Saturday, March 18, 2017

Book Review: Hallie: Cry of the West (Finding Home Series - Book 1) by Verna Clay

Title:  Hallie: Cry of the West (Finding Home Series)
Author:  Verna Clay
Genre:  Historic Romance
Publisher:  Self Published
Release Date:  January 8, 2014


From the Back Cover:

Recently widowed, Hallie Wells is facing a tough situation. The sudden demise of her husband after selling their farm and just about everything they owned to travel west on the Oregon Trail, has left her in a bind. Dare she ask Cooper Jerome, recently returned from the War of the States, if he would put his life on hold for, say, five months to drive her wagon, and that doesn't include his return trip. At this point, she's out of options.

From the Author:  Writing Hallie's story has been a labor of love. For a long time I had contemplated writing a book encompassing the Oregon Trail, and the more research I did as the story unfolded, the more I fell in love with the pioneers who gave up everything to follow their dreams and the Native Americans adversely affected by westward migration. The hardships endured by both groups are unimaginable.

In writing this story, I am in no way attempting to typify the lives of those who braved the Oregon Trail or the Native Americans affected. My story has been written solely as romantic entertainment, but with the added aspect of research.

The Oregon Trail began in Missouri, not far from St. Louis, and crossed in greater or lesser degrees,the states of Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon. For much of the trail's history, however, these states were considered territories. In the time frame of my book, 1866, Oregon was already a state of the Union, as was Kansas.

Since many of there views I receive on my other books request longer stories, I made sure to give these characters lots of adventure, romance, and challenges to lengthen their tale.


Buy Links: Amazon 
My Review:

Another great western romance by one of my favorite authors, Verna Clay. This one focused on a widow who had recently sold her ranch and had planned to travel west with her husband and son when her husband was suddenly killed and she and her son were pretty much left homeless.  Hallie decides to continue on with their dream of traveling to Oregon with a wagon train.  Since she didn't think she could handle the trip alone, she hired Cooper Jerome to assist her.  Along the trail, love develops and working through the relationship becomes almost unbearable for both of them.

I loved the sparks between the two and the tingles of passion that sprouted from time to time.  It certainly left me wanting more!  There was a lot that happened along the trail, some of which didn't really add much to the story line and was probably unnecessary, but I enjoyed the story just the same.

This may not have been my favorite of Verna Clay's books, but it was still a good read and I would still recommend it to anyone looking for a western romance series.  This author does an excellent job of world building.  So much so that I could easily envision the mountains, plains and rivers in my mind as this group of pioneers ventured west.

* Disclosure:  A complimentary copy of the audio version of this book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.  All comments, thoughts and opinions are my own.


My Rating:



About the Author:


"2014 Gold Medal Winner: Readers' Favorite International Book Contest/Historical Romance for ABBY: MAIL ORDER BRIDE."

My perfect day: coffee shop; laptop; WiFi availability; java mocha; characters demanding their stories be told; a plot that comes together; and hours to live in an alternate reality.

Seriously, I have always loved reading, and now I love writing. As a preteen, I devoured Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Mysteries, but when I reached my teen years the romance genre became my favorite, and that has never changed. After years of procrastinating, I tried my hand at writing and I've been doing so with a passion ever since. I have written over twenty-five romance novels and novellas in the genres of contemporary western, historical western, general contemporary, and fantasy. Because I hate saying goodbye to characters who have lived with me for months, I usually create a series so they can be revisited from book to book. I have also written a Young Adult novella titled "Fragile Hearts" using the pen name of Colleen Clay.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your review! Verna Clay

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