TBR Challenge: Penelope Williamson - The Outsider

A daughter of the faith…a stranger with a gun…a forbidden love.Throughout the years on her Montana homestead, Rachel Yoder had never been afraid—the creed of the Plain People had been her strength. Then the day came when lawless men killed Rachel’s husband in an act of blind greed. Now, at her darkest hour, an outsider walks across her meadow and into her life…Johnny Cain is bloody, near death, and armed to the teeth. A man hardened by his violent past, Cain has never known a woman like Rachel—someone who offers him a chance to heal more than his physical wounds.Cain’s lazy smile and teasing ways steal Rachel's heart and confound her soul. Soon she must choose between all she holds dear—her faith, her family, perhaps her very salvation—and the man they call the Outsider.

Comment: We arrive once more at the third Wednesday of the month and that means it's time for the TBR Challenge post. For this month the theme is "it came from the 1990s" which clearly means the choice would need to be something published in that decade... well, that's how I saw it. Thus, I've picked this book by Penelope Williamson who published mostly in those years, and this book is from 1996.

In this book we meet heroine Rachel, who lives a Plain Life (similar to Amish?) in her community and her life changes when she and her son Benjo rescue a stranger from the outside world, as they call it, when he is fund in their land with a bullet hole in his chest and close to dying. At first this is Rachel doing what the Lord would demand of her, but the longer the outsider stays with then, the more fascinated she becomes. Rachel is a widow and she knows she and this stranger would never be able to be together if she wants to still be part of everything she is familiar with, but what if the Lord has a different path for her? However, perhaps the stranger's enemies will want to catch him anyway, since they weren't successful the first time... 

I had read another book by the author in 2021 and liked it a lot. I was told by a friend that this one was also a good one and that is why it was in the TBR pile. I thought it would suit this theme since this book was published in the right decade and, in a way, that seems to be something related to writing style as well. I wouldn't say the "voice" is that distinctive, as other author's sometimes are, but the writing style is one I'd think of when thinking about books written in the 90s for certain, things with a lot more emphasis on romance and emotion instead of about characters' competence, for instance.

The plot is very simple but, as it used to happen with the so-called old school" types of stories, there is a lot being developed in regards to plot and the characters, including some who are secondary. This also means the story is a lot longer than it would be necessary if the focus were to be on simply the main romance. I wouldn't go as far as to say that there are pointless elements, but the author takes time to set up things and to let the reader know why some are important.

I liked Rachel as a heroine, for she is a good person and not only because she is part of a Plain Life community. Even people who worship God in such way have prejudice and imperfections, and this was an important part of the story when it became obvious that Rachel would fall in love with her stranger, Johnny. I was actually reminded of Laura Kinsale's Flowers from the Storm, which I loved reading, because the main idea is the same: hero and heroine come from different places and the heroine's Faith is an important part of her life and future choices.

That is how I saw this book for the most part, Rachel would need to make a choice at some point, but as always, the road leading there is what would make that choice an easy or a hard one and I think the author did manage to set up things in such a way that it would never be easy, no matter how much in love she would feel towards Johnny. The romance vs religion discussion was an interesting one here, and I didn't feel the author was preaching or defending this or that. I think there is enough focus on romantic notions to make it seem as if Rachel would not have a choice after all, but reading with attention might not make it be that obvious right away.

As with many books from this decade, there is an emphasis on the heroine and what she is feeling, and I do miss that Johnny didn't seem be developed as well emotionally or in a way that would match the level through which we see the development of Rachel. As a couple they were fine to me, but I must say I wasn't as dazzled by them nor their dynamics as I was with Kinsale's book I've mentioned before. The romance here was certainly more subdued.

I liked the interactions with Rachel's son and how we got to have a few scenes from his POV as well. Funny we have him, we have two or three other secondary characters' POV but not the hero's... as for the conflict, it went beyond the religious issues. There is a man who wants to take over Rachel's land and was the reason why her husband was killed, and this has some interesting development but I will confess I've skimmed some parts where this man is plotting bad stuff because it simply didn't matter to me, I wanted to get back to the main characters.

As expected, there comes a time where things become too hard, some bad situations happen to secondary characters as well, and we keep having some debates on whether Faith and Belief are enough to make one a Righteous person. I'm naturally interested in religious beliefs being important for a character and for what they stand for, so this theme captivated me, but of course a modern view on these things makes some situations in the book feel very unfair. In terms of romance, nevertheless, I think Rachel went into a path many would believe the right one.

In the end, I liked the subtlety in which some situations were dealt with. I liked how we are told a story but not how we should feel about it or what the characters should do. I liked that some things are so obviously good and bad that, as in real life, the choice is always impossible to be simplified. I didn't connect with this book as well as i did with the other one I had read by this author, but it was certainly a good one to send time with.

Grade: 7/10

Penelope Williamson - Heart of the West

Clementine Kennicutt, a ladylike New Englander, aches to leave her home and her oppressive father. So when Gus McQueen, a cowboy with laughing eyes and big dreams, presses her to elope with him to his Montana ranch, she is ready. But nothing has prepared her for the harsh realities of frontier life, or for the unpredictable hankering of her heart--and least of all for the fact that almost from the first moment she sets eyes on Zach, Gus's dashing, ne'er do-well brother, she knows he's the one she was destined to love. Brought up to be a lady, Clementine determines not to let the frontier--or her marriage--defeat her. She devours life, befriending the town prostitute, defending Indians, and suppressing her heart's desire, until Zach forces her to face him and make her choice.

Comment: This one has been in the pile for years but I finally got to it. I'm glad I decided to read it because it turned out to be a captivating read.

In this historical we follow the life of Clementine, a young woman who felt trapped in a repetitive life in Boston and when cowboy Gus, who would be returning to a ranch in Montana asked her to marry him, she didn't think twice. However, life in a distant place, with more danger and less security could prove too hard, but Clementine vows to try and make things work. While adjusting to her new life, she needs to bear the presence of Gus' brother Rafferty, with whom she sometimes butts heads. She also decides to do what she feels is right, even if that means to befriend the woman everyone says is a prostitute and, later on, the Chinese mail order bride with an even more tragic life than hers. Will Clementine be able o be a modern woman in a man-ruling world?

I liked this story a lot. It's old fashioned in how it is written, in the kind of content included (some scenes would not be deemed acceptable to most sensibilities nowadays) and how the characters are portrayed, but I found it to be engrossing, captivating and even the parts I wasn't as interested, still made me eager to keep reading. For, one of those where time flew while I turned the pages.

This is labeled historical/western romance but the main focus isn't the romance, it's more about Clementine's experiences and those of the other women she befriends. This is a slow burn type of novel where the author takes time to develop the plot and even that is divided into four parts, with time jumps, so we actually follow the characters though several years as they deal with life and events that shape how they see things and how they react to them.

Clementine is the main character and often the POV is centered on her. This is third person but we still see things from her side of things. Throughout the novel, there are others whose POV we have, but hers is the most often used. Clementine is quite a heroine, she goes through that classic journey of learning from mishaps, of dealing with setbacks and as she goes through the obstacles, she grows up from naive and hopeful to practical and more certain of herself, a very obvious emotional and maturity evolution.

Of the secondary characters, we also have some focus on Gus and Rafferty, the siblings who had different lives growing up and no have different looks on life. There's also Hannah, the prostitute who many dismiss but with whom Clementine will have a real friendship. Later on, there's Erlan, the Chinese woman, as well as the Scully brothers who arrive to work at the local mine. All these characters are a product of their time, yes, but they embody all the kinds of things we would want to see in heroes and heroines living through the hardships and the joys of a saga. There's tragedy for them but also an expected road to redemption/reward of some kind, as any "hero" would in a romance novel.

The pace isn't too fluid for the book is divided into four parts and there is always some years between each part, where we just have to accept things changed in the meantime. I would say that, for me, the less positive aspect of the book - not enough to "ruin" the experience, though - is the fact some scenes are too long and to me, that wouldn't be necessary. Even though it's realistic, there is quite a huge level of drama and sometimes that was also unnecessary, but all together this was a satisfying novel.

The romance is a little predictable (especially if one has read many romance novels already) but I found that it didn't make me enjoy it any less. I liked the emotional journey which followed the romance sections, so the end was definitely earned and the HEA - for me - believable.

I think stories aren't told like this anymore...the 90s really allowed for several gems to exist and this is one of them. I know other readers might not see it like this, but for me this was a successful book, it fit the expectations I had and was a little more emotional than I anticipated and thinking about it as a whole, certainly goes into the top of my preferences in this reading year.

Grade: 9/10