This Loving Land

The twists and intermingled lives of these characters makes for a fantastic story.Summer and her brother, John Austin Kuykendall lead off as main characters and involved are Sam McLean and Nannie, Summer's mother.Along with a triangle of Sam and his wife Libby and son Slater. Slater was trampled and disfigured when Sam was killed.Enter Sam's sister-in-law, Ellen McLean and her son Travis, owners of the Rockin' S with the Kuykendall homestead between the Rockin' S and McLean's Keep. Ellen is a bewitching, ruthless, blindly determined woman. Travis is a brutal womanizer and someone you want to see get his come-uppance.Summer and her brother is taken to the homestead by Bulldog and invites Sadie and her little daughter Mary to accompany them.When Ellen comes to call on Summer she brings along her son, Travis, who petrifies Sadie and Jesse Thurston, her forman.Jesse is a very quiet, withdrawn man who has Travis's number and no likeing for the blonde man, but he is taken with little Mary and shows his gentle side. Sadie wonders if she dares to dream.One thing leads to another and the unraveling of each characters story makes it impossible to put the book down [of course it is hard to find a preacher out west] Sure was glad to see the Indian, Bermaga show up. He had been rescude by Summer and in turn saves Slater life.HIGHLY RECOMMENDED -- Haven't found a Garlock book yet that has not deserved a 5 star rating [grin - I am still looking].

I keep reading Dorothy Garlock, and I keep ending up surprised and thrilled at the end of each and every novel. This one is absolutely wonderful!Summer Kuykendahl, with her young brother, travel to west Texas in order to search for a safe haven for themselves, and hoping Sam McLean is the answer to that hope. On her deathbed, Summers' mother pleads for her daughter to send a letter to Sam, promising that he will want to take care of them.Only Sam has previously been killed, so his son, Slater, answers the email indicating she and her brother owned a plot of land with a cabin on it. However, he signs it S. McLean - worried that Summer and John Austin won't come if they know Sam is dead.Slater McLean is a tough Texan cowboy with a deep grudge, but a soft spot for the girl he knew for a short time as a child. His face scarred from the attack that killed Sam, and swearing his cousin Travis is the cause of all this tragedy - leaves Slater hard and fearful of how Summer will treat him when she sees his scarred face, chest and back.This story brings out some surprisingly shocking twists, and deeply hidden family secrets. You'll be surprised at some of the events. Keep in mind, every single woman in this story is stronger than they first appear.

You have to read "This Loving Land" by Dorothy Garlock, it was absolutely wonderful. It's one of those books that makes you feel warm and cozy when your reading it, I hated for it to end. I would also recommend "Love and Cherish", "Ribbon In The Sky", "Forever Victoria", "The Listening Sky", "Sweetwater" and "With Song". As you can see I really like this author.