The Poacher's Daughter

Though the book was good I simply could not give it a 5 star rating. This author was clearly researched however not very experienced in western culture (at least not in comparison to an author like Louis L'Amour). The dialect he portrayed of the typical westerner was obnoxiously and almost insultingly over done. Also he over used his proper terminology; to further explain this point I was raised around horses and an expression he used in the last chapter (which of course is the freshest example in my mind after just finishing the book) was when he said that Rose rubbed the "bridal path" of her horse, referring to the side of his head where the bridal lays. True this is the proper term for this area of a horse, most horseman would simply say his cheek or the side of his head unless trying to prove to someone that they know a lot about horses. a few proper terms spread out the book would have been suitable but his over use was like going to the mechanic and saying "would you please look at my V8 5.3 liter engine inside my red Chevrolet Silverado Half-ton pick-up truck?" when you could have just said " hey check out the engine in my truck" and still gotten the same point across. it got old after awhile. Finally I felt like he had a real millennial view point of women and feminism and is trying to say Yeah look at this strong independent women who don't need no man and can tote a gun better than most men! When in actuality it was not uncommon back then to see independent women toting guns simply out of necessity and rough times. In fact many of the infamous gunslingers were killed by women toting gun after they tried to get a little to fresh with them. Overall not a bad book but to someone who has read many westerns this was not my favorite and at times got rather annoying.