Defiant by Patricia Potter
Why this one:
I’m still into the Western
Steam Level: Warm
Genre: Western
My Thoughts: The length of time it took me to
read this book should not affect the grade.
Even though it took several weeks, I still enjoyed it quite a bit. The main problem was I have it on my KOBO app
and that app keeps crashing on me, then I get frustrated and stick more with
Kindle or Ibooks.
This is a reread of a book I first read years ago
and it was so long ago I only vaguely remember it so bonus for me. This is the story of Mary Jo Williamson, her
son Jeff and Wade Foster.
Mary Jo is the widow of a Texas Ranger. She was being courted by another Texas Ranger
who was killed in action. He left her a
ranch in Colorado and she decided to try her hand at ranching. But she’s been running into difficulties as
no one wants to work for a woman. She
and Jeff are struggling along when Jeff comes across a stranger almost
dead. They bring him home, patch him up
and though he comes across as rather a tough hombre, she asks if he would be
willing to stay and help for a few months, long enough to hire some hands and
get things up and running.
But Wade wants no part of it. He has a tragic past and he doesn’t really
care if he lives or dies and the last thing he wants to do is get tangled up
with the young widow he has a very strong attachment to and her hero worshiping
son. His family were murdered by
Jayhawkers years before and as a result he joined the Bushwhackers and in time
was just as bad. But he’d had enough
after the infamous attack in Centralia and headed to the mountains to get away
from all society. He met and became
friends with the Ute Indian tribe to the point of marrying a young woman and
becoming a father. But his wife and son
are murdered and he spends the next couple of years tracking down the ones who
murdered them and making sure they would never kill again. He finally tracked down the last of them and
before he shot and killed the last thug, Wade was shot himself.
This is the point he was at when he was found by
Jeff. He has little interest in even
living now that he has finished his mission of revenge. All he really wants is to go away
somewhere. But he has no means of leaving
as his horse was shot and he is in such bad shape himself. Eventually he has no choice to agree to Mary
Jo’s offer. He wants to stay aloof but
he can’t. The attraction between he and
Mary Jo only grows and he’s very drawn to Jeff after losing his own son so
tragically.
I sound like a broken record with so many books,
I know, but dang I enjoyed this book.
Wade was the strong, silent, Clint Eastwood or hello, Scott Eastwood
type.
I’m still in a big Western phase though I have
read a few contemporaries in between that I’ve enjoyed. But I keep being drawn back to the strong,
silent, working class with a bit of a bad boy, Western hero and I’m quite happy
to live there for a while longer.
Grade: 4 out of 5
He really isn’t a bad man, but a
good man who was drawn into bad things and hated himself for it. He’s the perfect Western hero and a good
example of why I adore this genre.
Mary Jo is a good heroine. She’s tough and strong and not afraid to go
after what she wants – like Wade.
And Ms. Potter also writes them good and
gritty. Not quite as much as Rosanne
Bittner, but very true to life I think.
I’ve got a number of her backlist now as ebooks and there are a few more
I really hope come out as ebooks sooner rather than later *cough - Notorious
and Renegade – cough*
I just started another older Western book by her,
Diablo and I only vaguely remember it either.
I’m barely into it but it’s bringing back good feelings.
Would I read it again? I already have and I would again.
'til later
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