BOOK REVIEW- WILD HORSES, WILD HEARTS

Eli Banks heads west into the foothills of the Rockies to search for wild horses, but when he hears a cry and encounters Clare McKay and her young brother in need of help, he strides headlong into danger. While he’d hoped to find wild horses, he finds something just as challenging—an Irish gal with a wild heart.

Spring, 1873. Eli Banks stares out the window of his ranch house just north of Greeley, restless. It’s been a long, harsh winter in Colorado Territory, and he’s itching to ride out on the Front Range once the drifts of snow melt. So when his ma asks him to take a payment to a man in Fort Collins for some horses she’s buying, Eli is glad for the task.

Once his transaction is completed, he follows horse tracks into the hills, excited at the thought of adding a new wild herd to his family’s ranch. But in the middle of his pursuit, he hears a gal’s alarmed cry and hurries to investigate.

Clare Ferne McKay, caring for her squalling younger sisters, is called outside by her mam, who tells Clare to go look for her brother Paddy, who left to tend the family’s cows an hour ago. Clare, the oldest of seven siblings, is glad for the chance to get out of the stifling cabin.

She follows the tracks Paddy’s horse had made in the deep snow, but when they stop, she finds the horse but not her brother. Then, she sees Paddy across a frozen pond, tending to a cow in labor.

There is no way to get to Paddy but across the ice, but the warm day is quickly melting the surface, and when Paddy tries to meet her partway, the ice cracks and Paddy is in danger of drowning.

Clare’s cries summon Eli Banks, and with his help, they rescue Paddy. Eli is smitten by the feisty, stubborn Clare, and Clare finds Eli unbearably annoying—though she can’t but help being drawn to his handsome features and the compassion he shows ...

Wild Horses, Wild Hearts is the prequel to the Front Range series of sweet historical Western novels set in Colorado in the 1870s.      AMAZON  4.5 STARS

I really liked this book, it flowed smoothly and quickly.  Yes, I know that it was a shorter book, but it didn't really feel like it.  This is not the first book in the series that I have read, so it was nice to re-visit a few of the characters from the other books.  Especially one of my favorites,  Eli's ma.  A woman skilled with horses people.  She could "see and know" things about people before they showed up.  She was a person who, accepted the teachings of Christ that was preached to her by her father-in-law.   She also had skills from her Native American background.  That included being a Cheyenne medicine woman, some of it that she was passing onto her sons.  It was fun to read some of the Cheyenne words and the Irish words and saying.  The reader wasn't left hanging to their meaning or having to leave the page to look it up,  it was right there.  I appreciated  that. 
Eli and Clare had so many things in common even before they realized it.  Both were getting restless, both had attracted the opposite sex without having any real lasting interest in anyone. Both, were hard workers, with a fair amount of responsibility, and they loved family and  they LOVED horses.  I liked BOTH of the main characters. l also liked  that Eli was tough enough to outlast a blizzard, but he also had a tender caring side that he wasn't afraid to have seen.  Clare also had a spunky, tough side when she need to be.  She had many skills but that didn't take away from her sweet side either. 


There an introduction to another story at the end of this book.  In fact the first chapter of "Colorado Promise" is included. 

"I was given a free copy in exchange for an honest review."