Review: Sweet western historical romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 28, 2014
I enjoyed THE HANDSOMEST MAN IN THE COUNTRY (#1 THE TRAHERNS) by Nancy Radke.  This is my first exposure to Ms. Radke's work, and I found it quite different (not in a bad way) from most of the historical fiction I've read.  This novella (roughly 70 pages) is an interesting blend of frontier challenges, wagon train life, marriage of convenience, coming-of-age, and tender romance.  The content is wholesome (rated G).  Frontier and historical setting-appropriate violence is off the page (the reader is just told about it having happened)-- perhaps ranking a PG rating.The storytelling is authentic...from setting to dialogue, historically accurate conflict to dialect.  While there's little "showing" and a lot of "telling," I found the storytelling captivating enough that I didn't mind.  This first exposure to Radke's writing reminds me a lot of the sweeping saga of western expansion written by Dana Fuller Ross (each book had the title of a State's name, i.e., MISSOURI!, IDAHO!, etc.) and the sweet historical romances written by Willo Davis Robers (CAROLINE, ELIZABETH).I enjoyed this first-taste of the Trahern series enough to want to keep reading.  I've already purchased other books in the series, and intend to enjoy them, too.  Recommend to fans of frontier-setting historical romances, wagon train romances, wholesome romance, etc.