Home at Chestnut Creek

Home at Chestnut Creek

Chestnut Creek series

Laura Drake

Forever, Jul 2019

Approx 300 pages

Cowboy romance

Purchased for Kindle

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The cover is well done with the deep blue sky of the southwestern desert spread out over scrubby range and mountains. Then on the left, leaning against the split rail fence is a cowboy. But not just any cowboy. If you look closely, you will notice that this one has darker skin and long, straight black hair. Indications of his being a Native American? Yes, none other than our hero of the story Joseph ‘Fishing Eagle’ King.

The story is about two young people who find “home”. One is running from a past of drugs, loss, and dealers and is looking for a safe place, trust, and love. The other one is looking for a way to honor his ancestors, be himself, and find love. They find each other, but can’t quite believe that it’s that easy and that the world would let them get that lucky, so they fight what they feel and each other until they have to give in or give up.

They have their joint struggle of getting to know each other and fighting their growing feelings as well as their individual struggles. Joseph struggles to be true to his heritage and to live up to the promise he made to his grandmother about remaining true to the Navajo culture. All the young women on the rez have their eyes on him as a prize. All the older generation look to him to carry on the traditions. He carries a great weight on his shoulders with the expectations of his people. Nevada, our heroine, has run from the nightmare of her mother’s addiction and drug dealers with the money. They want it back. They can’t admit that a young woman got the better of them. So far she’s managed to stay one step ahead of them. She’s hoping that hiding here in the back of beyond they won’t find her and she can stop running.

The author does a wonderful job of bringing all the emotions together into one final roiling decision, now or never type thing. Drug dealers, love, trust, Navajo, each other. And Nevada, who’s been writing letters to her mother through this whole thing, writes one final letter, bittersweet.

I highly recommend this book to romance lovers, and especially to cowboy romance lovers. It’s part of a series but could be read as a standalone.