Montana Books

I am so in love with the character Josh. He is such a kind and gentle man. This is part of the Montana Maverick's series. Haven't found a bad one yet. I may not use a lot of words but I know what I like.

Favorite scene with Lori-
Pouring out her heart to Melissa and Josh.

Favorite scene with Josh-
Angry that Lori needs to leave him to run away so David can't find her.

Together-
Talking about Josh's dead wife in bed.

What did you like about Lori-
Her wonderful personality and being able to easily make friends with everyone.

What didn't you like about Lori-
Unable to accept Josh's help and running away so easily.

What did you like about Josh-
His strength and his heart and the way he gets embarrassed at Lori's pet names for him.

What didn't you like about Josh-
Blaming himself for his wife's death.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE WONDERFUL BOOK!! My husband had a copy of this book stolen from him. So, replacing it was in order. He is also a personal friend of Johnny France, and used to live in Ennis Montana. We will be seeing Johnny this summer and will have him sign the copy for us.
Again, THANK YOU. The ship time was extremly fast too. HAPPY CUSTOMER IN CODY, WYOMING!!!

Beneath some of Montana's grandest mountain peaks lurked a preditor. Caught in the crosshairs of Don Nichols twisted logic was Kari Swenson. The idea of a mountain bride, stolen from a remote wooded trail. Most amazing is how the Nichols' not only managed to elude the persistance of Johnny France, but stayed one step ahead certain death in the Montana winter of 1984 with just the packs on thier backs. You wont be able to put this one down!

Luana Ross demonstrates superb scholarship by weaving a rich variety of sources, including written documents and oral interviews. The result is a work which provides voice for the women prisoners, in particular Native American women prisoners. This ground breaking book provides an analytical portrayal of the experiences of these women. She sets it within the framework of realities of life in Montana, as well as, larger concepts of racism and colonization. Inventing the Savage is a must read book in the field.

This book is a model of what research on Native communities should look like. Ross allows Native women in prison to tell their stories, and then she brilliantly contextualizes these stories within the larger context of racism, sexism, and colonialism. Unlike so many other books on Native communities, she does not portray Native peoples as tragic characters, but demonstrates the ways they resist oppression. A must read

A reheaded woman with a flash temper comes face-to-face with the calm son of the ranch owner who assigns them to a task that tests their survival skills in a rough land filled with outlaws, thieves and killers. Exciting!

This is a page-turner depicting the battle between the sexes as the main characters take on an impossible task going up against killers and rapists. One of the best Westerns to hit the stands in a while.

New adventure series for young people. Adults will enjoy also.
Good Luck to James and Paula.

I loved the idea of Jake and his mental powers. The story line with the Indians, the cave, it was reviting. Four Stars (****). Exceptional for young people. As an adult, I really, really enjoyed it. Good going to James and Paula.

Looking forward to Jake's next adventure.

Excellent, entertaining reading for young adults. This and each title in the Jake Montana series provide exceptional insights into native American culture in an informative and entertaining manner. A modern day Hardy Boy Mystery series with spiritual and mystical elements.

I was thrilled to recieve this book as a gift. My grandparents were two of the oft-mentioned characters and I knew a few more of the people involved throughout my life. This author did a very thorough job researching the background and happenings of the main event. It was wonderful to see the fruits of interviews done with my grandmother finally appear in print. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves reading about local history. I hope that Kevin Giles writes another such book soon.

I just finished reading this impressive piece of scholarship. The author, Kevin S. Giles, was the son of a prison guard who worked at one of the toughest prisons in the United States at a terrible, pre-reform era of widespread prison disturbances in America. Between 1952 and 1955, there were 47 riots in U.S. prisons.

The author's father barely escaped becoming a hostage in a bloody standoff triggered by an arrogant and ambitious new warden who disturbed the delicate balance of power in a place filled with shanks and stingers, cons and psychos, and two particularly disturbed men - a burglar who'd been incarcerated for all of his adult life and his murderous teenage boyfriend.

The sheer depth of Giles'research is impressive. The way the story is structured is also glue on the reader's hands. There is a slow, detailed, agonizing buildup to the fatal events, and Giles never tips his cards before he starts playing trump.

But what really held me fast to the book was the enormous quality of the prose. (Giles has several years of newspaper writing and editing experience.) I read several paragraphs two or three times in appreciation of it. When a writer spends a full decade not only conducting hundreds of interviews but reflecting on what he's writing, when the narrative offers genuine insight into the events, when the story is more than just a story to the author, it quite plainly shows. Take this excerpt about the moment that a prison guard realized that things were about to go horribly wrong:

"For a few moments only silence came to his ears, and in prison, silence deafens. Here, a dictionary of sounds lay open in Clyde Sollars' mind, as it did for every guard, ready for quick reference. In this prison of a thousand eyes, danger usually came first to the ears. Sounds that fill the prison alarm new guards. As months pass those sounds become a pattern of routine. The prison at its safest was a numbing routine and a guard was soon to learn that he should listen close when the routine changes.

"From somewhere in the maze of rooms came an urgency of shoes on tile. They weren't squeaks of new shoes but the warnings of a struggle. Sollars felt curious and then afraid. He crept into the lobby. Here in this gloomy room, where convicted men had tromped a trail in the linoleum, he saw no carpenters, nor did he see anyone else. Where was Jones, the turnkey guard? And why were both barred doors to the yard standing open?

"That very second, as Sollars comprehended a guard's greatest fear, a squat and sweating convict rumbled into the lobby from Deputy Warden Ted Rothe's office. His big fist clutched a thin ugly knife, red with blood...."

You can read (or watch) Shawshank Redemption forty times and learn less of real prison life in the era than in a chapter of this book. What struck me most was the sheer foreseeability of the fatal riot; the prison itself was a disaster waiting to happen. As a "criminal city," Montana State Prison was "backwater Bastille," rotting and old -- half the prisoners used buckets for toilets. Some of the guards were illiterate and recruited from bus depots; some were corrupt; some were elderly; none had any formal training. And they were outnumbered more than 30 to 1.

Giles also paints a stunning portrait of the ringleader, Jerry Myles, who had several mothers and names until he drifted "into the arms of crime." In Leavenworth and Alcatraz, he learned more about prison administration than the men who guarded him. He became a "professional convict," a "penitentiary homsexual," a "bull in heat." In 1955, he was briefly paroled. He selected Montana State as his next home based on rumors of poor conditions there. Jerry Myles deliberately committed a burglary in Montana and waited for police to arrive, hurriedly pleaded guilty so he could gain admittance to one of the worst prisons in the country, then cooly planned his mayhem, including a list of the prison officials he planned to execute:

"Myles would relish each tragic and dangerous moment. Those moments would be building blocks, and after he had constructed a monument to himself that stood high and public and sated his depest desires for glory, and after the streets of Deer Lodge filled with onlookers and all the papers wrote about what he had done and hostages' wives cried and he could feel anguish of his captive guards in the heavy cool air of the cell house, he would commit murder before his monument toppled. Two dozen hostages waited to die...."

Congratulations go out to the author for this achievement; one hopes this book acts as sunlight to drive away some of the demons that once cursed the people of Deer Lodge, Montana, still haunted by this long-ago prison disaster.

When nothing is going right, sometimes all you can do is run away. "Kyleah's Tree" is the tragic tale of one young Kyleah. Losing her brother, losing her father, losing her own personal place, she finds the only person to understand her in her foster brother. The two leave the serenity of Kansas on a long whirlwind journey that crosses international borders, learning that even when things are at their worst, love and respect can bring joy to one's heart. "Kyleah's Tree" is a unique story of growing up done in a rarely before seen way, greatly recommended to youth readers.

Reviewed by Brenna Bales (age 10) for Reader Views (7/08)

This is the first book I have read by Janet Muirhead Hill, and I enjoyed it immeasurably. I am hoping that the sequel will come out soon and the same for the third of the series. The author brings out the characters' true feelings and visions of what is happening in the book. She produces a feeling of understanding in you for Kyleah.

Kyleah lives in a foster home in Kansas, but runs away hoping to find her father and twin brother, Kendall. She runs away with her brother-like friend Benjamin, who makes up their phony travel story. They hope to get to Canada, where Benjamin hopes to find part of his family. They finally find relatives of Benjamin's once they get there, but they never find Kyleah's family during their trip. Her foster family flies Kyleah back to Kansas after the police come and find them in Benjamin's grandmother's house. Benjamin is allowed to stay with his family. Kyleah is in high spirits for Benjamin, but disappointed that she won't get to see him anymore.

The author writes in a way that reminds the reader of what can happen in the real world. Anybody would enjoy reading this book because you see the characters learning life skills such as trust, determination, and working together. The trip secures the friendship between Benjamin and Kyleah as if they actually were brother and sister. I give the book a perfect score of five. This book has even taught me some life skills.

The ending reveals that Kyleah's dream does come true. She discovers she really is beautiful inside and out, and in her own special way. I would very much like to see the author write a book about Kyleah's real mother and father, and maybe even one about Benjamin's life before the orphanage.

The ending of "Kyleah's Tree" fills you with happiness just as when Benjamin sees his real family once again. It's a great story that anybody will adore. It's also a great story that you can read to the family. The author is a superior writer, and a great storyteller. I certainly hope to read more of Janet Muirhead Hill's books.

I read this book when I was study Psychology in the Central American University, Nicaragua. The author of the book give you the opportunity to get a new vision of life. Specifically when he explain to you what mean to be "a new man",("hombre nuevo"). You always could made another extra step if you really have the appropiate inspiration. From that time the idea to be a "new man" is always present in every one and all of my actions. This book change my life because I got a new perspective of how to see and live my own life. I recomend this book to anyone who really want to learn and get a high dosis of positive stimulus.

A new man..... Hombre nuevo
Reviewer: Carlos Avalos from Providence, RI USA
I read this book when I was study Psychology in the Central American University, Nicaragua. The author of the book gives you the opportunity to get a new vision of life. Specifically when he explain to you what mean to be "a new man",("hombre nuevo"). You always could make another extra step if you really have the appropriate inspiration. From that time the idea to be a "new man" is always present in every one and all of my actions. This book changes my life because I got a new perspective of how to see and live my own life. I recommend this book to anyone who really wants to learn and get a high dose of positive stimulus.

La Montana Magica is a book that everybody interested in literature should read. I enjoy the characters and their profound psychology.
I recommend this book definitely.

This novel works like a huge and beautiful testimony of the years before the Great War in Europe. It transcends the limits of the genre and becomes a great Encyclopedia full of fascinating characters, archetypes and allegories. The intelectual battle between Naphta and Settembrini (the religious and social view between the liberal and individualistic perspective) is, maybe, the most perfect chronicle of a philosophical and political controversy that hasn't end yet.
At the end we all scream with the chilling scene of the duel and cry with Hans Castorp`s fate.