Review: Good historical western romance
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 23, 2014
I enjoyed this story about a family on the Oregon trail and their adventures in arriving at their destination. The story line/plot is interesting and has lots of twists that kept me engaged until the end. The editing, however, needs some serious work. There are incomplete sentences, incorrect punctuation, misplaced pronouns [which makes for some funny reading : )], and incorrect words used (ie: price for pride). All these errors distract and detract from the professionalism of the writing and the enjoyment of the book. The characters of the H/h were likeable people who ended up in situations they hadn't foreseen. Rachel, a preacher's daughter who helped him with his work qand cared for the orphans her father had taken in as though they were her own, was somehow convinced that she was an unattractive old spinster at the age of 22.  Wade, a gambler who was raised by a cold hearted saloon owner father, doesn't believe he deserves a decent woman, home and family because his mother and siblings died of illness when he was 12 and he wasn't able to save them.When their wagon train is attacked by Indians, Rachel, her sister and the 3 children are the only survivors. They had taken the wagon down to the stream to water their oxen and managed to hide in the trees. Wade comes upon the site of the slaughter soon after and helps them make their way to the nearest town. Rachel's sister flirts outrageously with him, but Wade has no time for Becky. He and Rachel find themselves strangely attracted to each other and he helps her mourn her father and even helps with the children. When they get to Ft Laramie, Wade goes to the poker game he came for and Rachel seeks out a wagon train going to Oregon. She's determined to complete her father's mission: to deliver the Bibles and the organ on her wagon to the church at which he was to have been the pastor. Unfortunately, no wagon train master will take on a wagon with unmarried women.Wade and Rachel reach a bargain. He will pose as her husband until they get to Oregon and she will pay him. Then he'll disappear, she can say he died, and he can go search for his only surviving brother whom his father gave up for adoption at age 5, which is why Wade was going to Oregon in the first place. There are going to be problems, mainly their own attraction to each other, but that's the only way Rachel is going to get her family to Oregon. This may seem to be a shocking bargain for a godly woman to make with a seemingly ungodly man, but something in Wade's character shows her that there's more to him than meets the eye and she trusts his integrity.  Along the trail, there are all sorts of problems and dangers, physical and emotional that they will face. The people who emerge at the end of the Oregon trail are very different from the ones who started out. Those who were supposed to be friends and Christians turned out to be liars and unfaithful spouses, and friends turn out more reliable and loving than family.I enjoyed this story. There were sexual scenes in it. Some reviewers have complained that Rachel could not be a Christian if she engaged in sex before marriage. The author does point out that in her mind she was saying her vows to Wade and expressing her love as he was his. On the trail, there were not many opportunities for a wedding, they didn't want anyone to know they weren't already married and they certainly didn't want Ethan marrying them, so they had to wait for an official wedding until Oregon. In frontier days with long winters and circuit preachers, this wasn't unusual, saying unofficial vows while waiting to say official ones. I guess I don't understand what all the fuss is about. The scenes themselves were not overly long or graphic and emphasized love. Christian people do have sex or they would never reproduce. Are they not supposed to read about it? write about it? or enjoy it? The Song of Solomon (a book in the Bible that was removed during Victorian times) would suggest otherwise. Just food for thought. 3 1/2 starsHeat factor moderate.