Oregon Books

Memoirs are the current hot genre. Often they depend on one big event for their oomph, or they putter along in a very interior manner. Penny Allen, a radical bohemian filmmaker now living in Paris, caretook a horse ranch in eastern Oregon, which would provide enough gist for most memoirist's mills. Perhaps Allen is lucky, perhaps she draws intense people and events to her, perhaps her filmmaker's gaze sees and frames life as most of us do not--certainly most of us wouldn't have emerged with such an amazing quilt of interlocking stories. Thoreau observed that most people lead lives of quiet desperation, and Allen's time on the high desert proves no exception. She finds these desperate lives and recounts them brilliantly, but after the regular weird folks come the hardcore character actors: the cult of Rajneeshpuram, the Vietnam vet "on patrol," the ghost, and more. With the constitution of a war journalist, she never averts her eyes, and she is willing to tell us exactly what she saw. --Hollis Taylor, Sydney, Australia

A GEOGRAPHY OF SAINTS is as strikingly contradictory as the contemporary West. Penny Allen's diary-like account is freewheeling and contemplative, sweet and acerbic, tender and tough. It is a bravely public and intensely personal modern memoir which reveals that even in Paradise - especially in Paradise, perhaps - smugness begets arrogance and arrogance begets abuse. This is not, however, a cynical book. Ultimately, it affirms the cyclical nature of pettiness and largesse, love and loss, life and death, yielding an unsentimental, hard-won awareness that sad endings can be fresh starts.

Penny Allen's memoir, A Geography of Saints, tells of a year in the life of two lovers who take a job caretaking a horse ranch on the eastern side of the Cascades in Oregon. What kept me turning the pages were her luminous and economical imagery and controlled tone, reminiscent of Annie Proulx. She maintains balance between several story lines involving struggles she and her lover have with clear-cutting, losing control of irrigation water, and with their inner landscapes. She handles sex and violence in vivid but restrained prose that left me in awe of the mare Coco, the Vietnam vet in the woods Buckner, the pedophile victim Billy, and Penny and her lover Peter. Allen's level stare takes us in concrete ways through an amazing collection of Western concerns over drying-up towns, weird newcomers to the high desert, and care for the land. An amazing book.

Set in a vivid and dramatic landscape, this memoir tells a story filled with honesty, humor, and courage. Allen observes with a keen eye. She takes on one of the great challenges for a writer, giving us not just the surface of the moments of a relationship but the deep undercurrents, both real and imagined, and succeeds with a grace that seems effortless. Allen's inner journey blends perfectly with the wild spaces, the free spirited horses, and the quirky human world, which is at once familiar, weird, and sobering.

Allen is an engaging guide and companion. We can only hope she shares more of her journey with us.

I was very taken by this wonderful real-life novel. Even if the reality level is relatively high, the author manages to turn it into something that transcends the documentary, the journalistic. By mixing many atfirst sight totally unrelated elements, in the end it turns out to be a novel about spirituality in daily life, or about how to see meaning in it.
The location of the American North-West is much more than just an
impressive backdrop. The scenery in the broadest sense of the word, including the population, is subject and metaphor at the same time.
Penny Allen seems to focus on the "outside" of things, but interprets the "inside". All elements come together towards the very end, not only in a literary way, but in the way things sometimes do, in real life.

I read this book with a lot of pleasure and satisfaction. It is
introspective, but at the same time describes mundane and sometimes gruesome events that happen in the real world. And it's funny, if you share the author's sense of humor.

I have to say that even though I love food and finding awesome recipes, I rarely use the awesome cookbooks and recipes that I already have. EXCEPT THIS ONE! I can honestly say that I have made and tasted several of Kathy Casey's recipes. I really like that the ingredients are all easy to find in your local, normal grocery store. (B/c I want quality AND a one-stop shop.) I also love the flavors that come from the finished product. Try the crab cakes or endive salad!

This beautiful coffee table cookbook has it all; from creative uses of apples and hazelnuts to raspberries and rhubarb (w/honey mousse!). Crab, salmon, muscles, oysters, and halibut all here as well as pork loin, lamb, chicken and duck. And the cocktails and desserts are spot on for our region. As a northwest native and editor of The Good Home Cookbook: More Than 1,000 Classic American Recipes, I can say that these recipes well represent our region in a classy, tasteful and accurate manner. I highly recommend it!

Last night we finally got rid of the left over turkey from Thanksgiving and I get to think about fixing something else. I think I'm in a shrimp mood, and this book just fell open to page 66 with Sesame Roasted Shrimp Sticks with Zippy Apricot Dipping Sauce. Spicy, quick, easy and they look absolutely delicious.

As you would expect, this book from the Northwest has a lot of seafood. More ways to cook salmon that you can count (well, really you could count them) including some ways that are quite different from the others I've seen.

Another food area that has a lot of production in the Northwest is fruit, and some of her combinations of fresh fruit with farly shart ingredients like blue cheese look like the evenings side dishes are well taken care of.

Complaints, well there's one - Martini's are sacred things, you don't go messing them up with things like cucumber and sake (see page 38) - you don't even make them out of vodka - yuch! And Seattle Expresso Martini isn't really a Martini at all. Then again, the Slow-Roasted Martini Short Ribs (page 134) maybe I won't do shrimp tonight after all.

There are a lot of things here that you don't see in other cookbooks.

I just picked up Kathy Casey's new book and I love it. I must admit that I am one of those cooks that needs pictures to entice me to make something and Kathy's cookbooks always have them. Her salad recipes are to die for. So many salads are just so bland, but the Endive salad with Roasted pears is amazing. I'm also a big fan of her French Seasoning salt. I put it on everything!

Everything we have tried from "Kathy Casey's Northwest Table" has been incredible!! I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to impress their Family and Friends with delicious (and fairly easy---a must for me!) Northwest favorites. You can't go wrong!

This book could easily have been a bore--yet another detailed legal explication of a Supreme Court case you know you should be interested in, but aren't, because you can't follow the jargon. But in Epps' hands an amazing story comes to life. This is serious constitutional law, with enormous consequences for our country, and it reads like a novel. Anyone concerned with religion and free expression should read it. Or you could just read it because it's a great read!

The very first part of the essential, very first amendment to our Constitution says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." This ringing phrase, so seemingly simple and obvious, has been the focus of an enormous amount of controversy and clarification. It is a great legacy, but what does it really mean? We are still struggling to find out. In _To an Unknown God: Religious Freedom on Trial_ (St. Martin's Press) by Garrett Epps we learn how one of the latest struggles is turning out. It is a fine book to show in detail how a specific constitutional decision came to be made.

On one side of the story was Al Smith. Smith was born into the Klamath tribe, but was pulled out of it to go to Catholic boarding school. Rather late in his life he was introduced to sweat lodges and Native American religion. He was also introduced to Alcoholics Anonymous, and eventually became a respected counselor, speaker, and organizer of treatment centers for alcohol and drug abuse. As he traveled to different reservations to set up recovery programs, he came across peyote religion. It seemed to give some of his clients spiritual strength, and they seemed to do better in overcoming substance abuse if they participated in its religious ceremonies. He began to consider participating in peyote religion. He was told that taking peyote at a ceremony would violate the rules of the treatment center in which he worked, and so he did so. He was thereupon fired, and he filed for unemployment compensation. That filing set the stage for a subsequent battle within the Supreme Court and beyond.

On the other side was Oregon Attorney General David Frohnmayer. He had tried in his political offices in Oregon to mend fences with the tribes of his region. He was, however, very worried about the dangers of drug abuse, and so he felt he was doing the right thing in trying to squelch community acceptance of drugs, ceremonial or not. He approached the Supreme Court proceedings with the mantra, "Drugs are bad. Slippery slope." Not only was peyote illegal, but it was used in a minority religion; if it were allowed, then surely someone would be asking to use other drugs for religious purposes. But he did reflect sadly to his legal team, "How did we get to be the Indian bashers?"

Epps is not only a journalist and lawyer, but also a novelist. His ability to describe personalities and anecdotes serves him well, for although this is a legal story, the human stories within it are what make it live. He has used process of the legal arguments as a springboard for an examination of many connected subjects: the history of the Bureau of Indian Affairs; the story of Alcoholics Anonymous; the tale of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and the Oregon town that was taken over by his devotees; the saga of the Road Man who is the ceremonial leader of the peyote religion. These set pieces are fascinating, and strengthen the main story. It is disconcerting that there is no pat final resolution, but Epps writes, "The law of religious freedom remains unsettled." Thus may it ever be.

This book is one of the best looks at a Supreme Court case in quite some time. Examining Oregon v. Smith, one of the most important yet unheralded legal battles of our time, Epps' book plumbs the depths Indian rights, religious freedom and states rights in a manor which devestates the intellectual pretensions of Court conservatives such as Justice Scalia. The only quible one can have with the book it that it has too much detail on Oregon Attorney General Frohnmeyer. Other than that minor matter, this is a top rate book. Of additional note, the book provides an exceptionaly concise yet comprehensive overview of the Rajhneesh cult afair in Oregon, relying to good effect on the journalism of Oregon Magazine's Win McCormack.

I was lucky enough to read an early copy of this book, and I found it astonishingly good. I had loved Epps's work as a novelist (his "Shad Treatment" is one of the best first novels I know) and I had always wondered if he could apply his writerly powers to non-fiction, as well. "To an Unknown God" draws on all the creative gifts that fans of Epps's earlier books will remember. He takes an important Supreme Court case about religious freedom (he's now a law professor) and tells the story through the remarkable personalities who were involved in the case: Al Smith, the Native American member of a peyote cult who was the plaintiff, and David Frohnmeyer, the all-American Republican wunderkind attorney general of Oregon, who argued that peyote use wasn't protected as an exercise of religious freedom. Epps deconstructs these billboard identities to provide a rich and very moving account of the real people and the heartbreaking pressures that shaped their actions in this legal case. This is a rare book--taking the sometimes dry subject of law and filling it with life. I hope it's a promise of more books to come from Epps, who is a vastly talented writer.

Epps' book is one of the best in recent memory to explore a Supreme Court case. Examining the case of Oregon v. Smith, Epps deploys his skills as both a journalist and a novelist to plumb the depths of Indian rights, religious freedom and states rights. The only quibble one can have is that the book spends too much time on the minutae of Oregon Attorney General Frohnmeyer's life. Other than that minor matter, this is an elegantly told tale. As an aside, Epps presents a concise yet complete recouncting of the Rajhneesh cult saga of the '80's, relying to good effect of the work of Oregon Magazine Editor-in-Chief Win McCormack.

With out a doubt one of the best books I've ever read ! Bob Welch makes the pages come alive ! I have been moved deeply and now have such a deep desire to make a difference in my little world around me ! I plan on buying this book for many of my friends, wish everyone would read it !

Bob Welch has taken the subject we all think we know about -- family -- and made spine of it, sculpting around it a story of such muscle and fiber and heart and soul that the subject comes alive. Reading it makes me want to change the world. With experiences as vivid and universal as that of ANGELA'S ASHES, and with a writing style both conversational, humorous and compelling, WHERE ROOTS GROW DEEP does more than bring substance to the image of family in a nation where young mothers registering their child at school write "not applicable" under the title "father." Welch's book inspires readers to look anew at what we think we know about what it takes to grow a family. It encourages reconnection. It make us want to touch the world and change the way we'll be remembered in it. It shows us how we can. "The forest is forever in the process of becoming," Welch tells us. Welch's ROOTS grants hope that legacies made can be changed; legacies received become nurture. He makes me want to make a difference in the legacy I leave and in the one that I've been given; he gives me a way to make that happen. Bob Welch's WHERE ROOTS GROW DEEP should earn the National Book Award for its insight, readability, particularity and style, and for its hope. Do yourselves a favor and buy more than one copy. You'll be wanting to give them to all the people you love..

When one thinks of Mother's Day and Father's Day, thoughts migrate to the brilliance of flowers in bloom and a spectrum of vivid green splashed across the carpet of earth's habitat. But Bob Welch uses the starkness of a cold winter's morning with freshly fallen snow to describe the family unit and the legacies that emerge. Welch captures the reader's attention immediately. As in his past books, he uses stories of family and friends to welcome us into a kind of "fireside chat" with him. We learn about Granpa Schu and what is important in life. Gram, Welch's grandmother was "the hinge on which {the} screen door swung" and one who reflected God's love and lived it rather than preached it. Welch uses the image of the legacy tree (still in motion) rather than a family tree which is stagnant and lifeless. This book illustrates that families are made up of those who have come before to make a difference in the lives of those living today. Legacy is passed on in story form and this book does just that. Welch has given us a rare glimpse of his family's legacy in his personal stories; some humorous, some bitter. He paints pictures with the written word. He uses simile as a means of touching the mind and heart of the reader and move them into a deeper understanding and different level of awareness. He credits his mother for humor being a valuable part of his being. "The world needs laughter," she would say to him. One powerful chapter is "Fathers and Sons." If one ever wondered about the moment when they switch places with their parents and they become the parent and their parent becomes the child, this is the chapter to read. It is the prime rib cut of the meat of the book. As the season approaches where Mother's and Father's Days are celebrated, this is a wonderful gift book. Welch tells of a time when he witnessed a shooting star passing over a lake. It streaked across the dark sky for a split second but remains in his memory forever. "Why? Because its legacy was dependent not on its longevity, but on its brilliance." (p. 209) Simply stated, buy the book and experience the brilliance!

Bob Welch's book, "Where Roots Grow Deep," gently asks the reader to consider his or her worth to the generations that follow. Through stories sometimes humorous and sometimes poignant, Welch suggests that we all inherit legacies and pass on legacies--it's only a matter of what kind. This is a wonderful collection of down-home stories, many of them from his own extended family, that give a sense of importance to our place in the universe. He threads his story on a tree metaphor, each chapter beginning with a tree-related quote, as E.Annie Proulx does so well with rope and knots in "The Shipping News." This truly is a book that will touch your heart, tickle your funnybone and, above all, make you think.

Blending wry humor with poignant insight, Bob Welch writes of a man who handed down a grand legacy despite never having a business card, never receiving a promotion, and rarely taking a vacation; a middle-aged woman who dressed in a rally uniform and yelled her heartiest at a Turkey Bowl game, her cheers meaning more to her son as the years went by; a family with 23 children (many adopted) who always have room for one more because they know there's no limit to love. These and other stories in this inspiring, satisfying, engaging collection combine to show the many ways we have of nurturing a legacy that lasts, creating a family of faith where spiritual roots grow deep, and where wisdom, values, and the sensibilities of love are passed as a kind of spiritual legacy from one generation to the next. Highly recommended.

I love his books, the maps and descriptions are accurate and you don't need another map (also if you use common sense). We loved the hikes and there is always a highlight or something to go for. I like the fact that there are a bunch of more hikes offered in the back - where you actually need to get an extra map - but if you stay longer in one place you'll have more options. Happy hiking.

I have used extensively this book for traveling at the south oregon coast. The directions to the trail heads are very clear, the maps are well done and the hike descriptions are first rate. Sullivan is a wonderful writer. His other hiking books are also very well done. I recommend any book that he has written. His hiking books are the best that I have ever seen.

William Sullivan, the author of this guide book, is reputed to be a fifth generation Oregonian who grew to love the Oregon coast as a child spending time in the family cabin in Lincoln City. As a fourth-generation Oregonian and veteran of numerous day trips and camping trips as a child and adult to the Oregon coast, I have found the book to be a great guide and an eye-opener to places and trails that for years I had driven by without noticing or stopping.

I live in Salem, Oregon and for the last few years I have carried this book in the trunk of my car. I try to get to at least one new place or hike out of the book every time I go to the coast (i.e. the 'shore', for you east-coast types).

If you are stuck in Portland over a weekend on a business trip or planning a vacation in Oregon, this is the book to buy if you want to get off Highway 101 and see some of the spectacular sights on the Oregon coast.

The only shortcoming of the book is the lack of any color photographs.

Hi -- This is the author, William Sullivan. I've completely updated this 100 Hikes guide to Oregon's Coast, with a dozen new or radically changed hikes, new photos, new maps, and up-to-date info. The new "100 Hikes/Travel Guide: Oregon Coast & Coast Range, 2nd Edition" is available in April, 2002 (ISBN #096778302X). I'm giving slide shows about the new book throughout Oregon -- for dates and times, please check my Web site at www.oregonhiking.com.

This guide was great. It enabled me to plan for hikes, and had maps and all information needed to get to the places and take the hike without buying separate maps, etc. Good basic information on the hikes, what to expect, etc. My only complaint was that there was very little "subjective" information on how hikes compared with others, such as "This hike has the best views in the area", which would help decide which to do if you don't have alot of time.

I read this book when I was about 12 and I was completely captivated. I could not put it down and even after I finished reading it I kept thinking about the characters and the events. Some 20 years later, I still remember snipets from the book and the only problem is that I cannot find a copy to get my hands on for myself and my four nieces. Get it back in print - people everywhere are being deprived!

It's only loosely based on facts, but still a very good book. When I read it as a hyperactive 6th grader, I couldn't put it down. I wonder what ever happened to those Sager kids...

I couldn't remember the name of the book that so enthralled me in the classroom as a child. I do remember hanging on every single word that was uttered from my teacher's mouth as she took our class through the harrowing adventures of the Sager children. I couldn't wait til class the next day! Now as my book-a-holic daughter scours the shelves for her next great adventure, I come looking for a copy of this incredible tale...and I won't be letting go of it once I find it! A great read for all ages.

I remember being enthralled by this book when I was a kid growing up in India. Its not just an American story in that sense, because it a wonderful story of human courage, heroism and spirit. I highly recommend it to all lovers of adventure stories, adult or children. I recently moved to Oregon and re-read it and it is still incredible.

I too am amazed that there are not thousands of devoted American fans of this amazing book. Get it back in print and into your schools and libraries! Today I found this book at a Second Hand Book Fair in Brisbane, Australia, and have been firmly planted in my chair all night reading it from cover to cover. My only complaint is that it finished - I would love to know what happened to the children after they arrived in Oregon. The writing was simple and to the point - the story extraordinary. As our little girl listens to the story cds, I often quip to my husband that Pa from the Ingalls Wilder books frequently seems rather foolhardy - as a child I thought him magnificent and clever - as an adult and parent I see him taking ridiculous risks with his family's wellbeing and happiness. These people travelling to Oregon in their wagon trains make him look staid and careful. John Sager and his brother and sisters undertake an even more dreadful journey and this book keeps you frantically turning the pages - there are moments of terrible sadness, despair and horror - I cannot begin to imagine how children could survive this - but all the while you are so filled with admiration for their bravery and determination - and the descriptions of their surrounding environments are spellbinding. I am sure adults faced with the same odds would have just laid down and died. If you find a copy of this book read it - you will be captivated. I will never forget John, Louise, Francis, Cathie, Matilda, Lizzie, Independtia, Anna, Walter and Oscar. Incredible!

I love every one of JA Jance's novels.The JP Beaumont and Joanna Brady series are my favorites. I have thoroughly been gripped by every one.

Failure to Appear J.A. Jance does it again in this 11th J.P. Beaumont mystery novel. Unlike most of the previous books, this one starts out, not with a crime, but with a personal mission. Detective Beaumont ("Beau" to his friends and associates) has left his Seattle home area to look for his runaway teenage daughter in an artsy community in Oregon. Of course, as anyone could have expected, violent crime soon intrudes.

For those who are familiar with this series, you can be assured that it is true Jance writing: characters who act like real people; a fast-moving story; plenty of self-deprecating humor; and a sterling protagonist who is all too aware of his not inconsiderable faults.

For those who are not familiar with J.P. Beaumont or Jance's Joanna Brady, who appears in a separate series, you have the pleasure of delightful discovery to look forward to. There are lots of books in this series. I've read 12 so far (and a bunch of the Brady ones, too) and I have yet to be disappointed with any of them.

If you're one who likes to start at the beginning of a series (which I think is not a bad idea with this one, for a number of reasons), the first is "Until Proven Guilty". However, if this isn't important to you, you can't go wrong with this or any of Jance's books, if you're in the mood for a fast-moving mystery novel with a bit more than usual in the way of character development.

My Wife reads these, and loves them! Looks like another all nighter to me!

In "Failure to Appear" lone-wolf Seattle homicide detective J.P. "Beau" Beaumont finds himself a fish out of water surrounded by family in southern Oregon and on the outside of a murder investigation.

Quite often, when a mystery author tries to fit so much of a protagonist's personal life into a book, the plot drags to a halt and the investigation into the crime is treated superficially because the focus is on massive character development. Jance manages to keep things moving at a fast clip and provide a mystery that is as multi-faceted as her lead character's personal difficulties. Beau has a lot to deal with in this book: a daughter who starts out a missing person and winds up pregnant and about to be married, a re-married ex-wife and her husband, a new girlfriend, a murder suspect that awakens painful memories, the siren song of a bottle of MacNaughton's, and a couple police officers out to nail his hide to a wall - not to mention the book's three murder victims or the loved one Beau loses in the course of the investigation.

There are a few nits that could be picked (Oregon vanity plates don't have 8 letters, for instance), but the quality of the rest of the book more than compensates. All in all, a great read.

This was the first Jance book I encountered. I decided to read it because it takes place in the town I live and work in. As much as I enjoyed reading about the places and cities I know well what I really enjoyed was the character of JP Beaumont. He is an ordinary man (a Seattle Cop wih an extraordinarily inherited fortune) who is caught between his work and his family. The characters seem very real and Jance's writing gives them a life and humanity that appeals strongly and makes you really care about them. The story never lets up either and you will find yourself hard pressed to put the book down. I have read every book Jance has written now and she is always on the top of my list of series that I am waiting for the next installment of!

The Oregon trail is really interesting, so I sought out a fiction book about the Oregon trail. This book was amazing, it was so cool to read about a family that made a difference in Oregon .

I didn't think I would enjoy this book as much as I had enjoyed Ms. Crew's other books but I was very surprised. This book really enlightened me about the life on the Oregon Trail, or any Pioneer Trek, for that matter. Ms. Crew has done a a very careful job of researching her subject and imagining the fictional aspects of the real life people who inhabit the pages of A Heart For Any Fate. I was in love with the King family, their dreams, their courage, their heartbreaking experiences on the Oregon Trail. I read the book and when I was finished I read it again because it was that good! The second read was even more enjoyable. Ms. Crew does a very good job of charting the growth of Lovisa King from young girl to woman during the course of her months on the trail and the sacrifices she made. While there was a lot of imagination involved in writing this account, the story convinced me that it was all possible. A very accurate and entertaining book.

I too am a descendent of the infamous lost wagon train that took the Meek's Cutoff of 1845. I have always imagined what my family was experiencing on their journey. Linda Crew has made this a 3 dimensional saga. Not only can I hear the voices but can smell the wildflowers and the axel grease, the blood sweat and tears and the alkaline dust to the scent of new calico and old leather. I hear the song "Shennandoah" with the women's tears and the fireside dances. I see the countless stars of a prarie sky and the sun on the golden locks of a doomed child. I feel the heat of the shadeless terrain and the breaking of hearts and the hope of new life. I taste the bitterness of unimaginal losses, the crunch of an apple after near starvation and the sweetness of a first kiss. This is a book not just for young adults or Oregonians, but for all that seek their dreams of what may come. Thank you Linda, for putting flesh to the bones of my imagination. It was as if I was carried back and met my ancestors face to face, heart to heart.

At dinner tonight, my wife Kay told me that she just couldn't put down the book "A Heart for Any Fate." She read a little of it out-loud to us in our car during last Saturday's journey to Eastern Oregon. That way we both could enjoy the story!

As a 1845 Meek Cut-off descendant and researcher, I found this story not only entirely captivating, but also highly faithful to the time and place when events on this disastrous new route actually occurred. This book is a real tear-jerker, and if you were grabbed by reading about the 1846 Donner Party, you MUST read this book. Linda Crew has a remarkable talent for fitting her romantic novel neatly into a historically accurate true-life tragedy, in which only the heartiest souls survived. You will be enthralled from the moment you start reading about the King family, for whom Benton County's King's Valley is named.

This was an excellent book! very good reading and would be appropriate for anyone. Good story and I loving knowing it is all something that happened!

Jane Kirkpatrick does not abandon her characteristic figures of speech and writing that touches the soul for this nonfiction book. She tells the story of homesteading on Starvation Point, a remote area along the John Day River in Oregon, where life acquires new significance and she realizes her dream of becoming a writer. This book gives evidence that a person's writing comes from his or her life, the experiences and people encountered on the journey of life. Throughout this book one can find the origin of many events and characters in Jane's novels. Her memoir is a well-written story that gives insight into the pursuit of dreams.

Not many people would have the courage to take on what Jane and Jerry do, as chronicled in Homestead by Jane Kirkpatrick. Whether it's shooting rattlesnakes or handling dog seizures, surviving a plane crash or navigating a treacherous road, chasing down run away calves or protecting watermelons from the onslaught of deer, the Kirkpatrick's seem to have faced and conquered it all. Such stories usually make for great fiction. The most startling realization, however, is that this story is real.

Jane recalls everything from the beginning, in this memoir of personal struggle and ultimate triumph. To move to an unbroken land and settle into its rhythms, to find a home among the wilds was a dream that she and her husband shared. More often than not, however, it seemed that this dream was as unmanageable as the road they had to travel just to get there. Everything kept going wrong. From broken machinery to tragedies of a larger scale, the Kirkpatricks found that these events kept drawing them closer to one another. For Jane, the call was to "go to the land and write." And write she did; not only this memoir, but nine novels as well. Settling the land was an adventure and a risk neither of them now regret making.

The book was well written with enough action and personal perspective to keep a reader interested. One can not help but feel Jane's concerns as she watches her husband's vehicle slip desperately close to a cliff edge, as she tries to reach out in the best way she knows how while feeling so inadequate. It isn't within herself or her husband that Mrs. Kirkpatrick finds the strength to carry on. That's the kind of strength she only finds in Christ.

Broken into four parts, the book reads quickly and leaves the reader feeling rejuvenated and wondering, "How on earth did these two manage to do this?" Homestead is a book that challenges while it encourages. It challenges the reader to grasp every day and turn it into something memorable; it encourages to keep eyes focused on the dream, whatever it may be, even when getting to it is tough. This is a good and memorable book for all ages. - Lauren Steigerwald, Christian Book Previews.com

This was the first book By Jane that I read. I was so impressed with her story and her writing that I immediately went out and bought her next trilogy. Upon reading the first of those books which I found as interesting, entertaining and historically accurate that I immediately went and bought every book she has ever written and am waiting for the next one.

This from a reader that doesn't read frilly stuff. It has to have substance and thought and be presented in a way that can keep you awake after a hard day of overtime.

Judy Burnett
Salt Lake City

Jane Kirkpatrick's writing carries with it the spirit of the pioneers. "Homestead" chronicles the Kirkpatricks' effort as a married couple to carve out a living from the dry, hard soil of eastern Oregon. They rough it as they go along, working toward a suitable well, a home with an actual foundation, and a road that doesn't rattle their teeth from their jaws.

A fitting testimony to the stubborn stamina and ingenuity of modern pioneers--and a bracing reminder of what our forbears went through--this book is also a heartwarming look into the meaning of family, faith, and friendship. Jane's love of life shines through every chapter, and yet there is no glossing over the troubles, large or small. This is an honest account of the price one pays to pave his or her own way.

While straightforward and economical, "Homestead" is a book that breathes with the fires of imagination and good humor. Jane's writing qualifies this story as a modern masterpiece. My wife and I read some of the chapters aloud to one another, and at a few points we were laughing to the point of tears; at others, we were moved to prayers of thankfulness for our creature comforts and to quiet hugs of love. This is a book for all to enjoy, and one that'll be read for years to come.

Fate has decided to play a part in Megan Landers life by leading her to the one man she never thought she could have. Getting caught in a flash flood Megan finds her self rescued by Evan Holloway, every girl's dream and one woman's husband - or so she thought. Meg refuses to be a notch on Evan's bedpost but fighting her attraction to him is a lot harder than she thought.

Evan always knew Megan was the one for him, but she never gave him a chance. He knew he was risking rejection again but he can't help himself for wanting her. Can Evan convince Meg he's not the womanizer she believes him to be?

Loved Enough is a sweet loving romance story. This is a story that if it were a movie you would not be embarrassed to watch with your mom or grandparents. Meg and Evan are both kind souls who just want to believe in love and be loved to the fullest. I enjoyed this story a lot and the author Kerry A. Jones gave me some wonderful words to live by, and I quote `...people regretted what they had a chance to do and passed up, more than what they'd actually done and wished they hadn't.' For readers looking for a romance story on the sweeter side without a heavy focus on sex and eroticism, they will very much enjoy Loved Enough.

Ley
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

I honestly could not put it down. I have read books before where I get through a few chapters and I stop and never pick it back up. This book was different. I was VERY interested in what would happen at the end between the characters. The author really mad me feel the emotions of the two characters. I will be reading it again in the near future. Great job to the author!

While the story may have been fiction it was very much something I could really imagine happening. The storyline was very easy to follow and K A Jones did an excellent job of leading you up to the edge and then letting your imagination take over. Never raunchy or distasteful, it subtly explored real life challenges in a very entertaining way.

The characters were very strong but she also exposed their vulnerability and the setting was perfect. Once you start, not finishing isn't an option.

Although I like a little more backstory with my romances (hence the 4 stars instead of 5), I really enjoyed this book. There is nothing raunchy about it, but it is very teasing and fun. The playfulness, tension, and tenderness between the two characters develops well throughout the book and sets a very good tone, not only for this work but for future books! I hope she writes quickly now because I can't wait to pick up the next one.

I really enjoyed reading this book because the two main characters are so colorful and full of personality; you just want them to be together from the very beginning and you can tell that there's some serious conflict, and also an underlying love between them both, but they're so stubborn, and you're never really quite sure if they'll ever work it out. The story takes place in a canyon paradise where nature is at its best (and worst). The wilderness is all around them, and people (ranchers) in the neighboring areas are involved with things that ranchers do best, like putting on rodeos, dealing with horses and cattle, farmland, etc., which gives the story a very nice "cowboy" flavor. The reader can definitely feel the magnetism that occurs between them from the moment they are "thrown" together by the accident which occurs at the beginning of the story, as if by destiny. But there's history between them, there's unfinished business between these two, and you can hardly wait to "experience" all the juicy details!

I like the way that K.A. Jones wrote this book because she has good tasteful writing style--none of that risqué, raunchy, sleazy content; but instead, she writes very tastefully, descriptively, almost teasingly, that keeps the reader yearning for Meg and Evan's love to develop and explode. Jones describes details of each moment in a way that it's really like watching a good movie in the mind's eye. She gives you all the details; the reader can literally see, smell, hear, taste, and feel their way through the story. In fact, this would make a very good movie--very clean, fun, exciting love story! I loved the book and want to read more like this one--can't wait for Jones's next one!