A Dangerous Woman from Nowhere
Briar Logan has survived trauma upon trauma in her past. But now the pioneer woman has a good life in the Old West, accompanied by a good man: her husband, Logan. But one night, evil visits her remote ranch. A group of ruthless horsemen kidnaps Logan, and they ride away into the night. Briar watches them go, and determines to slip into an old persona, Mika, to whom violence and anger come naturally. She will get her man back if it’s the last thing she does.
Except that first she has to reflect upon said past traumas, and think about having chickens for dinner, and meet a neighbor woman, and notice the beautiful sky and the beautiful land, and get roped into taking a young field hand along with her. By this time, the reader is nearly a quarter of the way through the book, and Briar hasn’t even started after her husband yet. Neither does she spend any time worrying about him. She does think about how she’s a dangerous woman, though. And she’s from nowhere. But it takes a long time for her to prove her danger by taking action to get her beloved husband back. Without this sense of urgency, the book has little drive.
The book purports to be an adventure, and instead it meanders along like a boat on a lazy summer stream, bobbing and drifting and observing. But once the puzzle places are set up, the story unfolds, and the sluggishness at the beginning passes away. If you have patience, you may enjoy the journey of damaged people toward redemption and love.
