The Book: A Place Called Home by Elizabeth Grayson
The Particulars: Historical western romance, Avon, 1995, out of print, available in self-published eBook edition (99 cents at time of this review posting!). Grayson's backlist is now being "marketed" as The Women's West Series - but trust me, this one is a stand-alone.
Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: It's a historical western so why wouldn't it be in Wendy's TBR?! Seriously, no clue now - that's how long I've owned a print copy of this book. I picked it up in a used bookstore (remember those?) over 15 years ago. Fun fact: my used print copy has a handwritten notation from Beverly who wrote "11-95 Keep! Terrific!" And yet I bought it in a used bookstore....
Major Spoilers Ahead! Content Warnings: lots of death (secondary characters), raiding Indian warriors, a dead dog (family pet).
The Review: They don't write 'em like this anymore. In fact, if this book were published today it would not be labelled romance. It would be marketed as historical fiction. Or possibly as a historical saga. Not a romance. But more on that in a bit.
It's 1782 and as part of his service in the Colonial Army, Livi Talbot's husband David secures land in the wilds of Kentucky. Against her wishes, they leave behind Lynchburg, Virginia to chase her husband's dream of a better life for him, Livi and their two young children (12-year-old Tad and 4-year-old Cissy). Tragedy in the form of Indian raiders strike as they're leaving Virginia though and David ends up dead. Livi is now alone in the wilderness with two children and a family she cannot go to for help. She essentially eloped with David, marrying well-below her class. She's on her own and she presses on to Kentucky.
Waiting for them in Kentucky is Reid Campbell, part Creek Indian (by way of his paternal grandmother), and David's best friend who never approved of Livi. He pegged her as pampered, spoiled, and not the sort of wife his friend "needs." There's a lot of animosity between these two - essentially boiling down to rivalry and jealousy. David was Reid's "found family," the only one who ever, purely, accepted him. Livi loved David and she saw Reid as a threat to that love, he was always filling David's heads with dreams and nonsense, always trying to undermine Livi. And you know what? Livi ain't wrong. Now David is dead, both Livi and Reid feel guilt over that for various reasons, and they're in the untamed Kentucky frontier. The British are still making trouble and Indian raiding parties are the norm.
This book would never be published as a romance today mainly because Reid and Livi aren't on page together until the 40% mark plus there's a couple of flashback chapters for David's and Livi's courtship and newlywed years. David dies in chapter one, and it takes 40% for Livi and the kids to get to the homestead in Kentucky. It's all vital set-up though because it kicks Livi's growth arc into high gear. Our heroine goes through A LOT on the trail and by the time she's face to face with Reid you can feel her anger radiating off her in waves. She breaks the news of David's death in a callous way, but damn, you totally get where she's coming from.
The mistrust and dislike for each other is, of course, hiding a simmering attraction and naturally given this animosity neither is forthcoming about, well, much of anything. Reid about his past. Livi about her journey and experiences just getting to Kentucky.
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| Original Cover 1995 |
I got sucked in. I love historical westerns that are essentially survival stories, plus I love westerns set in this era - when the "untamed frontier" was Kentucky. I was up until 2AM reading this book. Once started I could not put it down. But it's not without problems and if you have a low tolerance for Old School, there are things in this book that will likely grate on you. The Indians featured in this story (the Shawnee and Creek) are conflict for the story, raiding and killing settlers. Then there's the Black couple that arrives on the scene towards the end of Livi's journey to Kentucky. Eustace and Violet are a couple, slaves whose master was killed by Indians. They come into Livi's camp to scrounge for supplies because they've been lost in the woods for days. She strikes a bargain with them - come with her to Kentucky, help her plant and bring in the first harvest, and she'll pay them with their own plot of land from David's claim - which they jump on. Their dialogue has an unfortunate habit of being written in dialect (we get "Miz" and "Marse" for example) and Livi (who grew up on a plantation) is smacked with the reality while speaking with Eustace that the slaves her parents owned may not have been all that pleased with being property, stripped of free will (imagine that!). This occurs after Livi saves them from slave catchers (only by sheer luck since the catchers are illiterate!) and she tells Eustace that in order to protect them she needs to forge ownership papers. Eustace is, understandably, not keen on the idea.
It's not great, but I've also read much worse in romances from this era - although it's not the most problematic element of this storyline to say the least. Violet ends up murdered by raiding Indians, as the result of Livi thinking danger had past and putting the group back into harm's way. I haven't been this heartbroken over a character's death in a long while and then I got angry. That decision to kill the one Black woman was, well it was something. Eustace lives, but his love is gone and well, now I'm angry all over again just typing out this massive spoiler.
This leaves me with a very conflicted feeling over my final grade for this story. Given that I'm a sucker for a big, sweeping saga, that Livi's growth arc is dynamite and I started and finished this book in one day (at 2AM no less!) I'm sticking with the highest grade I can give a book. But oh man, it's got problems. I will never forgive Grayson for Violet's end, oh and Indians killing Tad's dog. For all those reasons, this book will be an automatic nope for some readers - but for those who like to dip their toes into Old School Frontier Romancelandia? This was a riveting read.
Final Grade = A
