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Au coeur de l'Ouest
A dix-sept ans, Clementine Kennicutt s'ennuie dans la bonne société de Boston et n'a qu'une idée : échapper à l'autorité puritaine de son père.
Elle n'hésite pas à s'enfuir au cœur du Montana avec Gus McQueen, un séduisant éleveur de chevaux. Mais en 1879, l'Ouest sauvage, avec ses blizzards, ses loup affamés et ses voleurs de bétail, est bien peu hospitalier pour une jeune fille aussi raffinée et inexpérimentée que Clementine. C'est pourtant dans cette nature hostile et grandiose qu'elle va devoir apprendre à vivre auprès de celui qui est désormais son mari.
C'est ici, surtout, qu'elle va enfin connaître cette folle passion dont elle rêve depuis toujours. Une passion pour un homme orgueilleux et solitaire, à l'image du Montana. Un homme qui n'est autre que le frère de Gus.
Elle n'hésite pas à s'enfuir au cœur du Montana avec Gus McQueen, un séduisant éleveur de chevaux. Mais en 1879, l'Ouest sauvage, avec ses blizzards, ses loup affamés et ses voleurs de bétail, est bien peu hospitalier pour une jeune fille aussi raffinée et inexpérimentée que Clementine. C'est pourtant dans cette nature hostile et grandiose qu'elle va devoir apprendre à vivre auprès de celui qui est désormais son mari.
C'est ici, surtout, qu'elle va enfin connaître cette folle passion dont elle rêve depuis toujours. Une passion pour un homme orgueilleux et solitaire, à l'image du Montana. Un homme qui n'est autre que le frère de Gus.
704 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
57 people are currently reading
1663 people want to read
About the author
Penelope Williamson
26 books237 followersPenelope Williamson is an internationally renowned author of historical romance and suspense. Penelope Williamson was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, and spent the first eleven years of her life as an US Air Force brat. She has a B.A. in history, an M.A. in broadcast journalism, and was in the U.S. Marine Corps for six years, where she reached the rank of Captain. She has more than 1.8 million books in print, including The Outsider, Heart of the West A Wild Yearning, Once in a Blue Moon, and Keeper of the Dream. Penny is a past winner of the Romantic Times' Best Historical Romance of the Year award and the Romance Writers of America's RITA awards. Penelope Williamson lives with her husband in Mill Valley, California.
pseudonyms: Elizabeth Lambert, Penn Williamson
pseudonyms: Elizabeth Lambert, Penn Williamson
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July 15, 2012
*Yes, there are spoilers. You know the drill.*
I like Penelope Williamson. I really liked The Outsider, enjoyed A Wild Yearning, and even have a bit of a soft spot for Once in a Blue Moon. So imagine my disappointment when Heart of the West turned out not to be a pinnacle of western historical romance fiction, but rather, an exercise in patience. I think that after this book, someone should crown Penelope Williamson Queen of the Meandering Plot.
We begin with Clementine Kennicutt, a 17-year-old Bostonite in 1869. Raised by a rigidly pious father and doormat mother, Clementine has been trained her entire life to to be subservient (because she's a girl) and to have control of her emotions at all times. But Clementine has a hidden wild side, a passion for cowboys and tales of the wild west, and a fiercely stubborn, independent streak. So when Gus McQueen, a 25-year-old rancher-in-the-making is unceremoniously dropped in her lap (and is beguiled by Clementine's rare but brilliant smile), she carpe diem's the balls out of fate and elopes to Montana.
After having endured page after page of Clementine's background story and her awkward trip with Gus the Gutless Wonder across the country, we're introduced to Zach Rafferty, Gus's "ne'er-do-well" brother and all-around badass cowboy. I liked Rafferty from the beginning. He's quiet, surly, mean, and scary. But in a good way. Aw, hell, I don't know, maybe I'm crazy. Perhaps I should put a disclaimer here since I had a crush on this guy when I was the tender age of eight:
Yes, at eight years old, I saw The Untouchables on television and thereafter dreamed of marrying Billy Drago. And considering my favorite character in Masters of the Universe was Evil Lyn...
(Seriously, Meg Foster in this role was a stroke of pure genius.)
...it was apparent fairly early on (though not recognized until many years later) that I genuinely enjoy being scared. Clementine's problem is that she also enjoys being scared by Rafferty, she just doesn't know it. Instead, she paints her unease as a bad thing, and chalks up any fluttering feelings she gets from Rafferty to the fact that she must detest him. Silly little church girl.
Gus, on the other hand, is sort of the antithesis of Rafferty. Where Rafferty is practical and steadfast, Gus has his head in the clouds and is flaky. Where Rafferty faces problems head-on, Gus buries his head in the sand. Where Rafferty doesn't allow his emotions to rule him, Gus is ridiculously easy to manipulate. Pile onto that Gus' incessant need to control Clementine and you've got a recipe for a character I truly disliked. Clementine was a photographer (hello, pioneer mother of one of my obsessions), but Gus is constantly looking down on her photography. I kinda wanted him dead for that. Seeing as how I also wanted him dead so's Rafferty could stake his claim on Clem's lady bits, it's fair to say my feelings towards Gus weren't warm almost from the beginning. I suppose he wasn't all bad, but he wasn't good enough for me. Or for Clementine.
We spend almost the first half of the book with Clementine, Gus, and Rafferty, watching Clementine trying to adjust to the harshness of the west, and trying as hard as she can to love the man she married even though her feelings for Rafferty are becoming quite a nuisance. I got pretty wrapped up in these three, desperately wanting to know how Williamson was going to make it possible for Clementine and Rafferty to get together when BAM! Suddenly we're not with our three main characters anymore. Nope, they're gone, and in their place are other characters from the same town, some we've met briefly, others we're being introduced to for the first time. So after investing myself in Clem, Gus, and Zach for a couple hundred pages (I think), I then had to downshift in record time and adjust to the fact that I was reading about people I didn't give a single flying, psychotic fuck about.
Really? Really, Penelope? (I've read enough of her books to be on a first name basis, I think.) This is what you're going to do to me? Oh, look, Hannah Yorke is sad. Sam Woo needs a wife. A mail-order bride has been raped. Two Cornish miners are love struck....
And I was sitting there like, Who cares?! Rafferty's gone!
Now it wasn't just the fact that there were new characters to get used to, it was also that their stories weren't very interesting and took forfuckingever to get through. I don't mind long books as long as something is actually happening to justify the time I'm spending. I contemplated skimming over most of the side stories in favor of getting to the meat and potatoes of Clem and Rafferty, but I'd already read nearly half the book! I told myself I could do it, and trudged on.
After a few chapters' worth of side stories, we finally come 'round to Clem, Gus, and Rafferty again, and guess what? More pointless yearning, more ridiculous platitudes about honor and vows before god and all that jazz that had me nearly on my knees, thanking the gods of womanhood that divorce is now legal. I'm not a Christian, so I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but I really wonder about something when I read these books, and it's a question that makes me wish I had a time machine just so I could go back and ask it. "Are you really worshiping a god that would conscript you to a life of suffering and unhappiness?" Only human beings could take positive emotions and turn them into something to feel guilty about. Gus loved Clem, but it was a purely selfish love. He cottons on to the fact that Clem and Rafferty are in love, but doesn't do or say anything other than feel relief when Rafferty decides to leave for good. Aside from his selfishness and cowardice (yes, I thought Gus was a coward), he's also not very good to Clementine. Sure, he's obsessed with building her a big house and giving her back all the amenities she gave up when she eloped with him, but she doesn't care about any of that. All she wanted when she agreed to leave with him was the freedom to be herself. Gus, of course, doesn't catch onto that and treats her almost like her father did, controlling her and treating her like a child. To put it mildly, Gus was a tool.
I knew how Williamson was going to craft this story for the inevitable Clem/Rafferty reunion. Anyone who reads these types of books should know that Gus had to die. It would have been refreshing if Clem had just run off with Rafferty like he'd asked her to, but that isn't Williamson's style. No, she always has her inappropriate spouse killed off somehow. I knew that going into this book, but you know what? Gus had so many close calls that I was close to pulling my hair out. Something harrowing would occur and I'd be like, "Is he finally dead?" Nope! He'd pop back up in the next chapter, and I actually yelled at my Kindle at one point, "Just die already!!"
Then when he did finally die, Williamson tried to make the reader like him a little bit. Too little, too late. At least for me.
As for Clem, what began as an interesting character quirk (her inability to properly convey her feelings) quickly turned into a seriously aggravating cop-out.
The ending is what I can only describe as classic Penelope Williamson; two characters who are obviously in love with each other, but circumstances are different and now they don't know what to do with themselves, and even though there's nothing stopping them, they still like to pretend (for some asinine reason) that there is, and they refuse to just talk to each other, so it's page after page of more drawn out melodrama until they finally get to the bumpin' and grindin'....only for there to be even more hurdles and roadblocks afterward! By the time these two got together for good I was too frustrated and emotionally drained to give a good goddamn.
I wish I could rate this higher, but I just can't bring myself to do it. There's just too much book and not enough actual content.
I like Penelope Williamson. I really liked The Outsider, enjoyed A Wild Yearning, and even have a bit of a soft spot for Once in a Blue Moon. So imagine my disappointment when Heart of the West turned out not to be a pinnacle of western historical romance fiction, but rather, an exercise in patience. I think that after this book, someone should crown Penelope Williamson Queen of the Meandering Plot.
We begin with Clementine Kennicutt, a 17-year-old Bostonite in 1869. Raised by a rigidly pious father and doormat mother, Clementine has been trained her entire life to to be subservient (because she's a girl) and to have control of her emotions at all times. But Clementine has a hidden wild side, a passion for cowboys and tales of the wild west, and a fiercely stubborn, independent streak. So when Gus McQueen, a 25-year-old rancher-in-the-making is unceremoniously dropped in her lap (and is beguiled by Clementine's rare but brilliant smile), she carpe diem's the balls out of fate and elopes to Montana.
After having endured page after page of Clementine's background story and her awkward trip with Gus the Gutless Wonder across the country, we're introduced to Zach Rafferty, Gus's "ne'er-do-well" brother and all-around badass cowboy. I liked Rafferty from the beginning. He's quiet, surly, mean, and scary. But in a good way. Aw, hell, I don't know, maybe I'm crazy. Perhaps I should put a disclaimer here since I had a crush on this guy when I was the tender age of eight:
Yes, at eight years old, I saw The Untouchables on television and thereafter dreamed of marrying Billy Drago. And considering my favorite character in Masters of the Universe was Evil Lyn...
(Seriously, Meg Foster in this role was a stroke of pure genius.)...it was apparent fairly early on (though not recognized until many years later) that I genuinely enjoy being scared. Clementine's problem is that she also enjoys being scared by Rafferty, she just doesn't know it. Instead, she paints her unease as a bad thing, and chalks up any fluttering feelings she gets from Rafferty to the fact that she must detest him. Silly little church girl.
Gus, on the other hand, is sort of the antithesis of Rafferty. Where Rafferty is practical and steadfast, Gus has his head in the clouds and is flaky. Where Rafferty faces problems head-on, Gus buries his head in the sand. Where Rafferty doesn't allow his emotions to rule him, Gus is ridiculously easy to manipulate. Pile onto that Gus' incessant need to control Clementine and you've got a recipe for a character I truly disliked. Clementine was a photographer (hello, pioneer mother of one of my obsessions), but Gus is constantly looking down on her photography. I kinda wanted him dead for that. Seeing as how I also wanted him dead so's Rafferty could stake his claim on Clem's lady bits, it's fair to say my feelings towards Gus weren't warm almost from the beginning. I suppose he wasn't all bad, but he wasn't good enough for me. Or for Clementine.
We spend almost the first half of the book with Clementine, Gus, and Rafferty, watching Clementine trying to adjust to the harshness of the west, and trying as hard as she can to love the man she married even though her feelings for Rafferty are becoming quite a nuisance. I got pretty wrapped up in these three, desperately wanting to know how Williamson was going to make it possible for Clementine and Rafferty to get together when BAM! Suddenly we're not with our three main characters anymore. Nope, they're gone, and in their place are other characters from the same town, some we've met briefly, others we're being introduced to for the first time. So after investing myself in Clem, Gus, and Zach for a couple hundred pages (I think), I then had to downshift in record time and adjust to the fact that I was reading about people I didn't give a single flying, psychotic fuck about.
Really? Really, Penelope? (I've read enough of her books to be on a first name basis, I think.) This is what you're going to do to me? Oh, look, Hannah Yorke is sad. Sam Woo needs a wife. A mail-order bride has been raped. Two Cornish miners are love struck....
And I was sitting there like, Who cares?! Rafferty's gone!
Now it wasn't just the fact that there were new characters to get used to, it was also that their stories weren't very interesting and took forfuckingever to get through. I don't mind long books as long as something is actually happening to justify the time I'm spending. I contemplated skimming over most of the side stories in favor of getting to the meat and potatoes of Clem and Rafferty, but I'd already read nearly half the book! I told myself I could do it, and trudged on.
After a few chapters' worth of side stories, we finally come 'round to Clem, Gus, and Rafferty again, and guess what? More pointless yearning, more ridiculous platitudes about honor and vows before god and all that jazz that had me nearly on my knees, thanking the gods of womanhood that divorce is now legal. I'm not a Christian, so I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but I really wonder about something when I read these books, and it's a question that makes me wish I had a time machine just so I could go back and ask it. "Are you really worshiping a god that would conscript you to a life of suffering and unhappiness?" Only human beings could take positive emotions and turn them into something to feel guilty about. Gus loved Clem, but it was a purely selfish love. He cottons on to the fact that Clem and Rafferty are in love, but doesn't do or say anything other than feel relief when Rafferty decides to leave for good. Aside from his selfishness and cowardice (yes, I thought Gus was a coward), he's also not very good to Clementine. Sure, he's obsessed with building her a big house and giving her back all the amenities she gave up when she eloped with him, but she doesn't care about any of that. All she wanted when she agreed to leave with him was the freedom to be herself. Gus, of course, doesn't catch onto that and treats her almost like her father did, controlling her and treating her like a child. To put it mildly, Gus was a tool.
I knew how Williamson was going to craft this story for the inevitable Clem/Rafferty reunion. Anyone who reads these types of books should know that Gus had to die. It would have been refreshing if Clem had just run off with Rafferty like he'd asked her to, but that isn't Williamson's style. No, she always has her inappropriate spouse killed off somehow. I knew that going into this book, but you know what? Gus had so many close calls that I was close to pulling my hair out. Something harrowing would occur and I'd be like, "Is he finally dead?" Nope! He'd pop back up in the next chapter, and I actually yelled at my Kindle at one point, "Just die already!!"
Then when he did finally die, Williamson tried to make the reader like him a little bit. Too little, too late. At least for me.
As for Clem, what began as an interesting character quirk (her inability to properly convey her feelings) quickly turned into a seriously aggravating cop-out.
The ending is what I can only describe as classic Penelope Williamson; two characters who are obviously in love with each other, but circumstances are different and now they don't know what to do with themselves, and even though there's nothing stopping them, they still like to pretend (for some asinine reason) that there is, and they refuse to just talk to each other, so it's page after page of more drawn out melodrama until they finally get to the bumpin' and grindin'....only for there to be even more hurdles and roadblocks afterward! By the time these two got together for good I was too frustrated and emotionally drained to give a good goddamn.
I wish I could rate this higher, but I just can't bring myself to do it. There's just too much book and not enough actual content.
May 19, 2010
This is not just a romance novel...it is not just a western novel....it's not just a tale of fiction...it is an epic novel that involves many characters, over a long period of time, coming to find themselves and each other in a very turbulant time and landscape. It is not "fast-food" romance. It is deep, enduring, long, involved, and emotionally taxing. It is a true "four-course meal" of a book.
There are no easy answers in this book. The characters are real with real problems. Relationships are complex, just like in real life. There are no unbelievable turns of event that allow the characters to avoid pain. Life takes unexpected turns and the characters, along with the reader, are forced to endure the challenges and realities of life.
Here are some of the dilemmas this book looks into.....A "religious" yet abusive father, a woman torn between the "safe" love she feels for her husband and the "passionate and all-consuming" love she feels for his brother, a woman who through life circumstances is forced to sell her body and her quest for freedom and love, a town filled with hate-filled people, a corrupt father-in-law, a mail-order Chinese bride and her journey from China and destructive cultural practices, and a disfigured tragic woman surviving the loss of a child.
I know it's a lot.....hence the length of the novel, but Williamson so wonderfully weaves this story together that each story line has it's own intensity and purpose for the overall effect this book has on it's readers.
The emotions this novel evokes are strong....it delves into the difficult and tragic events such as the death of a child, rape, and abuse. It also evokes positive emotions...love in it's many forms is clearly seen and experienced within the context of this story. The love between friends, the love between a parent and child, the love between a husband and a wife, and the love between a man and a woman (which in this novel you come to differentiate!). I was moved to deep wrenching sobs many times thorough out this book, a rarity for me.
This book will haunt me for weeks and stay with me for years to come. Take my advise...invest the time and read this book.
There are no easy answers in this book. The characters are real with real problems. Relationships are complex, just like in real life. There are no unbelievable turns of event that allow the characters to avoid pain. Life takes unexpected turns and the characters, along with the reader, are forced to endure the challenges and realities of life.
Here are some of the dilemmas this book looks into.....A "religious" yet abusive father, a woman torn between the "safe" love she feels for her husband and the "passionate and all-consuming" love she feels for his brother, a woman who through life circumstances is forced to sell her body and her quest for freedom and love, a town filled with hate-filled people, a corrupt father-in-law, a mail-order Chinese bride and her journey from China and destructive cultural practices, and a disfigured tragic woman surviving the loss of a child.
I know it's a lot.....hence the length of the novel, but Williamson so wonderfully weaves this story together that each story line has it's own intensity and purpose for the overall effect this book has on it's readers.
The emotions this novel evokes are strong....it delves into the difficult and tragic events such as the death of a child, rape, and abuse. It also evokes positive emotions...love in it's many forms is clearly seen and experienced within the context of this story. The love between friends, the love between a parent and child, the love between a husband and a wife, and the love between a man and a woman (which in this novel you come to differentiate!). I was moved to deep wrenching sobs many times thorough out this book, a rarity for me.
This book will haunt me for weeks and stay with me for years to come. Take my advise...invest the time and read this book.
December 7, 2011
Heart of the West may be the most beautifully written book I've ever read. Many years ago, I read The Thorn Birds and fell in love with Australia. That was a story that broke my heart and stayed with me forever. Heart of the West is very similar; it will always have a very special place in my heart. At first, I was scared to read it - it's a story that I knew would touch on something which troubles me - what if you fall in love with a man while married to a different man - a good man, but not your soul mate. There is no adultery committed, but just the feelings, almost treacherous, of such a passionate, forbidden love.
Clementine, the heroine, is 17 years old, from Boston, has been raised by an abusive, domineering, pious father. Somehow she fell in love with the west and wanted to marry a cowboy - someone completely different from her own father and way of life. Yet, inside of her, she was wild. Her father tried to tame her, but she wouldn't bend. This quality of resilience and determination help her to endure, both her childhood and her adulthood. She meets Gus McQueen, a real-life cowboy from Montana. They literally collide. When he offers her a new life, she readily accepts, eagerly awaiting a new, exciting life. Little does she know what's in store for her - it really is the Wild West, full of gun-shooting cowboys, hangings, mines that explode, prejudice, unending winters, droughts, fires that won't be stopped - but she takes it all on and proves true to herself and her ideals.
There is a theme of friendship that runs throughout the book - a former prostitute, a Chinese mail order bride, a tattooed Indian woman - they are all women who have made mistakes, been the victim of terrible circumstances, and have become friends despite their differences. They find acceptance and support with each other. In life a decision we make can change everything - we have it all and then we have nothing. These women have all suffered and have regrets. It made me realize how tenuous life is, how delicate and how unpredictable. Hindsight is 20/20 vision.
Gus' brother, Zach, is his opposite - not responsible, reckless, a free spirit. At first Clementine hates him and doesn't understand why he upsets her. He constantly teases her about going back to Boston, wishing her back so she won't come between him and his brother and their ranch. Then they are both pulled toward each other. She is his heartfire. There is an electricity between them, a yearning, a thickening, a freshening, a wild wind and lightning storm raging whenever they were together. "It was as if they weren't two separate hearts and souls, but one heart, one soul, somehow ripped apart and forced to spend eternity searching for their missing halves and now they had found themselves in each other." While Gus doesn't know what is going on between them, he knows his wife is guarded. "Why is it, girl, that every time I try to get close to you, you push me away? It's not enough that we come together in bed at night. We got to come together during the day, with words and feelings...I want you to be a true wife to me. A soul mate and heart mate as well as a lover...We got to start learning how to talk to each other or this marriage won't ever be an easy one." Clementine doesn't know how to respond. She's a good wife, but can't bare her soul to him, can't possibly tell him how she feels about his brother. She loves her husband and is always loyal to him. We see the struggles she goes through being a young bride in a new land with so many challenges. And this huge, impossible problem just looms.
One of the most poignant scenes is when Clementine has her first baby.
The worst possibility for a mother is the death of her own child. My heart broke into a thousand pieces.
It was hard to imagine how a marriage could survive all the assaults that Gus and Clementine suffered. Marriage is hard under any circumstance and trials beset everyone. Zach knew he had to leave because it was impossible to stay. "Clementine, my love for you won't stop with my leaving. Come an evenin' over the years, when you step outside your door and hear the wind blowing through the cottonwoods, that'll be me, thinking of you, whispering your name and loving you." Oh, my goodness. This man was too much. I didn't know if Gus knew, but then we see he did and the relief he felt at his brother's leaving. Clementine never knew he knew or suspected. "Gus would always be the cowboy of her dreams, but Rafferty was her life's passion. The man she was put on this earth to love with her every breath, every heartbeat."
This story covers a period of 12 years. The change Clementine makes from young woman to mature mother and wife is amazing. We see what it means to love a man, to love a husband, to love a child, to love your friends, for brothers to love each other. Penelope Williamson danced on all my nerves and touched my heart in ways unexplainable. Bittersweet doesn't begin to describe this journey. Even with so many impossible problems to wrap up, Ms. Williamson does a fine job. She is tremendously skilled and I look forward to reading another of her books.
Clementine, the heroine, is 17 years old, from Boston, has been raised by an abusive, domineering, pious father. Somehow she fell in love with the west and wanted to marry a cowboy - someone completely different from her own father and way of life. Yet, inside of her, she was wild. Her father tried to tame her, but she wouldn't bend. This quality of resilience and determination help her to endure, both her childhood and her adulthood. She meets Gus McQueen, a real-life cowboy from Montana. They literally collide. When he offers her a new life, she readily accepts, eagerly awaiting a new, exciting life. Little does she know what's in store for her - it really is the Wild West, full of gun-shooting cowboys, hangings, mines that explode, prejudice, unending winters, droughts, fires that won't be stopped - but she takes it all on and proves true to herself and her ideals.
There is a theme of friendship that runs throughout the book - a former prostitute, a Chinese mail order bride, a tattooed Indian woman - they are all women who have made mistakes, been the victim of terrible circumstances, and have become friends despite their differences. They find acceptance and support with each other. In life a decision we make can change everything - we have it all and then we have nothing. These women have all suffered and have regrets. It made me realize how tenuous life is, how delicate and how unpredictable. Hindsight is 20/20 vision.
Gus' brother, Zach, is his opposite - not responsible, reckless, a free spirit. At first Clementine hates him and doesn't understand why he upsets her. He constantly teases her about going back to Boston, wishing her back so she won't come between him and his brother and their ranch. Then they are both pulled toward each other. She is his heartfire. There is an electricity between them, a yearning, a thickening, a freshening, a wild wind and lightning storm raging whenever they were together. "It was as if they weren't two separate hearts and souls, but one heart, one soul, somehow ripped apart and forced to spend eternity searching for their missing halves and now they had found themselves in each other." While Gus doesn't know what is going on between them, he knows his wife is guarded. "Why is it, girl, that every time I try to get close to you, you push me away? It's not enough that we come together in bed at night. We got to come together during the day, with words and feelings...I want you to be a true wife to me. A soul mate and heart mate as well as a lover...We got to start learning how to talk to each other or this marriage won't ever be an easy one." Clementine doesn't know how to respond. She's a good wife, but can't bare her soul to him, can't possibly tell him how she feels about his brother. She loves her husband and is always loyal to him. We see the struggles she goes through being a young bride in a new land with so many challenges. And this huge, impossible problem just looms.
One of the most poignant scenes is when Clementine has her first baby.
The worst possibility for a mother is the death of her own child. My heart broke into a thousand pieces.
It was hard to imagine how a marriage could survive all the assaults that Gus and Clementine suffered. Marriage is hard under any circumstance and trials beset everyone. Zach knew he had to leave because it was impossible to stay. "Clementine, my love for you won't stop with my leaving. Come an evenin' over the years, when you step outside your door and hear the wind blowing through the cottonwoods, that'll be me, thinking of you, whispering your name and loving you." Oh, my goodness. This man was too much. I didn't know if Gus knew, but then we see he did and the relief he felt at his brother's leaving. Clementine never knew he knew or suspected. "Gus would always be the cowboy of her dreams, but Rafferty was her life's passion. The man she was put on this earth to love with her every breath, every heartbeat."
This story covers a period of 12 years. The change Clementine makes from young woman to mature mother and wife is amazing. We see what it means to love a man, to love a husband, to love a child, to love your friends, for brothers to love each other. Penelope Williamson danced on all my nerves and touched my heart in ways unexplainable. Bittersweet doesn't begin to describe this journey. Even with so many impossible problems to wrap up, Ms. Williamson does a fine job. She is tremendously skilled and I look forward to reading another of her books.
December 25, 2009
Wow...what can I say. This was a beautifully written story about love, loss, acceptance and so much more. Clementine is young and naive(at times) about life and love. She runs off and marries Gus, a certified Cowboy, thinking that it will be a grand adventure straight out of her dreams. But what she finds is the harsh reality of living life in the unforgiving territory of a Montana ranch. Her dreams are further shattered by a slow realization that her heart was meant for someone else....Gus's dark, fierce, cold-eyed younger brother Zach. Throughout the book Clementine comes to understand that she will never love Gus or any other man the way she loves Zach, but she denies herself and Zach the love they feel for each other and stays true to Gus. In turn, she grows into a fierce, loyal, headstrong woman with the help of good friends and the love of two very different men. The chemistry and sexual tension between Zach and Clementine set the pages on fire. In contrast, the loyalty she shows to her husband is worthy and heartbreaking and it tears her heart and soul into jagged pieces. There are so many heart-wrenching moments in this book and so much loss. Not just for Clementine, Gus and Zach, but for many of the well-written minor characters also. But in the end, the message is clear.....Love has the power to heal, even the most damned soul.
April 18, 2011
I can't say much to do this book justice. It's incredible. It's an epic romance set in wild Montana during the era of silver mining and the main theme is the forbidden love between the heroine and her husband's brother. But to say that the book is solely focused on that would be a lie; there are also other points addressed like racism and fear of strangers, a woman's place in society, the insecurities caused by the love affair between an older, rich woman and her young, poor lover, the question whether a woman should or could have other goals in life besides being a mother, the difference of love between husband and wife and the all consuming passion Clementine feels for her brother-in-law, and so much more.
I loved it and it's going to stay in my mind for a long time. AJ and willaful, I can't thank you enough for recommending me this one!
I just have to add a couple of quotes from this book, though there were so many it's hard to choose:
'Clementine', he said, and her name came out of him broken and mangled. 'My love for you won't stop with my leaving. Come an evenin' over the years, when you step outside your door and hear the wind blowing through the cottonwoods, that'll be me, thinking of you, whispering your name, and loving you.'
He let go of her hand and pressed his fingers against her lips, stopping her words. 'It's hard, Clementine. Hard for a man to look into a woman's eyes and see love lookin' back at him. And to know that when she's lookin' at him, she's seeing not who he is, but what he ought to be.'
'You are the world to me.'
He laughed raggedly. 'And you say you're scared.'
Rafferty gripped his brother's shoulder and pushed him in the direction of his wife. She was rolling on the fresh-turned earth of now, and her cries were no longer human. 'Go hold her. Go on, even if she fights you, but dammit, hold her.' Go on, brother, before I do, because if I do, you ain't ever gettin' her back.
I loved it and it's going to stay in my mind for a long time. AJ and willaful, I can't thank you enough for recommending me this one!
I just have to add a couple of quotes from this book, though there were so many it's hard to choose:
'Clementine', he said, and her name came out of him broken and mangled. 'My love for you won't stop with my leaving. Come an evenin' over the years, when you step outside your door and hear the wind blowing through the cottonwoods, that'll be me, thinking of you, whispering your name, and loving you.'
He let go of her hand and pressed his fingers against her lips, stopping her words. 'It's hard, Clementine. Hard for a man to look into a woman's eyes and see love lookin' back at him. And to know that when she's lookin' at him, she's seeing not who he is, but what he ought to be.'
'You are the world to me.'
He laughed raggedly. 'And you say you're scared.'
Rafferty gripped his brother's shoulder and pushed him in the direction of his wife. She was rolling on the fresh-turned earth of now, and her cries were no longer human. 'Go hold her. Go on, even if she fights you, but dammit, hold her.' Go on, brother, before I do, because if I do, you ain't ever gettin' her back.
December 9, 2019
Magnificent Montana LOVE STORY from a master writer of romance!
Penelope Williamson has done it again! This historical romance that will tear at your heart covers twelve years (1879-1891) in the lives of Americans trying to carve out a life in Montana frontier. She weaves a masterful tale with incredibly accurate historic detail and dialog to bring to life the people who made the West: Easterners, cowboys, Indians, Chinese, Irish, miners, railroad workers, merchants, ranchers and those who preyed upon them.
You will feel as if you know these people; you will experience their dreams, their tragedies, their disappointments, their happiness and their loves. And, like the other great romances by this author, you will feel the emotion whether deep in the pits of despair or soaring with love's sweet reward.
And, it is truly a great love story.
The main story is that of a young woman, Clementine Kennicutt, the highborn daughter of a rigid, demanding and at times abusive minister in Boston. She dreams of freedom and of cowboys. When one stumbles into her life, though she doesn’t really know him, she is willing to elope with him to his ranch in Montana. Gus McQueen was raised in the south and in Boston but then as a young man he went looking for his younger brother, Zach Rafferty, who he had lost when they were separated as children. He finds him and they stake a ranch in Montana, which it seems is always just barely making it. When Gus, a man of dreams, meets Clementine in Boston on a trip home to see his dying mother, he instantly knows he can't live without her. So Gus, 25, and Clementine, 18, wed knowing next to nothing about each other.
Gus brings Clementine her home to Montana and to a hard life she is not prepared for. Zach, the darker younger brother with a mysterious past (even at 23), realizes soon after Clementine arrives that he covets his brother's wife. And, though faithful to her husband, Zach becomes the passion of Clementine’s life--a passion denied. You can see the potential for great angst here, can't you? Here a sample of the words Zach speaks to her: "A heartfire, Clementine my darlin', is when you want someone, when you need her so damn bad, not only in your bed but in your life, that you're willin' to burn--". Yeah, well, a whole lot of burnin' goes on in this story before Zach gets his Clemmie.
There are lots of relationship combinations in this romance: Two men loving the same woman; two women loving the same man; one man loving a woman who should never have married the man she did; a good hearted whore who becomes a lady's true friend and the lover of the man her friend loves, different races coming together and children birthed and loved only to die of accident, disease and more. Through the lives of these people, Williamson so beautifully portrays, you will experience the life of the Americans who won the west and who made this country great. And you will experience love that endures through the years though denied. This novel is so worth it...another keeper!
Penelope Williamson has done it again! This historical romance that will tear at your heart covers twelve years (1879-1891) in the lives of Americans trying to carve out a life in Montana frontier. She weaves a masterful tale with incredibly accurate historic detail and dialog to bring to life the people who made the West: Easterners, cowboys, Indians, Chinese, Irish, miners, railroad workers, merchants, ranchers and those who preyed upon them.
You will feel as if you know these people; you will experience their dreams, their tragedies, their disappointments, their happiness and their loves. And, like the other great romances by this author, you will feel the emotion whether deep in the pits of despair or soaring with love's sweet reward.
And, it is truly a great love story.
The main story is that of a young woman, Clementine Kennicutt, the highborn daughter of a rigid, demanding and at times abusive minister in Boston. She dreams of freedom and of cowboys. When one stumbles into her life, though she doesn’t really know him, she is willing to elope with him to his ranch in Montana. Gus McQueen was raised in the south and in Boston but then as a young man he went looking for his younger brother, Zach Rafferty, who he had lost when they were separated as children. He finds him and they stake a ranch in Montana, which it seems is always just barely making it. When Gus, a man of dreams, meets Clementine in Boston on a trip home to see his dying mother, he instantly knows he can't live without her. So Gus, 25, and Clementine, 18, wed knowing next to nothing about each other.
Gus brings Clementine her home to Montana and to a hard life she is not prepared for. Zach, the darker younger brother with a mysterious past (even at 23), realizes soon after Clementine arrives that he covets his brother's wife. And, though faithful to her husband, Zach becomes the passion of Clementine’s life--a passion denied. You can see the potential for great angst here, can't you? Here a sample of the words Zach speaks to her: "A heartfire, Clementine my darlin', is when you want someone, when you need her so damn bad, not only in your bed but in your life, that you're willin' to burn--". Yeah, well, a whole lot of burnin' goes on in this story before Zach gets his Clemmie.
There are lots of relationship combinations in this romance: Two men loving the same woman; two women loving the same man; one man loving a woman who should never have married the man she did; a good hearted whore who becomes a lady's true friend and the lover of the man her friend loves, different races coming together and children birthed and loved only to die of accident, disease and more. Through the lives of these people, Williamson so beautifully portrays, you will experience the life of the Americans who won the west and who made this country great. And you will experience love that endures through the years though denied. This novel is so worth it...another keeper!
September 2, 2018
Can Penelope Williamson write a damn-good love story or what?! So well that she makes me forgive the inclusion of tropes I normally hate. So well that she blows my mind away again with her awesome storytelling skills and keen awareness of the human heart.
Simply put, this exquisite western is a celebration of love in its many variations: first love, familial love, platonic love, love for one's calling, love for home and, most of all, the all-consuming, passionate love that exists between soul mates. The love that Zach and Clementine shared was so beautiful, deep, and abiding that nothing—not Clementine's marriage to Zach's brother, not even time and distance—could destroy it. Test it, but not destroy it. It's that powerful, and was so tragic because it seemed destined to remain unfulfilled. Their love and longing for each other felt so palpable and moving, so when the book veered away from their relationship to focus on secondary characters I felt impatient to return to the main story. Although they added more depth, these additional storylines weren't as compelling as Zach and Clementine's romance.
Pervading these relationships was the underlying theme of home being where the heart is. Clementine was from Boston, but it had never been a true home. Montana wasn't a home to Clementine until she embraced her own inner wildness and true self: the courageous and passionate "bear" inside her. And of course, her ultimate home was with Zach. With Gus, the love he showered on her was a selfish one laced with expectations. With Zach, not only could Clementine be herself, but he loved her unconditionally. Zach, too, had never had a real sense of belonging and being loved. He'd been abandoned by his mother and brother at a young age, and had to basically raise himself despite being left with his father. With Clementine, Zach finds his home.
As characters, I liked Clementine for her honor, passion, and courage, but it was Zach who stole my heart. What a MAN! He could be ornery at times, but underneath it all lay a man with a playful, sweet heart. And brave and sexy as well. I loved how he loved Clementine, with passion, earthy lust, and a protective devotion. If ever there was a man who deserved a happily-ever-after, it would have to be Zach.
Zach and Clementine underwent a long and difficult journey to reach their HEA, but I believe they would say it was worth it, and so was reading this book.
Simply put, this exquisite western is a celebration of love in its many variations: first love, familial love, platonic love, love for one's calling, love for home and, most of all, the all-consuming, passionate love that exists between soul mates. The love that Zach and Clementine shared was so beautiful, deep, and abiding that nothing—not Clementine's marriage to Zach's brother, not even time and distance—could destroy it. Test it, but not destroy it. It's that powerful, and was so tragic because it seemed destined to remain unfulfilled. Their love and longing for each other felt so palpable and moving, so when the book veered away from their relationship to focus on secondary characters I felt impatient to return to the main story. Although they added more depth, these additional storylines weren't as compelling as Zach and Clementine's romance.
Pervading these relationships was the underlying theme of home being where the heart is. Clementine was from Boston, but it had never been a true home. Montana wasn't a home to Clementine until she embraced her own inner wildness and true self: the courageous and passionate "bear" inside her. And of course, her ultimate home was with Zach. With Gus, the love he showered on her was a selfish one laced with expectations. With Zach, not only could Clementine be herself, but he loved her unconditionally. Zach, too, had never had a real sense of belonging and being loved. He'd been abandoned by his mother and brother at a young age, and had to basically raise himself despite being left with his father. With Clementine, Zach finds his home.
As characters, I liked Clementine for her honor, passion, and courage, but it was Zach who stole my heart. What a MAN! He could be ornery at times, but underneath it all lay a man with a playful, sweet heart. And brave and sexy as well. I loved how he loved Clementine, with passion, earthy lust, and a protective devotion. If ever there was a man who deserved a happily-ever-after, it would have to be Zach.
Zach and Clementine underwent a long and difficult journey to reach their HEA, but I believe they would say it was worth it, and so was reading this book.
July 13, 2012
This book is an epic western romance. It is well documented, so it allows you to learn lots of things about how the pioneers lived. It also has a bunch of authentic characters, well defined, charming and interesting.
But I didn’t enjoy this book because I wanted Gus dead . See, Clementine, who lives oppressed by her father, finds Gus, with his tender eyes, tender smile and handsome body and elopes to Gus’ ranch. But then, she meets his brother, Zach and the fireworks start. And it is not fair. Zach and Clementine refrain themselves and their love is tragic, they both love Gus. So that only leaves one option: an accident. And I waited for it to happen (the love between Clem and Zach never falters, it’s impossible, its THE love). So I waited and waited and waited .
Another thing that left me puzzled is that -about the middle of the book- the plot changes and three main characters appear from nowhere (Jere, Drew and a chinese woman, Lilly). You’ll get to learn also about China’s “way of life”. At the time, I couldn’t care less: yes, I was waiting for Gus to die, and I wanted for Clem and Zach finally getting their love which is truest than love itself. Then, I cared for the new characters, but their love lives also dragged.
In the end I cheated and went to look for WHAT FINALLY HAPPENED. And then, I didn’t bother to come back and read the whole book. I guess I felt deflated .
But I didn’t enjoy this book because I wanted Gus dead . See, Clementine, who lives oppressed by her father, finds Gus, with his tender eyes, tender smile and handsome body and elopes to Gus’ ranch. But then, she meets his brother, Zach and the fireworks start. And it is not fair. Zach and Clementine refrain themselves and their love is tragic, they both love Gus. So that only leaves one option: an accident. And I waited for it to happen (the love between Clem and Zach never falters, it’s impossible, its THE love). So I waited and waited and waited .
Another thing that left me puzzled is that -about the middle of the book- the plot changes and three main characters appear from nowhere (Jere, Drew and a chinese woman, Lilly). You’ll get to learn also about China’s “way of life”. At the time, I couldn’t care less: yes, I was waiting for Gus to die, and I wanted for Clem and Zach finally getting their love which is truest than love itself. Then, I cared for the new characters, but their love lives also dragged.
In the end I cheated and went to look for WHAT FINALLY HAPPENED. And then, I didn’t bother to come back and read the whole book. I guess I felt deflated .
March 6, 2025
Absolutely epic, loved every page.
December 3, 2008
Sixteen year old Clementine Kennicutt, Boston born and raised in an authoritarian and pious household yearns for something more, and thinks she's found it when Montana Cowboy Gus McQueen runs her down on his bicycle. They marry and they're off to Gus's Montana ranch, although Clem, who is used to servants performing menial tasks, is in for a shock as things are more rustic than she had anticipated, let alone learning to deal with the mud, rains, wind, wolves, Indians and severe winters. Gus turns out to be a bit more rigid than she expected and despite their feelings for each other, Clem always yearns for something more -- which she soon finds in Gus's devil may care younger brother Zach. At first Zach hates Clementine and her Boston blue-blood ways and doesn't think she'll last until winter without running for home, but Clem has a stubborn streak and eventually Zach's resentment turns to attraction and sparks start to fly between the two.
Well, that all sounds promising enough and I has all hyped to get myself into this book but I was a bit disappointed in how the story was executed. The author spent too much time on storylines for the secondary characters, and those characters were all cardboard cut-out stereo typical of every TV western I've ever seen. The saloon owner/former prostitute with the heart of gold, the grizzled hard drinking prospectors, the evil mine owning sneaky father-in-law and worst of all was Lily the mail order bride from China. Now don't misunderstand me, but I swear I kept expecting Hop Sing to drop by for a visit from the Ponderosa - Lily and Sam were just way over the top, especially with her "golden lilies". As much as I love a big fat epic story this one could have used some serious paring down by losing a few secondary people and sticking to the main focus of Zach and Clem - although there again I felt the author could have been more creative in how she built the tension up between the two - the references to lightening flashes sparking in the air between them got a bit old, as did everyone noticed the denied passion between the two except for Gus. OK.....
Be warned, the book covers a twelve year span in Clem's life and the author takes way too long for the big payola after all that angst - run out of steam perhaps and finish it off too quickly? It's just too serious for a romance and not serious enough for readers of historicals. I think it might have worked better if the author had kept her feet firmly planted in her cheek, especially with the lesser characters, every once and a while she'd cut lose and I'd think now we're taking off and then she dropped me again. All in all an average read, not great but not bad either. The author does have another book set in Montana called The Outsider that I've got out from the library so I'll give her one more whirl before calling it quits. 3/5 stars.
Well, that all sounds promising enough and I has all hyped to get myself into this book but I was a bit disappointed in how the story was executed. The author spent too much time on storylines for the secondary characters, and those characters were all cardboard cut-out stereo typical of every TV western I've ever seen. The saloon owner/former prostitute with the heart of gold, the grizzled hard drinking prospectors, the evil mine owning sneaky father-in-law and worst of all was Lily the mail order bride from China. Now don't misunderstand me, but I swear I kept expecting Hop Sing to drop by for a visit from the Ponderosa - Lily and Sam were just way over the top, especially with her "golden lilies". As much as I love a big fat epic story this one could have used some serious paring down by losing a few secondary people and sticking to the main focus of Zach and Clem - although there again I felt the author could have been more creative in how she built the tension up between the two - the references to lightening flashes sparking in the air between them got a bit old, as did everyone noticed the denied passion between the two except for Gus. OK.....
Be warned, the book covers a twelve year span in Clem's life and the author takes way too long for the big payola after all that angst - run out of steam perhaps and finish it off too quickly? It's just too serious for a romance and not serious enough for readers of historicals. I think it might have worked better if the author had kept her feet firmly planted in her cheek, especially with the lesser characters, every once and a while she'd cut lose and I'd think now we're taking off and then she dropped me again. All in all an average read, not great but not bad either. The author does have another book set in Montana called The Outsider that I've got out from the library so I'll give her one more whirl before calling it quits. 3/5 stars.
January 30, 2019
3.5 STARS
I love Ms. William’s Writing. She’s a master story teller and knows how to make the reader feel emotions or the characters she pen down. Obviously, this was not one of my favorites. The book was too long to begin with. The story had two other romances going on other than the main one. Then there’s was the angst and forbidden chemistry between Clem & Zach which was great but by the time the story came to a wrap I was heartbroken for Gus. I didn’t want him to leave the story. By the end of it when Clem has a chance with Zach it was just bland.
However, I highly recommend her books. I loved Passions of Emma (although the ending could’ve been soo much better than being abrupt?
I love Ms. William’s Writing. She’s a master story teller and knows how to make the reader feel emotions or the characters she pen down. Obviously, this was not one of my favorites. The book was too long to begin with. The story had two other romances going on other than the main one. Then there’s was the angst and forbidden chemistry between Clem & Zach which was great but by the time the story came to a wrap I was heartbroken for Gus. I didn’t want him to leave the story. By the end of it when Clem has a chance with Zach it was just bland.
However, I highly recommend her books. I loved Passions of Emma (although the ending could’ve been soo much better than being abrupt?
May 11, 2011
This is the 2nd book I have recently read by Penelope Williamson. I am making it a point to get my hands on every book I come across by this extraordinary author.
The story spans about 7 or 8 years of the in depth life and love this young New Englander has for 2 brothers. It also includes the lives and loves of her dear friends in a small Montana town in the late 1800's.
Right off, this lonely abused heroine stole my heart.
She was nine when she learned about the cowboys...
The family had hired a young scullery maid who shared her passion with Clementine (h). Sundays the girls read the adventures of gun-toting cowboys and wild mustangs, wicked cattle rustlers and scalping Indians from the yellowback novels and weekly Five Cent Wide Awake Library's Wild West series.
When she was 16/17, Clementine met her cowboy.."and she was ready for him"...
This is a novel that made me laugh then made me cry. Sometimes the plot had me sucking in my breathe and forced me to put the book down a few minutes because scenes were so raw and hard to read. Other times I got angry with the hatefulness and prejudice of man written in this story.
And... I fell in love with all the characters.
This is more than a 5 rating for me.
It was a loaner from a wonderful lady on PBS and I will be looking for my very own copy.
The story spans about 7 or 8 years of the in depth life and love this young New Englander has for 2 brothers. It also includes the lives and loves of her dear friends in a small Montana town in the late 1800's.
Right off, this lonely abused heroine stole my heart.
She was nine when she learned about the cowboys...
The family had hired a young scullery maid who shared her passion with Clementine (h). Sundays the girls read the adventures of gun-toting cowboys and wild mustangs, wicked cattle rustlers and scalping Indians from the yellowback novels and weekly Five Cent Wide Awake Library's Wild West series.
When she was 16/17, Clementine met her cowboy.."and she was ready for him"...
This is a novel that made me laugh then made me cry. Sometimes the plot had me sucking in my breathe and forced me to put the book down a few minutes because scenes were so raw and hard to read. Other times I got angry with the hatefulness and prejudice of man written in this story.
And... I fell in love with all the characters.
This is more than a 5 rating for me.
It was a loaner from a wonderful lady on PBS and I will be looking for my very own copy.
January 16, 2025
Heart of the West by Penelope Williamson (1995) is an epic heart filled tale of one woman’s love for two men, her children, her friends, and eventually Montana. It’s 591 pages, and takes place over 12 years.
The 17 year old heroine, Clementine Kennicutt elopes with Gus McQueen, a cowboy she meets near her home in Boston. After arriving at his ranch in Montana she meets his brother, Zack Rafferty … a “hell bent cowboy.” Clementine loves her husband but she and Zack soon realize their deep love for each other. They very rarely speak about it… she remains faithful to her husband. Over the years Zack comes in and out of her life.
“Rafferty was her life’s passion. The man she was put on this earth to love with her every breath, every heart beat.”
For Rafferty… “He loved her. And he hated her for making him love her so, when it was so hopeless and so wrong.”
I loved the sprawling saga of life in Montana.., the harshness of living there, it’s so big, raw and wild. The writing is sensational, the characters deeply memorable. Clementine’s inner strength and determination carries her thru all the hardships and tragedies of her life. My favorite was Zack Rafferty, a complex man, mean, sexy as sin, kind, practical, and at times drunk and whoring around. The author’s given them both a strong sense of honor which carries them thru the many years of their unrequited forbidden love.
However, right in the middle of the book another couple abruptly takes over the story; a Chinese girl who’s to be wed to a Chinese man who owns the mercantile store in town. Her backstory is described in detail. Then a few other characters appear, two Cornish men who work in the nearby silver mines… one who’s attracted to Hannah… she owns the fanciest saloon in town and has been Zack’s lover. I tried to be interested but wasn’t so skimmed read. No clue why the story abruptly left Clementine and her story behind.
I disliked this interruption in the main story as it consumed a significant part and felt unnecessary. This is a book that takes about 15 hours of reading time on a kindle, and it was only in the last two hours that the story focused again on Clementine, her husband and Zack. Finally in the last 30 minutes of reading, Clementine and Zack get their HEA and a physically passionate scene. Aaugh!! Way too short an ending and it’s crying out for an epilogue!
For me the first half of the book is 5 stars, and the second half barely 3 stars. Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
RITA Best Historical Romance 1996.
The 17 year old heroine, Clementine Kennicutt elopes with Gus McQueen, a cowboy she meets near her home in Boston. After arriving at his ranch in Montana she meets his brother, Zack Rafferty … a “hell bent cowboy.” Clementine loves her husband but she and Zack soon realize their deep love for each other. They very rarely speak about it… she remains faithful to her husband. Over the years Zack comes in and out of her life.
“Rafferty was her life’s passion. The man she was put on this earth to love with her every breath, every heart beat.”
For Rafferty… “He loved her. And he hated her for making him love her so, when it was so hopeless and so wrong.”
I loved the sprawling saga of life in Montana.., the harshness of living there, it’s so big, raw and wild. The writing is sensational, the characters deeply memorable. Clementine’s inner strength and determination carries her thru all the hardships and tragedies of her life. My favorite was Zack Rafferty, a complex man, mean, sexy as sin, kind, practical, and at times drunk and whoring around. The author’s given them both a strong sense of honor which carries them thru the many years of their unrequited forbidden love.
However, right in the middle of the book another couple abruptly takes over the story; a Chinese girl who’s to be wed to a Chinese man who owns the mercantile store in town. Her backstory is described in detail. Then a few other characters appear, two Cornish men who work in the nearby silver mines… one who’s attracted to Hannah… she owns the fanciest saloon in town and has been Zack’s lover. I tried to be interested but wasn’t so skimmed read. No clue why the story abruptly left Clementine and her story behind.
I disliked this interruption in the main story as it consumed a significant part and felt unnecessary. This is a book that takes about 15 hours of reading time on a kindle, and it was only in the last two hours that the story focused again on Clementine, her husband and Zack. Finally in the last 30 minutes of reading, Clementine and Zack get their HEA and a physically passionate scene. Aaugh!! Way too short an ending and it’s crying out for an epilogue!
For me the first half of the book is 5 stars, and the second half barely 3 stars. Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
RITA Best Historical Romance 1996.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 1, 2012
Time: 1879-1891
Place: Montana, Rain Dance Country, Rainbow Springs
# Pages: 591
Although it took me about 150 pages to get into it (out of 600, mind you), once I did, I felt like I was living it. Williamson describes everything so clearly, like I was actually there. I loved Clementine's determination not to let Montana beat her, and how she came to love and respect her way of life out there - with or without a ... man. I liked her ability to support herself with her passion for photography even though the men in her life thought it a silly waste of time. The substories kept things interesting. And though it is long, it's fun to curl up with every day like a soap opera - What's Clementine going to get herself into today? you would say. I find myself mentally referring to this book daily, using it to see myself and others more clearly.
My favorite line was when Joe Proud Bear said to Clementine, "The years have changed you, white woman. Once, I think, you had the heart of a straw squaw put among the corn to frighten away bears. Now you are the bear." And if I ever feel just an ounce of self-doubt, I just say to myself, "I am the bear." Clementine McQueen, fictitious or no, inspires me to this day.
Place: Montana, Rain Dance Country, Rainbow Springs
# Pages: 591
Although it took me about 150 pages to get into it (out of 600, mind you), once I did, I felt like I was living it. Williamson describes everything so clearly, like I was actually there. I loved Clementine's determination not to let Montana beat her, and how she came to love and respect her way of life out there - with or without a ... man. I liked her ability to support herself with her passion for photography even though the men in her life thought it a silly waste of time. The substories kept things interesting. And though it is long, it's fun to curl up with every day like a soap opera - What's Clementine going to get herself into today? you would say. I find myself mentally referring to this book daily, using it to see myself and others more clearly.
My favorite line was when Joe Proud Bear said to Clementine, "The years have changed you, white woman. Once, I think, you had the heart of a straw squaw put among the corn to frighten away bears. Now you are the bear." And if I ever feel just an ounce of self-doubt, I just say to myself, "I am the bear." Clementine McQueen, fictitious or no, inspires me to this day.
July 20, 2016
J'arrête à 50%.
La 1ère partie, très bien, rien à redire !
Je commence la deuxième partie, grrrr, ça se passe 3 ans après. Plein de nouveaux personnages, je ne le sens pas. Je fouille donc le reste du livre, dont la fin (qui se passera 7 ans après encore !). Donc non, pas pour moi, trop de sauts de temps (je n'aime pas), de séparations (je deteste) et de morts (génial). Dommage, la 1ère partie était top :(
La 1ère partie, très bien, rien à redire !
Je commence la deuxième partie, grrrr, ça se passe 3 ans après. Plein de nouveaux personnages, je ne le sens pas. Je fouille donc le reste du livre, dont la fin (qui se passera 7 ans après encore !). Donc non, pas pour moi, trop de sauts de temps (je n'aime pas), de séparations (je deteste) et de morts (génial). Dommage, la 1ère partie était top :(
October 13, 2021
Rating: 2.meh / 5
DNF at around 88 pages.
So, let's just get down to the nitty-gritty of why I didn't like this book enough to even make it to my usual 100 page marker (although, that being said, there's about 350 words on every page, so just 50 pages would've been following the rule fine).
Namely, the heroine, Clementine.
Good golly gosh, I could NOT get behind this one!
Okay, so we're told that she's a Boston lady, one who's been repressed her entire life by her father who's a preacher, and so she grows up to be a proper lady even though on the inside she's apparently desperate to be wild and sinful and what have you.
Except...she's not.
The author TELLS us that she is, but even once Clementine sucessfully elopes and is out from under her father's wing, apparently his teaching is too much implanted in her and she ends up being annoying and restrained and ladylike in a setting that just. doesn't. FIT. And her one "redeeming" quality in all this that's supposed to make us like her?
She's apparently into photography and snuck a camera and tripod out there as well.
Um. Yeh. Not exactly endearing or...growing a backbone or...having any personality whatsoever, in other words.
And, speaking of which, neither Gus nor Zack (from what little I actually read about the latter) seem to have much of a personality either. Gus is pretty much like Dallas from Texas Destiny, in that he has big dreams for his ranch and whatnot and he wants to make his dreams come alive but a wife...is just kind of a nice, broodmare addition to that dream. I found myself hard-pressed to find anything genuine in his relationship with Clementine, especially since he kind of switches back and forth between treating her gently and then bossing her around kind of like her dad always did. So...yeah, nothing to support there.
Also, from what the author introduced us to in terms of side characters, I couldn't see myself caring enough about absolutely anything that happened in order to put myself through almost 600, 350-words-a-page pages of reading this.
So...yup, just nope. Moving on, not sure if I'll try at this one again. Meh. Meh. Mehmehmeh.
DNF at around 88 pages.
So, let's just get down to the nitty-gritty of why I didn't like this book enough to even make it to my usual 100 page marker (although, that being said, there's about 350 words on every page, so just 50 pages would've been following the rule fine).
Namely, the heroine, Clementine.
Good golly gosh, I could NOT get behind this one!
Okay, so we're told that she's a Boston lady, one who's been repressed her entire life by her father who's a preacher, and so she grows up to be a proper lady even though on the inside she's apparently desperate to be wild and sinful and what have you.
Except...she's not.
The author TELLS us that she is, but even once Clementine sucessfully elopes and is out from under her father's wing, apparently his teaching is too much implanted in her and she ends up being annoying and restrained and ladylike in a setting that just. doesn't. FIT. And her one "redeeming" quality in all this that's supposed to make us like her?
She's apparently into photography and snuck a camera and tripod out there as well.
Um. Yeh. Not exactly endearing or...growing a backbone or...having any personality whatsoever, in other words.
And, speaking of which, neither Gus nor Zack (from what little I actually read about the latter) seem to have much of a personality either. Gus is pretty much like Dallas from Texas Destiny, in that he has big dreams for his ranch and whatnot and he wants to make his dreams come alive but a wife...is just kind of a nice, broodmare addition to that dream. I found myself hard-pressed to find anything genuine in his relationship with Clementine, especially since he kind of switches back and forth between treating her gently and then bossing her around kind of like her dad always did. So...yeah, nothing to support there.
Also, from what the author introduced us to in terms of side characters, I couldn't see myself caring enough about absolutely anything that happened in order to put myself through almost 600, 350-words-a-page pages of reading this.
So...yup, just nope. Moving on, not sure if I'll try at this one again. Meh. Meh. Mehmehmeh.
Read
March 18, 2018This is another one of those books which I find impossible to rate.
Heart of the West has been on my tbr for about a year now, but it is kind of humongous and I was reasonably intimidated by that.
I finally picked it up because I was craving a western romance and also because I have decided this is my year to read all the big books I've avoided in the past.
So I'm glad I read this just because I had the guts to finally do it, but also because it is a book that while not without many flaws, has probably imprinted itself on my brain.
I think I will remember these characters in a year, and some of the basic framework of the plot. This is good, because to me that is the mark of a good book.
Some of the story telling is allowed to be sloppy as long as it is memorable, and as long as I'm feeling things.
I was definitely feeling things throughout this book. It's basically a story about a woman who needs to get out of an abusive family home, so she marries the first cowboy she sees (kind of stupid, I'll admit as she didn't know his character and he could have potentially been just as bad as her abusive father, but I digress) and moves to Montana with him.
This book is all about Clementine (the main character) growing into a tough, honorable woman while also fighting the fact that she has fallen in love with her husband's brother, and that she definitely made a wrong life choice.
This book was very angsty, as Clementine and her husband's brother Zac pine after each other for more than eleven years. I love angst, so I didn't mind, but my first complaint is that after 720 pages I'd finally had enough and I wanted the torture to be over with.
By the end of the book, because this is a romance and happily ever after is sort of implied, nothing is standing in their way anymore and they STILL cause problems for themselves and get in the way of their own happiness. I couldn't stand it.
I guess that is rather a theme in this book, though. It's all about how the honorable thing to do doesn't always leave you with the things you want out of life, but you can still be happy with what you have which... I both agree and disagree with at certain points of this novel.
I mean, the most thrilling bits of this large book are when Clementine and Zachary are on the same page together, and you can tangibly FEEL their passion for one another without them even having to speak. It was so well written.
There is a scene where Gus (Clementine's husband) sees Zac and Clementine sitting together on a blanket at a Fourth of July party, and they aren't saying anything to one another, which he finds confusing. They are simply looking at each other, and when he goes over to talk to them he feels like he has intruded upon them and popped some sort of bubble, which he has.
This is the part where I started thinking that instead of being honorable, Clementine and Zac were being unfair to Gus. I think he deserved a great love of his own, and just because he's a good man and you don't want to hurt him is not reason enough to lie to him in your heart for years.
Because the passion and love and yearning that Clementine and Zac feel is so intense, I think it would have been kinder to Gus to be straight with him about their feelings.
But then again, the complex dance of codependency and love and lust and hatred that they all feel sub-textually throughout this novel was one of my favorite parts of this book. I loved how Clementine and Zac and Gus interacted, and how the lines between love and distrust were so close together. This is one of my favorite love triangles.
I also loved the notion that you can just tell when someone's heart is not truly with you, even if you don't know the reason for it. Gus could sense that no matter what he did, Clementine was keeping herself apart from him until maybe the last year of his life, when she surrendered to the fact that if she was going to be honorable she could at least try to give more to the man she had to stay with.
A lot of this novel could have been cut out, but some parts were masterful, but none so much as the bittersweet moments. I loved the parts where people had a connection to someone, and could even be happy with them, but knew they could never love them in the RIGHT way and the devastation that comes from that.
Zac Rafferty in particular, was kind of a show stopper, and not even just because he was the male lead. He was the perfect mix of bittersweet complexity and cutthroat daring. He was kind of a bad boy but he loved Clementine so much. It was very swoony, not gonna lie. And his friendship with Hannah was so great but also kind of full of sadness.
But that brings me to my biggest complaint of this novel and why it is so hard to rate honestly. This book turned from a story focused on romance in a historical setting in the first part, to a story focused on turning itself into a sprawling epic in the vein of Gone with the Wind by the second part.
I mean, Gone with the Wind is much better. This is more like Gone with the Wind- lite. And so I was a bit dissatisfied.
I was invested in Clementine, Zac, and Gus. So to suddenly be thrown into four other different subplots/ perspectives was not only jarring but boring.
The other two romances were so abrupt and hacked onto an already bloated plot, so that I didn't feel them in my heart at all.
Hannah and Erlan were characters I was rooting for basically because they had such crappy lives and were so abused by the men they came across. Hannah was more endearing than Erlan for sure (probably due to page time), but at the end of the day I was just counting the pages until I could get back to Clementine.
This issue may lay entirely on my shoulders, because I am not a fan of many different perspectives in a narrative, but then again, maybe not.
I've read books that have done this in a way that didn't bother me but rather compelled me.
So overall, this book had some stunning scenes, but was also full of stuff that could have been cut out. The angst was great if you like angst, but I wish it had been over with sooner so that I could see Clementine and Zac interacting as a couple.
And that last line of the book... was marvelous. What a perfectly moving way to end this lovely tale. It kind of gave me a lump in my throat, which shows me that Penelope Williamson is a decidedly gifted author.
Heart of the West has been on my tbr for about a year now, but it is kind of humongous and I was reasonably intimidated by that.
I finally picked it up because I was craving a western romance and also because I have decided this is my year to read all the big books I've avoided in the past.
So I'm glad I read this just because I had the guts to finally do it, but also because it is a book that while not without many flaws, has probably imprinted itself on my brain.
I think I will remember these characters in a year, and some of the basic framework of the plot. This is good, because to me that is the mark of a good book.
Some of the story telling is allowed to be sloppy as long as it is memorable, and as long as I'm feeling things.
I was definitely feeling things throughout this book. It's basically a story about a woman who needs to get out of an abusive family home, so she marries the first cowboy she sees (kind of stupid, I'll admit as she didn't know his character and he could have potentially been just as bad as her abusive father, but I digress) and moves to Montana with him.
This book is all about Clementine (the main character) growing into a tough, honorable woman while also fighting the fact that she has fallen in love with her husband's brother, and that she definitely made a wrong life choice.
This book was very angsty, as Clementine and her husband's brother Zac pine after each other for more than eleven years. I love angst, so I didn't mind, but my first complaint is that after 720 pages I'd finally had enough and I wanted the torture to be over with.
By the end of the book, because this is a romance and happily ever after is sort of implied, nothing is standing in their way anymore and they STILL cause problems for themselves and get in the way of their own happiness. I couldn't stand it.
I guess that is rather a theme in this book, though. It's all about how the honorable thing to do doesn't always leave you with the things you want out of life, but you can still be happy with what you have which... I both agree and disagree with at certain points of this novel.
I mean, the most thrilling bits of this large book are when Clementine and Zachary are on the same page together, and you can tangibly FEEL their passion for one another without them even having to speak. It was so well written.
There is a scene where Gus (Clementine's husband) sees Zac and Clementine sitting together on a blanket at a Fourth of July party, and they aren't saying anything to one another, which he finds confusing. They are simply looking at each other, and when he goes over to talk to them he feels like he has intruded upon them and popped some sort of bubble, which he has.
This is the part where I started thinking that instead of being honorable, Clementine and Zac were being unfair to Gus. I think he deserved a great love of his own, and just because he's a good man and you don't want to hurt him is not reason enough to lie to him in your heart for years.
Because the passion and love and yearning that Clementine and Zac feel is so intense, I think it would have been kinder to Gus to be straight with him about their feelings.
But then again, the complex dance of codependency and love and lust and hatred that they all feel sub-textually throughout this novel was one of my favorite parts of this book. I loved how Clementine and Zac and Gus interacted, and how the lines between love and distrust were so close together. This is one of my favorite love triangles.
I also loved the notion that you can just tell when someone's heart is not truly with you, even if you don't know the reason for it. Gus could sense that no matter what he did, Clementine was keeping herself apart from him until maybe the last year of his life, when she surrendered to the fact that if she was going to be honorable she could at least try to give more to the man she had to stay with.
A lot of this novel could have been cut out, but some parts were masterful, but none so much as the bittersweet moments. I loved the parts where people had a connection to someone, and could even be happy with them, but knew they could never love them in the RIGHT way and the devastation that comes from that.
Zac Rafferty in particular, was kind of a show stopper, and not even just because he was the male lead. He was the perfect mix of bittersweet complexity and cutthroat daring. He was kind of a bad boy but he loved Clementine so much. It was very swoony, not gonna lie. And his friendship with Hannah was so great but also kind of full of sadness.
But that brings me to my biggest complaint of this novel and why it is so hard to rate honestly. This book turned from a story focused on romance in a historical setting in the first part, to a story focused on turning itself into a sprawling epic in the vein of Gone with the Wind by the second part.
I mean, Gone with the Wind is much better. This is more like Gone with the Wind- lite. And so I was a bit dissatisfied.
I was invested in Clementine, Zac, and Gus. So to suddenly be thrown into four other different subplots/ perspectives was not only jarring but boring.
The other two romances were so abrupt and hacked onto an already bloated plot, so that I didn't feel them in my heart at all.
Hannah and Erlan were characters I was rooting for basically because they had such crappy lives and were so abused by the men they came across. Hannah was more endearing than Erlan for sure (probably due to page time), but at the end of the day I was just counting the pages until I could get back to Clementine.
This issue may lay entirely on my shoulders, because I am not a fan of many different perspectives in a narrative, but then again, maybe not.
I've read books that have done this in a way that didn't bother me but rather compelled me.
So overall, this book had some stunning scenes, but was also full of stuff that could have been cut out. The angst was great if you like angst, but I wish it had been over with sooner so that I could see Clementine and Zac interacting as a couple.
And that last line of the book... was marvelous. What a perfectly moving way to end this lovely tale. It kind of gave me a lump in my throat, which shows me that Penelope Williamson is a decidedly gifted author.
August 10, 2021
It does seem there aren't books like these anymore...
Anyway, it might not be to many people's sensibilities nowadays, but it allowed me to be involved in the story and empathize with the characters.
Anyway, it might not be to many people's sensibilities nowadays, but it allowed me to be involved in the story and empathize with the characters.
August 27, 2019
I read this years ago and forgot to add it to my list of books that I've read.
June 22, 2024
I have been saving this for ages - a great romantic saga I was sure would fill the huge hole in my life left by "The Far Pavilions" and other great historical epic romances I have read.
Nope.
Nope.
May 27, 2009
I started this book with great expectations, and for the most part, was not dissappointed. She creates a dramatic balance between reality and dreams and manages to tell a tale full of struggles,pain and grief in such a way that you feel the hope and love even more intensely.
I only recently discovered Williamsons books and just fell in love with her stories, characters and the magnificent artistry of her use of words. She has a really unique way of imparting the story so that you gradually develop a relationship with almost every character she introduces -and usually that's a lot - and the pages really become invisible as you feel yourself slide into her world. She certainly knows the value of drawing the emotions out of each character but in a truthful and simplistic way so that it never feels contrived or that the drama is added to make the telling more interesting.
This one is a very detailed account of a girl who has a difficult childhood and takes the first opportunity to run away with her "dream" cowboy. The story begins as she is making the choice to take Gus McQueen up on his offer to marry and join him in the far away wilds of Montana. The life of a cowboy in frontier Montana isn't exactly the way she had pictured, yet she is not deterred and you come along for the ride as she adapts and slowly comes to love the land she initially thought she never could. Clementine is a strong willed woman who bucks the system for what she feels is right and will not let Montana or Gus break her heart or soul.
Threaded throughout the story is the sub-stories of Zach Rafferty, Gus McQueen's brother; Hannah Yorke, who becomes Clementines closest friend; Erlan, the Chinese bride of Sam Woo the mercantile owner; Pogey and Nash the ole' timers who discover the Four Jacks mine and Drew and Jere Scully who work in the mine and become an integral link in Clementine's survival. We also meet One Eyed Jack McQueen, the heartless father of Zach and Gus who is a man without integrity or a soul and nearly destroys everything these characters have and care for out of greed and an inate evil.
And underlying all is the impossible love story.
Between a sold princess and a miner striving for the American dream; between a independent former "joy girl" and a courageous man afraid to hope; between a cowboy and the woman who he tries to tame; but most poigantly between a man as hard as the frontier life and the woman who sees in him the sunlight of her whole world if only she is strong enough to keep believing.
Sometimes the story is as tough to read as they have to be to survive. It is filled with passion and fear. All the anguish of death and the sheer joy of living. Not just a love story but a complicated, layered testament to the audacity of our will to survive and the continuing struggle of good over evil.
It is a saga that will seep into your heart and linger in your thoughts until you reach the soulful end, wishing it was only just beginning.
I only recently discovered Williamsons books and just fell in love with her stories, characters and the magnificent artistry of her use of words. She has a really unique way of imparting the story so that you gradually develop a relationship with almost every character she introduces -and usually that's a lot - and the pages really become invisible as you feel yourself slide into her world. She certainly knows the value of drawing the emotions out of each character but in a truthful and simplistic way so that it never feels contrived or that the drama is added to make the telling more interesting.
This one is a very detailed account of a girl who has a difficult childhood and takes the first opportunity to run away with her "dream" cowboy. The story begins as she is making the choice to take Gus McQueen up on his offer to marry and join him in the far away wilds of Montana. The life of a cowboy in frontier Montana isn't exactly the way she had pictured, yet she is not deterred and you come along for the ride as she adapts and slowly comes to love the land she initially thought she never could. Clementine is a strong willed woman who bucks the system for what she feels is right and will not let Montana or Gus break her heart or soul.
Threaded throughout the story is the sub-stories of Zach Rafferty, Gus McQueen's brother; Hannah Yorke, who becomes Clementines closest friend; Erlan, the Chinese bride of Sam Woo the mercantile owner; Pogey and Nash the ole' timers who discover the Four Jacks mine and Drew and Jere Scully who work in the mine and become an integral link in Clementine's survival. We also meet One Eyed Jack McQueen, the heartless father of Zach and Gus who is a man without integrity or a soul and nearly destroys everything these characters have and care for out of greed and an inate evil.
And underlying all is the impossible love story.
Between a sold princess and a miner striving for the American dream; between a independent former "joy girl" and a courageous man afraid to hope; between a cowboy and the woman who he tries to tame; but most poigantly between a man as hard as the frontier life and the woman who sees in him the sunlight of her whole world if only she is strong enough to keep believing.
Sometimes the story is as tough to read as they have to be to survive. It is filled with passion and fear. All the anguish of death and the sheer joy of living. Not just a love story but a complicated, layered testament to the audacity of our will to survive and the continuing struggle of good over evil.
It is a saga that will seep into your heart and linger in your thoughts until you reach the soulful end, wishing it was only just beginning.
May 15, 2020
Easy 5 stars for this epic western! I had previously read "the outsider" and loved it so I was sure id love her writing but...Man, I was always so afraid to read this one because of the triangle and I was worried I'd favor the wrong one over the other but I should never have worried! Gus may be the one she marries but he never has her whole heart and while he was by no means evil, in my opinion he didn't deserve all her love anyway. So it was all the easier for me to love zach and the lovely simmering sexual tension that he always had with clementine. It may have taken awhile to kick off the real simmering parts but that's understandable because with a book almost 600 pages, you can't have her and zach going at it at page 50. It required a slow burn and that's what we get, making it all the sweeter in the end. But damn do I wish there would be a sequel!!! I loved the side stories as well and how vast their backgrounds were, I really learned a lot. And pogey and Nash had to be two of the funniest men I've ever read!
Anyway, this is not just a book or even just a western, it's an epic classic that is a MUST READ for any historical romance lover. Please don't be like me and let the triangle thing turn you off because it really worked here. And life is not always a simple case of "I will love one person and one person only", there are layers and as Clem even says, different layers to love; different types. Yes she loves Gus, but she was never IN love with him and that's the difference. And it's true to this day, can we not love someone but also be in love with another?
And lastly, I also loved that though the book takes place over 12 years, it never felt drug out because she split it up into parts 1-3. So for example, though zach may leave for a bit, it didn't feel too long because we didn't have to read through every year spent without him, we get the point time moved without having to sit through it waiting for his return. The years passing also was a great way to show the growth of Clem. She was only 17 at the start and didn't understand what being "afraid" of rafferty meant but by the end she's her own woman and knows her heart- and his. My only issue was the end was kind of like omg get over who didn't say what when, and just be together already!
All in all: perfection! ❤️
Anyway, this is not just a book or even just a western, it's an epic classic that is a MUST READ for any historical romance lover. Please don't be like me and let the triangle thing turn you off because it really worked here. And life is not always a simple case of "I will love one person and one person only", there are layers and as Clem even says, different layers to love; different types. Yes she loves Gus, but she was never IN love with him and that's the difference. And it's true to this day, can we not love someone but also be in love with another?
And lastly, I also loved that though the book takes place over 12 years, it never felt drug out because she split it up into parts 1-3. So for example, though zach may leave for a bit, it didn't feel too long because we didn't have to read through every year spent without him, we get the point time moved without having to sit through it waiting for his return. The years passing also was a great way to show the growth of Clem. She was only 17 at the start and didn't understand what being "afraid" of rafferty meant but by the end she's her own woman and knows her heart- and his. My only issue was the end was kind of like omg get over who didn't say what when, and just be together already!
All in all: perfection! ❤️
May 23, 2022
I read this years ago and loved it so when I saw it in value village for a couple of bucks I thought I’d bring it home and give it another go. Initially what I loved about the book was that it had a Lonesome Dove vibe. Cowboy-ish with beautiful prose about the land, and indelible and endearing characters made for an enjoyable read. While there is romance, it’s not really the heart of the book, but instead the growth of the three women over the course of a number of years, who forge unlikely but enduring relationships with one another as they each find, lose and regain their true loves. Romance isn’t a genre I’m drawn to all that much and my enjoyment of the book suffered a wee bit because of it but there was enough going on with character development and setting that I was still able to fully engage with the book. I thought all the characters were very well developed and I enjoyed reading about all of them, the good, the bad and the ugly. The book was published in the nineties and so it is definitely dated in terms of what is acceptable in relationships, romance and expectations and how one would subvert those expectations. Despite that though and because I love a good character driven story with a cowboy-ish vibe, this was a pretty good read for me. Really enjoying revisiting previously loved books.
September 27, 2010
I read this a LOOOOOOONG time ago, but I still remember it being intense, realisticly written, and utterly heartbreaking. It's an extremely meaty book that covers many years. It's the sort of epic romance that isn't written these days.
July 10, 2015
Magnifique ! Très belle épopée, certes avec quelques longueurs, mais quelle splendide "histoire". A lire !!!
October 6, 2023
Would have liked this story much more if there wasn't so much focus on sex in the narrative. Doug Jones used to say that the reason so much trash has to be infused into a story is because it is not a really good story. Take Tolkien. He did not need to include so much explicit sexual content bc he had amazing stories. Sigh.
This is definitely a romance/western genre where the men have "rippling muscles under their tight Levi's" and the women all have "bosoms pouring out of their corsets". If all that had been removed, the story may have been better and about 200 pages shorter.
This is definitely a romance/western genre where the men have "rippling muscles under their tight Levi's" and the women all have "bosoms pouring out of their corsets". If all that had been removed, the story may have been better and about 200 pages shorter.
November 22, 2021
I really enjoyed reading this novel after traveling out west. I picked this book up at a garage sale in Wyoming. Glad I did. This story involved three different women of very different backgrounds, brought them together as sisters to survive the Wild West, and told of their hardships and love stories. Lots of ways of the west we’re shared through the book about views of women at the time and discrimination against various races. Excellent story with all the little pieces coming together in the end. Maybe a sequel about the children of the three main heroines will be written.
February 21, 2015
This is a lovely love story, but it is buried in a long bloated book that forces you to read through endless meandering side plots.
In particular, around half way through, the story suddenly switches to a Chinese mail order bride and we have to wait forever before the focus shifts back to the main couple.
Things - even the romance - drag on too long, on rinse-a-repeat cycle of yearning and sacrifice.
In some scenes, I didn't find the heroine particularly appealing. She is so fiercely focused on her independence, she rebels even against reasonable obligations. Apart from her one act of self-sacrifice of remaining with her husband, she seems very selfish.
For example, she is supposed to cook for the men while they brand calves in the spring roundup, but instead she wonders off to take photographs. When the hungry men come to eat and find she has neglected the cooking, her husband tells her off. She goes nuts, claiming he is stifling her with his demands.
It is difficult to accept her photography hobby. Her strict preacher father beat her up when he caught her looking at pictures of cowboys. How could such a man allow her to take up photography as a hobby and learn everything that goes with it, including purchasing her expensive equipment? It did not seem realistic to me.
The writing is wonderful, though, and there is a great sense of the period setting in Montana. I loved the hero. The first part of the book is excellent, although there is a bit too much backstory about the heroine's childhood.
At half the length, with some of the side plots stripped out, this would have been an excellent book, with one of my favourite romance heroes.
In particular, around half way through, the story suddenly switches to a Chinese mail order bride and we have to wait forever before the focus shifts back to the main couple.
Things - even the romance - drag on too long, on rinse-a-repeat cycle of yearning and sacrifice.
In some scenes, I didn't find the heroine particularly appealing. She is so fiercely focused on her independence, she rebels even against reasonable obligations. Apart from her one act of self-sacrifice of remaining with her husband, she seems very selfish.
For example, she is supposed to cook for the men while they brand calves in the spring roundup, but instead she wonders off to take photographs. When the hungry men come to eat and find she has neglected the cooking, her husband tells her off. She goes nuts, claiming he is stifling her with his demands.
It is difficult to accept her photography hobby. Her strict preacher father beat her up when he caught her looking at pictures of cowboys. How could such a man allow her to take up photography as a hobby and learn everything that goes with it, including purchasing her expensive equipment? It did not seem realistic to me.
The writing is wonderful, though, and there is a great sense of the period setting in Montana. I loved the hero. The first part of the book is excellent, although there is a bit too much backstory about the heroine's childhood.
At half the length, with some of the side plots stripped out, this would have been an excellent book, with one of my favourite romance heroes.
December 25, 2011
'Heart of the West" follows the lives of three women who meet up in the unlikely location of RainDance county Montana in the later 1800's. The first of the three women is Clementine, a free spirt and mentally tough 'women grown', who leaves the comfort of her Bostonian home to marry a cowboy, Gus McQueen. Once in RainDance county she realizes that life in Montana, and with her new husband, is not like the dreams she had when she was younger. Clementine befriends the 'town harlot' Mrs. Hannah Yorke and a Chinese mail-ordered bride, Erlan--who are the other characters the story follows. Hannah, Clementine and Erlan confront love, social conformities and life in the harsh environment that is Montana. Through the nearly 12 year journey each women grows and develops well beyond their imagination to be truly happy within themselves and their lives.
This novel was extremely interesting. I like learning about life in Montana in the 1800's through the eyes of Clementine, Hannah and Erlan. The harsh climate of Montana coupled with the social expectation of women of the time period made for tough times. Through the expert writing of Penelope Williamson, their struggles and hardships were passed on to the reader. I felt the pain, love, tension and fear along with the characters which made for a great read. The characters were well developed and matured overtime to be extremely likable. I have no complaints about "Heart of the West".
This novel was extremely interesting. I like learning about life in Montana in the 1800's through the eyes of Clementine, Hannah and Erlan. The harsh climate of Montana coupled with the social expectation of women of the time period made for tough times. Through the expert writing of Penelope Williamson, their struggles and hardships were passed on to the reader. I felt the pain, love, tension and fear along with the characters which made for a great read. The characters were well developed and matured overtime to be extremely likable. I have no complaints about "Heart of the West".
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