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Yellowstone Memories
Explore Yellowstone National Park where the rough and glorious wilderness paints the perfect setting for romance. French-Arapaho Collette Moreau crosses paths with a washed up cowboy named Wyatt Kelly. . .in a race for hidden treasure. Justin Fairbanks’s past intrudes on his present while he serves at a Civilian Conservation Corps camp during the Great Depression. Firefighters Thomas Walks-With-Eagles and Alicia Sanchez are brought together. . .then a devastating fire threatens their rocky friendship. Biology researcher Taka Shimamori and Park Service ranger Jersey Peterson butt heads with each other—and a renegade group of poachers. Will these unlikely couples find a love as big as their surroundings?
352 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2013
84 people want to read
About the author
Jennifer Rogers Spinola
12 books52 followersJennifer Rogers Spinola has just relocated from Brasilia, Brazil to the U.S. with her Brazilian husband, Athos, and sons Ethan and Seth. Originally from the American South, Jenny is the author of Barbour Books' "Southern Fried Sushi" series (the first book earning a Christy Award nomination), a romance novella collection based on Yellowstone National Park, and a novella in the collection "Westward Brides" (also by Barbour Books).
Jenny is an advocate for adoption and loves the outdoors, photography, writing, and camping. She has previously served as an ESL teacher, missionary to Japan, middle- and high-school teacher, and National Park Service volunteer.
Jenny has a B.A. in English/journalism from Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina. She is a member of Association of Christian Fiction Writers and International Christian Fiction Writers.
Jenny is an advocate for adoption and loves the outdoors, photography, writing, and camping. She has previously served as an ESL teacher, missionary to Japan, middle- and high-school teacher, and National Park Service volunteer.
Jenny has a B.A. in English/journalism from Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina. She is a member of Association of Christian Fiction Writers and International Christian Fiction Writers.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 3, 2013
Although the cover seems to indicate that all the memories in this collection are historical, the truth is the four novellas span from 1891 to present day in and near Yellowstone National Park.
In "Black Widow," Wyatt Kelly was orphaned during an Indian massacre and raised by a reluctant uncle. Never good enough or tough enough to meet his uncle's demands for a good cowboy, Wyatt has serious self-esteem issues. When he hears of a huge amount of gold hidden nearby by an old trapper, he determines to find the treasure and start a new life for himself. But he's not the only one searching. Half French, half Arapaho Colette Moreau had been sold to a trapper as his wife. Now the trapper is dead and Colette implicated. She, too, needs a new life--and she's a tougher, better cowboy than Wyatt. Who will get there first?
The second novella is called "Finding Yesterday." It's 1937, and Justin Fairbanks has joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, stationed in Yellowstone. He has a past he wants to forget, and the hard work and the beauty of the park are doing their job until two young women show up as visitors with their uncle and aunt. Suddenly all the guys in camp are crazy to show off for the girls, but Justin takes one look and steers clear. Lia brings too many memories. There's no way she could ever forgive his past mistakes. But when one of his coworkers leads the visitors on an ill-fated trip in search of long-hidden gold, Justin has a decision to make.
The third story is set in 1988 during the huge Yellowstone fire. "After the Ashes" tells the tale of firefighter Alicia Sanchez and Thomas Walks-with-Eagles, a man she has worked with a few times in the past. Alicia takes insane risks in fighting the fire, mostly because she can't think of any reason good enough to live. Thomas is determined to prove her worth, no matter what the cost.
The final tale, "Kamikaze," features contemporary ranger Jersey Peterson, who's beginning to wonder if anyone cares about taking care of the park any more. Between bratty kids throwing things in the thermal ponds and poachers trying to bag the elk, nothing remains sacred. If only the fate of the universe (or at least the park) didn't rely on a man Jersey has no use for: researcher Taka Shimamori. But maybe God's got a reason for pushing them together, and it isn't just because romance is in the air.
The author's multi-cultural background is evident in this set. Jennifer Rogers Spinola has lived in Japan and Brazil, and isn't afraid to tackle cultural stereotypes head on. Each story is true to the era, down to common brand names and slang. I really appreciated the depth of detail she'd researched to showcase the various time periods.
One of the things that's fun about this collection is the lost hoard of gold that appears in each story. It's central to the first tale but gets at least a mention in each subsequent one as well. It's only fair to say that though the books in the Romancing America series are marketed as romance stories, this author took some liberty with the definition (and that's all I'm going to say!)
In "Black Widow," Wyatt Kelly was orphaned during an Indian massacre and raised by a reluctant uncle. Never good enough or tough enough to meet his uncle's demands for a good cowboy, Wyatt has serious self-esteem issues. When he hears of a huge amount of gold hidden nearby by an old trapper, he determines to find the treasure and start a new life for himself. But he's not the only one searching. Half French, half Arapaho Colette Moreau had been sold to a trapper as his wife. Now the trapper is dead and Colette implicated. She, too, needs a new life--and she's a tougher, better cowboy than Wyatt. Who will get there first?
The second novella is called "Finding Yesterday." It's 1937, and Justin Fairbanks has joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, stationed in Yellowstone. He has a past he wants to forget, and the hard work and the beauty of the park are doing their job until two young women show up as visitors with their uncle and aunt. Suddenly all the guys in camp are crazy to show off for the girls, but Justin takes one look and steers clear. Lia brings too many memories. There's no way she could ever forgive his past mistakes. But when one of his coworkers leads the visitors on an ill-fated trip in search of long-hidden gold, Justin has a decision to make.
The third story is set in 1988 during the huge Yellowstone fire. "After the Ashes" tells the tale of firefighter Alicia Sanchez and Thomas Walks-with-Eagles, a man she has worked with a few times in the past. Alicia takes insane risks in fighting the fire, mostly because she can't think of any reason good enough to live. Thomas is determined to prove her worth, no matter what the cost.
The final tale, "Kamikaze," features contemporary ranger Jersey Peterson, who's beginning to wonder if anyone cares about taking care of the park any more. Between bratty kids throwing things in the thermal ponds and poachers trying to bag the elk, nothing remains sacred. If only the fate of the universe (or at least the park) didn't rely on a man Jersey has no use for: researcher Taka Shimamori. But maybe God's got a reason for pushing them together, and it isn't just because romance is in the air.
The author's multi-cultural background is evident in this set. Jennifer Rogers Spinola has lived in Japan and Brazil, and isn't afraid to tackle cultural stereotypes head on. Each story is true to the era, down to common brand names and slang. I really appreciated the depth of detail she'd researched to showcase the various time periods.
One of the things that's fun about this collection is the lost hoard of gold that appears in each story. It's central to the first tale but gets at least a mention in each subsequent one as well. It's only fair to say that though the books in the Romancing America series are marketed as romance stories, this author took some liberty with the definition (and that's all I'm going to say!)
February 4, 2013
4 STARS
Yellowstone Memories is a collection of four stories in different eras that tie in loosely around lost gold. One of the four stories hit me hard last night and just cried. They are Christian based stories,clean language, and are well told. I was feeling for the characters and reacted to the stories. Also make me want to back and see Yellowstone again.
Black Widow
Collette Moreau was half french and half Arapaho and at age 14 sold to a trapper. She is accused of having killed her husband and is on the run hiding on a ranch pretending she does not know English. She has a letter and a key that would help her find the gold.
Wyatt Kelly is 25 and all of his family were killed by indians. His Uncle took him in. He was week physically but smart. He was determined to find the hidden gold that was supposed to be close by his Uncle's ranch. He thought if he taught english to Collette that would help him find the gold.
Others are willing to kill to find the gold. They don't think the law is for them.
Finding Yesterday
Justin Fairbanks is working as a CCC recruit to help build yellowstone park trails. He is trying to hide from his past. Justin sends money home to help support his sister and little brother. He drove drunk and killed someone.
Lia shows up at yellowstone with a friends family. It was Lia's father Justin killed.
Justin has changed his life around and he asks for Lia's forgiveness.
After the Ashes
Thomas Walks-with-Eagles and Alicia Sanchez are firefighters fighting Yellowstone's big fire.
Alicia has had a poor background of abuse physical and emotional. She has eating problems and not caring if she lives or dies.
Thomas cares for Alicia always sharing with her. He is worried about her and shares his past mistakes and his conversion to follow Jesus has helped him change his life around.
Alicia's old boyfriend has threaten to kill her if she ever left him. That was two years ago. She thinks she sees him around.
Kamikaze
Taka Shimamori is researching wolves and other animals at Yellowstone. He is different and thats his truth and he embraces himself.
Jersey Peterson has predjuced against the Japeneese and judges Taka unfairly. The rumor about the gold is being looked for again.
I loved the characters in all these stories and wished they were longer. This makes a good book to read in short bits with the different stories. Or read all 4 at once.
They make you think and realize the power of Christ is.
I was given this ebook to read and asked to share my honest opinion in reviewing the book. I like Jennifer's books. I have read at least 3 and have enjoyed them.
02/01/2013 PUB Barbour Publishing, Inc. 352 pages ISBN-10: 1616267453
Yellowstone Memories is a collection of four stories in different eras that tie in loosely around lost gold. One of the four stories hit me hard last night and just cried. They are Christian based stories,clean language, and are well told. I was feeling for the characters and reacted to the stories. Also make me want to back and see Yellowstone again.
Black Widow
Collette Moreau was half french and half Arapaho and at age 14 sold to a trapper. She is accused of having killed her husband and is on the run hiding on a ranch pretending she does not know English. She has a letter and a key that would help her find the gold.
Wyatt Kelly is 25 and all of his family were killed by indians. His Uncle took him in. He was week physically but smart. He was determined to find the hidden gold that was supposed to be close by his Uncle's ranch. He thought if he taught english to Collette that would help him find the gold.
Others are willing to kill to find the gold. They don't think the law is for them.
Finding Yesterday
Justin Fairbanks is working as a CCC recruit to help build yellowstone park trails. He is trying to hide from his past. Justin sends money home to help support his sister and little brother. He drove drunk and killed someone.
Lia shows up at yellowstone with a friends family. It was Lia's father Justin killed.
Justin has changed his life around and he asks for Lia's forgiveness.
After the Ashes
Thomas Walks-with-Eagles and Alicia Sanchez are firefighters fighting Yellowstone's big fire.
Alicia has had a poor background of abuse physical and emotional. She has eating problems and not caring if she lives or dies.
Thomas cares for Alicia always sharing with her. He is worried about her and shares his past mistakes and his conversion to follow Jesus has helped him change his life around.
Alicia's old boyfriend has threaten to kill her if she ever left him. That was two years ago. She thinks she sees him around.
Kamikaze
Taka Shimamori is researching wolves and other animals at Yellowstone. He is different and thats his truth and he embraces himself.
Jersey Peterson has predjuced against the Japeneese and judges Taka unfairly. The rumor about the gold is being looked for again.
I loved the characters in all these stories and wished they were longer. This makes a good book to read in short bits with the different stories. Or read all 4 at once.
They make you think and realize the power of Christ is.
I was given this ebook to read and asked to share my honest opinion in reviewing the book. I like Jennifer's books. I have read at least 3 and have enjoyed them.
02/01/2013 PUB Barbour Publishing, Inc. 352 pages ISBN-10: 1616267453
March 29, 2016
This is four short stories in one volume, each set in Yellowstone National Park. Of course, a couple of the stories take place before the park was created. These look like your typical romance novellas, but they don't all get a happily ever after. What they do get is a good ending worthy of the story being told! As someone who likes my happily ever afters, I was slightly disappointed at first. But once I read them again (leaving out my expectation for romantic endings), I enjoyed them better. Ms. Spinola knows how to write a good story! I liked all of them, but I think my favorite is Kamikaze. I do admit that I enjoyed her Southern Fried Sushi series much better, but for times I need a quick read, this book will do very nicely.
February 26, 2013
Most Romancing America novella collections are a set of four short romance stories set in the same place. Some are contemporary and feature friends or siblings, others are a combination of historical and contemporary, moving through time to the present day. Many have a common theme, and all have a sweet romance ending with a tidy happy-ever-after for the two main characters.
Not this collection.
The first story, Black Widow, is set 1891 in Yellowstone National Park, where Collette Moreau is trying to find hidden gold to support herself since the death of her husband—a death she has been blamed for. But she hasn’t counted on Wyatt Kelly, who has also heard about the hidden treasure and wants to claim it for himself.
In Finding Yesterday, Justin Fairbanks is trying to escape his past in 1937 in a CCC camp in Yellowstone when his past catches up with him—with unexpected results.
Alicia Sanchez is fighting both the 1988 Yellowstone fires and her own history in After the Ashes. Thomas Walks-with-Eagles is there to help—but her abusive ex-boyfriend has also appeared.
Jersey Peterson is a Yellowstone Park Ranger who has trouble forgetting her past sins until an encounter with researcher Taka Shimamori shows her that God really is in control, and they make an unexpected discovery.
The teasers sound as though the stories are going to be fairly predictable, but only one of the four is (well, in my opinion), and I think they get progressively better throughout the book, although After the Ashes is my favourite, probably because the ending was totally different to what I would have predicted, yet totally believable for those characters.
The whole series has been very well researched (the story of Ezra Kind and the Thoen Stone is true, even if its accuracy is disputed), and there was a definite sense of time and place, particularly in the later stories (oh, those ’80’s memories!). Overall, this was a well-written and thought-provoking collection with a strong Christian message of sacrifice and forgiveness. But I can’t say any more without giving away spoilers! Recommended.
Thanks to Barbour and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.
Not this collection.
The first story, Black Widow, is set 1891 in Yellowstone National Park, where Collette Moreau is trying to find hidden gold to support herself since the death of her husband—a death she has been blamed for. But she hasn’t counted on Wyatt Kelly, who has also heard about the hidden treasure and wants to claim it for himself.
In Finding Yesterday, Justin Fairbanks is trying to escape his past in 1937 in a CCC camp in Yellowstone when his past catches up with him—with unexpected results.
Alicia Sanchez is fighting both the 1988 Yellowstone fires and her own history in After the Ashes. Thomas Walks-with-Eagles is there to help—but her abusive ex-boyfriend has also appeared.
Jersey Peterson is a Yellowstone Park Ranger who has trouble forgetting her past sins until an encounter with researcher Taka Shimamori shows her that God really is in control, and they make an unexpected discovery.
The teasers sound as though the stories are going to be fairly predictable, but only one of the four is (well, in my opinion), and I think they get progressively better throughout the book, although After the Ashes is my favourite, probably because the ending was totally different to what I would have predicted, yet totally believable for those characters.
The whole series has been very well researched (the story of Ezra Kind and the Thoen Stone is true, even if its accuracy is disputed), and there was a definite sense of time and place, particularly in the later stories (oh, those ’80’s memories!). Overall, this was a well-written and thought-provoking collection with a strong Christian message of sacrifice and forgiveness. But I can’t say any more without giving away spoilers! Recommended.
Thanks to Barbour and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.
February 17, 2013
I try very hard to not give away the endings of books that I review but in order to explain my review of this book I will need to explain some things so be warned. From here on down there will be spoilers. If you want to read and enjoy this book STOP READING NOW.
Romancing America is one of my favorite books to read. I like how the four stories are usually tied together and made to feel like one book(not all books do this but a lot do). I was looking forward to this book but was disappointed.
What I liked: The author was a good writer. The stories where easy to read and storylines where interesting.
What I did not like: I am not trying to be harsh just honest. The first thing I did not like about this book was each story was only told from one person. This is not a deal breaker for me but being short stories and romance at that I felt like the love interest of each story was not well told. In the first story I kept waiting to switch first person perspective because I wanted to get to know the other person and was kind of upset I never got the chance. The 2nd thing I really did not like about these stories was the endings. Again a lot of the Romancing America line has the stories intertwine somewhat. This book would mention a past story but gave no details or information about how the characters fared and with the way the stories ended left me with a lot of questions. In the 2nd story we had no idea if the two people even ended up together. In the 3rd story the love interest dies(!!!). The final story was okay and the ending a little more interesting but with that story I felt there was a lot of small stories being told and not enough time to really develop. Honestly this book felt like fragments of stories that never really came together.
Over all this book was so so. This book was quite sad and not as uplifting as the series normally is. Read some other reviews and decide for yourself.
http://abbiesreadingcorner.com/2013/0...
Romancing America is one of my favorite books to read. I like how the four stories are usually tied together and made to feel like one book(not all books do this but a lot do). I was looking forward to this book but was disappointed.
What I liked: The author was a good writer. The stories where easy to read and storylines where interesting.
What I did not like: I am not trying to be harsh just honest. The first thing I did not like about this book was each story was only told from one person. This is not a deal breaker for me but being short stories and romance at that I felt like the love interest of each story was not well told. In the first story I kept waiting to switch first person perspective because I wanted to get to know the other person and was kind of upset I never got the chance. The 2nd thing I really did not like about these stories was the endings. Again a lot of the Romancing America line has the stories intertwine somewhat. This book would mention a past story but gave no details or information about how the characters fared and with the way the stories ended left me with a lot of questions. In the 2nd story we had no idea if the two people even ended up together. In the 3rd story the love interest dies(!!!). The final story was okay and the ending a little more interesting but with that story I felt there was a lot of small stories being told and not enough time to really develop. Honestly this book felt like fragments of stories that never really came together.
Over all this book was so so. This book was quite sad and not as uplifting as the series normally is. Read some other reviews and decide for yourself.
http://abbiesreadingcorner.com/2013/0...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 18, 2016
Wow! I mean...wow! I couldn't even read the first story because it was just awful. Then the second story was good until the very end. What kind of romance story was that? After I read some reviews on this book and saw what happens in the third story, I have decided I'll skip them. Just...no...
August 18, 2013
This is a collection of four stories that all take place in the same location. This author does very well at making the characters likable even though the stories are short. I thought the romances were believable. All the stories were entertaining but I especially enjoyed the last one. I thought the characters were so well written that the author should start a series just about them. It would make a good Christian adventure series. Overall the stories were enjoyable and easy to read. I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoys short Christian fiction stories with enjoyable characters.
I would like to thank the publisher for the copy of this book I enjoyed reading. I gave an honest review based on my opinion of what I read.
I would like to thank the publisher for the copy of this book I enjoyed reading. I gave an honest review based on my opinion of what I read.
October 7, 2015
Oh. My. Goodness. I started reading this books when I really wanted some cute happily ever afters to help me feel better about life. But that's not what I got... I got some over dramatized forgiveness death kind of stories, that are more life discouraging that life encouraging. This was not like the other adorable Romancing America books I've read before. Maybe if I read this at a time where I was desperately seeking forgiveness and grieving over the death of someone close to me I would appreciate these stories better... But who knows? If you want to read a book with happy endings... Don't read this. If you're really seeking a book about death and forgiveness, maybe this is for you...
March 7, 2015
This is a great book! It was my first introduction into what I would call historical christian fiction and I loved it! I'll definitely be checking out this section of my local public library. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves historical fiction, romance, or just wants a good, sweet read.
February 15, 2013
Unlike most novellas, this book has a common thread running through it, which is part of each story. As usual, Ms. Spinola writes with such descriptive words, one can feel the setting, a part of the story, and have an imagery that puts one exactly in the midst of each story.
April 2, 2013
My main issue with this book is that it did not fit in with the Romancing America series. I thought the writing was a little rough in the beginning, but it did improve and I would definitely read more from this author, but I was so turned off by this book because of what I expect from the series.
May 17, 2013
Don't expect your typical happy endings
Want to read
October 14, 2013buy from amazon
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews