Luke Ashcroft's Woman

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I picked up this new author based on what looked to be a good tale. Charloette travels the Oregon Trail in search of a new life and "hooks up" with Luke Ashcroft along the way. However, the actual tale is somewhat different. First, Charloette's character is not easy to like. She is headstrong to the point of irritating and never truly puts herself in someone else's shoes. She never seemed to grow up along a trail that would have forced her to do so in reality. I had a very hard time staying interested in her. If it had not been for her protecting a slave, I would have written her completely off.

Second, I really didn't know Luke Ashcroft at all. We find out that his wife and son died, but not until mid way through the book. Until then, we are lead to believe that his wife and son are still alive and that he is pursuing the "new widow" just for fun. That made him seem sleezy and he could not really be redeemed for that. All of his other actions in the book were selfish as well, including locating Jacob.

Thirdly, the secondary characters tend to dominate the story. The most revealing is the material dealing with the slave girl and the interesting way their "owners" viewed her. It was almost as if the writer wanted to pack more stories into 200+ pages than she really could. A little more editing of this would have been appropriate.

We missed out on a potentially good love story here. It is very easy to not care about these characters early on and they never truly redeem themselves in this book. I would pass on this book, unless you can get it very cheaply.

Rating:
Summary: deep graphic historical
Review: In the 1880s, Charlotte Duncan accompanies her husband as they plan to head to California with a wagon train. Also making the journey is Charlotte's sister and her spouse. However, Charlotte's husband is accused of stealing and immediately hung.

Stunned, the mourning widow refuse to believe her spouse was a thief. Charlotte joins the wagon train under the protection of her brother-in-law. However, her real protector is scout Luke Ashcroft, who is attracted to the feisty widow and tries to keep her safe from her extended family. As the trek continues, Charlotte feels guilty because she falls in love with Luke. However, neither plan to act on their feelings as each wants to achieve their own dream not understanding their respective goals are identical.

This deep graphic look at the trail will remind gamesters of the Oregon Trail games as the trek displays the hardships of the journey and the cruelty as opposed to the more common image of camaraderie between wagon train participants. Because of this immense depth and details, readers will taste the climatic conditions and feel other natural and man-made problems as if traveling alongside Luke and Charlotte. This makes the plot seem more like a historical tale especially in light of the villain who seems pale and inane in comparison to the real danger, the trek across the country.

Harriet Klausner