Rosanne Bittner~~ 4 1/2 and 5 Star Reviews

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Wildest Dreams
Rosanne Bittner
SourcebooksTrade Paper
978‑1402267680
****

      Lettie MacBride and Luke Fontaine meet on the road west of Missouri. Love comes quickly, but Lettie feels unworthy. Years ago she was raped, and her little son Nathan was the result. She feels she cannot possibly deserve love and happiness, but Luke works patiently to show her otherwise. With her parents' blessing, they marry and follow Luke's dream to the rugged wilds of Montana.    
     Luke is destined to become a wealthy, powerful cattle rancher with a giant spread, but the first years are brutal with few friends and relentless winters that could drive lesser people mad. They delight in the birth of five more children, but there is sorrow too, as Nathan is taken by Indians in an act of revenge against Luke, and the agony is compounded when they suffer the pain no parent should face. This pair of losses leaves Lettie cold and withdrawn, lost in her grief. Luke, whose body already bears the scars of bullet and bear claw, and whose soul is forever changed by the lives he’s taken to secure his property, also withdraws, but through these obstacles and others, their love is powerful enough to bring them together again.        
     Readers can now replace their tattered copies of this tale, originally published in 1994, with a beautiful new edition. Anyone seeking an emotional, sweeping Western saga need look no further, as Rosanne Bittner provides a couple who suffer strife and loss, but endure it all because they're together. Luke is a sometimes hard to like character, but he and Lettie embody the pioneer spirit necessary to thrive in a harsh land. Minor characters tend to be little more than stock characters, but the major characters have all the depth and nuance readers will crave.

Heather Nordahl Files

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