Dickie Sinfield was 7 when her dad moved the family out to a ranch in Utah. She never wanted to be a cowgirl, and now, as a grown woman, a respected journalist, and a committed city gal, she has to go back to the ranch for her brother's funeral. Can she go back to the city and live there again, or will she succumb to the pull that the family's land has for her?

Left in Chetty's Pub, the night before a day of rafting on the New River.

If you've found this book, and are considering joining BookCrossing (and please do - it's lots of fun, and a good way to make room on your bookshelves!), please use my name as the person who referred you : colleenk. Thanks!

Travel far, little book!

My husband and I are in Asheville, NC, for the weekend on somewhat separate errands: he's attending MoogFest, and I'm exploring the town. You can imagine my delight to discover there was an OBCZ at the West End Bakery, so I immediately jotted down the address and stopped by. Yummy cookies!

I found this book on the shelves. Funny that it seems to have been mysteriously transplanted from Fayetteville, WV, to Asheville, NC - over 250 miles away! I haven't decided if I'm going to read it yet, but either way I'll definitely take it back up north and share it with my BCinDC buddies, thus ensuring it adds at least another 450 miles to its journey. Thanks!

Dickie Sinfield grew up an unwilling ranch hand when her father suddenly sold their suburban home and purchased a piece of land out in the wilds of Utah. Though her sister doesn’t take to the life and her brother seems born to it, Dickie is an unhappy in between, pleased with the work and the land but having convinced herself from an early age that she hates it. This sort of cognitive dissonance is a theme throughout the novel, from Dickie’s cowgirl roots to Utahns’ attitude toward the testing and disposal of deadly chemical weapons in their backyards. When Dickie’s brother dies suddenly, she is forced to face the past she has been avoiding for thirty years. This is not the sort of book I normally would pick up - I don’t really have much interest in westerns, or coming-of-age stories, or tales of redemption. (Or Mormonism, though that was more backdrop than main theme.) I only read this one because I found it by chance while traveling (thank you, BookCrossing!), and you know what? I enjoyed it. I loved the scenery and the quiet intensity of the characters, especially Merv, though Bev was definitely my favorite. A nice change of pace for me.

This book arrived a couple days ago in Tecumseh, OK in a random package from my friend, melydia.

It is getting a journey now as I am sure that after I read it I can find an appropriate release spot in Oklahoma.

This book is in Release Me Box #2 in Tecumseh, OK.

I hope to be releasing a lot of books soon.