#westerns – Rosepoint Publishing

The Strange Courtship of Kathleen O’Dwyer by Robert Temple – #BookReview – #Westerns – Five Star Publishing

Book Blurb:

“What would drive a woman in 1828 to head west across the Great Plains into the Rocky Mountains, risking death among hostile Native Americans, brutish mountain men, and wild animals? Why, the same reason as a man, of course–freedom. Like fur trappers of the early western frontier, Kathleen is a misfit. Growing up in the Irish slums of Boston and watching her mother die giving birth to a dozen children, Kathleen has decided to escape into a career as a school teacher, free of men; but when she sets out along the Santa Fe Trail for distant Nuevo Mexico, she finds that dry powder and steady aim are as important as reading, writing, and arithmetic.”

His Review:

A woman alone in the western territories is a dangerous endeavor. Kathleen O’Dwyer has ventured out west to pursue a teaching career in Taos. Romantic is not a word to describe the adventure. Wild animals, Apache, other tribes as well as lawless men all looked at Kathleen with admiration. At 5 feet 9 inches, she is tall for a woman and well-built.

Colson is a drifter who helps her along the way. He is a true western gentleman who does not take advantage of his size or looks. Kathleen is smitten but holds back her admiration feeling it may show weakness. She regrets being standoffish later. Her post at the schoolhouse in Taos was meant for a man. The town treasurer tries to bully her out of her salary and signing bonus. She will have none of it!

The environs around Taos and Santa Fe are wild with Osage and other Plains Indians the primary citizens. The Apache are particularly fierce and feel that dying in battle is a badge of honor to take into the afterlife. They take no prisoners except young girls and children. The others are simply killed, and their bodies left to the wild creatures and buzzards.

This story is well-written and contrasts the life of a married woman with that of a single woman. Survival is a constant struggle and the town’s people expect Kathleen to turn and run back to the east from whence she came. They do not know the real Kathleen! I enjoyed this book immensely and the comparison of her life to our lives today is remarkable. Enjoy the story and the read. 4.5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to the author for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Westerns, Action & Adventure Fiction, Historical Fiction
Publisher: Five Star Publishing

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1432895664
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1432895662

Print Length: 228 pages
Publication Date: December 21, 2022
Source: Author request

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Author: (No info on this author)

Where Coyotes Howl by Sandra Dallas – #BookReview – #women’shistoricalfiction

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

Except for the way they loved each other, they were just ordinary, everyday folks. Just ordinary.

1916. The two-street town of Wallace is not exactly what Ellen Webster had in mind when she accepted a teaching position in Wyoming, but within a year’s time she’s fallen in love—both with the High Plains and with a handsome cowboy named Charlie Bacon. Life is not easy in the flat, brown corner of the state where winter blizzards are unforgiving and the summer heat relentless. But Ellen and Charlie face it all together, their relationship growing stronger with each shared success, and each deeply felt tragedy.

Ellen finds purpose in her work as a rancher’s wife and in her bonds with other women settled on the prairie. Not all of them are so lucky as to have loving husbands, not all came to Wallace willingly, and not all of them can survive the cruel seasons. But they look out for each other, share their secrets, and help one another in times of need. And the needs are great and constant. The only city to speak of, Cheyenne, is miles away, making it akin to the Wild West in rural Wallace. In the end, it is not the trials Ellen and Charlie face together that makes them remarkable, but their love for one another that endures through it all.

His Review:

Ellen Webster spent her college years in Chicago. She felt worldly after school and saw an advertisement for a teaching position in Wallace, Wyoming. She was gratified that the local townsfolk offered her the job and went to Wallace with her hopes high. She was going to enjoy the woody wilds of Wyoming.

The train stopped in the middle of a prairie town barely two blocks long. The school house was one room with kindergarten through 9^th grade being taught. The desolate area was a solid horizon with no trees. What a disappointment! Most teachers stayed for one or two months maximum, but Ellen is determined to stay the entire year per her contract. The students are helpful and respectful.

The town comes to meet the new school teacher and a handsome cowboy catches her eye. It is love at first sight and they are soon married. The cowboy’s name is Charlie Bacon, nicknamed Fatback. He is smitten instantly and they are married with the whole town in attendance. Ellen has never known such happiness.

A one-bedroom shack is their new home on the windswept landscape and sagebrush and creosote are their constant companions. The wind blows relentlessly but the two lovers are determined to stick it out together. Coyotes howl every night and although desolate there is never a dull moment. With the new home, the young couple decides to start a family together. Ellen is happy with Charlie but misses her Illinois home with the green and trees.

The couple is well-liked and the neighbors work to make the new school teacher happy in the community. Like most pioneer communities’ danger and demise are often an integral part of everyday life. This book paints a portrait of pioneer life at its’ most basic. Only the strong of mind and spirit can survive. Enjoy! 5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

Book Details:

Genre: Women’s Historical Fiction, Westerns
Publisher: St Martin’s Press
ASIN: B09Y46M1LS
Print Length: 320 pages
Publication Date: April 18, 2023
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: Where Coyotes Howl [Amazon]
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Sandra Dallas, dubbed “a quintessential American voice” in Vogue Magazine, is the author of over a dozen novels, including Prayers for Sale and Tallgrass, many translated into a dozen languages and optioned for films. Six-time winner of the Willa Award and four-time winner of the Spur Award, Dallas was a Business Week reporter for 25 years covering the Rocky Mountain region, and began writing fiction in 1990. She has two daughters and lives with her husband in Denver and Georgetown, Colorado.

Website http://sandradallas.com/

Enjoy Your Sunday!

Land of Wolves: A Longmire Mystery (Walt Longmire Mysteries Book 15) by Craig Johnson – #Audiobook Review #TBT #westerns

Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Book Blurb:

Attempting to recover from his harrowing experiences in Mexico, in Land of Wolves Wyoming Sheriff Walt Longmire is neck deep in the investigation of what could or could not be the suicidal hanging of a shepherd. With unsettling connections to a Basque family with a reputation for removing the legs of Absaroka County sheriffs, matters become even more complicated with the appearance of an oversize wolf in the Big Horn Mountains to which Walt finds himself feeling more and more empathetic.

My Review:

You all know I do love the Longmire series and while I’ve reviewed several here, have listened to many more and just enjoyed. I’m sure part of my interest lies in the narration by George Guidall, but you can’t go wrong with a Longmire episode. Also, having devoured the entire series offered on Netflix, I can now see in the minds’ eye these characters who were so well cast in the TV version.

While it’s nice to have some knowledge of the characters, you can start this series most anywhere as a standalone and quickly get up to speed. As mentioned above, I’ve listened to a number of these books, most recently Dry Bones and The Highwayman. The novels are all great, some even better, and George Guidall is consistently excellent.

Walt Longmire is back from a crushing, almost fatal, trip to Mexico to rescue his daughter Katie. He is still not back 100% physically or mentally when he discovers a sheepherder, hanging, which is labeled a suicide. Longmire is not so quick to agree and, as usual, the plot appears to go multi-level with the infusion of the wolf mystique and the age-old quarrel of ranchers, their livestock, and wolves. The Cheyenne Nation sets a spiritual aura surrounding the sighting of a lone wolf. But wolves have not been seen in Absaroka County for a very long time.

Johnson lays on the prose, waxing philosophical through Longmire, spiritually through Henry Standing Bear, Dog, and the flippant and vitriolic under-sheriff Victoria (Vic) and her unfiltered mouth. Love these characters. Longmire struggles mightily during the narrative, sometimes experiencing black-outs, periods of PTSD, as well as physical exhaustion.

The novel explores family, sacrifice, and strong atmospheric immersion into another way of life. It runs a little dark with the inner and outer struggles of Walt, but the occasional flashes of humor are splashed in irreverently as are Vic’s sexual innuendo. Well, who am I kidding? No innuendo about it. She can turn a four letter word fest into a pornographic hootenanny. So nice being back in Absaroka County, Wyoming, where the Red Pony Bar and Grill is a continuous soirée.

Book Details:

Genre: Native American Literature, Westerns
Publisher: Recorded Books
ASIN: B07S6525LW
Print Length: 335 pages
Listening Length: 8 hrs 10 mins
Narrator: George Guidall
Publication Date: September 17, 2019
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Land of Wolves

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

The Author: Craig Johnson is the New York Times bestselling author of the Longmire mysteries, the basis for the hit Netflix original series Longmire. He is the recipient of the Western Writers of America Spur Award for fiction, the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award for fiction, the Nouvel Observateur Prix du Roman Noir, and the Prix SNCF du Polar. His novella Spirit of Steamboat was the first One Book Wyoming selection. He lives in Ucross, Wyoming, population 25.

The Narrator: George Guidall is a prolific audiobook narrator and theatre actor. As of November 2014, he had recorded over 1,270 audiobooks, which was believed to be the record at the time. Wikipedia

happy thursday!

Dry Bones: A Longmire Mystery (Walt Longmire Mysteries Book 11) by Craig Johnson – #Audiobook Review #TBT #westerns

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

When Jen, the largest, most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever found, surfaces in Sherriff Walt Longmire’s jurisdiction, it appears to be a windfall for the High Plains Dinosaur Museum – until Danny Lone Elk, the Cheyenne rancher on whose property the remains were discovered, turns up dead, floating face down in a turtle pond. With millions of dollars at stake, a number of groups step forward to claim her, including Danny’s family, the tribe, and the federal government.

As Wyoming’s acting deputy attorney and a cadre of FBI officers descend on the town, Walt is determined to find out who would benefit from Danny’s death, enlisting old friends Lucian Connolly and Omar Rhoades – along with Dog and best friend Henry Standing Bear – to trawl the vast Lone Elk ranch, looking for answers to a 65-million-year-old cold case that’s heating up fast.

My Review:

Not the first time I’ve reviewed a book by Craig Johnson, and I’m currently listening to another in the Walt Longmire mystery series. I absolutely love this series, and I’m sure in no small part owing to the narration by George Guidall. The CE and I burned through the Longmire TV series on Netflix, even trying to discipline ourselves and watch only three per night and now listening to the audiobooks can see those characters in each of the novels.

Wyoming and many of those northern states were the site of dinosaur finds, so many of the enlightening facts included here isn’t that far off non-fiction.

In this narrative, Danny Lone Elk is found dead in a pond and an archeologist named Jennifer discovers a tyrannosaurus rex she names Jen (on Lone Elk’s property). The problem stems from custody as it was found on a Cheyenne reservation, sparking quite the fight over ownership which would the funds possibly received in an auction. (And of course, few have not heard of Sue, the T-Rex found by an archeologist named Sue Hendrickson on the reservation. Yes, in auction we’re talking millions of dollars that eventually took Sue to the Chicago Field Museum.)

Given the extent of the find, the possible worth, and the custody battle, it’s quite the well-paced plot and he is still seeking answers to Danny Lone Elk, joined by his long time buddy, Henry Standing Bear, owner/operator of the Red Pony (“and continual soiree”).

Yes, okay, it’s a “western.” Sorta, but not. It does take place in Wyoming, after all, in (fictional) Absaroka County where Walt Longmire is sheriff. But this is a modern day western beautifully infused by the author’s atmospheric descriptions of the land and the people. And quite the diverse people they are—the traditions, the folklore. And the animals—horses—they still do have “cowboys” who ride horses and wear those hats.

And you can’t wish for a more disparate group of characters, from the stalwart protagonist Walt to Vic, his undersheriff (who lacks a mouth filter), and his faithful dog, Dog. The author imparts his sense of humor, Henry Standing Bear the wisdom and spirituality, and the women some testosterone control. There’s a reason they call it “the wild west.”

You can’t go wrong with a Longmire episode. Nice to have some knowledge of the characters, but you can start this series most anywhere as a standalone and quickly get up to speed. I’ve listened to a number of books in this series and reviewed a few including An Obvious Fact and The Highwayman. The novels are all great, some even better, and George Guidall is consistently excellent.

Book Details:

Genre: Native American Literature, Westerns
Publisher: Recorded Books
ASIN: B00W2BQHA2
Print Length: 320 pages
Listening Length: 8 hrs 16 mins
Narrator: George Guidall
Publication Date: May 12, 2015
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Dry Bones