Montana Courage

McCutcheon Family Series, Book 9

By: Caroline Fyffe

Narrated by: Corey M. Snow

Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

Shad Petty is a cowhand, plain and simple, whose days are filled with riding for the McCutcheon brand. There's no room in his life for a woman, let alone a female with obvious means who is completely out of his reach. Unfortunately, the candid Miss Ford captures his heart and his simple life is turned topsy-turvy from that point on.

Pampered socialite Poppy Ford rarely listens to direction. Her father has indulged her every whim and she's been a dutiful daughter until now...when she decides to visit her sister in Y Knot without his permission. All too soon, Poppy learns the Montana wilderness is not Boston. She's thrust into danger of her own making and the results are a matter of life or death. When the roughhewn cowboy named Shad offers his help, she begins to see him in a different light. Can two such completely different people find love? Or will circumstances keep them apart?

Montana Courage, Book Nine of the award-winning, western historical McCutcheon Family series, continues the lives of the McCutcheons as well as the homespun townsfolk of Y Knot, Montana.

©2016 Caroline Fyffe (P)2016 Caroline Fyffe

Montana Courage

I love all her series that she writes. She always has a good story line.

Adventure, love, excitment, danger, full of love

What a wonderful addition to the McCutcheon Series as Ms. Fyfee doing as only she can reaching out taking you in with her beautiful scenes and wonderful characters that leaves you breathless and captivated. What a pleasure is was revisiting the town of Y Knot and the characters from past stories. I have been hooked for the very first McCutchenon story loving the town and all the people in it. Ms Fyfee pulls on your emotions with her wonderful writing style of love, helping others, thief of food and lantern oil, strength and courage giving you an emotional read that really pulls on your heartstrings.

What I love about this whole series is the nice clean fun the author gives with Christian values that are not over powering. Each book is a standalone that brings past characters and event to play in a way you never feel lost. You can read just one or all, always knowing just what is going on touching on important parts leaving you with a smile and a few laughs along the way.

Mr. Snow as always his narration is outstanding with his wonderful voice and many different characters make the audio come alive. He has a strong emotional voice that you could listen to all day. I had no trouble knowing who is talking or what they were feeling. His male voices are just as wonderful as his females one. The variations in gender flowed was easy giving you a wonderful clean, clear and crisp audio listen. I found the voices to be very appropriate, the tones matched what he was reading. He put the chuckles, laughs and tempter in where they needed to be which added so much to the read. His tones were raised or lowered just right giving lots of emotion and meaning to the story. The plot flows easy and without interruption as Mr. Snow puts the correct voice to the correct character which gave life to this listen. I found the recording to be to be free of background noises with no change in volume it was smooth, if there was any editing done or breaks taken you cannot tell it. The total performance is outstanding. I can’t wait for the next book in this series to listen more of his work.


This story starts off with one of the worst blizzards in history has hit the Montana territory. The McCutcheon’s send their men out to other ranches and to the town to see what they can do to help. Everyone is fighting to keep everyone alive when low on fuel, warmth and food it becomes a trying time for the town. Shad Petty gets his story of love with a women way out of his league. He is very happy living his bachelorhood life until he sets eyes on Poppy who comes to visit her sister. Poppy has been spoiled and use to getting her way must learn life isn’t just about her and her wants. She most overcome this to get the man of her dreams. As the story goes on Poppy blooms learning that she is more than what people think she is turning into a delightful lady her sister can be proud of as well as showing Shad just what she is made of. Shad has a few things to learn as well not everything is as it seems, people can change right before your eyes, things are not always as they seem.

Ms. Fyfee is such beautiful detail in her stories you have no trouble picturing the scenes in your mind as the story comes alive. Picking up and starting this story was like coming home to a long lost family you haven’t seen in a while being pulled into their embraces and love that you never want to leave them again. This was a big winner for me leaving me with a book I could not put down reading it all at one setting. I was captivated with all that is going on taking you from one event into another knowing at times this could be life or death. This is one author that does her research pulling in with true facts why hooking her reader with love, emotion and danger. I love the characters it was a delight watching them grow and learn. Watching Shad and Poppy fall in love was so much fun at time I found myself cheering for Shad with his strong beliefs that at times got him in trouble. It really was a story full of family values, love with powerful emotions. Seeing past characters and catching up with them was just icing on the cake for me.

No one writes a historical western like this author, she knows just where to pull you in, giving you characters and scenes that are so vivid you are hooked almost for the first page. This is a delightful standalone but with this series it is a 5 star plus. Pick this book up you will understand why she has always been one of my go to author for excitement, love, emotions, compaction, filled with family values.

Lots of new from YKnot

Shad is the Perfect cowboy hero. Poppy learns some hard truths about herself so the reader doesn't have to come to like her. She is likable within pages. May, April and July were adorable characters. The ninth story was wonderful!.

Another great story by this author!

Would you consider the audio edition of Montana Courage to be better than the print version?

The story is a great one no matter which way you enjoy it. The audio version makes everything come alive so much more than if I read it myself. I tend to read fast so listening to someone else read it to me, I don't miss details; its almost like watching a movie in my head while listening to the audio version of the story.

What other book might you compare Montana Courage to and why?

Debra Holland has books which are similar in character as this one. Her stories on love, life, hardships and hope in this time period are similar. I enjoy these as well.

Which scene was your favorite?

The scene where Poppy admitted to Chad how badly she had treated her sister all these years and how badly she felt about that. She explained how coming to YKnot had changed her for the better. The conversation was really sweet. I also loved the ending where Poppy was furious with Chad for ignoring her for four months.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

There were many times I laughed out loud but the scene where the tears flowed was when Chance and Evelyn's baby was born. It was so nail biting because you didn't know if he was going to make it home for the birth of their baby.

The other scene was where Poppy and Oliver were trapped in the snow with wolves trying to get to them. I felt as if I could feel their cold and fear at being in that situation.

Any additional comments?

Caroline Fyffe definitely has captured the mood of the times and is such a great storyteller. I felt she definitely had done research on life in the 1800's. I could almost feel the cold, hunger and fear in some of the situations the characters faced as I was hearing the story. She has done such a great job in creating this entire series.

Amazing Books!

I love this series ! Takes you in all directions. I listen to them more then once and pick up something new every time. Very enjoyable!

A Favorite!!

I have lived the entire McCutchen series so far but this book had been my favorite. I couldn't stop listening! Get it! You won't regret it!

wonderful

thoroughly enjoyed this book. it was well written and read. plot lines were easy to follow.

MONTANA TERRITORY BLIZZARD OF 1887

The story is a continuation of the saga of the McCutcheon Family, their ranch hands, and life in the Y Knot area. The McCutcheon’s own the Heart of the Mountain’s Ranch where they raise cattle. Many of the people in the story are part of previous books, but the story is told in a way you don’t feel lost or that it is previous retelling stories. It will read well as a standalone novel. The story is a clean historical romance, with Christian undertones, but does not come off as preachy.
The first quarter of the book is all the preparations for the impending snow storm, moving people, getting what animals can be placed in barns or shelter, and making sure wood, food, and supplies are at the ready. It depicts the struggles of the lives of people, animals, and livestock, along with the dangers of predators, like wolves.

The story has a vast amount of characters, many of previous books, but this story will strongly focus on a ranch hand, Shad Petty, and Bostonian Poppy Ford. Poppy’s sister, Kathryn, was a mail order bride to Tobit Preece. Poppy and family friend, Oscar Scott, show up at Kathryn’s and have stayed too late in the season, and are now snowed in. Oscar is pretentious, arrogant, and condescending to everyone he meets. Poppy has lived a pampered life and is shocked at how well Kathryn has adjusted to her life with her husband, to the point she is happy.

The story is the life and death struggles during this horrific blizzard that take the lives of both man and beast. The dangers that must be faced, the life and death decisions of housing, food, and supplies, they will undergo to survive. Shad is expecting his younger brothers any day, and worries about their travels, but they are smart. When in town, he must help the Sheriff with law and order, and his time with Poppy is bittersweet. Poppy will learn more about herself, her character, and what is important in life. Shad will have to decide if he is willing to take a chance on Poppy, or let her go? The story has many intense and emotional scenes, some heartbreak, and enlightening moments.

Favorite Series

I can't stop listening to this series, even my children enjoy listening to the books.

Poppy and Shad

I’m reading the books series in order and can’t wait to read book 10. Each book so far deserves 5 star ratings. Poppy over hears a conversation that makes her take a hard look at herself. With Shad she learns how to be the type of woman he needs, Good romance, mixed with challenges and danger.