Sandra @ My Fiction Nook

I am so mad right now, I probably shouldn't write up this review, but I will anyway.

Nowhere in the blurb does it state that this book has a cliffhanger. Nowhere does it state that this book doesn't have a beginning, a middle and an ending. I was admittedly concerned when I opened the file and saw that this was only 82 pages long on my Nook, but I still expected the story, even as a novella, to have somewhat of an ending.

TO BE CONTINUED is NOT an ending. That's just a ploy to get readers to buy your next book in the series as well. So uncool.

Now, for the book itself - while I can't claim to have lived in the time in which this story supposedly takes place, I am fairly certain that the language used here didn't quite fit the times. I also thought that the characterization of Ben was too uneven, and Logan lacked common sense. I don't know what he expected to accomplish by riding in a blaze of glory into a Sioux camp on his own. Seriously, his plan was doomed to fail from the start.

I did appreciate the realistic sounding depiction of the atrocities committed during the Indian Wars, from both sides. The inclusion of the deluded Mormons was also a nice touch - that stuff did happen. The story flows at a fairly rapid pace, and I didn't quite buy that the two men would be having sexual relations so frequently in such a short amount of time, under the circumstances in which they find themselves. While it's nice to think that they so in lust to forget everything around them, that's not entirely realistic. 

I had some issues with plot holes (like a Captain running a fort not mustering his new Privates, but whatever), and thought that the inclusion of a tornado as a plot device was, if not far-fetched, a bit too convenient.

Also, lots of people during those times died from losing a limb or even a hand, because of gangrene. And while Captain Logan Harris might be tough, I had a hard time believing he'd be up and riding about in a day or two after getting his hand viciously chopped off. Laudanum will only do so much.

Yeah, this was not a good read for me. And I'm still angry about the non-ending. YMMV.

** I received a free copy of the book from the publisher. A positive review was not promised in return. **