Yellowhead Blues

Finished February 7

Yellowhead Blues by R.E. Donald

This is the fifth book in the Hunter Rayne Highway Mystery series, and is set along the B.C. portion of the Yellowhead highway. Hunter is a retired RCMP officer that now works as a long-haul truck driver. He is on his way to Edmonton with a load when a man who has stopped coming the other way flags him down and asks for help catching a loose horse. The man, Leon, is a horse trainer and breeder coming from a cattle penning competition at Teepee Creek. He stopped when he saw a loose horse and then stopped Hunter before trying to catch it. The horse was scared and had blood on it. 

They managed to catch it and used Leon's dog Blue to track the trail back to where the horse came from, finding a badly injured man sitting with his back against the tree. He was near death and the two men, with no cell reception, decided to carry him on one of the horses back to the highway. 

Bianca Morrison, a RCMP Constable, was the first officer on the scene, shortly after the ambulance arrived. Bianca is from Quebec, and has felt isolated as a female officer. She hopes that she will get a chance to participate in this case. 

A couple days later Hunter gets a call from Leon, who has been arrested for the murder of the man they found. Hunter is pretty sure Leon is innocent, but he'd had an interaction with the man before, so there is history. As Hunter digs deeper into the circumstances surrounding the crime, he asks Bianca for help and gets his dispatcher El to find some of the people he wants to talk to as well. 

I found this mystery quite interesting, with lots of possible suspects. I liked seeing Hunter's personal circumstances, as well as learning of Bianca's experiences with the RCMP. Leon's dog Blue was an active player, and an engaging dog as well. 

Sign Off

Finished September 7

Sign Off by Patricia McLinn

This is the first book in a series set in Wyoming around a television journalist. E.M  (Elizabeth) Danniher is newly divorced from a powerful network executive. She also has a contract with said network, and so has found herself redeployed from her role as anchor on the east coast to the "Helping Out" consumer advocacy segment on a small station in Wyoming. 

She's naturally a little angry at the situation, but still striving to do the best job she can. She's recently been able to get a local viewer a refund on a defective toaster. When a school class visits the station, she has a young girl come up to her and insist that she help her with her problem, just as the segment says. But her problem is that her father has been accused of murder and let go due to lack of evidence. Her mother is trying to use that to deny visitation by the father. 

The young girl, Tamantha Burrell knows what she wants and has ordered Elizabeth to do it. Despite herself, Elizabeth's journalistic instincts kick in. When she realizes that the encounter was seen by the sports reporter for the station, ex-football player Mike Paycik, and that he wants to work with her on this story, she finds herself initially reluctant to accept his help. But she gradually realizes that, as a local, he has the contacts that she needs to do a thorough job of this. 

As she and Mike and a very competent female camara person follow the clues in the case, it grows more complex, with old rivals of the accused, wives and girlfriends of the victim, and ramps up with the discovery of the body of the victim after several months of him being missing. 

This book got me very intrigued in the community and in the main character of Danniher. I liked her style and attitude, and her competence. I'm looking forward to more in the series, Caught Dead in Wyoming. 

Bittersweet

Finished September 4

Bittersweet by Susan Wittig Albert

This novel is part of the series featuring herbalist China Bayles. Here, the story is set in a more remote part of Texas, in the small community where China's mother Leatha and stepfather Sam live, in the week around the Thanksgiving holiday. China and her family are planning to go to Leatha and Sam's for the holiday, but Sam is now in the hospital with heart issues. Sam is insisting the plans continue, so they do.

Besides China's family, Leatha has also invited China's friend Mack Chambers, a game warden in the area, newly transferred there after a recent divorce. Mack loves her job, and her previous husband had issues with her long and sometimes erratic hours, and with her less feminine interests. Mack lives alone with her dog and horse, but wouldn't say no to a relationship. She's recently started dating a divorced man who recently moved to the area, but isn't feeling the passion she's had before. 

Leatha and Sam have been converting the ranch that has been in his family for generations into a birding destination, redoing the lodge onsite, and building a viewing tower and other amenities. China worries about whether they can handle the operations with Sam's medical situation and their age. 

A more common use of cattle ranchers locally are canned hunting camps, with the owners importing a variety of animals, some for their value as trophies, and having hunters pay big bucks to shoot them onsite. The regulations around this activity are still in development, but for a lot of ranchers, this offers them a way to hang onto their land. 

There is also a new technology coming into play: drones as surveillance and investigative tools.

All of these elements come into play in the plot here. 

I found the first scene made me uncomfortable, but as the plot begins to move back and forth between China and Mack for most of the stories, I soon found myself captivated. 

There is also a lot of information at the beginning of chapters on plants from herbs to bushes, and invasive species versus local ones. At the end of the book are a few recipes from scenes in the story, a nice and useful addition. 

Adam

Finished March 13

Adam by Jennifer Ashley

This novella is the first in a series set around a small Texas community and a family who trains horses and does stunt riding. Adam left town a few years ago to work in Hollywood, but he's recently had a bad accident and has come back home to recuperate and recover. 

He is surprised to find that his high school girlfriend Bailey is also back in town and working at his family's ranch. She trains horses and is starting to do stunts herself. Adam is conflicted about the situation. He still has feelings for Bailey, but his recent accident has left him wary of the possibilities of harm that come with the job. 

As the two get reacquainted and Adam catches up on what Bailey has been doing these past few years, they grow closer and Adam finds that he might once again need her help to move forward, whether with her or not. He also has the time to get to know his brothers as adults.

This is a light and easy romance with problems resolved easier than one might expect in real life. 

Hometown Cowboy

Finished July 15
Hometown Cowboy by Sara Richardson

This is the first in a series of romance novels set in Topaz Falls, Texas. Jessa runs an animal rescue center started by her father. Though her parents never married, and lived apart, Jessa was close to both of them. She got her vetererinarian degree, and then her MBA in preparation for working with her dad and making the center a success. But just before she came on board, he died of a heart attack. Her dad's best friend, Luis Cortez has been great. helping out at the center and treating her like the daughter he never had. Jessa had spent summers with her dad, and loved to hike the Cortez ranch and the mountains around it. She's spent a lot of time doing that with Luis.
Another thing that Jessa has always wanted was a family, and she's been engaged but things have never worked on. After her last boyfriend, and major funder of the rescue, dumps her rather publicly, she engages her friends in helping her get together a new look to engage with the community and find new funders. She says she done with men for now.
Lance Cortez is working hard to take the top medal at the upcoming World Bull Riding championships, and he's been focused on his career for years. He's also not a fan of marriage ever since his mother left his father, him, and his two younger brothers when he was only fourteen. After an arson incident, his middle brother, Lucas, went to jail, and his younger brother, Levi, soon left for the high life of rodeo.
When Lance's training is interrupted by a worried ranch worker telling him his father never came home from the hike he went on yesterday, Lance seeks out Jessa to see if she knows where his father might have gone. He's never really paid much attention to Jessa, but now he really sees her for the first time, and he must adjust his view of her. As he feels drawn to her despite his lack of experience of or interest in relationships, Jessa must fight against her own feelings to stay true to her dreams.
I liked the family aspects of the book, with Luis and his sons, and the other ranch workers. I also liked the close group of girlfriends that Jessa found when she came to town.
A light romance with some pretty hot scenes. Good start to a new series.

A Place Called Sorry

Finished April 19
A Place Called Sorry by Donna Milner

This novel takes place in the interior of B.C. in a small town called Sorry, with the majority of the story taking place in the 1930s. The story of the town's name is an interesting one, and speaks to the nature of the community.
Adeline (Addie) Beale lives with her parents and her grandfather Chauncey on a large ranch outside of town. Addie loves the ranch and pretty much lives outside, to the dismay of her mother, a woman who grew up in Vancouver and was educated as a nurse, but met Addie's father when he was getting his law degree, and married him. She misses the city, but she knows her husband's life is entwined with the ranch. When tragedy strikes the family, things change drastically.
Addie spends a lot of time with her grandfather, and he shares with her diaries that he kept as a teenager when he first arrived in B.C. with his father. As Addie gradually learns of her grandfather's past and its tragedies, she also finds a new friend in another outsider in their small town. Alan Baptiste is the son of Rose, the wife of the store owner in town Dirk VanderMeer. Alan's mother brought him with her when she married Dirk, afraid that if she left him on the reserve, he would end up in residential school. The two get along well, have similar interests, and both are picked on by the schoolteacher Mrs. Parsons, Alan for his race and Addie for her unconventionality.
When Alan's family also faces tragedy, he comes to work at the ranch and the two grow closer. But the town isn't done with them yet, and as the war begins, more challenges come into their lives.
This is a story of prejudice, of finding your own way in life, and of facing your past, even the parts you regret. It is also a story of our country's history, one that still affects us today.
Milner's writing, as always, brings it to life, making me care about these people and their lives.

When Mountains Move

Finished May 31
When Mountains Move by Julie Cantrell

This novel begins in Mississippi, but is set mostly in Colorado. It is the spring of 1943 and young Millie is about to be married to Bump (Kenneth) Anderson, but has reservations. Not about Bump, but about herself. Something happened to Millie recently that has affected her trust in others and how she reacts when a man touches her.
Millie marries Bump in happiness and the two move forward to a future in Colorado where they will manage a ranch for Cuay Tucker. Millie has a natural affinity with horses and Bump has recently qualified as a veterinarian, and both are hard workers, so they are perfectly suited for their new lives. When they arrive, they find a small welcoming town not that far from the ranch that is their new home. There is an older man, Fortner, who is the son of the original ranch owners and who is looking to work at the ranch again. There is Oka, Millie's newly found grandmother, a Chocktaw woman, who comes to help in the ranch's early days.
As Millie learns the nature of this new landscape, and makes a home for her family, she also finds a way to come to terms with what has come before and move forward in strength and hope for a future.
Millie epitomizes the pioneer spirit, adventurous and hardworking and willing to see the best in others. The life she and Bump lead in Colorado is one that sets them on the path for a better future than either of them grew up with. This is a novel of hope and positive outlook in the face of adversity. I liked the inclusion of positive native culture here as well, respecting the hardships dealt to them and the traditions they observe.

Wide Open

Finished October 14
Wide Open by Larry Bjornson

Set in the 1870s in Abilene, Kansas, this story is based on real events of the Midwest. The story begins in May 1871 and our storyteller here is Will Merritt, a boy. His father JT joined the United States 12 New York Cavalry during the Civil War, leaving his wife and son with his brother's family. When he returned for them in 1865 he found that he had a young daughter and that they had not been given the caring shelter he had hoped and the family moved on for other adventures. JT is always looking for what the future might bring and by 1871, he believes Abilene will provide the future he envisions.
Abilene is still a rough town, with one side of the tracks dubbed Texastown, a magnet for trouble and temporary visitors bringing cattle up from Texas to the train line. The mayor, Joe McCoy, hires Wild Bill Hickock to control this wildness. Will has a group of friends: Jasper, Gordon, Billy and Booth who are excited by this side of town and whose families are dependent on this activity for their livelihood. But there is a growing movement towards settlers and farming, providing a stable growth for the area, and Will's dad has decided to put his efforts behind that as he looks to the future once again. One particular family figures here, the Dunhams, with father Caleb and daughter Anna connecting to the Merritt family. Will's mother Eleanor is not a subservient wife, and works with JT towards their family's and community's future. This book shows the cruelty and compassion in this community and the inexorable move towards civilizing this region. Very entertaining.