West of the Pecos (Zane Grey Westerns)

Zane Grey was a "formula" writer, and he was the one who created the "formula", the modern western novel. And he used the same plot devices in many of his books. This one uses the girl pretending to be a boy scheme to protect the innocent young girl from being treated harshly by the other drovers. Terrill Lambeth is now an orphan, her father having died, and her adventures are the basis of this story. The fact she can ride and shoot doesn't hurt, but before long, Pecos Smith, the hard riding, fast shooting "man" of the bunch discovers he is a she. And you can probably already imagine the scenarios that follow. This is a "traditional" western, the kind one associates with Zane Grey; it has the broad use of language and the vivid descriptions of the locale he is known for. It is a book well worth reading, and more than once.

This book is definately worth buying. It is my favorite book because when you read a romance you usually expect as follows: boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, girl falls in love with boy, they live happily ever after or die. Zane Grey throws an unusual twist into the usual romance storyline. The "boy", Pecos Smith, thinks the "girl", Terril Lambeth, is a boy. Pecos thinks of Terril as a little brother, where as; Terril thinks of Pecos as handsome man. Zane Grey captures a strange yet amazingly tender romance that could only happen West of the Pecos.