Heidi M. Thomas

Follow the Dream – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

‘She ticked off the places they’d lived since she and Jake were married. Twenty-four times she’d picked up and moved since their honeymoon days on the Davis Place nearly fifteen years ago. Twenty-four times packing up their few belongings. They’d never really stayed anywhere long enough to accumulate much. Twenty-four times of setting up camp in a tent, squeezing into a hotel room, or cleaning a mouse-infested abandoned shack, even a granary, for heaven’s sake. Moving around would’ve been different if they’d been part of the rodeo world. But that dream hadn’t come true. Then she’d settled for the one about having their own place. Someday. Always someday. Did other women have to endure this kind of life? She twisted the ring on her left hand. Jake was a good man, good-hearted, hardworking. He’d had his ambitions too, his visions blown away in the dust, swallowed by new-fangled machines, strangled by the death-throes of the only way of life they’d ever known. Easterners taking over farming, corporate ranches, machines making horses obsolete. What was to become of the life of the cowboy? Of Jake’s life? Selling his horses could be the last straw.’

When Nettie and Jake married they became partners. They would follow the rodeo tours and win the top prizes making names for themselves. Nettie was even offered a chance to show off her riding abilities, both horse and steer, in England when some of her friends decided to take the show across the waters. But then the unexpected hit. Nettie was pregnant, which not only stopped her from touring but it also stopped her from riding. It also meant that she and Jake must settle down and start thinking about their future.

Work in the 1920s and 1930s had become rather hard to find but Jake knew there would always be a demand for work horses so he and Nettie decided that breeding and selling their draft horses would be the perfect source of income. That was before the big drought hit resulting in them searching for “greener pastures” and the promise of eventually coming back to their families and buying their own ranch.

As I read Follow the Dream I couldn’t help but think about the times of today. Our financial futures and/or lack of them. Follow the Dream has made me realize just how strong our families of the past had to be. The hardships they went through just to get us where we are today. And with each generation, we seemed to weaken just a bit. We have become soft in our tolerance of problems and pain. I don’t believe I know of a person who would go through the hardships that Nettie, Jake and their son Neil went through and still keep a family together. Follow the Dream is a wonderful, heartwarming story of love, not just of a family, but a love for life. The sequel to Cowgirl Dreams, both are suitable for adult and young adult readers.

266 pages
Sundowners and Mountain View Publishing, divisions of Treble Heart Books
2010
ISBN# 978-1-936127-18-4

Review Stir, Laugh, Repeat at Amazon.com Stir, Laugh, Repeat… (mehr)

Reviewed by Allison Fraclose for TeensReadToo.com

Fifteen-year-old Nettie Brady loves nothing more than riding fast with her horse and helping her father and brothers with the "men's work" on her family's small ranch in Montana. Her dream, the most perfect life she can imagine, is to travel the rodeo circuit and win money by riding steers and broncs - the same as her hero, Marie Gibson.

However, there's no way Nettie's mother would ever allow it, since that kind of life is far too dangerous and Nettie doesn't need to become one of those "loose women." Besides, Nettie needs to learn how to cook and sew and properly care for the family that she will inevitably have one day.

Nettie doesn't think so; she can't imagine marrying a man who would expect her to cook and sew all day instead of being outside, where she's happiest.

A chance meeting with Marie Gibson herself gives Nettie the hope that maybe her own dreams aren't so unattainable. With Marie's help and encouragement, Nettie learns that even good, married girls can ride in rodeos and own ranches, just as well as the men. But even the women of rodeo face a little discrimination, and Nettie wonders if girls will ever get a chance to fully prove themselves.

Will Nettie one day find a cowboy of her own who understands her heart? And will she ever get her Mama to understand that what she wants for Nettie is not necessarily what Nettie wants for herself?

This lovely story, based on the life of the author's grandmother, provides a real window into the challenges that women riders faced back in the 1920s. The author's bio promises that COWGIRL DREAMS is the first in a series about the independent women of Montana.… (mehr)

I used to love borrowing Westerns from the library when I first got my grown-up card. But I’ve never read a Western like this one. Cowgirl Dreams is based on the life of the author’s grandmother, a real-life Montana cowgirl, and tells of a young tomboy, Nettie Brady, growing up in the 1920s with dreams of becoming a rodeo star.

I hadn’t realized there really were female rodeo stars in the 1920s. I hadn’t imagined how a woman would ride in a skirt, or how society would respond if she wore pants. And though I’ve seen two rodeos (yes, a whole two) and enjoyed them both, I never really imagined how it might feel to take part.

Heidi Thomas brings it all to life, from the nervousness and exhilaration of Nettie’s first public ride, to the humiliation of being forced to stay home mending clothes. The influenza epidemic brings its trail of tears and leaves Nettie balancing her longing for freedom with love and duty to home and family. She starts working for a young cowboy neighbor in order to help with the family’s finances, and soon their easy friendship begins to grow into something deeper.

I loved the sense of time and place that the author conveys in this book. I loved the characters, for all their flaws, and felt like I really got to know them. And I loved reading how disaster and sorrow turn around into hope and joy.

Much more than a second-hand memoir, Cowgirl Dreams is an intriguing, well-researched and well-told story with a core of truth for women of all ages. I really enjoyed it.… (mehr)