A Great Way to Spend a Few Hours
After reading this book I have a real hankering to visit Montana. The author's descriptions were evocative; I could see the buffalo grass bending in the wind.
This plot has been used many times, but Ms. Harrington seemed to give it new life. She starts with a mail-order marriage that wasn't good. An elderly man sent Libby tickets and fare to come to Montana from Chicago (he lied about his age, health and prosperity). Once there, the old man became seriously ill and Libby treated him until his death. By then it was the dead of winter and one of the worst seasons in recent memory. In spite of all Libby's efforts, her husband's cattle froze in the never-ending blizzards.
When Libby goes to town to buy a ticket back to Chicago, she finds that she is seriously short of train fare. The only work she can find is working at the large ranch called Lodestone Ranch. Three cowboys from the ranch hire Libby and she goes with them to her new position.
When the owner of the ranch comes home, he raves and fires Libby immediately. Tyler, the owner, has an interesting back story; it is slowly revealed. This certainly built up tension. Libby has a tragic history in Chicago and it is given to the reader in small sips. These slow revelations kept me reading. I thought the author was wise to parse out the info because, all told, Tyler and Libby's individual pasts were tragic.
The author spent considerable time helping the two lead characters build an emotional relationship before involving the physical. I rated this book as a strong 4 stars become of the cliche's utilized. However, this is a very good story with extremely likable characters.
