Review: Chasing Norie by Sophie Dawson
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 1, 2013
Chasing Norie by Sophie Dawson is another very good historical novel set in the West shortly after the War Between the States. This book parallels Leah's Peace and takes place at the same time with most of the characters appearing in both books. Many of the scenes are the same but they are told from Norie's point of view instead of Leah's. Elenora Chase, known to all as Norie, arrived back in Stones Creek,Colorado on the same train as Leah but they had done little more than chat briefly but by the middle of the book they were the best of friends.Norie had been in Indiana living with her aunt and attending finishing school and then stayed an extra two years caring for her dying aunt. Norie was overjoyed to be home and one of the first things she did was change from her "proper lady" clothes to her denim pants. Lincoln Pierce was introduced to Norie and seeing that she was so petite, he decided that all the stories he had hear about her expertise with guns, knives, and horses were greatly exaggerated. Linc saw Norie galloping across the ranch on a horse that no one but the retired foreman had been able to ride so he took off across country, caught up with her and yanked her off her horse. As she landed on his horse he saw a knife pointed right at his chest. He quickly learned that the large black stallion was Norie's horse and that she had broken him to the saddle. Over time Linc came to realize that the stories about Norie were true. When it was time to cut the colts from the herd he objected loudly that it was no place for a woman. Norie challenged him to see who could cut out the most colts in an hour and since her dad agreed to the challenge, Linc had to accept. He was so smug and sure that he would win but when the hour was over he had lost the contest and as a result he had to do women's work for a week. Linc was not happy but the longer he worked in the house, the more he realized that women on the ranch worked just as hard as the men and sometimes even harder. Not only did Linc see the worth of women's work but he initiated changes that made washday much easier. Nugget Nate also had doubts about Norie's skills, so he challenged her to a shooting and knife throwing contest but you will have to read the book to learn the winner.Once again the author did a great job of making every character in the story come to life on the pages of the book. There were many twists and turns in the plot of the story and several were somewhat different than the twists in Leah's Peace. The dialogue was well thought out which helped make the characters more interesting and real.  Norie's story was filled with lots of humor, some sadness, quite a bit of suspense, and heart warming romance. The author has a talent for writing historical westerns and I hope that she keeps writing them so that I can keep reading and reviewing them.I highly recommend this book to everyone who likes an historical, western novel with suspense, romance, humor, and Christian values.Thanks to the author, Sophie Dawson, for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.