Comanche Moon (Lonesome Dove, Book 4)

LARRY MCMURTRY

Synopsis from Goodreads: Texas Rangers August McCrae and Woodrow Call, now in their middle years, continue to deal with the ever-increasing tensions of adult life -- Gus with his great love, Clara Forsythe, and Call with Maggie Tilton, the young whore who loves him. Two proud but very different men, they enlist with the Ranger troop in pursuit of Buffalo Hump, the great Comanche war chief; Kicking Wolf, the celebrated Comanche horse thief; and a deadly Mexican bandit king with a penchant for torture. Assisting the Rangers in their wild chase is the renowned Kickapoo tracker, Famous Shoes.

Comanche Moon closes the twenty-year gap between Dead Man's Walk and Lonesome Dove, following beloved heroes Gus and Call and their comrades in arms -- Deets, Jake Spoon, and Pea Eye Parker -- in their bitter struggle to protect the advancing West frontier against the defiant Comanches, courageously determined to defend their territory and their way of life.

Stats for my copy: Hardback, Simon & Schuster, 1997.

How acquired: Bought.

First Line: Captain Inish Scull liked to boast that he had never been thwarted in pursuit – as he liked to put it – of a felonious foe, whether Spanish, savage, or white.

Note: I read these books in publication order and that's how I've numbered the series.

My thoughts:  This was a wonderful ending to the Lonesome Dove saga. None of the books can beat LONESOME DOVE, but I think this one ranks just a hair behind the first book. I don't recall a time frame being given in the book, but I think it's set about ten years after DEAD MAN'S WALK. Call and Gus are still with the Rangers, helping protect the great state of Texas from the Comanches. Gus is still in love with Clara, who we already learned in the first book marries someone else. Call is particularly fond of Maggie, a local whore, who is desperately in love with him. Again, we already know her fate, and the fate of her son, from the first book.

I became particularly fond of poor Maggie myself, and much as I love Call I was often irritated at him for not accepting her love, which I am positive he secretly returned, and rescuing her from her life of drudgery. Yes, I read a lot of romance novels, and I tend to look for it in every other genre as well.

As always, Mr. McMurtry's writing is wonderfully flowing and meandering at the same time. The characters are vivid and fully developed, and everyone, even minor characters, seem essential to the story. You can easily see the town, or the prairie, or any other location, in your head.

I'm sad that there are no more stories about Gus and Call, but I am pleased that Mr. McMurtry has lots of other novels just waiting for me to enjoy them.

Click on the title to see my reviews of the other Lonesome Dove books. 

LONESOME DOVE, Book One

STREETS OF LAREDO, Book Two

DEAD MAN'S WALK, Book Three

                                   

Dead Man's Walk (Lonesome Dove, Book 3)

LARRY MCMURTRY

Synopsis from jacket flap: Here at last is the eagerly awaited story of the early days of Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call, the heroes of Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, LONESOME DOVE.

In STREETS OF LAREDO, McMurtry brought the story ahead, giving us Call in his old age; now, in DEAD MAN'S WALK, he takes the reader back, to the days when Gus and Call – two of the most beloved figures in American fiction – were young Texas Rangers, first experiencing the wild frontier that will form their characters. We also meet Clara Forsythe, the spirited, unforgettable young woman whose effect on Gus McCrae is immediate and unshakable. Danger, sacrifice, and fear test these two young men to the limits of endurance; friendship, comradeship, and love give them the strength and courage to survive against almost insurmountable odds in the West of the early nineteenth century.

In DEAD MAN'S WALK, Gus and Call are not yet twenty, young men coming of age in the days when Texas was still an independent republic. Enlisting as Texas Rangers under the command of Caleb Cobb, a capricious land pirate who wants to seize Santa Fe from the Mexicans, Gus and Call experience their first great plains, in which arbitrary violence is the rule – whether from nature, or from the Indians whose territory they must cross in order to reach New Mexico.

Through the eyes of Gus and Call, we come to know a group of engaging adventurers, and we meet the great, ferocious Comanche war chief Buffalo Hump (one of McMurtry's most vivid characters); his squat companion, Kicking Wolf, a brilliant horse thief; and the shadowy Apache kidnapper Gomez. It is these enigmatic figures – cruel, swift, and close to invisible – who, together with the harsh terrain of their native land, combine to defeat Cobb's expedition, as well as a major contingent of the Mexican army.

Gus and Call's companions include Matilda Roberts, a colorful whore known as “The Great Western”, and Bigfoot Wallace, one of the most famous scouts of his time. We join them all on their foolhardy expedition to Santa Fe, and on their terrifying return across the Jornado Del Muerto: the “Dead Man's Walk.” The surviving Rangers face death in an unexpected form, when we meet Lady Carey, an English noblewoman who takes them – and the reader – to the startling climax.

The untamed frontier, and the reckless men who live there – the Indians defending it with unrelenting savagery, the Texans attempting to seize and “civilize” it, and the Mexicans threatened by both – are at the heart of Larry McMurtry's extraordinary new novel: at once a riveting adventure story and a powerful work of literature.

Stats for my copy: Hardback, Simon & Schuster, 1995.

How acquired: Bought.

First line: Matilda Jane Roberts was naked as the air.

My thoughts: LONESOME DOVE is one of my all time favorite books ever. It's one of those books that stayed with me long after I turned the last page. STREETS OF LAREDO wasn't as good, but was still very worth reading. DEAD MAN'S WALK falls right in between them. It's better than Streets, but not quite on a par with Dove. Which translates to I loved it and highly recommend it.

In DEAD MAN'S WALK we meet Gus and Call as young men, joining up with the Rangers and embarking on their first big adventure. A lot of the reviews I read on Goodreads complained or mentioned that Gus and Call don't really do anything in the book, that all the action occurs around them, that they're more like bystanders than active protagonists. But I didn't notice that at all, and even after reading those reviews and thinking back, I still don't agree. (And this is one reason I wait until after I've finished a book before I read reviews about it. No pre-conceivances – is that a word? - going into it.)

As with the other books, there are lots of characters, mostly new to us, but some familiar names as well. Particularly Clara, who was Gus McCrae's the-one-who-got-away. She's a feisty outspoken storekeeper's daughter, and while Call couldn't understand why, after barely meeting her, Gus is talking about quitting rangering to marry her, I thought she was delightful. But fortunately for the story Gus has committed himself to the Rangers and has to leave Clara behind.

Clara is in the first part of the book, and an English lady becomes rather important in the last part. But the only female who figures throughout the story is Matilda, a whore (with the proverbial heart of gold) who travels with the Rangers in the hopes of eventually getting to California. Along the way she falls for the scout Shadrach, and as the hardships pile up she takes Call and Gus under her wing (but not into her bedroll – she gives for Shadrach). She was one of my favorite characters.

There's lots of violence, as the Rangers come up against both Indians and the Mexican army. Call often laments their lack of true leadership as the group of Rangers dwindles from 200 to double digits, and you could practically see his own future leadership qualities being born. Gus constantly talks about wanting a whore and finding some whores. The two boys are as different as night and day, but they're comradeship is always front and center,and they remain loyal to each other even when they disagree or irk each other. Once this expedition is over and everyone is safely home (or at least back in Texas), it wouldn't be surprising to see them go their separate ways, but their friendship is sealed, and I can't wait to get into COMANCHE MOON, the last book in this series.

And on a side note, some websites have the books listed as this one being Book 1, with Lonesome Dove and Streets of Laredo being books 3 and 4. Which chronologically for the characters makes sense, but since Dove and Streets were written and published first, I consider them Books 1 and 2, and that's how I'm classifying them. 

Bounty Hunter (Loveswept No. 707)

DONNA KAUFFMAN

Synopsis from back cover: “You have something that belongs to me – my heart...”

Hired to locate a runaway wife, he'd blown into her life like a hawk riding he wind, bu when Kane Hawthorne found Elizabeth Lawson, he wanted her for his own! A desperate woman who trusted no one, she tried to keep him from making her enemies his, but Kane insisted on fighting her demons. Could she cherish her savage hero until his own ghosts were silenced?

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, published by Bantam Books,1994

How acquired: Won from the author in a giveaway on her Facebook page.

First line: “Find my wife, and I'll make sure you never want for anything in your life.”

My thoughts: I'm a sucker for an old school category romance, and BOUNTY HUNTER didn't disappoint. A Native American (Shoshone) bounty hunter is hired to track down a rich prick's runaway wife. He claims he cut off her credit cards and she ran off in a snit. But when Kane catches up with Elizabeth (using the name Annie) he immediately senses there's more to the story. So rather than hustle her back to her husband, he convinces her to hire him on for room and board to help out around the falling apart at the seams house and barn where she's trying to start a canning business. And of course, despite wariness and misgivings on both their parts, they fall for each other, while it becomes obvious both their lives are in danger. And then Kane has to come clean and tell Elizabeth the real reason he showed up at her door, and hope she won't hate him.

No need to tell you how it ends, because how else could it?

Favorite lines:

"Shhh. Stop trying to carry the whole world on your shoulders. Let someone hold you. Let me."

Who wouldn't melt at that? 

Painted Horses

MALCOLM BROOKS

Synopsis from Goodreads: In the mid-1950s, America was flush with prosperity and saw an unbroken line of progress clear to the horizon, while the West was still very much wild. In this ambitious, incandescent debut, Malcolm Brooks animates that time and untamed landscape, in a tale of the modern and the ancient, of love and fate, and of heritage threatened by progress.

Catherine Lemay is a young archaeologist on her way to Montana, with a huge task before her—a canyon “as deep as the devil’s own appetites.” Working ahead of a major dam project, she has one summer to prove nothing of historical value will be lost in the flood. From the moment she arrives, nothing is familiar—the vastness of the canyon itself mocks the contained, artifact-rich digs in post-Blitz London where she cut her teeth. And then there’s John H, a former mustanger and veteran of the U.S. Army’s last mounted cavalry campaign, living a fugitive life in the canyon. John H inspires Catherine to see beauty in the stark landscape, and her heart opens to more than just the vanished past. Painted Horses sends a dauntless young woman on a heroic quest, sings a love song to the horseman’s vanishing way of life, and reminds us that love and ambition, tradition and the future, often make strange bedfellows. It establishes Malcolm Brooks as an extraordinary new talent.

Stats for my copy: Hardback, published by Grove Press, 214.

How acquired: Won in a Goodreads giveaway.

First line: London, even the smell of it.

My thoughts: So right off the bat I was confused and disoriented. London? Oh, so Catherine is English, but will be traveling to Montana. Wait, what's going on here?

After the first few pages, I began to get my bearings and settle into the story. Sort of. We meet Catherine, age 23, who went to London to study the piano because it was expected of her, but got caught up in the excitement of a local excavation that fueled her love of architecture, and drove her to change her field of study. She's later offered a job in Montana, where a dam is being planned, surveying the canyon for signs of anything of historical significance. Her path crosses a couple of times with that of John H., who is a like a horse whisperer.

The plot bounces around quite a bit, back and forth from Catherine's time in London to the present day exploring the canyon with her requisite but uncooperative guide, Jack Allen, with here and there the various points in John's life that made him the man he is today. At times it was slow going, but at times it was a bit mesmerizing. I wasn't sure at first if Jack was a bad guy or an OK guy. Catherine also hires a local Native American girl, Miriam, who is even younger than Catherine, to assist her, and Miriam was an interesting character, though I was a little disappointed with her in the end. And it took way too long before Catherine's and John's stories finally merged and they actually began interacting with each other.

And then, around the last fifty pages, the action amped up and I became absolutely riveted and couldn't turn the pages fast enough.

One of the reasons I wanted to read this book was because the blurb I read described it as being “reminiscent of Larry McMurtry”. I wouldn't quite go that far, but the passages about John and horses do come a bit close. 

Shut Up and Kiss Me

CHRISTIE CRAIG 

Synopsis from Goodreads: Photojournalist Shala Winters already had her hands full bringing tourism to this backward, podunk town, but her job just got tougher. Pictures can say a thousand words, and one of Shala's is screaming bloody murder. Now she has to entrust a macho, infuriating lawman with her life -- but she'll never trust him with her heart.

Trust or not, Sky Gomez isn't about to let a killer get his hands on Shala's Nikon -- or any of her more comely assets, for that matter. Her mouth might move faster than a Piney Woods roadrunner, but all he can think about is how good it must taste...and how she'll never escape true love.

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, published by Dorchester Publishing Company, Inc.

How acquired: Received from a BookCrossing member.

First line: “Is that war paint or love paint he's wearing?” a female voice rang out from behind Shala Winters.

My thoughts: This is the first book I've read by Christie Craig, and the problem with discovering new to me authors is suddenly having a bunch of books to add to my wish list. Because I very much enjoyed SHUT UP AND KISS ME, and am now excited to look through my TBR books and realize that I already do have four of her other books waiting.

While in the small town of Precious, Texas, where she has been hired to come up with ways to promote tourism, Shala attends a powwow. Becoming disgusted by the raucous and disrespectful comments of the women sitting around her (see that first line above), and a little disconcerted by the dancing man who keeps staring intently at her, she gets up to leave. The mayor had warned her there was some members of the community who didn't want the town promoted and didn't want her here, and she thinks this guy must be one of them. As she turns in the bleachers to escape, her bag slides off her shoulder and her camera falls out. She hastily retrieves it, only to have the man suddenly appear in front of her, snatch it out of her hands, and dash away.

Sky Gomez sees a camera flash, and then sees Shala with a camera in her hands, so he jumps to the assumption that she took a picture, and per the sign posted at the gate, stating that cameras are strictly prohibited and will be confiscated, he quickly takes possession of it.

And that's Shala and Sky's meet cute. Although, they don't actually meet until after Shala has run all over town trying to track Sky down. Humor abounds here, from cover to cover, and there were many times I laughed out loud. Sky and Shala are both fun characters, both leery of love for their own reasons. Sky especially. His foster father, Redfoot, claims that the spirits told him in a dream that Shala is his soul mate, but while Sky is respectful of the old ways and participates in the powwows, he doesn't really believe in all that spirit stuff, and he certainly doesn't believe in soul mates. So before even meeting Shala he is already determined to keep his distance from her. Fortunately, he doesn't succeed. Someone is stalking Shala, and getting more and more violent, which throws Shala and Sky together as they try to figure out who, and why.

There are plenty of other characters with side plots keeping the book very busy. Maria, Sky's foster sister, has been in love with their foster brother, Jose, who is Redfoot's son, since she was a teenager, but just when she thought he might be returning her feelings he had taken off for a job in New York. Now she's dating Matt, a white boy, and while she thinks she's in love with him, she still can't stop obsessing over Jose. Plus she thinks Matt is cheating on her with his constant weekend trips to Dallas.

Jose couldn't wait to get out of Precious, but when Redfoot is injured, he rushes back home. Jose's arrival, and his first couple of days in town, played like a farce, as one thing after another happens to him. The string of events was almost over the top, but the author kept me laughing and engaged enough that I didn't mind. I wasn't sure at first if I liked Jose, but he grew on me.

Another character I particularly liked was Sky's friend, Lucas, a loner with a military past, law enforcement connections and a secret government job. Compared to the other characters above I guess he was a more minor character, but he seemed to open up and evolve a little in his brief time on the page, and I would have loved to see more of him.

After I finished the book, I went to the author's website, hoping there were or would be more books about this quirky little town (ok, hoping there was or would be one about Lucas), but alas, no. I did find an Epilogue to the story. However, after only reading about a third of it I navigated away as I didn't feel it really added to the story and was superfluous.

A light, sometimes silly, bordering on slapstick, romantic comedy, with a mystery at it's core, and a fun cast of characters. 

Comanche Heart (Comanche, Book 2)

Catherine Anderson

Synopsis: Years ago, Amy Masters escaped the fury of the Texas plains for a new life as a teacher in the golden hills of Oregon, where she has found contentment – if not happiness. Then, out of the shadows, comes Swift Antelope, the Comanche warrior to whom she once pledged her heart when she was no more than a girl.

Claiming that he has given up his violent ways as a gunslinger, Swift has arrived to take the woman he feels is rightfully his – the woman who once swore to honor a sacred and unbreakable pact. But Amy's brutal past has made it impossible for her to trust any man – even if it's the bold warrior who has haunted her dreams, the only man she ever loved, the Comanche heart she can't live without.

First line: Like a forlorn soul, the wind whistled and moaned as it funneled around Swift Antelope, whipping his hair across his face so that he saw the lonely grave through a shifting veil of black.

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, published by Signet, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 2009; 419 pages; borrowed from the library.

My thoughts: As much as I loved COMANCHE MOON practically from the first page, this sequel took a little longer to draw me in and captivate me. Nearly a month later, I still vividly remember the first book, and Hunter and Loretta still resonate with me, so this second book had a lot to live up to.

Swift Antelope spent many years fighting in the war between the white men and his People, while Amy waited at home with her mother and stepfather for him to come for her. At 19, she left Texas and traveled to Oregon, to settle in Wolf's Landing with Loretta, Hunter, and their two children. Here, she has her own home, and a job she loves as a schoolteacher. When she's not at school or with her family, she is safely inside her little house, with the bolts drawn. She rarely socializes, and politely spurns the attention of any man who shows an interest in her. And she still has nightmares about the two weeks with the comancheros who kidnapped her when she was twelve.

After the fighting ended, Swift went to the farm for Amy, only to be told by her stepfather that she had died. Swift spent the next three years riding with Mexican bandits, going by the surname of Lopez, and earning a reputation as a notorious gunslinger. Weary of this life, he travels to Oregon to reconnect with Hunter and try to find a peaceful life, to the shocking realization that Amy is still alive, and is terrified of him and wants nothing to do with him. But they were betrothed under Comanche custom, and he is determined to hold her to that promise.

There is not nearly as much violence and heartbreak in this book as in the first one. Swift has to find a way past Amy's mental barriers, and that is in essence what the story. There were times when I did not agree with his methods and mentally smacked him on the arm and told him to leave her be, and then his reasoning would be revealed and I would have to apologize for doubting him and say carry on.

The angst is sky high as the emotional battle lines are drawn and crossed and erased and drawn again. There is a hilarious scene with Amy and Swift trying to catch a chicken, Loretta finally intervening and showing them how it's done, and then none of them having the heart to wring it’s neck. After which Amy asks Swift:

“I – do you – if you were a fellow, what would you like? Chicken or ham?”

Swift arched an eyebrow. “If I were a fellow?”

She blushed. “Well, of course, you're a fellow, Swift. I meant a fellow eating dinner at a social. Would you want chicken or ham?”

“Either one, I guess. Unless, of course, I had to kill the chicken. Then I'd lean real heavy toward ham.” (pg 191)

And while I'm quoting passages, another I liked:

“If you get the boot, I'll bring you more bread and butter than you can eat. You'll get fat eating it all. And I won't tell you what to do and when to do it, I promise. Now, sit down. I didn't buy your basket to fight. Do you like my shirt?”

She studied him for a moment, unhappily aware that he vowed not to order her around, then commanded her to sit, all in the same breath. (pg 200)

While COMANCHE HEART isn't as exciting as COMANCHE MOON, once I got pulled in there were some edge of my seat turning the pages can't put it down nights where I stayed up past my bedtime to read. And that's always the mark of a good book.

Comanche Moon

CATHERINE ANDERSON

Synopsis: Orphaned seven years ago after witnessing the brutal murder of her parents at the hands of the Comanche people, golden-haired Loretta Simpson still lives in terror that the warriors will return. Her fear is so powerful, she can no longer speak a word.

Called the U.S. Army's most cunning adversary, Hunter of the Wolf believes that Loretta is the "honey-haired woman with no voice" of ancient prophesy - the woman he must honor for all eternity. But Loretta can see Hunter only as the enemy who has stolen her, and she refuses to succumb to his control...or his touch.

Despite the hatred intensifying between their peoples, Loretta and Hunter gradually find their prejudices giving way to respect, then flaring into feelings too dangerous to express. In the midst of such conflict, it will take all the force of their extraordinary love to find a safe place...

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, published by New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 1991; 468 pages; purchased at a library sale.

My thoughts: So good. This book is so good. Where do I even begin?

In a nutshell (if that's possible): There is a prophecy that tells of a fierce warrior and a honey-haired woman who are destined to be together. Everyone in Hunter's village have always known and believed that he is that warrior. But Hunter loved his wife, who was torture and killed, along with her unborn baby, by white men, and he has a hatred for the white race.

Loretta saw her parents killed by Indians seven years ago, her mother raped and brutally tortured. Since then she's not spoken a word, and has lived with her aunt, uncle and young cousin. When she is captured and carried away by the infamous Hunter, she is terrified and desperate to escape.

In the beginning Hunter and Loretta hate each other. He may believe she is the woman he is prophesied to meet and “honor for all eternity”, but his first instinct is to kill her, to avoid the prophecy, which also says he will end up leaving the People. But his sense of duty is stronger than his hatred, so instead he takes her to his village.

In one of my recent reviews, I wrote that I'm not a fan of destined mate stories, preferring characters to meet, get to know each other, and then fall in love, not just be in love because they're supposed to be. This book turned that trope on it's head. Hunter may believe they are destined, but Loretta only sees a filthy savage Indian, and every minute she is in his company she expects that night to be the night he rapes and tortures her. And while Hunter may believe they are destined, he has no desire to rape her, much less touch her. He finds her pale skin off putting and her golden hair puts him in mind of dried out grass.

Over the course of this compelling 400+ page book (which could have been longer and I'd have been happy with that), they spend time together, they part company, they come back together, they part company. They come to grudgingly respect each other and realize that the other person is not just all the cliches they know about white people and Indians. Until suddenly they are those cliches. And then, are they really?

There is a lot of brutality in this book. It may be a romance novel, but it's definitely not a romanticized view of the time period, of the wars between the Indians and the white interlopers. It is a tale of love, hate, revenge, betrayal, loyalty, duty, hardship, good and bad on every level. It kept me up past my bedtime two nights in a row because I was loathe to put it down. This book is going in my small list of all time favorite books.

I don't just want to read the follow up books. I NEED to read them. Soon.

And I love the covers on these reissues.

Lonesome Dove

LARRY MCMURTRY

Hands down, no contest, no doubt about it, I'm pretty sure this book is going to be my favorite read for 2012.

It took me a long time to read this massive (800+ pages of tiny print) book. I set it down twice to read other books instead, once for a month, and then for two months. Not because I didn't like it, but because there were just other books I wanted and/or needed to read. But when I picked this back up and started in on my third session of reading, at some point I became utterly spellbound. Completely transfixed.

McMurtry makes you see what he is describing, in your head, plain as day. There are lots of characters, and the book seamlessly weaves their stories together or around each other. Sometimes in the middle of a page the point of view will suddenly change from one character to another, but it always flows naturally and is never jarring.

It's been a couple of weeks since I finished the book, and I miss it. I miss Gus and the Captain, and Lorena, and pretty much everybody else. I think about the characters and wonder what happened after the last chapter. I didn't want the book to end. I'm almost tempted to pick it up and start over at page one.

This is not a novel. This is literature.

(I received this book through BookCrossing.)