About the Book: Counting the Cost

For handsome, hard-riding cowboy, Heck Benham, life is as solid as the New Mexico countryside he loves as predictable as the annual spring roundup. Yet, that all changes when Mrs. Ruth Reynolds moves from back east into his homeland and into his heart.

The stark contrast in their lives is played out in a territory that is, itself, coming into its own. As Ruth and Heck face a trail of pivotal, life-changing decisions, their love is challenged at every turn. What will it cost them before they find what is most important in life?

With strong characters, true-to-life emotion, gentle humor, meticulous attention to detail and historical accuracy, Liz Adair paints a passionate tale of love and learning, of romance and redemption.

Genre: Fiction - Western

Reviews -- Reviews -- Reviews -- Reviews

Love in Bleak Times, May 22, 2009
By Story Circle Book Reviews

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.

Read all 11 Reviews

Perfect Paperback: 335 pages
Publisher: Inglestone Publishing; 1st edition (January 30, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0977881466
ISBN-13: 978-0977881468
Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,131,207 in Books

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