Blue Bayou - Who Didn't Want Danielle to Come Home?
Written: Oct 06 '02 (Updated Oct 24 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Interesting book that is the first in a series.
Cons: The mystery part of the book is weak.
The Bottom Line: Blue Bayou is an entertaining book that is good to read just for enjoyment.
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| dragonfire88's Full Review: Joann Ross - Blue Bayou |
Joann Ross wrote books for Harlequin Books for several years. I’ve read and enjoyed many of those books. The books were short and not too complicated, but they were still enjoyable to read. Over the last few years, Ross started to write longer books for another publisher. So far I’ve only read a few of her longer books, but I have liked the ones I did read. I picked up Blue Bayou, one of Ross’s longer books, on my last trip to Columbus. This book was the first book in a three-book series about three brothers. The second book was released recently, and the third will be out sometime next year.
PLOT
Jack Callahan, a former DEA agent, returned home to Blue Bayou after he left the DEA and became an author. His books were best sellers. One of Jack’s brothers, Nate, was mayor of Blue Bayou. Jack bought Beau Soleil, a huge old plantation home and was restoring it while he worked on his next book. Nate was also a contractor and was working on the house. Their older brother, Finn, was an FBI agent.
Danielle Dupree had grown up in Blue Bayou. Her father was a judge who had been sent to jail for accepting bribes. Danielle had been married to a congressman, Lowell Dupree - they had the same last name. They were in the process of getting divorced when Lowell died in a freak piano accident. Danielle decided to move back to Blue Bayou with her son Matt. Judge Dupree was going to be released from jail soon and Danielle planned for her father to move in with her and her son. She was going to be the librarian for Blue Bayou and there was an apartment for her to live in above the library. When she arrived in Blue Bayou, the library and the apartment was on fire. She and Matt stayed with a friend.
Danielle and Jack had dated before he left town. Judge Dupree hadn’t been happy about his daughter being involved with Jack. Jack went a little wild after his father died. Danielle had been very hurt when Jack left town. He had his reasons for doing it, but he wasn’t able to explain to her at the time. Danielle knew that her former home had been sold, but she hadn’t known that she and Lowell had actually owned it for a while after the Judge was sent to jail and it was Lowell who sold it to Jack. She wasn’t happy when she found out that Jake had bought the house, but she got over it. Danielle and Jack spent some time together and got to know each other again. They worked through some problems that they had. Jack explained why he had left the way he had. Jack and the Judge had worked out their problems while the Judge was in jail. Jack had been going to visit him. The two men had a theory that the Judge had been framed, and they were hoping to discover who had framed him. They kept their theory from Danielle. The Judge had done something not long after Jack left town that was revealed.
**End of Plot Discussion**
Blue Bayou was an enjoyable book to read. This wasn’t a deep, profound book. It didn’t make me think. This was a book to read just for enjoyment. The book wasn’t really serious, but it wasn’t a funny book either. The book was well written and descriptive. This book was longer than the books Ross wrote for Harlequin Books, so the plot was more developed. I didn’t think the book was boring. I did want to find out how everything would turn out. Blue Bayou wasn’t fast paced and it wasn’t slow paced either. Several things did happen during the course of the book. Some parts of the book were predictable, but there were still some things that happened that I didn’t expect. There was a little bit of swearing in the book. The word that rhymes with luck was used a few times. The swearing wasn’t excessive, but it may be enough to offend some people.
Blue Bayou was a romance with a touch of mystery. The romance was the main focus of the book. Someone didn’t want Danielle coming home. The Judge was being released from jail. He and Jack thought that he had been framed and were trying to prove it. They felt that someone knew what they were up to and was unhappy about their plans. That was it for the mystery in the book. There was a conclusion to it near the end of the book, but there weren’t a lot of clues in the earlier part of the book. The mystery in the book was weak, but I did still enjoy the book.
Jack and Danielle became involved again during Blue Bayou. They provided the romance for the book. They had a history since they had been involved before Jake left town several years before. When they met again, they didn’t immediately resume their relationship. They, especially Danielle, were hesitant to become involved again. They were still attracted to each other, but they got to know each other better before they became intimate. There were some sexual situations in the book, including some sexual acts that were described in detail. The scenes were very descriptive and explicit. The scenes could be too descriptive for some people. They could offend some readers. The scenes were similar to the sexual scenes in Ross’s shorter books for Harlequin, but they were more descriptive and detailed. People who have read other books by Ross and not been offended shouldn’t be offended by this book either. People who are offended by reading descriptions of sexual acts and situations shouldn’t read this book.
Blue Bayou was the first book in a trilogy about three brothers. The second book, River Road, was recently released. The third book will be out early in 2003. Some of the same characters were in both books, but each book had its own plot. There was no continuing storyline connecting the first two books, so they could be read in any order. From the little I know about the third book, I think it will have a different plot from the first two books. I did start with Blue Bayou, but I usually start with the first book in any series I read. Finn, the brother who was an FBI agent was one of the main characters in River Road. Nate will be one of the main characters in the third book.
I have read several books by Joann Ross, most of which have been books she wrote for Harlequin Books. Those books were shorter than Blue Bayou and not as complex. They were all romances, and most of them had some sort of mystery included in them, but the mysteries weren’t that strong since the books were so short. I think the fact that Ross has mainly written shorter less complex books was why the mystery part of Blue Bayou wasn’t that strong. She hasn’t written many longer books yet, so her longer books are still improving.
There were several characters in Blue Bayou. Danielle and Jack were the main characters in the book. The book was focused on them and their developing relationship. Both of them were well developed. Things were shared about both of those characters that helped to explain why they did or acted the way they did. Matt, Danielle’s son, was in many scenes, but he wasn’t developed that much. Nate, Jack’s brother was in several scenes, but he wasn’t developed too much in this book. He will be one of the main characters in the third book in the series, so this was just the foundation for his development. Jack's other brother Finn was only in one or two scenes, so he wasn't developed much at all. Finn was the main character in the second book, River Road. Some other characters were fairly well developed considering they weren’t in too much of the book. A few other characters were only in one or two scenes, so they weren’t developed at all.
CHARACTERS
Danielle Dupree - She grew up in Blue Bayou. She had been married to a Congressman, Lowell, who had the same last name she did. She found out that he was filing for divorce when he gave a press conference. He was engaged to another woman even though the divorce wasn’t final when he was killed in freak accident involving a piano. Danielle decided to move home with her son Matt. She was going to work as the librarian. Her relationship with her father wasn’t the best. She had always depended on either her father or her husband, but once Lowell left her, she learned how to take care of herself. She started to stand up for herself. She was a good mother who really loved her son and wanted to do what was best for him.
Matt Dupree - Danielle’s son. He was a good kid. He loved his mother and wanted to get to know his grandfather. He liked Jack.
Jack Callahan - He was a former DEA agent turned best selling author. He also grew up in Blue Bayou. His mother had been the Judge’s housekeeper after her husband had died saving the Judge. He had been involved with Danielle, but he left town without telling her. He still had nightmares about some of the cases he worked on for the DEA. He bought Danielle’s former home and was restoring it. He was also working on a new book at the same time. He was still interested in Danielle, but he wanted her to know the truth about something from their past.
Nate Callahan - Jack’s brother. Nate was the mayor of Blue Bayou and a contractor. He was working on Jack’s house. He hired Danielle to be the librarian. He was well liked around town. He dated a lot of different women, but he wasn’t serious about any of them, even though they thought the relationship was more serious. One of them had started to plan the wedding and Nate hadn’t proposed.
Judge Dupree - Danielle’s father. He had been arrested and sent to jail for accepting bribes. He hadn’t been happy when Danielle was dating Jack. The Judge had really liked Lowell and thought he was a perfect husband for Danielle. He refused to have any contact with his daughter while he was in jail. He kept secrets. He did over bearing and controlling things at times. He did this a few times in the past, and justified what he did by saying he was doing what was best for Danielle. After getting out of jail, the Judge continued to keep things from Danielle.
Blue Bayou was an entertaining, enjoyable book. This was really a fluff type book, but I did enjoy it. People who like to read those types of books should like this one. People who are looking for a serious, deep book should look elsewhere.
Recommended:
Yes
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