The story was interesting but the writing was not. Grammatically, there were some errors--most notably with making Native American tribe names and family names plural. The author has a tendency to use an 's to make names plural (Ex. Lakota's) when this really means the Lakota tribe owns whatever comes after the 's.

The writing style itself is very simple. Rather than write transitions, the author just writes a partial sentence (Ex. "on the day of the wedding") and continues on. The same information gets repeated numerous times. (I won't tell you how many times we get to hear Mary Catherine's story.) And the story seems to change to suit the author's needs at the time. The narrative we get at the beginning telling us Mary Catherine's story contradicts what Mary Catherine tells people. Some other facts about her life in New York seem to change when she talks to Trace or to Julia.

To be fair, Mary Catherine does have a sad story. Abandoned at only a few months, raised in an orphanage by nuns, aging out of the system, traveling across the country watching other orphans get adopted and not being adopted herself, not having any friends. In a way, she was very sheltered about life and what it has to offer.

The families where she ends up seem almost too good to be true. In fact, the worst person in the novel is Christina Pogue and she's not even from the town. Mary Catherine gains friends, a family, and eventually an education, a ranch, and a husband.

The up and down romance of Mary Catherine and Trace gets wearisome. I do agree with some of what they did and said. I do think it was good that they took the time to court and to get to know each other to make sure that they were good partners for each other. I also liked that they eventually came to an agreement about being partners in a marriage rather than Trace always getting his way because he was "the man" and was "to be obeyed". I admired Mary Catherine for standing up to him about that. Then again, she had less to lose than most--she already had a means of support if she didn't get married.

Overall--not the best book I've ever read and I probably wouldn't read more by this author unless they were free. ( )