Randal loved teaching at the elementary school, but there were a lot of underprivileged children attending and it tore at his heart for them to do without, especially at Christmas. Donating food to all the families was his way of helping make their Christmas brighter.Randal hadn’t expected a parent to take exception to his Christmas present and wield a gun in his direction much less use it. What … it. What was this world coming to?
Laney Price had only planned to pick up her sister, Heather, from the Calhoun’s care and head back to Las Vegas. Everything was so messed up and nothing was going as planned. Her stepmother and her father were coming to take the child and there wasn’t much she could do about it. No child deserved to be put into their care.
Randal knew Laney was his mate, and he couldn’t stop her from leaving, but he was going with her if she left. He wouldn’t force her to claim him, but he had a solution to her problem if she’d agree to it.
more
‘Randal’ is the fourth book in Kathi S. Barton’s “Calhoun Men” series and it appears we have been introduced to the kindest, most trusting member of the Calhoun family. Randal is a kindergarten teacher who absolutely loves his job. He’s one of those that always seem to take the extra step and puts a bit of himself into everything he does. Like putting together food packages in his classroom for those children who don’t have it at home. The best part? He saves their pride and gives them a sense of accomplishment by having them earn their little rewards, like passing a test or helping to clean the supplies. If you’ve followed the series so far, then you’ll remember the town has been in bad shape as far as employment opportunities are concerned until the new business came so Randall thought this was a win-win for not only his students but their families as well, especially at Christmas time. Unfortunately, not everyone seemed to find the benefit of his actions and took offense. Then there is the student who seemed to have gone through some kind of transformation within the last couple of weeks. She’d always carried bruises and her clothes never looked as fresh as they could have until recently. Now it appeared she’d put on some weight, there were no physical bruises, and she always wore clean clothing. When delivering the Christmas packages they found a horrible situation that left Heather taking care of herself. Finding out her ‘Aunt Laney’ lived in Las Vegas they had to find a way to let her know about her sister and come to Ohio for her niece. This storyline has a whole lot of heart, not that they all don’t, but as I stated earlier in this review, Randal is the one who is the most trusting. There are trials and tribulations throughout the entire storyline and yet the message of family, loyalty, betrayal, kidnapping, forgiveness, and love are very prominent. I can’t wait to see what Fate and Ms. Barton have in store for Tanner and yet I know I’ll be a little slow at starting it because I don’t think I’m ready for the series to end yet.
And just when I was loving this series, we had to have the one that just doesn’t mesh as well as the others.
While I really liked Randal, I could not stand Laney.
Randal is as selfless as they come. For his classroom he has food that’s is donated to help those kids who may not have full meals or anything to last during the weekend. But not everyone wants his kind of help and views it as “charity”.
I understand that Laney had to wash her hands clean of her family, had she not they would have used her up until she had nothing left. However, it was selfish on her part to leave Heather with her sister knowing the kind of people they were. From the way the author wrote the book, Laney knew that her sister did drugs and never took any kind of measures to ensure Heather was safe.
Some of my favorite lines from this one:
**”I’m going to have to figure out a way to wear a ring so that everyone can see that I’m off limits more than ever.”**
**”I love you, Randal. So very much. I cannot believe I thought that I’d never fall in love with anyone, and you come along and make me not just love you, but need you as well.”**