Crow Mountain

March 1, 2016
The parallel stories of rescue, love, and burgeoning self-reliance, 150 years apart, of two refined 16-year-old white English girls whose lives are changed in the American West by young, rugged, sensitive pioneers/cowboys with secrets. In the present-day (and in the third person), Hope Cooper and her mother travel to a Montana ranch for research, lodging with the Crows, Caleb and his hardworking, handsome 19-year-old son, Cal. In 1867 and recounted in a diary/letter addressed to "you" that Hope finds in the barn loft, Emily Forsythe describes traveling by stagecoach through Montana toward an arranged marriage in Oregon. When the coach crashes, only Emily survives, rescued by Nate, a captivating blue-eyed horse trader and railway scout. In alternating chapters, Hope's and Emily's engrossing stories mirror each other (as do Cal's and Nate's), from injury to adjustment to the wilderness, coping with injustice, their first kisses, and beyond. Danger lurks at every turn in this sweeping and suspenseful romance, but its history is not well-integrated. Inglis packs in too much of her research, dropping in issues without really developing them, including women's subservient status; that of Nate's Apsaalooke family and his half sister, Rose, who is "two spirits in one body, a man and a woman"; the near-extinction of the bison; bullying. Still, the romances (with all their implausibilities) take precedence, and readers will be caught up with Emily's and Hope's exciting journeys. (Fiction/historical fiction. 14-18)

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April 1, 2016

Gr 8 Up-In alternating chapters, two 16-year-old British girls have parallel, romantic adventures in Montana, a century apart. Hope travels with her feminist, environmental scientist mother for a summer stay at the Montana ranch of Caleb Crow. Despite her mother's cautions, Hope is immediately attracted to Caleb's handsome, brooding son Cal. When Hope finds a diary labeled "Montana 1867" in the barn loft, the compelling account of Emily, an aristocratic girl sent west for an arranged marriage, unfolds. Hope shares the diary with Cal, and they realize that Emily is describing familiar Crow ranch land, predecessors of local people, events that shaped current relationships and hostilities, and a mysterious cowboy who rescued Emily after a carriage disaster. Emily's 19th-century fears, isolation, discomfort, and commitment to fulfill her parents' wishes fade as she falls in love with Montana and her unnamed cowboy. Meanwhile, Hope and Cal embark on a perilous road trip that coincidentally follows Emily's story and footsteps: they crash at a bridge, shelter in a wilderness cabin, have discreet sex, and take part in a violent shoot-out. Emily and Hope are refined young women liberated by love and wilderness from the constraints of parental and societal expectations. Despite narration and dialogue that is stilted in spots and the Crow family's surprising lack of awareness about their own heritage, this action-packed Western romance reveals a generational feud, Native American family connections, and the power of love to transcend time, place, and social differences. VERDICT Romance fans will enjoy the coincidence construct of the two stories; the attraction between enigmatic, rugged cowboys and refined English girls; and the enduring love that Emily and Hope discover.-Gerry Larson, formerly at Durham School of the Arts, NC

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