Cowboy to the Rescue

Four Stones Ranch #1

by Louise M. Gouge

Captivated by the cowboy

Though Georgia belle Susanna Anders agrees to accompany her father on a silver prospecting trip to Colorado, her heart belongs to the South. Then charming cowboy Nate Northam saves her father's life and gives them shelter at his ranch. Feeling gratitude is only natural, but falling for a Yankee? Both of their families would be outraged.

While Susanna's father recovers at the Northams' home, Nate can't help being drawn to the sweet Southern beauty…and wishing he were free to think of courtship. That is until shocking revelations compel both Nate and Susanna to choose where their loyalties lie -- fettered to the past or to the promise of a bold new love….

Four Stones Ranch: Love finds a home out West

Genres: Love Inspired, Romance, Love Inspired Historical, Historical Fiction

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Mandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting! 10 years after the civil war ends, a southern belle meets a yankee. I liked each character individually & i liked the dealing of the hurt, guilt, anger, & giving of forgiveness they went through. It really made me think of the aftermath of the war.

However, it was at least 100 e-pages too long. She lost me in the middle to where I seriously thought about quitting.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was cute, predictable but cute. There were a couple times it dragged, but overall it was a pleasant way to spend a morning.

[June · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing story. The Civil War played havoc on a lot of people and in this story we have the Southern girl and the Yankee boy. When Susanna's dad is beaten and left for dead, Nate comes along and rescues them. They end up at his family's ranch while her father heals. But Susanna and Nate have to avoid falling for each other. She plans on someday marrying a southern gentleman, but Nate is such a Yankee gentleman. And Nate's father has issues not only with Southerners, but prospectors also, which is what Susanna's father plans to do when he is well again. He's there to find silver.

Very enjoyable story with unexpected twists and turns. I was enthralled.

[Reah N. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a clean, religious western romance.

Nate and Susanna meet and it’s love at first sight. Or at least, attraction at first sight. The fact that Nate is so gentlemanly and thoughtful definitely helps.
They can never be together, thought, because he’s a Yankee and she’s a Southerner. Soon, Susanna is fighting against herself not to fall in love with him, a battle she thinks she might have already lost.
The attraction started to feel a bit heavy-handed at some point. Not because it was anything but clean and innocent. But because it felt a bit obsessive. The desire to be together, and the knowledge that they can’t because of their pasts.
They’re both so opposed to marrying the other, as a matter of core belief. And yet, somehow, their attraction to each other was strong enough to make them doubt everything they’d ever known. Even though it was sort of instant, and purely focused on how the other looked. I understood their reluctance to be together. I just didn’t understand why they had such a hard time going with this belief, or why, despite everything, they needed to be together so badly.
It could’ve been turned into a struggle of prior prejudices vs reality, or even understanding that the violent acts of war weren’t against the Southerners as a people, but against their way of life.
Instead, their struggle just felt - shallow.

Unlike her romance with Nate, Susanna’s friendship with Nate’s sister and mother felt both sweet and real and did a great job of showing Susanna’s change in mindset.

The ending itself also felt a bit shallow to me.
The entire book Susanna thinks she is joining her father are on his quest for silver. At the very end of the book, he reveals that his motives are entirely different. He was on a quest for revenge.
The details after that fell into place a bit too neatly for my liking.
Because, the person he was out to get revenge on happened to be Nate’s father, the man who hosted them in his house the past few weeks.
And it just so happens that he stole silver and valuables from them, and only a few days later the perfect opportunity arises for them to be next to these valuables by themselves.
Susanna’s father decides to steal them back. Which also bothered me. Two wrongs do not make a right. Just because they were wronged doesn’t mean they can now go and wrong someone else. It doesn’t occur to her father to confront him or involve the Southerner priest or any of the kind people in the household who did so much for them. Instead, they steal them and run.
Nate and his family come back before they leave and catch them red handed.
So, instead of running, Susanna accuses Nate’s father of every cruel thing that was done to her family during the war. The entire family sits there quietly listening and then goes on to give Susanna the heirlooms with their blessings, and part from her tearfully and lovingly. And a few chapters later Nate is marrying Susanna, with both fathers’ blessings.
No one thinks any less of Susanna or her father because of how they went about getting justice. And, worse, no one so much as thinks that this is the wrong way to go about getting justice.
True, what was done to them was cruel and mean and horrible. But their revenge and stealing were also wrong.

The whole ending struck me as wrong. It felt quick, neat and unjustified. Their actions didn’t deserve such a sweet ending.

If you're looking for a sweet, Christian, western romance, then I recommend you try this novel. It was a bit too sweet and not real enough for my taste.

Content:
Religion:
This book is heavily Christian. The characters also constantly speaking to the Lord. Praying, praising, having faith in the Lord rescuing them, and everything in between.
We hear of the events which led both Susanna and Nate to Christianity.
There are a few times where characters are compared to Biblical figures such as Moses and Esther. Nate is compared to the biblical good Samaritan many times.
And, of course, there’s the preacher, giving sermons from the Proverbs, and studying them for guidance and to gain wisdom.
There were only a few of these scenes and mentions which were specifically Christian. Most of them conveyed a more general feeling of a completely religious and faithful lifestyle.

Romance: attraction and flirting
The romance in this book is all clean. There’s a kiss at the end and that’s pretty much the extent of it. However, most of the book before that was full of Nate and Susanna respectively finding the other one attractive, staring at each other, feeling their heart racing when the other enters the room, and aching to confess their love but knowing they could never be together.
Also, Susanna hears the very end of a conversation between Mr. Northam, Nate’s father, and Rita, the cook’s daughter. She assumes the worst and spends the next few chapters obsessed with how unfaithful Mr. Northam is and feeling bad for the rest of the family and the girl that he’s using.
Only later does she realize she understood incorrectly, and Rita was helping Mr. Northam prepare a surprise for his wife. It never even occurs to her to question the story, despite having only heard the last sentence of their conversation.


Violence:
We hear vaguely of many cruel events that happened to Susanna and her family in the war. Much of it was done by Nate’s father. At the end of the book Susanna discovers that Nate’s family is using valuables they stole from her family. Her father steals them back.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

(lying, talk about war atrocities of the past, stealing in the context of getting something back that was taken from you during a war raid) Ugh. This book started out well, but then it started to get into all this revenge and hatred. I get it--it is set after the Civil War, but it is also supposed to be a Christian book. The characters could have resolved the issue by confronting the Colonel. Instead they choose to steal his stuff and only confront him when caught. I also don't like books where people just happen to get home at the right time to create a dramatic scene. So, four stars for the beginning and two for the end.

[Glenda Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book in the Four Stones Ranch Series. I enjoyed this book, a kind of North meets South story. This book is well written and heartwarming. I enjoyed the characters even though they were all dysfunctional. I'm sure you will enjoy this book.


Susanna Anders goes with her father on a prospecting trip; she goes to collect water but when she returns she find her father beaten and left for dead. Thank God she hadn't been in the camp. Susanna and her father had left the South to roam the country after her mother's death. As she fears for his life two cowboys ride in to the rescue. The young cowboy ends up taking them home until her father recovers. Can she accept hospitality from a Yankee? Can she do what her father asks of her when she's in love with the Yankee?


Rancher Nate Northam finds the southern beauty intriguing and offers her his protection but when he brings her home his controlling father, the Colonel is anything but hospitable. He orders them off his property but his wife intervenes. How can Nate court her when his father hates her? How can he consider marriage when his father treats like a servant and hes sees no hope for a future?


A story of restoration and forgiveness in a world torn apart from the war. God has a plan for these two families, a plan of restoration and hope. God has a plan for you too. Just give Him your heart and control and watch Him work. God bless you.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not mean to read so late but I just had to finish reading this great story of what it truly means to forgive one another and to not take revenge. Susan Anders has had to deal with great loses in her young life and fulfill a promise to her mother to take care of her father. Part of that promise turned into a journey across the country to the North where the enemies lived. Enter Nate Northam to the rescue of Susana and her father. Nate dis spells all of Susana's thoughts of how she thought Yankees were supposed to be. As Susana and Nate begin to fall for one another, the past begins to come rushing back. Will God's love help heal old wounds and help them find forever love?

[Harlequin Books]

"The ways the atrocities of the Civil War are shown to affect people years afterward, and their struggle to forgive, is heartrending and well done in this first Four Stone Ranch story" (RT Book Reviews)

Miniseries: Four Stones Ranch

[Harlequin Historical]

Miniseries: Four Stones Ranch

[Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keeps a body eager to read on...

Like this book and I think you will too. It is well written; making the reader want to keep reading to find out what will be next!!

[Susan Vance · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars