Customer Reviews

Counting the Cost

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4 star:		(1)
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The first time I read "Counting the Cost" by Liz Adair I started reading it about 9 or 10 PM, could not put it down and finished it at about 6 AM.

Suggestion: Buy the book and start reading it early in the day.

Counting the Cost is about a New Mexico cowboy and the eastern society woman who comes to live on the ranch where he works. It chronicles their love for each other and their life together in the primitive surroundings found in 1930's New Mexico. Liz's mastery of the story telling art will keep you laughing, crying, surprised and wondering what could possibly happen next from page one to the end. Truly a delightful book.

Counting the Cost is one of my all time favorite reads. I've read it three times to date.

Counting the Cost

Counting The Cost
By Liz Adair

Liz Adair's bittersweet western drama, Counting the Cost, delivers a fresh take on an old theme--the struggles of lovers from two different worlds--that will pierce your heart regardless of gender or favored genre. Drawing from the lives of her ancestors, Adair melds adept historical research with rich literary wordsmithing and exquisitely developed characters, to transport her readers to the Depression-era New Mexico prairie. In this barren beauty, age-old values become the fulcrum upon which human virtue and frailty are balanced.

Counting the Cost delivers the emotional equivalent of a body-wrenching rodeo ride. Adair immediately lulls you, placing you in the saddle with exquisite descriptions of peaceful cowboy life, sprinkled with crisp humor. And then the gates open as human passions jerk her characters from their idyll, and choices determine the next pitch of the ride.

The book tackles difficult topics, but the author delicately handles each one with discretion and care while avoiding triviality or excuse. Sweet torture ensues as brief, tender glimpses into the spiritual discoveries of the book's hero, Heck Benham, are discreetly woven throughout the story, like a secret, adding further dimension to an already rich character, and intensifying his moral wrestle. Heck's loyalty and love for one woman challenges his inner compass, and like the cadence of an approaching drumbeat, these truths inevitably emerge: Choice matters. Character matters. Timing matters. And consequences fall due.

This reader went for the tissues several times and slammed the book shut a few as well, unprepared to face the foreshadowed events looming ahead. And then I reopened the book and read on, unable to set it aside until I knew the outcome, attesting to Liz Adair's captivating writing.

A book with this power to engage makes a perfect gift for anyone, and a splendid personal treat.

Even if you're not a fan of "Westerns" you can enjoy this book. It is about a cowboy and the west of the 1920s, and the woman from the east. She is a socialite. She is also married to someone else. This simple cowboy tries to fight the feelings he has for her, but when he sees what her marriage is really like, he can't stand by and leave her in that situation. He knows that by living with a woman with whom he's not married, he will be going against everything he has always believed and that he and she will not be accepted in the local society or even by his family. His love for her is so strong that he is willing to make that sacrifice. I was simply not prepared for some of the twists and turns that the book takes, but it kept me reading, crying, laughing and totally enjoying the journey.
When the book ended and I had dried my tears, I wanted to know more. I think it's great when you hate to have a book end. And it certainly didn't end the way I expected!
Liz Adair really does a great job of drawing out her characters. I feel like I actually know them. I have read all her books and hope that their are many more to come.

This is a beautifully written book, evocative and intriguing. At the same time, there's a sadness that lies lightly over the story. On the surface, it's a story of two people who love each other but can't seem to achieve the oneness that truly blessed couples have. In the background, though, the framework of the story, is a discription of a life style that was fading even as the story took place. That life style was the American cowboy, a rugged, rigidly moral existance nurtured by an unforgiving climate and a harsh land. The book is full of colorful scenes of cowboy life, bursting with an understanding humanity, and sometimes with high hilarity, but always with the understanding that the whole culture was transient. The love story, the story of the cowboy, even the east-meets-west plot, are all woven together into a story of great power.

In Liz Adair's new novel, Counting the Cost, the Southwest in the early twentieth century comes to life. Ms. Adair has an uncanny ability to transport any reader from their own situation, and transplant them into the rigid and challenging life of a cowboy in New Mexico.

Heck Benham understands life on his terms. He understands cattle. He understands hard work. He understands family values. But everything he holds sacred is about to be challenged when Mrs. Ruth Reynolds drives her way into Heck's life.

From the moment Heck and Ruth meet, the reader's own perception of right and wrong, good and evil will be questioned. In a uniquely objective portrayal, Ms. Adair lets the reader feel both the shame and the joy of choosing love and sacrifice over honor and social mores.

The characters are at times likable and other times disagreeable as they attempt to balance love and selflessness with the confusion of living under unfamiliar circumstances. But even the sometimes irritating choices the characters make cannot dispel the very real and powerful love between the characters.

This is the story of opposing fronts: man/woman, natural instinct/societal expectations, contrasting lifestyles, and joy/pain. At times the reader will find they are cheering for the triumphs of the characters, only to be swept away as they share in their pain of the characters. Ultimately, the reader will find themselves counting the cost they would pay to experience true and abiding love.

Liz Adair is a master of creation. Her characters and settings produce a realistic optimism that creates a pleasurable and unique experience for her readers.

Counting the Cost, by Liz Adair captures the essence of love: not always practical, often destructive, but present and undeniable nevertheless.

The fast-moving story takes place in 1930s New Mexico. When eastern society lady Ruth Reynolds moves onto a ranch where cowboy Heck Benham works, sparks instantly fly. There is a big problem though--Ruth is married and Heck is as honorable as he is hard-working.

Fate draws them together, but not without pain and heart-wrenching sacrifice and challenges. Yet, their love shines through at every turn, though the cost is perhaps more than anyone would bargain for.

Adair does a magnificent job of describing the New Mexico setting-its rugged people and stark countryside at a time when nothing came easy. A New Mexico native, she paints the story with meticulous detail and historical accuracy to the ranching and social norms of the era.

Counting the Cost is available through Inglestone Publishing Bookstore [...], the author's website [...], or [...].

Mary E. Trimble, Author of Tenderfoot (Treble Heart Books)

Liz Adair, author of The Spider Latham Mystery series and The Mist of Quarry Harbor, has written a memorable story, inspired by her own family history, about two people willing to give up what they know for love.

Counting the Cost is a fitting title at the beginning of the book, and even more so by the end. It is the story of Heck and Ruth, their lives and their love.

Heck Benham's simple and steady cowboy life is disrupted by the arrival of the lovely Mrs. Ruth Reynolds. Heck does his best to stay out of her way, but after a violent incident involving her husband, Ruth leaves with Heck, both of them knowing that their actions will cause them to be shunned and outcast. After the death of Ruth's husband, she and Heck marry and live happily until circumstances make each of them aware of what they have given up to be together, and what more they will have to sacrifice to stay together.

Liz has told an endearing, honest story. Her characters have depth and feeling, and are easy to care about. The tale flows in a natural, believable course through the characters' lives, including the full spectrum of events from the mundane to the blissful and tragic. The reader learns about the history and geography of the New Mexican locales through conversation and description that never feels forced or lecturing.

While I didn't find Counting the Cost to be an intense page-turner, I looked forward to picking the book up again every time I had to put it down.

Well done, Liz.


What worked for me: I loved Heck right away with his laid-back cowboy style and thoughtful ways. All of the characters were well written, including the minor characters that were present for short times throughout the story. Sometimes I wished Ruth didn't want so much, but having experienced a more "advanced" lifestyle I could understand her desire to have certain things in her life. Sometimes I wished Heck wouldn't sacrifice so much of himself, but I could understand how much he loved Ruth and what it is to have someone love you that much. I cried twice; and not just a tear or two, either.

What didn't work for me: I almost wish there was a short epilogue or summary at the end of the story so I could know a little more about how things ended up in the future.


Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (definitely left an impression on me)
Would I read it again? Eventually, once I feel like my heart could take it
Would I recommend it? Yes, just keep a couple of tissues handy
Would I read more of Liz Adair's books? Yes. I thought her Spider Latham Mystery series was enjoyable, too

This review can also be found at LDS Women's Book Review.

Sometimes a perfect life can be sent to hell, only to rise back up even better than before. "Counting the Cost" is a classically inspired romance following Heck Benham, a cowhand who thought his life had everything he could ever want. When Ruth Reynolds appears, Heck's life will never be the same again, but will it be for better or for the worst? "Counting the Cost" is a fine romance and will pull the heartstrings of many a reader.

"Counting the Cost," by Liz Adair, is one of those stories that haunt the mind forever.

Although I found the first chapter a little disconnected, in the end I understood why it was there. The rest of the book was impossible to stop reading. What an epic tale of poignant love, and its heart-wrenching consequences. I've nominated this book for a Whitney Award.

I really didn't want "Counting the Cost" to end - and certainly not the way it did. But after much pondering, the ending felt right, in that it made me think deeply about everything leading to that point. And the cost was indeed high.

Such beautiful, rich writing. In my mind, I lived each dilemma with Heck Benham and Ruth Reynolds, as they struggled with the raw and often bleak surroundings of New Mexico. As the author says, "The book is symbolic of the dying of the 'Old West' and the taking over of modernism along with all that it represents."

The fact that this story is based on real people and real events in the lives of Liz Adair's ancestors makes it even more tender to read. I hope it becomes an outstanding human drama movie some day.

For an excellent review by Patricia Nordyke Pando from Story Circle Book Reviews, go to[...]

Liz Adair was born in New Mexico. The mother of seven, she operates a consulting company with her husband. She is the author of several books, including the "Spider Latham" mystery series and "Using Family History in Fiction." You can learn more about her at[...], and at[...], where she blogs about using family history in fiction.

Counting the Cost

The bleak yet beautiful land of western New Mexico is the setting for a love story in a rugged and often lonely time--the tough years of the Great Depression. City-raised, culture-loving, impoverished Ruth sought security and a home when she agreed to marry Harlan Reynolds. When the couple moved to Harlan's new job at the Diamond E ranch, Ruth found the land as bleak as her marriage. She took her car and ran away to Las Cruces, but didn't make it far before she found herself stuck in a deep and isolated arroyo. Enter Heck Benham, Diamond E cowhand, who after a spectacular display of horse-handling rescued the lady. They both felt the spark, and here, the story takes off.

In her dedication of the book to her mother, author Liz Adair explains the novel is a fictionalized account of a long secret family story: an uncle fell in love and ran away with a married woman in that long ago New Mexico.

The story Adair tells is a love story, but it is also one of struggle. Struggles with the land, the hard times, and, mostly, two very different people who, in spite of their love, want very different things.

Heck is content with his life, his horses, his home, however modest, and his (eventual) wife. Ruth longs for what she had--and more. More culture, more money, more people. Through the years, they stay together, sometimes one yielding, sometimes the other.

Adair spins a fascinating and easy to read story. All of her characters, not only Heck and Ruth, ring true. Moreover, she has a fine eye and ear for both the land and the times. I grew up in the country not far from the setting of this story, and, like Adair, I grew up hearing stories of the Great Depression. She has skillfully captured both.

This is a story to enjoy, but also one to learn from.

by Patricia Nordyke Pando
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women