The #Revenant - Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56

After hearing so much hype about the book and the movie, I picked up The Revenant at the library and decided to give it a try. I loved this story. At first, I was put off by the omniscient point of view. The author tells what every character is feeling and thinking, even the wolves! It didn't take long, however, for the story to capture me and for the point of view shifts to stop bothering me so much. Although there is quite a bit of violence in the story, it's definitely worth reading. I'm hoping to see the movie too and will read more books by Punke.

Genre: Western/Historical/Adventure
Book Length: 272 Pages (paperback)
Amazon Link: The Revenant
More Books: Michael Punke Author Page

Book Beginning:
September 1, 1823
     They were abandoning him. The wounded man knew it when he looked at the boy, who looked down, then away, unwilling to hold his gaze.
     For days, the boy had argued with the man in the wolf-skin hat. Has it really been days? The wounded man had battled his fever and pain, never certain whether conversations he heard were real, or merely by-products of the delirious wanderings in his mind.

Teaser (Page 105 paperback):
The white wolf stopped to contemplate the changing odds. He knew well his place in the pack: Others led and he followed.
[Ooops! I messed up. Since the book is back at the library, I'll have to stick with this excerpt instead of something from Page 56. I apologize.]

Synopsis:

     A thrilling tale of betrayal and revenge set against the nineteenth-century American frontier, the astonishing story of real-life trapper and frontiersman Hugh Glass   

     The year is 1823, and the trappers of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company live a brutal frontier life. Hugh Glass is among the company’s finest men, an experienced frontiersman and an expert tracker. But when a scouting mission puts him face-to-face with a grizzly bear, he is viciously mauled and not expected to survive. Two company men are dispatched to stay behind and tend to Glass before he dies. When the men abandon him instead, Glass is driven to survive by one desire: revenge. With shocking grit and determination, Glass sets out, crawling at first, across hundreds of miles of uncharted American frontier. Based on a true story, The Revenant is a remarkable tale of obsession, the human will stretched to its limits, and the lengths that one man will go to for retribution.

                

Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56.
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Twitter: @SandyNachlinger

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Hangtown Creek - A Tale of the #California Gold Rush - First Paragraph / First Chapter / Tuesday Intros and #TeaserTuesday

    In this epic saga, John Rose Putnam paints a real and gritty picture of life in the Gold Rush era through the stories of each of his characters. A red-haired woman, her husband and son dead from cholera; two army veterans; a widowed man and three sons; three ruthless killers - all of them heading for California. Their quests make for a gripping tale.
    My reading tastes are eclectic, and a good book will keep me up late at night, reading when I should be asleep. That was definitely the case with Hangtown Creek. Putnam drew me into the world of gold panning, saloons, traveling by horseback, and much more with his excellent storytelling, filled with memorable characters, vivid description, and historical detail. I'll be reading more books by this talented author.   

Genre: Historical Fiction / Western
Length: 288 Pages
Amazon Link: Hangtown Creek
Author Website: John Rose Putnam

First Paragraph:
Fall 1846
    The earth, rutted deep from hundreds of wheels, churned raw by thousands of hooves, bore witness to the recent passing of a large immigrant party - all save one battered wagon that sat alone and untended, a loose pot clanking in the cold north wind. Here the trail followed the Truckee River, strangled by a long, dry summer into a trickle of shallow pools, and looking as pitiable as the forlorn wagon.
[Read the rest of Chapter One on John Putnam's website: HERE]

Teaser from 13% on my Kindle:
    All week she had watched them as they mined along the creek. The older one, gray showing in his hair and beard, reminded her of her father, but it was the other one, the tall one with the broad shoulders, who had brought her hope, the same slim hope she carried week after week.

Synopsis:
The majestic landscapes of Brett Harte's California unite with Larry McMurtry's epic old west realism in an explosion of love, lust, murder and betrayal that comes to a powerful climax along a beautiful stream, home to the largest strike in the mines, where a burning barn ignites the passion of a gold rush boomtown and, in one dark night of revenge, earns that stream the name it bears to this day—HANGTOWN CREEK.

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Jenn of Books and A Beat. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please!

Link at Books and A Beat

First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.

Link at BibliophileByTheSea

Twitter: @SandyNachlinger

Facebook: sandy.nachlinger

Dancing at the Rascal Fair - The Friday 56 and Book Beginnings on Friday

I've never been to Montana, but I feel like I've seen its wide open spaces and soaring mountains after reading Dancing at the Rascal Fair by Ivan Doig. This second book in Doig's Montana trilogy (it stands alone) made me a fan of his writing, and I've read almost all his books. Unfortunately, Mr. Doig passed away earlier this year at age 75.

Book Beginning (It starts with a newspaper story.)

Scotland and Helena

     Harbour Mishap at Greenock. Yesterday morning, while a horse and cart were conveying a thousand-weight of sugar on the quay at Albert Harbour, one of the cartwheels caught a mooring stanchion, which caused the laden conveyance and its draft animal to fall over into the water. The poor creature made desperate efforts to free itself and was successful in casting off all the harness except the collar, which, being attached to the shafts of the sunken cart, held its head under water until it was drowned. The dead animal and the cart were raised during the forenoon by the Greenock harbour diver.
-- Glawgow Caledonian, October 23, 1889

     To say the truth, it was not how I expected - stepping off toward America past a drowned horse.

The Friday 56 (from Page 56 in my trade paperback edition):
     Past the rear of his saloon and across a wide weedy yard he led us toward a two-story frame house. The house needed paint - this entire town needed that - but it sat comfortably between two fat gray cottonwood trees, like a mantel clock between pewter candlesticks.  

Genre: Montana Historical Fiction 

Length: 400 Pages (trade paperback edition)

Amazon Link: Dancing at the Rascal Fair

Author Website: Ivan Doig

Synopsis:

     The central volume in Ivan Doig's acclaimed Montana trilogy, Dancing at the Rascal Fair is an authentic saga of the American experience at the turn of this century and a passionate portrayal of the immigrants who dared to try new lives in the imposing Rocky Mountains.
     Ivan Doig's supple tale of landseekers unfolds into a fateful contest of the heart between Anna Ramsay and Angus McCaskill, walled apart by their obligations as they and their stormy kith and kin vie to tame the brutal, beautiful Two Medicine country.

                 

Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56.
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The Littlest Cowboy - Teaser Tuesday & First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros

For once I actually read the first book in a series first! The Littlest Cowboy is Book #1 in the nine-book Texas Brands Series by Maggie Shayne. The story begins when a baby is left at the doorstep on Sheriff Garrett Brand's ranch. The plot develops to include an abusive father, a cattle stampede, and a mobster. Plenty of action and romance.

Right now the ebook is FREE on Amazon.

Book Beginning:
Garrett Brand awoke in a cold sweat, some foreign kind of dread gnawing at his stomach. Heart pounding, he sat up fast and wide-eyed, his fists clenching defensively before he got hold of himself. Blinking the sleep haze from his eyes and taking a few deep breaths, he let his tense muscles relax and unclenched his fists. There was nothing wrong. There was no reason for that panicky feeling that had slipped through him like a ghost slipping through a wall. No reason at all.

Teaser (from 43% on my Kindle):
Somebody wanted Chelsea Brennan dead. The voice on the phone had identified that somebody as Vincent de Lorean, a man as evil as Satan himself.

Genre: Contemporary Western Romance
Book Length:  190 Pages
Amazon Link: The Littlest Cowboy
Author Website: Maggie Shayne
Author Blog: Maggie's Bliss Blog

  

Share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you are reading. Here's the link: Bibliophile By The Sea

Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please! Here's the link: Should Be Reading

Keeping Faith - Teaser Tuesday

I think I'm in love with Tom Henderson, the hero in KEEPING FAITH. Tom and his sister were raised in poverty - neglected and uneducated - but in spite of that rocky start, he grew into a good and caring man. I'm enjoying the story of how this cowboy's life changes when he takes on his deceased sister's baby as his responsibility.

In my Teaser, Lucille (a local seamstress and the story's heroine) is teaching Tom to read and she's wondering if he's more than just a good-looking cowboy.

Teaser (from 35% on my Kindle):
He played hard, but he worked hard, too. He showed the world a devil-may-care attitude, but she wondered now if perhaps beneath the dimpled smile and light-hearted words, a far more serious side existed. She wanted to get to know him better.

Genre: Western Historical Romance
Length: 292 Pages
Amazon Link: Keeping Faith (The Sunset Series - Book 2)
Other Books by Christina Cole: Amazon Author Page

Synopsis from Goodreads.com:
      Everything they say about Tom Henderson is true. Born in a barn, the bastard son of a drunken whore, he’s got nothing to offer, and any dreams he might have are as far away as the distant snow-capped Rockies -- and probably as unattainable. He’s long had his eye on pretty Lucille McIntyre, but that’s just one more impossible dream.
      Lucille has always been considered the prettiest and most popular girl in Sunset, but her father’s sudden death has left her shaken and sad. Now, life seems to be passing her by.
      When a prim and proper spinster arrives to deliver a squalling 3-month-old infant to Tom, his life and Lucille’s both change. His decision to keep the baby girl sets off a firestorm among the good ladies in town who don’t consider him fit to raise a child.
      Together, Tom and Lucille will do anything in their struggle for keeping Faith.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away -- you don't want to ruin the book for others)
• Share the title and author too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers
• Leave a comment on MizB's Teaser Tuesday post (HERE) and include your link so everyone can find your post.

Twitter: @sandynachlinger

Ryelee's Cowboy - Teaser Tuesday

Ryelee's Cowboy has such interesting and believable characters! Widower Clint Mahoney lost his ranch to foreclosure and now he runs a horse ranch for someone else. His daughter is disabled. The girl's nanny (Ryelee) is the daughter of the town n'er do well and has lived a life of poverty and neglect. She's determined to do her best by the rancher and his daughter for as long as he'll let her stay. But she's sure that when Clint finds out she's pregnant, he'll make her leave. All of the characters seem like real human beings with real problems to overcome. 

Although this is the second book in the Dawson Ranch Series, it also stands alone.

Teaser from 11% on my Kindle. Clint (the hero) is speaking:
"Ryelee only has a handful of threadbare clothes, one pair of shoes with holes in them, and she doesn't even have a coat. She says she doesn't want to spend any of the money she's made because she'll need it when I throw her away."

Genre: Western Romance
Length: 192 Pages
Amazon Link: Ryelee's Cowboy
Other Books by Kathleen Ball: Amazon Author's Page

Synopsis:
      Clint Maloney needs help with his daughter but he never bargained on Ryelee Snyder. The tall, gangly, girl is a menace. Clint spends too much of his time rescuing her from her latest mishap. Upon finding out about her pregnancy, Clint's feelings begin to change. He no longer views her as a nuisance but as a passionate woman with a generous heart.
      Secrets, misunderstandings, and cattle rustling put an increasing strain on their relationship, until they finally turn from each other. Just as they seem to find their way back, Ryelee's part in the cattle rustling is unveiled. Ryelee fights unyieldingly to win the love of a lifetime.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away -- you don't want to ruin the book for others)
• Share the title and author too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers
• Leave a comment on MizB's Teaser Tuesday post (HERE) and include your link so everyone can find your post.

Not the Marrying Kind - Teaser Tuesday

   When I started reading NOT THE MARRYING KIND, I assumed the character who wasn't interested in getting married would be the hero. Wrong! The heroine is the one who doesn't want a spouse. 
   Cole's characters are not stereotypical. Although Kat Phillips is a determined young woman, she isn't your usual headstrong female who rushes from calamity to calamity because of her impulsiveness. And Joshua, the hero, doesn't instantly fall in love with Kat and rush in to save the day. Both characters have believable conflicts - internal and external - that they have to overcome.

Christina's next book - KEEPING FAITH - is scheduled for release by Secret Cravings Publishing on July 1. I'm looking forward to reading it.

Teaser (from 51% on my Kindle):
Kat Phillips was anything but stupid. Trusting, yes. Stupid, no. She loved her father and didn't believe him capable of duplicity.

Genre: Historical Western Romance
Length: 283 Pages
Amazon Link: Not The Marrying Kind
Other Books by Christina Cole: Amazon Author Page

Synopsis:
     Kat Phillips is not the marrying kind. She can’t cook, keep house, or sew a stitch. When her father takes sick and decides to sell the Rocking P ranch, Kat must either follow his wishes and marry the lackluster minister in town or find a husband for herself. 
     Joshua Barron comes to the Colorado Territory to make a new start. Nothing means more to him than freedom. He arrives at the cabin where he’ll be staying with his reclusive, crazy-as-a-coot cousin, and realizes Cody desperately needs a wife. His thoughts go at once to the long-legged redhead he met in the foothills. 
     When Kat realizes the handsome stranger is looking for a wife, she’s determined to prove she’s got all the skills required to please a man...even if she has to lie to do it. She has no idea that Joshua is involved in a few lies of his own.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away -- you don't want to ruin the book for others)
• Share the title and author too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers
• Leave a comment on MizB's Teaser Tuesday post (HERE) and include your link so everyone can find your post.

Twitter: @sandynachlinger

Darlin' Irish - Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56

As Darlin' Irish (Texas Devlins) opens, Jessie Devlin uses her second sight to receive a message from the depths of a well - "Look West." But the vision also includes a pair of loving gray-green eyes as well as eyes flecked with flames. Does danger await her as she seeks the man she is destined to love? 
Author Lyn Horner took me on a romantic adventure from Chicago to Utah to Texas in this delightful wild west story. What a journey! 

Book Beginning (Prologue):
Chicago; April, 1872
"Saints above! Where is it?" Jessie muttered, slowly making her way across the dark, fog-shrouded field. She couldn't see one blessed thing.

Friday 56 (from 56% on my Kindle):
He looked magnificent in his dress uniform with its gold cording and epaulets, his dark hair shining, his bronzed features so handsome and proud. Hardly believing he was soon to be her husband, she met his eyes, heart knocking against her ribs.

Genre: Western Historical Romance
Length: 320 Pages
Amazon Link: Darlin' Irish

Goodreads Synopsis:
Psychics in the Old West? Yes indeed! Say howdy to Lyn Horner's Texas Devlins, a trio of extraordinary siblings. Darlin' Irish, the first book in the author's unique, award-winning trilogy, is a tale of epic adventure and steamy romance set ablaze by flashes of psychic power. Jessie Devlin possesses second sight, a gift inherited from the "Old Ones," her Irish Druid ancestors. A survivor of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, she endures nightmares of the fire in which a gentle, loving stranger saves her life. She believes they are fated to love and a prophetic vision sends her west in search of him. But a second vision warns of a fiery-eyed madman who may also wait somewhere beyond the horizon. Will her quest lead her to happiness . . . or into a deadly trap? Captain David Taylor is a Texan banished from home after fighting for the "wrong side" in the War Between the States. Now serving on the frontier, David meets Jessie on the way back to his post after a trip east. She stares at him as if seeing a ghost, for he looks like the hero in her dreams, but while he's entranced by her beauty, he has no taste for her firecracker temper. She brings to mind someone from his past who he'd rather forget. As the two journey west by rail their clashing personalities war with a fiery attraction to one another. Violence dogs their path and explodes in Mormon Utah. Whether love will win the day or be lost forever is a question that hangs in the balance until a shattering final battle between good and evil on the broad Texas plains.
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Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings and Friday 56. 

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Stronger Than The Rest - Friday 56 and Book Beginnings on Friday

Another exciting book in Shirleen Davies's "MacLarens of Fire Mountain" series. As the story opens, Drew MacLaren is confined to a wheelchair, paralyzed from a gunshot and convinced that he is not the man Tess needs. But as long as there's hope that he'll walk again, he'll keep working toward that goal. When an unscrupulous criminal sends thugs to intimidate ranchers into selling their property, will Drew and his brothers be able to set things right? As in the other books in this series, the story focuses not only on romance but also on friendship and family. The compelling plot builds to an exciting and satisfying climax. 

The author writes: Can Drew overcome the barriers that stand between him, the safety of his friends and family, and a life with the woman he loves? To do it all, he has to be strong. Stronger than the rest.

Book Beginning:
"Get up, MacLaren," a tall, burly man sneered before yanking him out of his wheelchair, kicking the contraption against a wall, and breaking a wheel. "I knew you could make it up -- one way or another," his attacker smirked and turned to the others at the table.

Friday 56 (from 56% on my Kindle):
Tess melted into his arms. She was totally unprepared for the warmth that swam over her body. She could smell the mixture of pine soap and fresh sweat and couldn't stop herself from running her fingers along his cheek bones, and wrapping her hands around his neck to draw him closer. She never wanted the kiss to stop.

Genre: Women's Fiction / Romance / Western
Number of Pages:  152
Amazon Link:  Stronger Than The Rest

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Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings and Friday 56. 

   Click here to connect to other Book Beginnings posts  

   (sponsored by Rose City Reader)

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   (sponsored by Freda's Voice) 
                           

Book Beginnings on Friday and Friday 56 - FASTER THAN THE REST

I do love western romances, and this second book in the MacLarens of Fire Mountain series is no exception. Outlaws, hunky ranchers, family bonds, a lifelong love - author Shirleen Davies combines all those elements to make FASTER THAN THE REST one heck of a good story.

Book Beginnings on Friday (opening lines from the Prologue):
"Stop right there, Wicklin." The man's voice came out of nowhere, hard and unwavering. It was well past midnight in the deserted wharf area of San Francisco, a time when people could disappear without a trace.

Friday 56 (from 56% on my Kindle): 
It has been almost a week - six days and nights - and no sign of him. She thought they'd started something together. They'd spoken of marriage.

Genre: Historical Western Romance
Number of Pages: 212
Amazon Link: Faster Than The Rest
Only $2.99 for your Kindle. Available in paperback too. The third book in the series -- HARDER THAN THE REST -- is due out in November.

Synopsis on Amazon: 
      Headstrong, brash, confident, and complex, the MacLarens of Fire Mountain will captivate you with strong characters set in the wild and rugged western frontier.
      Handsome, ruthless, young U.S. Marshal Jamie MacLaren had lost everything—his parents, his family connections, and his childhood sweetheart—but now he’s back in Fire Mountain and ready for another chance. Just as he successfully reconnects with his family and starts to rebuild his life, he gets the unexpected and unwanted assignment of rescuing the woman who broke his heart.
      Beautiful, wealthy Victoria Wicklin chose money and power over love, but is now fighting for her life—or is she? Who has she become in the seven years since she left Fire Mountain to take up her life in San Francisco? Is she really as innocent as she says?
      Marshal MacLaren struggles to learn the truth and do his job, but the past and present lead him in different directions as his heart and brain wage battle. Is Victoria a victim or a villain? Is life offering him another chance, or just another heartbreak?
      As Jamie and Victoria struggle to uncover past secrets and come to grips with their shared passion, another danger arises. A life-altering danger that is out of their control and threatens to destroy any chance for a shared future.

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Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings and Friday 56. 

   Click here to connect to other Book Beginnings posts 

   (sponsored by Rose City Reader.)

   Find other Friday 56 bloggers here 
   (sponsored by Freda's Voice).