Unforgiving Plains

WESTERN:  Rayna Fields doesn't remember her father. She barely remembers his farm, either, but that didn't stop him from leaving it to her after his death. Raised in the city by her single mom and currently a successful realtor, Rayna is now left to decide what to do with the failing property. 

Vince Brandon, Craig's hired hand, believed the farm might be left to him.  He certainly wants to own a farm of his own and has poured a good share of his sweat and time into it. Now he watches a city girl prepare it for its sale and cattle rustlers take the cattle that could keep the farm, and his future, afloat. 

Christine Steendam is obviously familiar with the plains of Alberta, Canada. Her familiarity is a two-edged sword; she shares more than enough to paint the necessary pictures in the reader's minds but also leaves the same reader wondering if Canada is so different from what they perceive. The conflict of this novel comes from two very different characters who want entirely different things but find themselves working together, cowboy experience versus city inexperience and idealism, toward the common goal -- getting the cattle back. Despite the need for tighter polishing this is tale worth reading, as readers enjoy the push and pull of opposites against the beauty of the great white north!

Shaunna Gonzales