Review: Heartwarming Christmas Story
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 26, 2011
When I was a kid, I spent one summer working my way through every Zane Grey western novel our parish library had on the shelves. The books were far better than western television shows and captured the adventure and romance of the old west that made it so beloved by generations of readers worldwide.KISS OF THE CHRISTMAS WIND has that same flavor. It's a western flavored with romance that harks back to a forgotten era in our history.What I liked most of all was reading how Carrie Sue Jamison, the heroine, lived her daily life. I don't know if I found this so fascinating because, as background for OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW BETTER, the book I just published, I had recently finished another reading of Luchetti's HOME ON THE RANGE, about how women helped win the west--one meal at a time.When I opened KISS OF THE CHRISTMAS WIND, I was back there on the frontier with Carrie Sue. I thought Ms. Taylor perfectly rendered Carrie Sue's way of life as a ranch wife.Certainly, that life was nothing we modern women would aspire to, but it may make you stop and think the next time you complain that there's no fresh zucchini at the supermarket in December. This short story will probably give you increased respect for all the women like Carrie Sue who kept the home fires burning while their husbands tamed the wild west--often with their help.The sweet romance between Carrie Sue and Thad, her Texas Ranger husband, showed that there were compensations for those pioneer women, not the least of which was a loving husband to keep a woman warm beneath a pile of quilts on a cold winter night.Western fans, if you've bemoaned that there aren't enough good westerns published any more, rejoice! Janelle Taylor continues to spin heartwarming tales of the Old West.