Good Reads

I loved these books:

The Inheritance by Tamera Alexander :
I don't know what it is about western novels that captivate me so. It must be something about a wild and unruly land trying to be tamed by brave men and women who had the courage to want more from their lives and sought out adventure far from a civilized society. The stories take on a new life to me here in the desert of Nevada where evidence of cowboys and settlers still lie in plane site like my heaping piles of laundry. It took a certain caliber of person to establish this country . . . I know I couldn't have done it.

McKenna Ashford is a talented saddler ( a talent that she has to keep hidden because it is a mans work), independent young woman and "mother" to her defiant brother 9 years her junior. She moves to Colorado to flee their troubled past and to try to make a new life. Her brother makes this extremely difficult since he seems determined to destroy any opportunity - which aren't many- that comes their way. Her new life in Colorado isn't what she thought it would be and seems to be filled with constant struggle and disappointment.
Matters become even more complicated when a US Marshal enters the picture and McKenna fears that he is in pursuit of her brother.
But of course the underlying current in this story is love, and love is the thing that makes any story worth telling.

Beloved Emma by Lori E. Woodland

This is a captivating true story about the life of the Prophets Joseph Smith's wife. What insight it will give you into her life and the kind of woman she was! Oh, how she loved her husband and supported him through trial and persecution. I was so impressed with her strength, dignity and ability to endure the most dreadful of circumstances as well as saddened by the effects of her pride. This is a book you won't want to miss out on.