Tamara Alexander, Remembered

Remembered

Tamara Alexander

Bethany House, Jun 2007, $13.99

ISBN: 9780764201103

In 1870 France, Veronique Girard leaves the flower on the coffin containing her beloved mother Ariane while reflecting that she would prefer to ignore her deathbed promise to mamam. However, Veronique swore she would go to the Colorado Territory to find her father Pierre, who left them over a quarter of a century ago with a vow he would send for them; he never did.

Veronique adapts to the wildness of Colorado while hiring Jack Brennan to escort her from one Rocky Mountain mining town to another in her quest to find her papa. Jack wanted to refuse driving Veronique as the towns are dangerous, but the widowed supply hauler cannot leave her to her own devices. As they fall in love, he fears that emotion having grieved the deaths of his wife and child while she remains obsessed with finding Pierre and she has a childhood ami Christophe back in Paris.

The third Fountains Creek Chronicles (see REVEALED and REKINDLED) is a wonderful western romance starring two individuals from different lifestyles falling in love; feelings that neither desire the other. The story line brings out the rugged Reconstruction Era Colorado Territory especially when contrasted with Veronique's Paris upbringing. Veronique is a wonderful protagonist although she adjusts perhaps too easily to the Wild West while Jack struggles with survivor guilt compounded by having a second chance at love if he goes for it. Readers will remember Tamara Alexander's' fine tale of loss and redemption.

Harriet Klausner