About the Author
Charlene Whitman spent many years living on Colorado's Front Range. She grew up riding and raising horses, and
loves to read, write, and hike the mountains. She attended Colorado State
University in Fort Collins as an
English major. She has two daughters and is married to George "Dix"
Whitman, her love of thirty years. Colorado Hope is the second sweet Historical
Western Romance novel in her Front Range
series.
Her latest book is the sweet western historical
romance, Colorado Hope.
About the Book:
1875 ~
Beset by a sudden spring storm on the Front Range,
newlywed Grace Cunningham watches in horror as her husband, Monty, is swept
downriver. Pregnant and despairing, she stumbles into Fort Collins and tries to make a life for
herself, praying that one day the man she loves will walk into town and back
into her life.
A year
after Grace’s tragic loss, Monty enters the dress shop where she works—with a
beautiful woman on his arm. Shocked that he has no recollection of her, Grace
is determined to win back his heart. Somehow she must help him regain his
memories and his buried love for her—and not just for her sake but for the sake
of their infant son, Ben.
Monty,
miserable in his marriage to a woman he hardly knows, is inexplicably drawn to Grace.
Every time he’s near her, memories surface, but they are hazy and troubling.
He’s torn between his vows and the desires of his heart, for he cannot stay
away from Grace.
Grace’s
hope is sparked when Monty starts recalling glimpses of his past. But when
murderous outlaws come to town, she is thrust into grave danger. Monty risks
his life to rescue her, only to face even greater perils in the treacherous
mountains. Can she truly hang on to hope when she is about to lose all she
loves?
For More Information
My Review
What a fresh surprise! Any book that has to do with Colorado I am all about reading. This book was really pretty good, though a bit long and drawn out at times. The overall idea is about Monty who is taking his wife West to start out new. He gets washed down river and Grace moves on into town and starts her life, assuming her husband dead. Monty is actually alive but has no memory and that leads to others taking advantage of him and re-creating his past.
This creates a whirlwind life for both him and Grace living apart and confused on what to do next.
I liked going back into the history of Fort Collins and the suspense of the bad guys who have been robbing towns.
It's rather predictable but this story was well written and the characters well developed.
There are a lot of references to God and being thankful for His provision. I liked this added part of the story.
For a new-to-me author I was really impressed by this book, I just thought some of the parts could have been a little shorter.
4 stars.
"I received this book from PUMP UP YOUR BOOK for free in exchange for an honest review."
Book Excerpt:
May 16, 1875
A
fierce wind whipped Grace Ann Cunningham’s hair, yanking at the long strands
and pulling them free from their pins. She squinted through the haze of the
blustery day and stroked her bulging belly, trying to comfort her baby, who
seemed just as agitated by the sudden storm.
Her
back ached from sitting on the hard buckboard bench all these miles—much less
comfortable than the plush sleeper car they’d enjoyed last week on the train
from Illinois
to Cheyenne.
She
frowned at the dark roiling clouds that had moved in and quickly blotted out
the sun.
What
had been a pleasant uneventful morning was now turning into an ominous and
unsettling afternoon on the open prairie.
Grace
sucked in a breath as the baby again kicked her ribs in protest. Her sweet
husband’s sun-browned face tightened in concern as he caught her gesture. He
pulled on the reins of the two draft horses—sturdy ones they’d bought yesterday
in Cheyenne.
Surefooted, the seller had told them. And Monty knew his horses, so she trusted
his purchase and assurance that they’d
haul
them without incident to Fort Collins.
But looking at her husband’s face now, seeing the subtle telltale signs
indicating that he hadn’t expected this squall nor felt at ease about it, gave
her pause. And her normally talkative husband had been too quiet this last
hour, eyeing the sky and listening to the roar of the nearby river, as if
hearing their complaints and trying to suss out
nature’s
intentions.
“The
baby all right, darlin’?” He scooted over on the buckboard seat to look her
over, then took her hands in his.
Warmth
from his gentle grip comforted her, but not as much as the love streaming from
his adoring gaze.
“I
think so,” she told him, then smiled as he laid his hand firmly on her belly.
Grace
thanked the Lord in a silent prayer for this wonderful man who’d married her in
a simple ceremony last September. All those years she’d lived with her doting
aunt Eloisa in the boardinghouse back in Bloomington,
she never imagined she’d be blessed with such happiness.
When
Montgomery Cunningham had first stepped into the parlor to take a room before
starting college at Wesleyan
University, she’d been a
shy, giggling girl of ten. Neither of them foresawthe love that would spark six
years later when he showed up again unexpectedly, about to head west to explore
and survey lands unknown.
Monty
closed his eyes, his hand still on the baby in her womb. She imagined him
communing with their baby, speaking to it the way he spoke to rivers, to trees,
to the land he traversed by boat and on horseback and on foot. Something had
happened to him when he returned from the Hayden Yellowstone Expedition. He had
changed from boy to man, yes—but it was more than that. He had fallen in love
with the West, and with rivers in particular. Although he’d studied geology in
college with John Powell, water captured his heart, and he sought out trips
that had him navigating whitewater. Nothing made his eyes sparkle more than
talking about the way water moved and sang as it cascaded and carved the face
of mountains and spilled into waiting valleys. Well, except the way he looked
at her.
Monty
may have loved rivers, but Grace knew he loved her more. So much more, for he
gladly gave up his exploring to settle down and marry and start a family.
Although, Grace thought moving to the new town of Fort Collins, Colorado,
was adventure enough. She hoped he’d come to see it that way as well and not be
into the wild.
