Friday, November 15, 2019

Book Review: Ride the High Lonesome by Roseanne Bittner

Ride the High Lonesome by Roseanne Bittner



Publisher & Release: Sourcebooks Casablanca, November 26, 2019

Time and setting:  Post Civil War, Wyoming Territory 

Genre: Historical Romance

Length: 320 Pages

Heat Level: 1 Flame

Rating:  4 Gold Crowns

Book Description: 

A man bent on revenge
A woman determined to survive
A land that knows no mercy
Meet the Men of the Outlaw Trail
When Kate Winters is left stranded and defenseless in outlaw country, she knows there's little chance she'll make it out alive...until she stumbles across a ruthless gang hanging a cowboy for his cattle. She waits until the outlaws are gone, desperate enough to claim the dead man's horse to make her escape—only to realize he's not dead after all.
Those outlaws should have made damn sure Luke Bowden was good and gone. Now he vows he'll have his revenge no matter the cost. But they're miles away from the nearest town, and the woman who saved his hide won't survive the ride back. He owes her his life—he owes her everything—and it doesn't take long before he's faced with a terrible choice: stand by Kate...or claim his revenge?
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Vikki’s Musings

Thanks goes to the publisher, via Net-Galley, for the opportunity to read and review Ride the High Lonesome by Roseanne Bittner, in advance of publication. My opinions are my own and are not influenced in any way.

Ride the High Lonesomestarts out brilliantly, pulling me in at the first page. After all, the heroine manages to save the hero, even though he’d been hanged and left for dead. I became excited over the possibilities with a beginning like that. The action continued with the hero leaving the heroine alone in a cave to travel to Landers and find the men who tried unsuccessfully to hang him and get his horses and cattle back. He quite ruthlessly goes after the villains, killing all but one who is killed by a known outlaw in the area. Evidently this is a character from one of her other books.

While Luke’s gone a man stumbles upon the cave and Kate kills the dastardly man and manages to hurt herself in the process. The hero returns and finds a half-naked heroine on the point of death. This all happens in the first 25% of the book. At that point, I couldn’t read fast enough. 

However, the romance between Luke and Kate is non-existent until around 50%. They leave the cave, having shared one kiss which felt contrived. Then as they head to a cabin Luke knows of, and along the way, they suddenly fall into each other’s arms and make love. That is the basis of their love story. I struggled with the abruptness of this encounter. 

The rest of the book has Kate exhibiting low self-esteem regarding her age and how the hero could never be attracted to her. It became a bit tedious to be honest. I don’t believe that at any time her age is mentioned but I could have missed that.

Luke is bent on revenge for a good part of the book. First, he goes after those men, then he goes after one of the men who planned to rape Kate, during another exciting action scene. Luke’s back story is that he returned from the Civil War to find his sweetheart married to his brother with an infant on her hip. Because of this, he has a difficult time trusting any woman. 

While I absolutely loved the action and suspense, the romance between Kate and Luke fell flat. I never felt any fire and passion between them. Then he leaves her for months in a lawless town filled with outlaws and where she knows no one. It just didn’t work for me.

You may be wondering why I’ve rated this book 4 Gold Crowns, if I didn’t enjoy the romance. The book is well written. Ms. Bittner is a master at painting the scenery and there’s no doubt she knows her historical period. As I’ve mentioned, the action and suspense are amazing. For those reasons, I am comfortable with my rating. Oh, and the ending turns out well.

If you enjoy historical westerns with vivid descriptive writing and plenty of suspense and action, then you will like Ride the High Lonesome. If you are looking for a romance that will have you sighing and waiting in eager anticipation for the hero and heroine to find their happy ending, then this might not be the book for you. Happy reading!

Author Bio:

For those of you who have not yet read my books, my stories are generally set in the American West of the 1800's and feature vividly-described, historically accurate settings that span the US from Missouri to California, from Canada to Mexico. Many of my books portray the poignant history of our Native Americans, and though the characters are my own, I use real historical locations and events in all my novels. I must be doing something right, because more and more men are writing to tell me how much they enjoy my westerns, too. Louis L'Amour has always been one of my favorite writers, and I am very flattered that my male readers compare my books favorably with his!



       I’ve been writing all my life – wrote my first poem in 3d grade and my first short story in 4th grade. I was editor of my high school newsletter and wrote many, many poems and articles for the local newspaper. I have been writing novels since 1979 – sold my first book in 1982 and haven’t stopped since then! The photo of me at my typewriter was taken ca 1985-86, after I had five books in print -- I just finished my 61th book, with lots more to come! I never, never stop thinking about that “next book,” and I can’t get enough of western history. And I love the western hero – tough, take no crap, can handle himself – but he loves his woman to no end and will offer his life to protect her – and the women in turn are strong and brave and a real match for the heroes. 
      
       I hope (and I have received thousands of comments verifying this over the years) that readers come away from reading my books with memories of characters who will stay with them forever, and with a new knowledge of American history – something they never learned in school. Most of all I hope they come away with an appreciation for the courage and strength our pioneers needed to settle untamed lands.


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