Customer Reviews

The Searching Hearts

5 star:		(7)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book let you feel their feelings. Three romances form on this trip from Fort Worth, Texas to Coopertown, California. Each romance is different, and special in their own way. For Laura and Buck, it is beautiful. A girl that is blind, a man that has a troubled soul. Her beauty-inside and out changed his life. For Tucker and Lucas it was hot all the way. Explosive is a better word for it! Then there is Rafe Blatchet and Marie Hook. Who would have thought she was a doctor. She found a love in a man who could accept that she was a doctor and would not be intimidated by her. It was great. But I won't forget the bond that these women created by being strong and standing up for themselves against odds such as abuse (sexual, physical, and mental), Indians, and renegades. It keeps the reader going. Once again I will say that Dorothy Garlock has brought the frontier home. Thank You!

When I finished this book, I couldn't wait to go and read all the other books Dorothy Garlock had written: for me that really speaks volumes, when I can get finished with one book by an author and want to read all their others. This book was a true western romance, pulling together all the elements one looks for in a romance story as well as a western. Tucker Houston and her best friend Laura, who is blind, set out on a wagon train full of mail-order brides, led by wagonmaster Lucas Steele and Buck, who is the wagon train's scout. Lucas and Tucker fall in love almost instantly. Buck falls hard for Laura, leaving Tucker with the feeling that Laura will no longer need her. Tucker wrestles with her own feelings for Lucas, as well as wrestles with the elements of nature and man. Overall, the story is very sweet and will have you dabbing a few tears away as you go along. Please, do yourself a favor and go read this heartwarming story.

Each and every character compliments the entire story. There is not a wasted word or unnecessary character in this entire book! I'd have to say this story is as close to perfect as possible!

The three romances that form during the wagon train are spicy, sweet, and intriguing! Tucker and Lucas just set off firecrackers and sparks with every meeting. Buck and Laura are sweet and endearing... a beautiful tale of a blind woman and a rough trail man. Rafe and Marie were intriguing and mysteriously delicious. Amazing to read about a woman of that strength and knowledge... although Ms. Garlock doesn't seem to write about weak women. But of all things, the way the women managed to bond together and survive the hardships of a wagon trail, was endearing and very enjoyable to read. Ms. Garlock is a genius, and it's hard to believe she wasn't actually there during the era she writes about, as the detail and the path she makes to your own imagination are superb.

I have nothing bad to say about Dorothy Garlock's books--I'm addicted! However . . . there were a couple of things I would have liked to see more detail on and they would have only taken a page or two each.

----------> SPOILER AHEAD

I would have liked to read about Tucker telling Lucas Steele about Frank Parcher's doings after all was resolved. I would have liked to have known when Dr. Marie Cooper (?) told Rafe Blanchard about the worry and required "treatment" if he had contracted the wild bull's madness. I thought it was a little far-fetched how Frank Parcher planned to abduct Tucker. It also seemed a bit frustrating that Tucker didn't alert Lucas et al about Parcher's nefarious threats to her before it went too far. Also, that Tucker didn't have a firmer plan to remove (kill) Parcher from the picture.

But I loved it anyway :-) This is the first one that left me a tad unsatisfied, though.

Garlock rules!

I am a huge Dorothy Garlock fan. I have read at least 20 of her books. In my opinion, "The Searching Hearts" was the best of all her books!

Any of her books are definitely keepers. Collect them - loan them - but definitely read them again!

Do not pass up the story of Tucker and Lucas and their trials and their finding and sharing love.

You will get a real sense of life on a wagon train and the dangers that follow these people.

And I enjoyed the way all of the stories were tied together at the end so we have a feeling of completeness of these characters lives.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED -- add to your library.

"Searching Hearts" is another wonderful romantic story by Dorothy Garlock. I stayed up all night reading, I couldn't put it down.

"westward,ho,the women" is a 1950's western starring robert taylor about a wagon train taking selected women west to be brides for the frontier men. In a nutshell that is what this book is.A little variation: our heroines Laura and Tucker are orphans and Laura is blind; The scoutmaster (like Robt Taylor) is a hunk, his scout is a halfbreed, the bad guys want the women..it was a cute western movie in the 50's but very predictable book. The other thing it lacked is depth. It made a big deal of Lucas possession of a tintype which resembled Tucker but never tied it in at all, and though all of the characters were interesting, we never got to really know them well. Too bad.