Marsha Ward

Originally published in 2010. This was one of those free ebooks offered at Amazon. I sure thought it was going to be a book about writing hacks but turned out to be an actual cookbook...not one I'm inclined to invest in. It's all canned goods, which I'm not i to...but, hey...that would be pretty rapid recipes...lol

I hate it when an author doesn't "test" their recipes before putting them in print. The first and only recipe I tried was the "Quick Brownies" on page 211. It was quick and easy enough to throw together alright so I'd have time to write...lol...but it says to bake 325 degrees for 25 minutes. My brownies were still raw at that time. I had to leave it in for another 15 minutes for a total of 40 minutes baking time. Texture is more like a cake with a crunchy exterior, but descent flavor if you are craving chocolate.… (mehr)

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The Owen family is large, with five living sons and two daughters, having put two sons in the ground during the Civil War. With the final return of the four soldiers of the family (Rulon, Carl, James, and father Rod), the family decides to leave their farm in the Shenandoah Valley, destroyed by the Union Army, and set off to Colorado territory to raise beef cattle.

Rod sets about gathering up families (including Rulon and his wife) to make up a wagon train, two of whom conveniently have daughters for Carl and James. Without letting on to the boys, he arranges for the marriages to take place the evening before they hit the trail. However, his plans are foiled when the preacher is called away to a dying woman's side. The two couple are forced to make the journey unhitched. Conflicts ensue.

This story centers on Carl who is engaged to Ida, and Ellen, who is engaged to James. The characterizations are somewhat predictable. Carl is noble if hot-blooded. Blonde Ida is shallow, manipulative and grasping. James is dutiful, hardworking and angry. Redhead Ellen is feisty, outspoken and, paradoxically, silently self-sacrificing. Rod goes around arranging everyone's lives with seemingly little thought and only token resistance from his long-suffering wife, Julia.

They say that only a few 19th century pioneers traveling through the western frontier ever suffered the harrowing experiences of the likes of the Donner Party or the Willie & Martin handcart companies. By and large, most journeys were long, boring days of drudgery, an extended if demanding camp-out. The Man From Shenandoah seems to have taken its cue from that particular truth. The Owen wagon train doesn't even encounter any Indians.

The book is a pleasant, casual read which requires little emotional investment. The characters are likable, the plots uncomplicated. Unlike These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner, the reader is not left panting for breath at the end of every chapter, begging for a bit of respite. Despite the war, the outlaws, the carpetbaggers, the Union soldiers, the blizzards, and the unending toil, the lives of the Owen family go on rather smoothly, right down to the timely windfalls that make everything possible. Although the Big Bad Evil comes in the form of murderous cattle rustlers and Berto Acosta, by far the most promising (in a literary sense) conflict rests between the two brothers, Carl and James. Unfortunately, Ms. Ward doesn't get there in this book.

The Man From Shenandoah is intelligent and well-written, if paced a bit slow here and there. The plot is believable and the characters well-defined. Ms. Ward embraces the themes of family, honor and sacrifice with certainty. Filial obedience, a foreign concept in the 21st century, finds its place and its justification in the Owen family.

Ms. Ward masterfully transports the reader to the 19th century. She manages authenticity without assaulting the reader with obscenities and constant sexual innuendo. Her her calm, even voice with a slight country twang rings true. Her writing creates a safe and engaging environment for youth which at the same time satisfies the adult reader.

Bottom line: Ms. Ward has provided me with a pleasing introduction to the Western genre. I enjoyed reading this book and have already started the second installment of the Owens Family Saga, Ride to Raton.… (mehr)

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The second installment of The Owen Family Saga, Ride to Raton picks up where The Man From Shenandoah left off. It follows jilted James Owen as he storms away from the wedding of his brother and Ellen, the women to whom he had been betrothed, albeit an arrangement between parents. Not quite out of his teens, hostile and belligerent James shakes the dust from his feet as he leaves his family behind him.

His professed intent the gold fields north of Denver, James narrowly escapes not only death and marriage in Pueblo, scarcely a day's ride from his home. He then heads south in search of work and is again waylaid by a corpse and a promise. He finds one put upon young Latina patiently awaiting the opportunity to sacrifice herself to an arranged marriage, standing in the way of fulfillment of that vow.

James' desperate need for a purpose latches on to the plight of the beautiful Amparo who refuses to go anywhere without first throwing her wifely duty upon the altar of matrimony. James vows to wed in name only. Neither speaks the other's language. Heavy breathing ensues.

Here I must compare Ride to Raton to the 1969 New York Mets who, running in last place for most of the season, made a miraculous comeback to win the World Series in a most dramatic fashion. (And, I only know this because I've seen Men in Black III). Ride to Raton had wound down to three stars by the last quarter when Ms. Ward finally hit her stride and redeemed the entire book.

Visit http://bit.ly/MpOZiQ for more picture of Raton Pass
In the first half of the book, the pacing is as slow-going as James' progress through the southwestern Colorado territory. He spends a great deal of time getting shot and otherwise roughed up and, ironically, recovering with speed bordering on the miraculous before he goes of to get injured again. His trip south to Santa Fe with Amparo drags on with bad weather, miscommunication, language lessons, and James inevitable spiritual healing. However, I'm still disappointed that Ms. Ward failed to explore the complexity between the two brothers that could have developed in The Man From Shenandoah. Instead, she allowed the conflict to simply fade away.

It is not until the couple again head north that this book comes alive and truly engages the reader. Here not only does the pacing pick up and the action become compelling, but the sensibilities ring true, as do their motivations. The characters grow more complex and of deeper dimension. Here the reader engages with the story so profoundly, the last 25% of the book makes up from the tepid beginning. When the reader reaches the last page, the outcome really matters.

Despite Ms. Ward's enthusiastic taking to similes like a pig to a wallow, stumbling over her particular gift, the turn of phrase, continues to delight. Consider "It was nearly noon, with the November sun pouting on the breast of a hazy sky." Or, my particular favorite:
Sunset encroached upon daylight like a powder burst from the mouth of a crimson cannon—orange and gold ribbons shot forth to wage a battle against the clouds. The western horizon was obscured by a glow like a living thing.
How many sunsets have I seen exactly like that and haven't been able to find the words to describe it?

Bottom line: Despite the uneven pacing, Ms. Ward's perceptive and intelligent writing continues to engage the reader and compel her stories forward. In addition to the perils which the pair suffer, the relationship which evolves between her two protagonists and the intricacies of their characters make Ride to Raton well worth the personal investment. The reader will find themselves reaching for the sequel, Trail of Storms, scarcely before the last page is turned.… (mehr)

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Trail of Storms is Book 3 of The Owen Family Saga. Six years elapsed between the publishing of volumes 2 and 3, but Ms. Ward picks right up from where she left off in the powerful ending of Ride to Raton. However, she leaves the James Owen, et al, in Colorado territory and whisks us back to the Shenandoah Valley where the left-behind Bingham family is suffering their own misfortunes. The Yankee occupiers continue to oppress the little town of Mount Jackson, rapscallions and scallywags carry on an unchecked reign of terror.

Ms. Ward comes out swinging in Chapter One and the reader knows she has finally hit her stride. With the oldest sister, Hannah scarcely clinging to life and sanity after a brutal sexual assault, her husband, Robert Fletcher, in danger of the hangman's noose and/or mob justice, the fatherless Bingham-Fletcher clan escape from the Yankees in the night. Sister Heppie leaves behind her beau, George Heizer, who lingers behind to care for his ailing brother, Ned, who has yet to return from his stint as an officer in the Union Army. Youngest sister, Jessica, proves the strength of the family when everyone else falls to pieces although she secretly pines for James Owen who abandoned her when he left for Colorado territory more than a year gone. Mrs. Bingham and teenaged Luke round out the cast.

Trail of Storms gives the reader plenty to chew on, plenty to care about, and real, honest, painfully raw issues that have no easy answers. Anger, fear, hatred and anguish all assault the family and the reader. One flinches with the blows that are landed on George as the hoodlums attempt to extract information from him. One's nerves grow taut as Jessica stares down the barrel of a shotgun at the rapist's cronies bent on revenge and feel her crises of conscience as she struggles with the consequences of her choices.

As surely as the Bingham-Fletzer-Heizer clan make their tormented way across the months and the plains, darkness subsides, bodies and spirits begin to heal, accommodations are made, and, little by little, hope returns. By the time the little train of three wagons stumbles across James and all his issues exactly where he was left at the end of Ride to Raton, the reader is good and ready for him to stir things up again. And, again, Ms. Ward plunges the reader back into the depths of James' agony made even more complex by the presence of the betrothed Jessica Bingham and her typical 19th century racial mores.

Just a note or two: As in her previous two novels, Ms. Ward struggles a bit with pacing in the middle, (I really don't care how chairs were arranged at a dinner table); like Ride to Raton, the Law/Army remain conspicuously absent and/or uninterested in the various murders, assaults, and other criminal activities both in Virginia and out in the frontier; and money and food never truly become a pressing issue. (A few weeks of work in Saint Louis set the family up with Conestoga wagons, mules and draft horses for the long trek across the plains).

I also find it somewhat annoying that whenever the Binghams run into people from Mount Jackson, either they barely recognize them after only a year's absence, or introductions have to be made all over again. The Binghams were bakers and the Hilbrands owned the general store in the town. Why would they not instantly recognize one another?

However, these issues (I always have pet peeves, it seems) easily pale when compared to the compelling drama embellished with such gems of phrases as "stinging his face and his dignity." And then,
He stood as tall as he could, considering that his soul was bent over, crouching and curling into a ball at having to admit the truth.
Finally, unlike the first two installments of the Owen Family Saga, parents should use caution and first read this book before turning it over to their children. It contains mature subject matter, particularly in the first two chapters. However, Trail of Storms can also be used as a door to conversation, particularly when discussing such subjects as rape, contraception, sexually transmitted diseases and abortion with older teenagers. Ms. Ward handles many of these issues with the frankness young adults crave but also with the sensitivity and circumspection parents will appreciate.

The Mormon Issue: Ms. Ward is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but this series has not been overtly "Mormon fiction." Up to this point, the closest the Mormons ever got to the Owen clan was across the Continental Divide. However, here a small group of Saints migrating from Mississippi to the Salt Lake Valley cross paths with our travelers, share their faith with the heartsick and downtrodden, and fill both James and Hannah with a bright new hope and relief to their suffering.

By and large, Ms. Ward does this with a deft hand. She provides religion as a means to an end and only stands on her toes to raise her voice above the din, rather than clamber on her soapbox and bellow out a sermon over the heads of the insensible masses. Many a literary character find solace in religion, and, like every other author, Ms. Ward writes what she knows.

Bottom Line: This is a very fast, easy read with periods of emotional intensity and disturbing violence. Parents are advised to use caution. However, the mature themes are treated skillfully to tell a compelling, emotionally engaging story. I eagerly await the release of Ms. Ward's next installment of The Owen Family Saga, A Spinster's Folly.… (mehr)