Janet Squires

Monty is a mixed pit-bull dog. He is found out in the desert. He has been shot and is severely injured, and near death. Nicole is an animal rescuer who finds him and takes him to a vet in hopes he can be save. Once they realize he will live they try to find him a forever home. This is a true story so there are lots of pictures and very little writing. I kept wondering, what kind of person would do something like this to a dog? Then I wondered what made him so special and determined to survive. By all odds he should have died. If you want to learn more, he has a Facebook page.… (meer)

This action-packed Western with heart, grit and depth is a thrilling story that kept me absorbed from beginning to end.

Sarah Ryan has made her way from Ireland to Hermit’s Ridge ranch in Arizona only to find that her sister and brother-in-law have been murdered. With the idea of becoming her 12 year old nephew’s caretaker she moves onto the ranch and eventually becomes his partner. When she first sees the lone gunman, Texas Ranger L. T. McAllister, arriving in Succor, Arizona to turn his brother’s murderer in for trial, she does not realize that he is related to Will, her nephew. With Jeremy, the crusty older wrangler, assisting at the ranch and eventually L. T. coming to help out they all spend weeks waiting for the trial and getting to know one another better. Gunslingers, fights, evil, corruption, torture, friendships, a dance, a festival, gold hunters and more occur in this rousing story that eventually ends on a happy note.

The way this was written I felt as if I could have been there. My emotions and senses were engaged as I became immersed in the lives of the characters of this book. I recommend this novel to anyone who has enjoyed Louis L’Amour, Zane Grey, Max Brand and other classic Western authors and also recommend it to those who enjoy historical Western romances written by female authors that allude to the sensual without being explicit.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.… (meer)

“The Gingerbread Cowboy” is a retelling of the classic tale “The Gingerbread Man” with a western twist to it. An older woman in a small village is known for making biscuits but one day she tries something different, she makes a gingerbread cowboy. The gingerbread cowboy comes to life and he gets himself into a bunch of trouble, just like the classic gingerbread man. I love this book for an array of reasons. What I love the most about this text is how the author tells a classic tale with such a nice western twist to it. I felt that the author did a wonderful job adding in aspects of western culture into the text and did not stray away from the traditional story of “The Gingerbread Man.” For example, the gingerbread cowboy runs into trouble with animals that would most commonly be found in the deserted mid-west (road runners, lizards, and long-horned cattle). I also really appreciated the repetition of the text. The gingerbread cowboy continuously says, “giddy up, giddy up, as fast as you can. You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man.” I also appreciated the use of similes to add to the imagery of the text and to help make reader-to-text connections. “Yes, those breakfast biscuits were plump as pillows, soft as clouds, and tasty as a big Texas barbecue.”… (meer)