me. Oh well, yes, why not. The end. Really?
July 4, 2021
Short, and sweet story. Lowell is absolutely sensational at writing love scenes. Of all the romance novels I have read she is able to describe the most intimate moments so well. Mariah went back to her family ranch in search of the gold supposedly lost there. Cash, the expert geologist and pessimist, agrees to help her find it. Having been hurt by his first wife, Cash swears off women for good. That is until he meets Mariah. I’ve been loving stories set in the west, and during gold rush times. I thought this was historical romance when I purchased it but nonetheless I still enjoyed it despite it being modern. My only problem is I wished it was longer. I would’ve loved to keep reading but it was fairly short. I had to buy another Lowell book after reading “Winter Fire” and I was not disappointed. Definitely will be reading her other books soon.
January 27, 2023
A short and sweet story. Very predictable but enjoyable. Light read. Mariah returns home after 15 years. Her mother had left the ranch and took her with her. After her death she returns and is welcomed h9me, She meets Cash who is her sister in laws brother. She is instantly attracted. To find out what happens read the story.
May 14, 2024
El libro estaban muy entretenido, hasta que la bajaron de la montaña, hay ya fue una mierda. el interés amoroso es un machista de mierda que nunca cambio, la prota tiene daddy usse y es la persona más manipulable del mundo. y todos tienen una convivencia rara, no se sabe muy bien si son ricos o no. aunque tengan tanto terreno.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 22, 2024
bro i don’t know if i would be able to just forgive and forget everything that man said 🤚 i love me some grumpy characters but he was a through and through ASS
(also—this was labeled as cowboys and i would argue he is not. the man is a geologist who knows how to ride a horse for anyone who needs to know!)
(also—this was labeled as cowboys and i would argue he is not. the man is a geologist who knows how to ride a horse for anyone who needs to know!)
September 7, 2024
My common reviews for all the books in this series are
The sudden ceasing of all issues between H and h
Some issues and storylines are abandoned suddenly and and the abrupt endings with no proper endings for all those involved.
The sudden ceasing of all issues between H and h
Some issues and storylines are abandoned suddenly and and the abrupt endings with no proper endings for all those involved.
September 6, 2025
I really enjoyed reading this story. I was glad it gave some answers to the questions I had about Case's family from the first book Reckless Love, and Mad Jack's mine, etc. This is definitely a page turner, & worth keeping to read again.
January 26, 2018
3.5 stars.
November 3, 2018
That ending was so abrupt wth there should be at least 50 more pages to wrap up conflicts.
June 24, 2019
Oldie. Cash was an ass
November 4, 2020
End was super abrupt but it was a pretty good book. I would have liked more angst but the end had a good amount of angst and it made me cry.
January 14, 2021
A good quick read for those car rides or stuck on the train or bus. It follows the same vein as the other stubborn man and a strong woman. Not my favorite of the series.
October 30, 2021
loved it...
July 14, 2023
Cheesy and predictable.
August 14, 2023
Cute little romance story with steamy parts, but for the 20-30 y/o reader, not much depth .
September 11, 2023
3.5-too much geology talk, needs more groveling from H at the end
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews