End Of The Trail by Vickie McDonough ~ review

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: River North; New Edition edition (May 25, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802404081
• ISBN-13: 978-0802404084

This book is also available as an e-book.

To learn more about this book go here.

Release date: May 25, 2012 | Series: The Texas Trail Series

From the Back Cover

He enters a poker game and wins a new life

She loses the only home she has ever known

Two hostile adversaries are forced to work together

In 1896 Brooks Morgan pulls into the town of Shoofly, Texas, to take refuge from a storm. He befriends Will Langston in the local café and agrees to help him out in exchange for room and board. A high stakes poker game ends in Brooks holding the deed to Will's ranch with a promise to "take care of Keri." His joy is short-lived, for when he returns home he finds Will dead - murdered.

When Brooks finally rides to Raven Creek Ranch, he is greeted by a rifle pointed straight at his chest. The same woman who came to his rescue earlier is now ready to shoot him. This is the "Keri" he promised to take care of-Will's niece-who believes Raven Creek is her inheritance.  Keri and Brooks have only one thing in common - they both want to protect the ranch. Is this really God's plan to save Raven Creek Ranch? Or did Will stage the whole fiasco?

My take on this book:

Brooks Morgan had always been his mother's favorite, but when she shows disdain in him for not pulling his weight around the ranch helping his father, he feels guilty. Thing is Brooks isn't interested in running the ranch that he will someday inherit so when his father threatens to take away his horse Jester, Brooks does the first thing he thinks of and that's hop on his horse and run away. While playing a high stakes poker game he wins the Raven Creek Ranch, from his friend Will Langston. He tries giving it back but Will refuses making him promise that he will take care of "Keri' if something ever happens to him. When Will is murdered, Brooke finds himself responsible for the ranch and soon learns that Keri is actually Will's niece and she believes that the ranch should be hers. If that isn't enough there is someone else who want's the ranch and will stop at nothing to get it!How will God work things out between these two headstrong people? Can they save the ranch without getting their hearts involved?

Wow! This isn't your typical cowboy western novel. The author weaves an interesting tale of a young man leaving home because he doesn't want to ranch, and then finds himself owning the Raven Creek Ranch. The main characters of Brooks and Keri were often amusing. I found myself laughing on more than a few occasions.They become allies, out of necessity, and slowly become more. I found it really believable because it wasn't love at first sight!  As a fan of historical western fiction this one certainly fit the bill, I got a believable romance, some humor, as well as a few intriguing plot twists that kept me reading to find out what would happen. While this is the sixth book in A Morgan Family Series it can easily be read as a stand alone work, but I loved this one so much I plan on looking up the other books because if they are half as good as this one they're going to be great!

A complimentary copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review.