I really liked this book but thought the ending was weak and there was no epilogue. ( )

1835 this rugged life on the American frontier story had me captivated from beginning to end. Widow Delia spent the winter alone in the mountains. In the spring she hooks up with trapper Nash to return to civilization.
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I was born and raised in the mountains of VA, where I still reside. I grew up in a western-loving household, and I call myself "a prairie woman at heart". While I love my Southern heritage, there is also a deep and abiding connection with the American Frontier and the American Old West. I feel as though I could set my birth date back 100 years and not lose my stride. Jenna Kernan's "Winter Woman" is an amazing woman, indeed! Cordelia Channing and her husband John set out to become missionaries in the West, but neither was prepared for the reality of frontier life. Cordelia is soon widowed and does something no one else has ever done: she survives the frozen hell of a Rocky Mountain winter on her own. When she is found by a group from the Flathead Indian tribe, they take her to mountain man Thomas Nash for assistance. Nash wants nothing to do with the woman, but he reluctantly agrees to care for her until Autumn, when he is done with his hunting and trapping. He will take her East to "The Rendezvous", where all the trappers meet to sell their wares, and she will have the best chance of finding a way back home. At first, Nash and Delia mix like oil and water, but soon find that they enjoy each other's company. Nash teaches Delia much about the ways of the woods, and she reminds him of things that he thought he had long ago forsaken. After the death of his wife several years before, Nash became a loner, hardening his heart and living the solitary life of a woodsman. Delia captures him with her beauty and spirit and her amazing strength and willingness to learn. There are great differences between them, including Delia's religious faith and Nash's loss of faith. Delia also has "survivor guilt" and feels as though her feelings for Nash are a betrayal of her late husband. They survive much, learning about themselves and each other along the way. Can they overcome their differences and somehow forge a new life that neither of them expected? "Winter Woman" is a true romantic adventure story. At times rough, raw, and unflinchingly real, it is also refreshing and a renewal of why someone like me reads historical romance. ( )

I'm a big fan of Harlequin Historicals and this is another good one. Cordelia Channing is probably one of the strongest heroines I've ever come across. She and her preacher husband were heading west to minister to the "savages" when they became separated from their wagon train somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. Her husband was killed after leaving her alone to hunt for food. And somehow she survives the winter alone in the mountains. When a group of Flathead Indians find her half-starved in the spring they take her to the only white man they know, Thomas Nash, a trapper and give her to him. Nash has no choice but to take her but he's not happy about it. Cordelia wants to return back east but Nash can't take her until fall after he has finished collecting beaver pelts which he sells to earn his living.

What follows next is quite a rip-roaring adventure. Delia and Nash don't like each other much at first but they come to depend on each other for survival. Delia becomes indispensable to Nash even learning how to set the traps and skins the animals. Wow, what a woman! After Nash is attacked by a grizzly bear, Delia nurses him back to health as well as doing the cooking, hunting, and trapping. The descriptions of scenery with rapids, waterfalls, and dangerous Blackfoot Indians were fascinating and beautifully written. I also loved the details of their survival in the wilderness although sometimes it was a bit gruesome but that just made it more realistic.

These two are both lost souls. Nash is still hurting from a tragedy five years ago but his heart evenutally thaws toward Delia and they form a strong emotional attachment. He doesn't want her to leave his side ever. Delia finally realizes she is in love with him but she does not want to live in the mountains. And who can blame her after what she has been through. After they make love Delia feels very guilty and feels she has sinned and turns away from Nash and of course he is very hurt, feeling that she is rejecting him because he's not good enough for her. I dislike misunderstandings like this. But they work things out eventually and the ending was wonderful.

If you like a well-paced adventure about the early American west (set in 1835), be sure to find a copy of Winter Woman. Two very strong characters and a story that will keep you turning the pages. GRADE: B ( )