Review: Through Better & Worse: A Montana Love Story

Note: E. J. Ruek, Aeros, and C.J. "Country" James are all pen names for D.L. Keur.

Through Better & Worse: a Montana Love Story
by D.L. Keur Writing as C.J. "Country" James
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Buy on Amazon in Ebook or Print

Recommended 4-1/2 Stars Rounded Up (that's a pun) to 5.

Not many books are perfect, but this one's darned close for the genre: Contemporary western romance. The details of cattle ranching and division of property I know to be accurate, however it might be a bit more information than the non-country reader would like. I can just hear the romance fans yelling, "Get on with the kissing!" Nevertheless, I very much appreciate a book that doesn't slide by the setting and circumstances with no more than a how-do-you-do along the way. Readers who like technical details will be pleased.

This is not your bare-chested, sexy cowboy romance (though Jake ain't bad). Those western-romance-lite books are mere cotton candy representations of real ranch life and real ranch people. Author, C.J. "Country" James, knows the people she writes about far better than most. She's taken a pen name for the Country series, of which this book is the first.

Not only does the pseudonymous James write truly and honestly about the modern west, but is also an artist and has recorded her own audio versions of the book. With a woman that talented, you can't go wrong reading or listening to her books.

The first encounter between Dree Blake and Jake Jarvis couldn't have been worse. Jake has a teenage mind inside a man's body. Driving his fancy pickup too fast, he wants to get around the old clunker pulling a horse trailer. But there isn't room to pass. Narrowly missing Dree's horse trailer by a hair, he yells insults at the girl driving the rig. Neither one has any desire to see the other. Ever.

But the Fates are fond of creating coincidental meetings. Dree is heading to the Jarvis ranch to help teach the hands a new, more humane, method of castrating bull calves. After a demo, Dree and the two men from the Montana Department of Agriculture are asked to stay around for the upcoming roundup of the calves. Just as she's putting her mule, Cougar, into the stable, who should come driving in all la-di-da except the man who nearly drove her off the road.

Jake figures Dree is at the ranch to rat on him. He waits nervously for the blow up from his grandfather, Franklin. But nothing happens. Relieved, Jake is grateful the blocky little lady has kept her peace about the encounter.

Dree recognizes Jake all right, and figures out he's the heir to the Jarvis Ranch. It wouldn't be in her best interests to cause a ruckus. Besides, Dree does not like confrontation...at all. An incident from her childhood, violent beyond measure, gives her horrible anxiety attacks. The result is Dree is too quiet and too easily dismissed.

With this inauspicious beginning, Jake and Dree are forced to learn more about each other. They each find the other isn't quite as horrible as they first thought.

As the story progresses, a lot happens, but that'd all be spoiler material. However, this is a big R Romance, so you have an idea of how it turns out. What will surprise the hell out of you is how.

Reviewed Author of the Week (4/13/16)

To Have & To Hold: a Continuing Montana Love Story by C.J. "Country" James
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Buy at Amazon

Book 2 of the Montana Love Story series immediately hits the reader as the polar opposite of Book 1 (Through Better and Worse). First, we discover that Franklin Jarvis has a "lady" friend, Catherine. Hey, why not? Even old (vigorous) dudes deserve a little loving. Next, we find Dree, the female lead of book 1, not living happily ever after. She resents how she's treated on the ranch and the darkness that invades her soul returns to sour her on her marriage to Jake and much more. So much for that romance trope.

I think the word 'romance' has a fuller meaning in this series than standard Happily Ever After romances. C.J. James seeks to show us how it works in real life. The road is not only bumpy, but the characters could crash and burn. Dree is teetering on the edge of insanity when she receives bad news (no spoilers) that jerks the rug right out from under her tenuous grasp on happiness with Jake.

Read the book's back cover description for a taste of the trials and tribulations. Don't expect a happy ending because the Jarvis saga is far from over. To tell the truth, I liked this book more than the first. It's down and dirty, showing the ugliness of life as well as the love that carries the characters onward.

Reviewed Author of the Week (4/10/16)

Through Better & Worse: a Montana Love Story by C.J. "Country" James
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Buy it on Amazon
Recommended 4-1/2 Stars Rounded Up (that's a pun) to 5.

Not many books are perfect, but this one's darned close for the genre: Contemporary western romance. The details of cattle ranching and division of property I know to be accurate, however, it might be a bit more information than the non-country reader would like. I can just hear the romance fans yelling, "Get on with the kissing!" Nevertheless, I very much appreciate a book that doesn't slide by the setting and circumstances with no more than a how-do-you-do along the way. Readers who like technical details will be pleased.

This is not your bare-chested, sexy cowboy romance (though Jake ain't bad). Those western-romance-lite books are mere cotton candy representations of real ranch life and real ranch people. Author, C.J. "Country" James, knows the people she writes about far better than most. She's taken a pen name for the Country series, of which this book is the first.

Not only does the pseudonymous James write truly and honestly about the modern west, but is also an artist and has recorded her own audio versions of the book. With a woman that talented, you can't go wrong reading or listening to her books.

The first encounter between Dree Blake and Jake Jarvis couldn't have been worse. Jake has a teenage mind inside a man's body. Driving his fancy pickup too fast, he wants to get around the old clunker pulling a horse trailer. But there isn't room to pass. Narrowly missing Dree's horse trailer by a hair, he yells insults at the girl driving the rig. Neither one has any desire to see the other. Ever.

But the Fates are fond of creating coincidental meetings. Dree is heading to the Jarvis ranch to help teach the hands a new, more humane, method of castrating bull calves. After a demo, Dree and the two men from the Montana Department of Agriculture are asked to stay around for the upcoming roundup of the calves. Just as she's putting her mule, Cougar, into the stable, who should come driving in all la-di-da except the man who nearly drove her off the road.

Jake figures Dree is at the ranch to rat on him. He waits nervously for the blow up from his grandfather, Franklin. But nothing happens. Relieved, Jake is grateful the blocky little lady has kept her peace about the encounter.

Dree recognizes Jake all right, and figures out he's the heir to the Jarvis Ranch. It wouldn't be in her best interests to cause a ruckus. Besides, Dree does not like confrontation...at all. An incident from her childhood, violent beyond measure, gives her horrible anxiety attacks. The result is Dree is too quiet and too easily dismissed.

With this inauspicious beginning, Jake and Dree are forced to learn more about each other. They each find the other isn't quite as horrible as they first thought.

As the story progresses, a lot happens, but that'd all be spoiler material. However, this is a big R Romance, so you have an idea of how it turns out. What will surprise the hell out of you is how.

Pre-Order "Through Better & Worse"

By C.J. "Country" James, a contemporary western romance unlike any of those lightweight know-nothing-about-real-cowboys romances.

Getting a boot in the door almost costs Jake Jarvis his life.  It does cost him two hats, some jail time, and a whole bunch of money. 

But Dree won't see him for dust.

Guns, roses, and the flow of raw whiskey take them both Through Better & Worse.

Pre-Order Now. Available August 25th on Amazon.

Review coming soon on The Contrary Canadian Blog.

Excerpt - Chapter 1

Dree downshifted from fifth to fourth, but it wasn’t enough. Her old pickup just didn’t have enough guts to pull the hills, anymore. She dropped to third, losing momentum, and the truck’s speed stabilized at thirty-five. She put on her hazard lights.

Behind her, several cars came up fast and, after following for a minute, honked, then started weaving in and out across the center line, hoping for an opportunity to pass. One of the Aussie dogs sitting on the seat next to her whined and glanced back—Chip, the more timid one. Laddie, the more aggressive but smartest, got down on the floor. There wasn’t a turn-out where she could pull over to let the cars by on the narrow, two-lane highway, its asphalt crumbling at the edges of a non-existent shoulder, remnant snow berms still melting off over the steep drop-off into the ditch.

A semi passed going the other way, its wash buffeting the trailer enough that it swayed. White-knuckled, Dree fought the urge to over correct. She got to the crest and her pickup gained ground. She got it up to forty-five, then kept it there as she started the descent.

The cars behind her were piling up. Oncoming traffic was steady, though, and there was still no turn-out. There wouldn’t be until the bottom of the hill. Behind her, the line of cars was getting longer. And angrier, she guessed. Only half-a-mile to go to the bottom.

The oncoming traffic finally cleared.

In the rearview, she saw a fancy, black RAM crew cab dive out into the oncoming lane from three cars back. Ahead, a car came around a curve. Then two more, another semi behind them. “Omigod. You fool!”

The pickup roared past her.

Panicked, she jerked the wheel just in time to avoid collision with the black truck’s rear-end as its driver dove for safety, nearly clipping her. Her passenger side tires caught the pavement edge and gravel. The trailer yawed, pulling her pickup’s back-end sideways. She hit the trailer brakes and prayed, her grip ferocious, painful, on the wheel. They were going over. Chip joined Laddie on the floor.

But they didn’t go over. They steadied. She swore. Fought hysteria, red-darkness rising. And she cursed the black pickup for his stupidity. “Jackass!”