“Hannah” by Chris Keniston

Hannah Farraday, of the Texas Hill Country Farradays, has moved to West Texas, home of another branch of the Farraday family. She’s in the process of setting up a horse therapy business, using horses and riding to help people recover from physical and emotional tragedies. She’s taking one of the horses for a ride when a motorcyclist startles the animal and Hannah ends up on the ground. 

Dale Johnson is the motorcyclist, and he comes to Hannah’s aid. Johnson is desperately trying to get to New Mexico using country roads; the man is on the run from some unspoken danger. He is in the area for one reason – to let his former Dallas police partner (and now town sheriff) D.J. Farraday know what’s happening. 

 

Johnson has recently left a hospital, and the last thing he should be doing is sitting for hours on a motorcycle. He develops blood clots, and the West Texas Farradays find themselves with an unexpected guest for a few days while he recovers. Which suits Hannah just fine. Dale needs to leave and knows he’s endangering everyone with his presence, but the clots have to dissipate, and he’s becoming interested in Hannah.

 

Chris Keniston

Hannah is the eighth book in the Farraday Country series by Chris Keniston. It’s a well-written romance with an intriguing and well-developed premise, but I have two relatively small complaints. If mild profanity doesn’t fit or seems awkward to the reader, it may be that it was force-fitted on to dialogue. If it adds nothing to the story or the characters, don’t use it. Second, the resolution of the mystery at the heart of the story is a bit too convenient; some indications could have been added or alluded to earlier on.

 

Keniston is the author of numerous romance novels and stories. She has nine books in the Hart Land series; eleven in the Farraday Country series; nine in the Aloha Closed Door Series; six in the Surf’s Up series (episodes); nine in the original Aloha Series; six in the Family Secrets series; two in the Honeymoon Series; and one in the Main Street Romance Flirts Series. She and her family live in suburban Dallas.

"Adam" by Chris Keniston

I bought this novel thinking it was a Christian romance. By the second sentence of the first chapter, I had figured out that it was indeed a romance novel, but not likely Christian. I continued reading and discovered a mostly clean good story.

Veterinarian Adam Farraday has had a long night with an ailing horse. He’s on his way home in the dark of the morning when he sees a fancy red sports car on the side of the West Texas road, with a flat tire and some additional damage. And the person getting out from the car is wearing a white wedding gown.

Margaret Colleen O’Brien, known as Meg, is spitting nails. She discovered her imminent husband-to-be is a fraud and a crook, fled her wedding right before the ceremony, drove like mad out of Dallas and ended up with a flat tire on a back-country road. Her credit card was maxed out by the fiancée, she’s tossed her cell phone out of the window of the card, and she has exactly one pair of jeans and a blouse in a bag. She needs to lie low for a while, and what better place than this small town in West Texas, whatever its name is.

Meg gets a job as a waitress in the town’s one café, Adam discovers he is strongly attracted to this redheaded stranger, and the town wonders what her back story might be. Meg discovers she’s falling for Adam, one of the six Farraday brothers, but she wants nothing to do with men after what almost had happened to her with that crook.

Chris Keniston

One of the Farraday brothers is the town sheriff. He gets a visit from the FBI. They’re looking for Meg.

Adam by novelist Chris Keniston is the first in the multi-volume Farraday Country romance series. It’s a rather fun story, with vivid secondary characters (Adam’s Aunt Eileen is a classic), an interesting plot line, and, as noted before, mostly (but not entirely) clean romantic scenes.

Keniston is the author of numerous romance novels and stories. She has nine books in the Hart Land series; eleven in the Farraday Country series; nine in the Aloha Closed Door Series; six in the Surf’s Up series (episodes); nine in the original Aloha Series; six in the Family Secrets series; two in the Honeymoon Series; and one in the Main Street Romance Flirts Series. She and her family live in suburban Dallas.

The ending of Adam can be guessed; this is a romance novel, after all. But Keniston keeps some mystery until the end – what will the FBI do? What happens to Meg’s almost-husband? Will she return to Dallas? Or will she throw everything over for the handsome veterinarian?