Colter's Wife

Rating:
Summary: Just the kind of Western I like.
Review: Benjamin Colter was a battle-scarred ex-Rebel soldier who's been on the search for the men who killed his wife and daughter. Kinyan is a widow with three children looking for a way to save her ranch and in order to that she must marry. She's not crazy about the idea, neither are her twin boys, but from the time she and Ben meet, you know an fast-paced, sensual plot is going to emerge. I like the way the author developed Ben's relationship with Kinyan's twin boys, and eventually her young daughter (who reminds him of his little girl). As the plot unfolds, it's clear that Kinyan's husband's death was no accident. The author creates some intriguing characters, including a saloon whore who's tied to the villain. I like the scenes where Colter is teaching Kinyan how to defend herself, and when Ben is injured, Kinyan is determined to help her depressed husband use his other senses to in order to save their family. The way the author weaved those scenes in was pure genius.

Rating:
Summary: Just the kind of Western I like.
Review: Benjamin Colter was a battle-scarred ex-Rebel soldier who's been on the search for the men who killed his wife and daughter. Kinyan is a widow with three children looking for a way to save her ranch and in order to that she must marry. She's not crazy about the idea, neither are her twin boys, but from the time she and Ben meet, you know an fast-paced, sensual plot is going to emerge. I like the way the author developed Ben's relationship with Kinyan's twin boys, and eventually her young daughter (who reminds him of his little girl). As the plot unfolds, it's clear that Kinyan's husband's death was no accident. The author creates some intriguing characters, including a saloon whore who's tied to the villain. I like the scenes where Colter is teaching Kinyan how to defend herself, and when Ben is injured, Kinyan is determined to help her depressed husband use his other senses to in order to save their family. The way the author weaved those scenes in was pure genius.

Rating:
Summary: Another JJ delightful read.
Review: I am so pleased that I ran across this author. She writes with such clarity and compassion. I truly enjoy her books. This one is an easy read. Colter, our physically and emotionally scarred hero, has spent years tracking down the confederate soldiers who (post war) brutalized his wife and child...and left him to die. Unable to locate the last of them, he heads west to start his life over, such as it is. Kenjin is a young widow with precocious twin boys and a little girl who is trying to save her ranch and they enter into a marriage of mutual need and benefit.
As he teaches her how to run her ranch, he also becomes, against his desire, a surrogate father to these children. The dialogue is so believable and touching that u feel like you are there.
Naturally there are bad guys who try to take over the ranch, kill Colter, etc....and the love that kinjin brings to heal colters heart. This is a simple story with very real emotions and a book that is not very complex to enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good Book
Review: I haven't read many of Joan Johnston's books, but I loved this one.

Kinyan Holloway was married to an older man when she was 14. Her father a Souix warrior gave her to Holloway for his wife. Now 11 years later her husband is dead is a range accident.

Left with a 300,000 acre ranch to run and 3 children, with no knowledge of how to run a ranch, she has to think about taking a man she doesn't know or a man she doesn't like in marriage.

Colter is recovering from the pursuit of the 3 men who killed his wife and daughter leaving him to die from knife wounds. He has found 2 of the men and after 7 years of searching has decided to give up and buy another ranch and settle down.

Fate brings him into the life of Kinyan at the critical time she has to choose to sell her ranch or marry Ritter Gordon a man her husband hated.

She chooses Colter, with Ritter determined to somehow prevail and get the ranch, there is lots of action. Not to mention the attraction between the newlyweds. Colter has to manage the ranch and learn to feel again not just for Kinyan but her 10 year old twin sons and 5 year old Lizabeth.

The currents between all the members of the family and the battle Colter wages to regain his humanity as well as hold on to the ranch against a determined adversary make this one of the most delightful western adventures I have read.

Rating:
Summary: Letting the Practical Become Romantic
Review: preadolscent twin sons who live with her Ogala Sioux parents. Though she loves them and will miss them, Kinyan has lived among the whites ever since her father gave her to rancher John Halloway as his bride eleven years ago; she knows it is time to go home besides which her yougest child waits there for her.

With John dead in the riding acident, Kinyan feels she must keep the largest spread in the territory safe for her children. However, her Indian beau Rides-the-Wind wants her though she no longer loves him as she did before she was given to John. Her nieghbor Ritter Gordon wants her so that he can combine the two biggest spreads into one giant. Only Benjamin Colter, who tried to "rescue" her seems to want Kinyan and the three children because he loves them, but not only does she trust no one, one of her sons refuses to accept any replacement for his beloved father.

COLTER'S WIFE is an exciting western romance reprint of a novel issued in the mid 1980s. The story line remains fresh as the action and the male adult triangulation with Kinyan in the center keeping the plot together as four men (one deceased), two twin boys, and a very young girl interrelate mostly through the heroine. This novel is quite entertaining with a strong cast that in many ways feels stereotypical of the sub-genre, but that may be because Joan Johnston is one of the authors who set the rules.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: An exciting western romance
Review: preadolscent twin sons who live with her Ogala Sioux parents. Though she loves them and will miss them, Kinyan has lived among the whites ever since her father gave her to rancher John Halloway as his bride eleven years ago; she knows it is time to go home besides which her yougest child waits there for her.

With John dead in the riding acident, Kinyan feels she must keep the largest spread in the territory safe for her children. However, her Indian beau Rides-the-Wind wants her though she no longer loves him as she did before she was given to John. Her nieghbor Ritter Gordon wants her so that he can combine the two biggest spreads into one giant. Only Benjamin Colter, who tried to "rescue" her seems to want Kinyan and the three children because he loves them, but not only does she trust no one, one of her sons refuses to accept any replacement for his beloved father.

COLTER'S WIFE is an exciting western romance reprint of a novel issued in the mid 1980s. The story line remains fresh as the action and the male adult triangulation with Kinyan in the center keeping the plot together as four men (one deceased), two twin boys, and a very young girl interrelate mostly through the heroine. This novel is quite entertaining with a strong cast that in many ways feels stereotypical of the sub-genre, but that may be because Joan Johnston is one of the authors who set the rules.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING!!!!! WOW!
Review: The book has been very well reviewed by others. I only wanted to add that this was an outstanding read! It will stay on my bookshelf for reading again in the future. It has all the elements in it that make it a great story. I highly recommend it! You won't be dissapointed! Be sure to set aside some time because you won't want to put it down!

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely loved it!
Review: This was a terrific book. Ms. Johnston has a gift for making her characters very real. I absolutely adored Colter, wounded though he was by his past. And I very much enjoyed Kinyan as well. The motivations of the characters were believable to me and the story was wonderfully told. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Letting the Practical Become Romantic
Review: What a beautiful story. Johnston creates beautiful characters who are easy to love, the story is honest in that decisions are made based on practical realities. It's the heart and depth of the characters that allow the romance to come out. I finished it in one sitting while waiting out Hurricane Isabel - didn't even realize the storm had blown away!

Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Tale!
Review: Wyoming Territory, 1875

COLTER'S WIFE is absolutely enjoyable! You won't be disappointed!

Drifter, Benjamin Colter suffered the unimaginably cruel deaths of his wife and daughter and now he found himself in the Wyoming Territory to begin anew.

Kinyan Holloway just found herself a young widow with a sprawling ranch and she had no idea on how to manage it. A marriage of convenience to experienced rancher Benjamin seems to fit everyone's needs. Through trials and tribulations they discover love.

A must read for a western historical romance readers!