LIFE AND LOVE AND DEATH ON THE CALDER rANCH. ( )

OH!!!! I listened to 1/9 parts but having heard the narrator Kate Fleming so many times before, I couldn't separate her from the book - her sound being a kind of compilation of so many other good books. One's head gets scrambled.

I see that the narrator for Audible's version of the novel is Mil Nicholson - I hope I can find that audiobook one day.

The sixth book in the Calder series, this story is about Ty and Jessy Calder' having twins, and their interaction with Tara Calder, Ty's first wife. Tara wants to destroy Jessy's marriage and get Ty back in just about way she can. She helps organize a private auction of cattle, visits The Homestead as frequently as possible and buys a large chunk of Calder's grazing land on which to build a large house. The area is going through a major drought, making the necessity to move cattle around and sell off some of them. Someone is trying to kill Ty. ( )

Their land . . . their family . . . their pride.
When the Calders fight for the things they love, they fight to win.

Jessy Niles Calder grew up on the Triple C ranch, six hundred square miles of grassland as bountiful as it can be harsh. It’s land that bends to no man’s will—just like a Calder. As Ty Calder’s wife, Jessy finally has all she’s ever wanted. But shadowing this new happiness are enemies greedy for the rich Montana land, so much so they are willing to shed blood to get it. And these days complicating matters seems to be Ty’s ex-wife’s main reason for living. Before it’s all over and done, Jessy will be faced with the fight of her life—one that is sure to change the Triple C forever ( )

Headstrong and proud, with her roots planted deep in Calder soil, Jessy Niles Calder isn't the sort of woman to lead a man or be led by him. She has always known that Ty Calder was the man for her, even if she had to wait for him to leave behind his loveless marriage to glamorous, poor little rich girl, Tara. Now, as Ty's wife, Jessy finally has everything she's ever wanted - the strong bonds of family, a thriving ranch, and the long-awaited promise of a new life growing within her...proof of her love for Ty.

And then Tara returns. As manipulative as she is beautiful, Tara has never brought anything with her but trouble, so Jessy can only wonder what her agenda is this time. But when Tara's powerful father dies, she seems genuinely grief-stricken and relies on Ty and his sister, Cat, for comfort and strength. Soon, Tara's back on the land and involved in their lives, and nothing is the same.

As days give way to months, Tara's very presence there divides the ranch, replacing long-held bonds of trust between employer and employees, friends and relatives, husband and wife - with seeds of suspicion and simmering jealousies that endanger Jessy's happiness and the Calders' claim on their land.

With everything at stake - from the ranch she loves to the name she proudly calls her own - Jessy Calder is in for the fight of her life. And when the Calders fight for what they love, they fight to win. But with Tara's return, a deep-seated desire for revenge has been stirred from an old danger...a secret link to the past that will test the fabric of the Calder clan, threatening their very lives - and culminating in a loss more heartbreaking than any of them could possibly imagine.

To my knowledge, I have never read anything by Janet Dailey before, although I may have several of her books hidden away somewhere on my bookshelves downstairs. Anyway, I absolutely loved reading this book! It was extremely well-written and the plot captured and held my attention strongly until the very end. This is the sixth book in the Calder Saga, but for all intents and purposes, it can be read on its own - which is something that I very much appreciated. I give this book an A+! and am looking forward to reading more from Janet Dailey in the future. ( )