On the Rocks

Spirit Animal #1

by Barbara Neville

“I’m really loving this book. It's funny and thought-provoking…”-Laura, Goodreads.
“To me it was mystery romance. The plus in this book was Annie and Lone Wolf." -Lorraine, Goodreads. Two strong men, one empowered woman.
Start with a quirky cowgirl. Add a sheriff & a shaman who travel a wilderness west in search of peace. Sure as shootin’, it won’t be easy.
You’ll like this book because it’s a Western sci-fi reverse harem fantasy. Annie’s a strong woman looking for a fresh life. It started like this…
Her fiance finagled the evidence, and set her up to take the fall for his huge bank heist. She escaped the country by the skin of her teeth.
Now, hoping the law isn’t hot in her heels, she starts over. New identity, new life, new place, borrowed horse, snarky mouth. A stranger in a wilderness land, she sidesteps into a new world.
An Apache man, Lone Wolf, saves her life. His equally tall, handsome brother, Spud, turns out to be the last man she wants to the sheriff.
There’s a huge reward. Dead or alive. Will her cover hold? Or will the sheriff, lock the cell door and throw away the key? Or worse…
“On the Rocks” is the first standalone novel in Barbara Neville’s Spirit Animal mystery series.

226 pages, Paperback

First published March 16, 2014

About the author

2015 NaNoWriMo winner and prolific author; rustic western visionary Barbara Neville is an Arizona rancher and outdoorswoman, who writes what she knows. Her future worlds and historic past are set firmly in a longstanding tradition of caring for the land while living off of it. Cowhand, rancher, adventurer, prospector, artist and author of numerous books in the Spirit Animal series featuring Annie Many Horses. Neville writes of a speculative future, and the historic past, based on her real life experience. Her cats attend her writing sessions, preferring to lay on the keyboard. She ranches with goats, horses, guineas, peafowl, chickens, turkeys and Pyrenees livestock guardian dogs. Her dogs, goats and horses have fictional counterparts who appear in the pages of her books. She has led an unusual life of adventure, much of it off-grid.
Barb is descended from a long line of adventurous folk. Cowboys, ranchers, prospectors, settlers, homesteaders and more. She carries on the long tradition of taking the road less traveled. Her fictional world draws heavily on her own life and the people, places and experiences of previous generations.
Barb has been a rancher, horse trainer, cowhand, prospector, construction laborer, tree planter and a deckhand on Alaskan fishing boats. She has lived at various remote locations around the West.
She grew up an Air Force brat, living in such exotic locations as Spain and Hawaii. Thus she learned Spanish and Hawaiian Pidgin.
A one day round trip to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back afoot, and many mountain ski touring and snowshoe and hiking backpack weeks pepper her history. Surfing and snorkeling were her hobbies in Hawaii. A wilderness adventurer in many climes, she raises goats, makes her own cheese & rides the world's greatest horses one of whom made the cover of 'On the Rocks'.

Reviews

[Barbara Neville · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am the author. I believe that making a large print edition available is easy and serves an important audience. We may all need large print someday, should we live so long. Cheers!

[Julie Barrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the Rocks Large Print (Spirit Animal Large Print Book 1) by Barbara Neville
Story starts out on the wrong track for me as it's a lot of swearing. When I hear about the situation it's understandable but still...
Roxanne Rockerfeller (Annie) is doing a roundup and her partner has gone off to corral other animals. Problems arise from a lot of different sources.
Love hearing about the animals and how they react and the things they do. There are a lot of colorful characters along the way.

[Donna Marino · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow. I am so happy to be finished with this book. It was a chore to read, a very unpleasant chore. I had to grind it out to get to the end. I first knew it was going to be a shallow work when the author just threw a bunch of expletives at the reader with no rhyme or reason. It did nothing for character development nor plot advancement. It was just an echo thrown into the darkness. The work sometimes felt like a Star Wars spoof, at other times, a mockery of true Native American lit by the likes of Erdrich or Alexie. It was during those moments that I developed my worst opinion of the book. If it was supposed to be funny, I didn't find it so. If it was supposed to be authentic, it fell so far short that it was insulting. I would really like to know the author's intent, so I may look at her Facebook page and the one she has created for Annie. As for continuing to read the other works in this series, I will take a pass, and I recommend to others that they do not waste their time at all.

[Dan]

This review is general -- not specific to any one book.
I've read nearly all of Barbara's books and enjoyed their novel and refreshing approach. She mixes genres with abandon, delightfully twisting things together and apart while making me think (that really should be capitalized) every now and then. She is one of the half-dozen or so relatively new authors I am following closely, getting each new release and enjoying them thoroughly. In that group Barbara stands out for innovation, being down to earth and for provoking cogitation in an enjoyable manner.

Thanks Barbara!

[Lorraine Anton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Likable,different

Glad it was large print, but I finally figured out how to work the fonts on my kindle. I love the cowboy, dinosaurs, spaceships..There was love involved to. To me it was mystery romance.(I guess). The plus in this book was Annie and Lone Wolf.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really loving this book. It's funny and thought-provoking and I'm excited to read the next in her series. There is a touch of Tom Robbins, Mad Max, & Dusk till Dawn goodness, with horses, Cowboys, spaceships and dinosaurs... What's not to love?

[Barbara Neville · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am the author so of course I love it and, yes, there are spoilers.