3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing Characters and Impeccable Historical Detail, March 21, 2001
This review is from: Across the Sweet Grass Hills (Paperback)
Gail Jenner has created an intricate and carefully crafted world among a band of the Pikuni Indians in the 1890s. She invites the reader to feel the emotions of a stubborn and independent city girl (Liza) as she encounters the physical and moral challenges of the western frontier. Liza's journey to find herself and understand her heart is a timeless message and one that Jenner captures perfectly. Jenner's attention to historical detail is flawless from the detailed account of how the Pikuni tribe prepared for the winter months to their migratory patterns as the seasons changed. If you are interested in a novel with a plot that will keep you riveted to your seat and wanting for a sequel Gail Jenner's Across the Sweet Grass Hills is a must read.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
absorbing!, February 13, 2003
This review is from: Across the Sweet Grass Hills (Paperback)
For those who are huge fans of historical Western romances ACROSS THE SWEET GRASS HILLS will be most satisfying as it is romantic & much more. It is a glimpse into how our prejudices are nurtured, our paranoias inflamed, & a view from the other side of the looking glass at a time in our history that was both dreadful & exciting.
Quite well done.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Innocently Mesmerizing, July 1, 2001
This review is from: Across the Sweet Grass Hills (Paperback)
Gail L. Jenner's new work, Across the Sweet Grass Hills, is an innocently mesmerizing novel that takes places in the Montana Territory of the late 1860s and early 1870s.
Reverend Ralston is following his dream to move into the Western frontier to live and preach among the Pikuni Indians, one of the three bands that made up the Blackfoot, of which, according to Jenner, was the most aggressive of the Plains Indians Tribes. Before leaving St. Louis his two sons turned his back on him. His wife died at the last fort they encountered. His spoiled, pampered daughter, Elizabeth, wishes she would die rather than face life among the heathen Indians.
The story opens as Liza, her father, and their guide, Giles, are under attack. But who is actually attacking is unclear. Jenner wants us believe it's Indians, but there is a hint that the attackers are not who the Reverend believes them to be. Giles is mortally wounded and Ralston's condition is critical. Liza fears for his life.
Red Eagle, half white and half Pikuni, happen across the young woman and her wounded father on his way to meet his mother's tribe. He stitches Ralston up and basically saves the day. Red Eagle and Liza each develop feelings for each other, although Liza doesn't understand hers and Red Eagle doesn't act upon his. Liza sends Red Eagle away, a move she is soon to regret as she comes under attack, twice, again. Although there are three full pages of reference materials at the novel's end, the dialogue to stereotypical of a 1950s B movie.
Liza and Red Eagle's adventures to actual commit to one another and to spend their lives together is also stereotypical 1950s Indian adventure story. Yet, I found the novel enjoyable. I knew what was going to happen before it happened, but I didn't care---I just kept reading. Once I got past the naïve innocence of the novel, the biggest problem I had was with the characters' name. There are way too many character names that begin with "R" or "C," which creates confusion for the reader. The main characters are easily identified, but the other characters are easily confused and begin to intertwine with each other. I wish Jenner had dug deeper with her character, but I don't believe that that was her intention. Across the Sweet Grass Hills is well written and flows well. Seems to this reader that Jenner set out to write a feel good, happily-ever-after historical romance, and that's what she did.
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