Frontier Woman

Overall Rating: 4.35
Action: 4.0 / Emotion: 3.75 / Romance: 4.5 / Sensuous: 1.75 / Suspense: 3.0 // Historical Flavor: 5.0 // Laughter: 1 // Tears: 3

Frontier Woman: 4.35:
Joan Johnston is a favorite author so found this book to be an engaging, entertaining, action-packed, emotional, enjoyable re-read.

Hero: 4.75:
Jarrett Creed: The kind of hero that most appeals -- an honorable, arrogant, handsome, well-built man's man who was strong enough to make his living as a Texas Ranger in the 1840s after having been raised to manhood by the Comanche. Loved that Creed was astute enough to be able to read Cricket's insecurities and had the strength to bring her through them and eventually walk beside her. Creed was the epitome of a Frontier Man.

The show more Texas frontier wasn't kind. It wasn't even merciful. If you survived, it was because you didn't make mistakes. You kept your gun handy. Your never rode far from water. You treated your horse like family. And you didn't trust strangers. (Creed, page 84)

Heroine: 4.35:
Creighton "Cricket" Stewart: A favorite heroine type: all tomboy! She wore buckskins, could shoot, ride, and curse like a man, but still the hero found her attractive and desirable. The biggest drawback to Cricket was her immaturity, but that was to be expected because she was only seventeen. (It is always a disappointment when heroines are this young.)

Story Line: 4.75:
Great story line. Liked the premise. A father who wanted sons, had daughters. This is the youngest daughter's story and filled with history and trying to prevent another Mexican Revolution while dealing with {1} the father/daughter relationship, {2} the dangers of the living in the young Republic of Texas, and {3} the emotions that arose because of being romantically attracted to your soul mate.

Action: 4.00:
Plenty of action to go along with {1} Creed looking for Mexican Revolutionaries, {2} Creed having a Comanche arch-enemy who shows up to wreck havoc, {3} Cricket sticking her nose in where it doesn't belong to create problems and stir up trouble.

Emotion: 3.75:
Although the emotional connection to Creed and Cricket was not as deep as one might hope, Johnston did such a good job of telling their story, that she brought forth laughter and tears.

Romance: 4.50:
Johnston did a fantastic job of keeping the desire and romance bubbling between Creed and Cricket after their first meeting. The building awareness between Creed and Cricket was always apparent in the story as they fought and loved their way across Texas.

Suspense: 3.00:
There was also a slight degree of suspense to the story because there were so many different threads interwoven into the fabric of the story that had to be kept in sequence so the resulting picture was cohesive and coherent. They included, {1} Rip negotiating with Señor Juan Carlos Guerrero to marry off Cricket to his eldest son Cruz; {2} Sloan's ties to the Mexican Revolutionaries, even though she was being duped by her lover, Antonio Guerrero; {3} Creed's and Cricket's numerous encounters with Tall Bear and his band of Comanches; {4} Creed's and Cricket's interactions with Tom, Amy, and Seth at Lion's Dare; {5} Creed's and Cricket's interactions with Beaufort LeFevre and his beautiful, selfish daughter; {6} Long Quiet's interest in Bayleigh; and, finally, {7} Luke Summers secret regarding his childhood.

Sensuous: 1.75:
The sensuality reflects the understated descriptions that were featured in love scenes back in the 1980s and 1990s. The love scenes between Creed and Cricket were well-written and full of emotion and passion and fit the story and the characters well.

Historical Flavor: 5.00:
Mind you, history was not a favorite school subject, but Johnston seemed to be spot on when it came imbuing a strong historical flavor into the book by introducing the bold and vivid presence of Mexican Revolutionaries and the Penateka Comanche into the story. She then detailed the fight that the Texans were facing when dealing with both of these cultures.

Secondary Characters: 5.00:
One of Johnston's best talents is making the secondary characters that run through her books draw the reader's undivided interest. Although they are minimally developed, these characters pop with vitality. Look at: {1} Rip Stewart, {2} Sloan Stewart, {3} Bayleigh Stewart, {4} Long Quiet, {5} Luke Summers, {6} Tom, Amy, and Seth Creed, {7} the brothers, Cruz and Antonio Guerrero, {8} Tall Bear, {9} Angelique LeFevre, and finally, {10} Cricket's wolves: Rogue, Rascal, and Ruffian.

A more in-depth, detailed, spoiler-ridden review of Frontier Woman appears at Wolf Bear Does Books (http://goo.gl/STwTlF). show less