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I read this book because it was on the shelf at the library, and I am reading all the books on that shelf at the library, as a reading challenge. I also grew up in a fundamentalist Christian church before becoming a much happier, healthier atheist. So, I grew up reading Christian fiction, and certainly many classic novels are Christian. How awful could it be to read books the library marks as "Inspirational"?
Well, this book was not inspirational, but it was at least set in Colorado, in a small foothills town near Boulder, so I enjoyed that aspect at least. Even when I was a Christian, though, I preferred more of a C.S. Lewis style God, one who is not out to break people, so this novel, which specifically reiterates a prayer asking God to break people, really bugged me. Had my church worshiped a God who was described like that I would have probably left the church even sooner than I did. So, I did not care for this novel's theology, and as it is a novel specifically styled as a Christian novel, that impacted my rating of it.
Ignoring the passages where theology is dominant, though, this book compares well enough to a decent Louis L'Amour novel. In this book a young woman, McKenna, and her brother Robert travel to Colorado to start over after escaping legal trouble in Missouri. Their relatives in Colorado turn out to have had troubles of their own, however, and McKenna has to figure out how to make her new life work despite increasingly difficult challenges.
McKenna herself will appeal to modern women, as a woman who can take care of herself and who has marketable skills. Actually in Colorado history at the time of the story, women had quite a lot more leeway to manage farms and do work otherwise limited to men, simply because the West was a rough place to live and everyone did what they had to to make things work. So, I found the sexism of the town in this novel a bit overstated, but I'm sure many small towns did try to hang on to lifestyles and expectations from the eastern, 'civilized' states. The story requires the sexism, in order to make the conclusion work, so I guess I'm not as annoyed with it as I otherwise might be. The writing itself in this book is a bit insipid and overdone, erring towards telling instead of showing, and sapping whole chapters of their momentum as a result, but the story is enough of an action based Western that it never loses momentum entirely. I suppose this could be considered a Western for Christian women who want a bit of theology with their saloon brawls and gunfights. It was ok, and probably readers less used to reading Westerns, or more used to reading modern Christian genre fiction will like this book more than I did. It could have been a lot more insipid, and at least I never felt I was being preached at, or that the theology was choking the story, problems I've seen in many novels I read in this genre back in my teens. ( )

This is a story where you will fall in love with the two main characters, McKenna and Wyatt. Tamera Alexander did such a good job of making these people seem real. Their struggles and their joys were ones so easily identifiable in life. I felt what it was like to be in Colorado in the 1870's with the scenery, the gambling halls, the brawls, the Chinese folks and the robberies, they all seemed very true-to-life.

McKenna Ashford finds herself having to move to Copper Creek, Colorado with her younger brother, Robert. Now Robert has a chip on his shoulder as big as a tree and you will find yourself wanting to knock it off with a good swift kick many times in this story. McKenna sees their move as perhaps God's design; perhaps the inheritance she had failed to keep when they had to leave Missouri. Upon their arrival she finds her close friend and cousin dying, with her last wish that McKenna have the ranch and raise up her 5 year old daughter, Emma. Now McKenna has a brother that resents her, a new "daughter" so raise, a ranch that s about to be foreclosed on and on top of all that a U.S. Marshal named Wyatt Caradon who seems to be showing her some interest. You feel McKenna's pain in this story. She is trying so hard to love and help her brother, who rejects her constantly, trying to love little Emma, who just lost her Mom and keep everything running smoothly. Wyatt sees she needs help, but McKenna is not one who accepts help willingly.

I felt for McKenna. She loved her brother. No matter what he did, no matter if he derserved it or not. But sometimes you have to have "tough love" and how hard that is for anyone to have. The underlying message of this book, as the author stated, is brokenness. We all need to be broken and to give ourselves up to God. Letting go and letting God take charge. This was a message very well written into this story and I am so grateful that the author, Tamera Alexander finally got a chance to write this story and convey such a message of love. Well done and well worth your time to read. Trust me, you won't be disappointed. I have read other books by this author that I have really enjoyed, but I think this is one of her best! ( )

This book deals with tough love while watching God's grace & sovereignty at work. McKenna Ashford has moved her and her teenage brother west in hopes of giving him a new start. Upon arriving, things don't go as planned...the book is about McKenna's Inheritance from the Lord and how he prepares her for it.

I've been searching for a new author. My favorite for a long time has been Francine Rivers...but Tamera Alexander has made it on my list. This was a great historical romance book with adventure. I have been looking for various Christian historical novels. Her characters were fun and enjoyable to read. I would love to see this book turn into a series. ( )