When Trace Riley finds the smoldering ruins of a small wagon train, he recognizes the hand behind the attack as the same group who left him as sole survivor years ago. Living off the wilderness since then, he'd finally carved out a home and started a herd--while serving as a self-appointed guardian of the trail, driving off dangerous men. He'd
hoped those days were over, but the latest attack shows he was wrong.
Deborah Harkness saved her younger sister and two toddlers during the attack, and now finds herself at the mercy of her rescuer. Trace offers the only shelter for miles around, and agrees to take them in until she can safely continue. His simple bachelor existence never anticipated kids and women in the picture and their arrival is unsettling--yet enticing.
Working to survive the winter and finally bring justice to the trail, Trace and Deborah find themselves drawn together--yet every day approaches the moment she'll leave forever. AMAZON 4 STARS
When I saw this book was by Mary Connealy I snapped it right up. I will say that it does have a slower pace but it does give the reader time to get to know the people in the story. I liked this book although I can't say that I would rate it as a favorite.
Trace had quite the rough start as a young man, He had been left with few resources all on his own. But at least his father had taught him some things that helped him survive. He was used to being alone for many years until he ended up meeting Utah and Adam and they now were friends who worked for and with him. He has no experience being around women so it was sweet to see how shy he could be especially around Deb. I also liked the the cover for this book and it showed kind of a tenderness.
Deb and Gwen were used to working hard and getting little if any credit or money for it. Their father was more than happy to preen before his community, while they worked their butts off. Deb ran the printing press, gathered the news and took care of the accounts. Gwen ran the household and neither got even any thanks for it. Deb was tired of it, being a servant to a thankless man and she was yearning to build something for herself and her sister.
Black and Wolf were good non-human additions as well as the human characters, Maddie Sue and Ronnie (the young children).
The title of this book had the meaning that I originally guessed at, that he became an accidental guardian to Deb, her sister Gwen and the two little ones. But as I read it also became clear that he was the unofficial, accidental guardian for those in the traveling wagons. He wanted to protect them from what he had experienced and he also had a score to settle. He called it justice but he knew it was also mixed with revenge. He wanted the murdering and looting to stop.
I also liked that there were several different creative ways the phrase "a voice crying in the wilderness" was used.
I voluntarily read a copy of this book via Bethany House and this is my honest opinion of it.
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