This Calder Sky

Calder Saga, Book 3

By: Janet Dailey

Narrated by: Mil Nicholson

Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

The great Calder empire stretched across the Montana plains as far as the eye could see. Everyone knew a Calder's word was law, and that one day Chase Calder would carry the family name to new glories. But for handsome, arrogant Chase Calder there was also beautiful Maggie O'Rourke. She came to him in innocence and stirred in him a deep, insistent longing.

But Maggie was determined to be free from the harsh codes of hard men. And even Chase Calder's strong arms couldn't keep her. Still, in them both burned the raw passion of the land...where even the greatest love must fight to live beneath This Calder Sky.

©1981 Janet Dailey (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Another great book in the series.

I love the series, but the narrator grates on my sense of the western theme of the book. Unfortunately she's the one chosen for the entire Calder series. Too bad. It's the only drawback.

Love the Calder Series

Ever since I found the Calder series, I have not been able to stop listening to these books. I love Janet Dailey and her books!!

great story

story was good, there were some parts that dragged. just wished narrators voices were younger

Great romance novel, TERRIBLE narrator

The Caulder series is one of my favorite romance series from the 80’s.

The classic Romeo and Juliette story of feuding neighbors, in this case, ranchers. One ranch, the Caulder ranch is huge and profitable and the O’Rourke ranch is barely scraping by. Chase Caulder, 22 sees Maggie O’Rourke, 16 swimming in a creek one day and decides to prank her by taking her clothes. The prank doesn’t go off as planned and the two end up getting romantic. Maggie’s father finds out and seeks vengeance on the Caulders for “taking whatever they want, including his little girl”. Chase and Maggie’s romance heats up the whole summer until tragedy strikes. What happens next sends Maggie far from Chase but enables her to achieve her dreams of becoming an educated “lady” and into the arms of an influential plastic surgeon. Back in Montana, Maggie’s brother keeps the flames of hatred of the Caulders alive...

My girlfriends and I read this series as a teens and loved the Caulder men and the leading ladies in each novel.
I moved on from romance novels to reading mostly thrillers, so last week I was thinking about a light read. Janet Daley’s Caulder series came to mind. It had been over 30 years since I’d read these stories but was very excited about going back to Montana and feel like I was on a cattle ranch and “see” Chase and Maggie’s romance unfold. This is until...
I heard the narrator! Why would the narrator be an old English woman?!? Not only is the accent wrong but she takes pauses when she shouldn’t and doesn’t pause when she should. She reads with hardly any emotion. It ruined the book and experience for me. She has all of the cowboys but Chase and Webb sounding like whiney old women. The leading lady in the story who is 16 throughout 2/3 of the book sounds like a 70 year old woman. Plus add the odd English/Irish accent she put on her, it’s ludicrous.
Bottom line, the writing is good. It’s typically 80/90’s romance. It’s a great series. But this narrator absolutely ruined it. I cannot tell you how disappointing this is.
Just get the Kindle version. Start with number 1. This Caulder Range and work your way through. It’s the history of the ranch and the Caulder family.

Excellent series

Would you consider the audio edition of This Calder Sky to be better than the print version?

No

What didn’t you like about Mil Nicholson’s performance?

The accent is all wrong for the characters. The performance is good.
Had the story not been so good I would never have finished because of the narration.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Okay Would have rated it better if

This story started out good. However, it took too long to get back to Maggie and Chase once they broke up. The author also spent too much time describing stuff. I wanted to read about the relationship between the two main characters not all about the western scenery and cattle stuff.