When Indians kill her husband on the trail to Kentucky, Livi Talbot and her two young children bury him then continue their trek on the Wilderness Road to what David promised would be their new home.While Livi settles into the wilderness cabin David built with his own hands, Reid Campbell, David’s best friend and Livi’s nemesis, arrives. A wanderer who spends more time with Indians than whites, … than whites, Reid produces a document stating all holdings revert to him, in the case of David’s death.
Reid insists Livi and the children return to Virginia, but Livi refuses. She’s too far along in her pregnancy with David’s last child, to travel. Summer ensues, filled with hard work, danger from Indian raids and a constant battle of wills between Livi and Reid.
As winter deepens, Reid helps Livi deliver David’s son. Reid knows he should gift the cabin and land to Livi and walk away, but his heart has finally found a family and a place called home.
REVIEWS:
”…stirs the reader’s emotions. A story of a remarkable women’s desire to forge her own destiny and follow her heart. A novel to remember.” ~Kathe Robin Romantic Times
”…keeps you reading to the exclusion of all else. This is probably the best book on the period I have ever read.” ~Rendezvous
“This lady can spin a tale of historical magic. She does that and more in this beautiful story of Livi Talbot and her long road to happiness.” ~The Readers’ Voice
THE WOMEN’S WEST SERIES, in series order
So Wide the Sky
Color of the Wind
A Place Called Home
Painted by the Sun
Moon on the Water
Bride of the Wilderness
ABOUT ELIZABETH GRAYSON:
Award-winning author, Elizabeth Grayson was a bookish child who loved stories of adventure and romance. She began writing in grade school and has never stopped. After teaching in elementary schools and at the St. Louis Art Museum, she began writing full time and has garnered many writing awards. Elizabeth lives in the mid-west with her husband and cat. www.elizabethgrayson.com
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A great American historical read! Livi must represent all the pioneer women I feel) as she was so courageous to continue on her journey after the death of her husband. These pioneer women faced so many adversities and yet they showed so much courage and determination. Livi demonstrated the many roles of women in pioneer America from wife, mother, widow, protector, teacher, lover, etc. It was amazing to watch as Livi went from being a pampered young woman to a heroic woman. Great story!
Olivia “Livi” Talbot left Virginia with her family she did not know what kind of an adventure she had signed up for. Nor was I quite prepared for what she and the family went through. She was raised into a family that had servants and the women did not work. She married David Talbot whom was a blacksmith. So she learned how to work but still was not quite where she needed to be when she started her trip to Kentucky. In the end she did become the woman that she needed to be for her family in Kentucky. She toughened up and learned how to take care of things. Reid Campbell is a man who fits in with no one except for David Talbot. He is the person that kept encouraging him to go west and find land. That land is where Livi and David were headed too when David was murdered. Livi managed to stay strong and keep her family together and finish out the trip. Reid is a man who thinks a lot and feels very beholden to things in life. He is an adventurer who is caught off guard at the news of his best friends death. Reid feels that he needs to take care of Livi and the kids because that is what David would have wanted. Both Livi and Reid have never gotten along so the story has a lot of arguing between two stubborn people.
Some of the things that happened I did manage to guess but several caught me off guard. There is no way I would guess that would have happened. And as some of the bad things that happened I kept hoping please don’t let this happen to them they have been thorough a lot already. It had a lot of action and adventure in it as well as some romance. All around pretty good read. I only put it down because I did have things I had to go do.
I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily review this book. This is my honest review. The opinions in this review are 100% my own.
An incredibly powerful story that encompasses the ability of one woman to break out of her predetermined mold to become a person that stands for what she believes and to fight for those she loves. As with all this author’s writing, the book is well written with beautiful descriptive passages and a plot that left me sitting on the edge of my chair. I found that I want unable to put the book down once I started as I became totally engrossed in Livi’s struggles. David’s death at the early stages of their travels to Kentucky leaves Livi with no choice other than to press on, especially as she has nothing to go back to. Getting to her destination proves to be more daunting than she could even have believed, but with her young son Tad at her side, giving words of wisdom far beyond his years, she breaks through every barrier facing her. When they finally arrive at their destination and discover that David has already put up a cabin for them, Livi is relieved, only to have it dashed when his friend and partner, Reid, appears on the horizon, claiming that with David’s death the land claim and cabin belong to him. A battle of wills ensues, but as so many before them have found, the boundary lines between love and hate are very finely drawn. This amazing book is a standalone and comes to a beautiful and hopeful conclusion. I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily post this review. This is my honest review.
The descriptions of the scenery and lifestyle of this era are superb as they are in the first two books in this series! The struggles and hardships endured by this family were beyond imagining and the treachery of a few people altered their lives forever. Couldn’t put this book down until it reached the most satisfactory of conclusions. Highly recommend this entire series by a very talented author. I received this book from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily post this review. This is my honest review.
Home is anywhere the heart finds its peace within love.
Although in 1782 the major conflicts and battles of the American Revolution had ceased in the east, the struggle still persisted to the west of the 13 colonies. It would be almost another two years until the Treaty of Paris would be ratified by the U.S. Congress.
It is during this period and against this backdrop that A Place Called Home by Elizabeth Grayson takes place. Many soldiers who were no longer need in the east began to set their eyes toward the abundant land in the west. Just such a place was the wilderness of Kentucky. So it is in March of 1782, on the trail from Virginia to Kentucky, that we meet David and Livi Talbot, and their two children.
Their family’s story, especially Livi’s story, kept me engrossed well into the night. This lengthy read is very well written, but it is not for the faint of heart. The challenges of moving west, as conflicts still raged and hardships were the norm not the exception, is what makes this book so emotional with both joy and sadness. The characters seem so real and the plot is beyond compelling. The Talbot’s story seems more like a biography instead of a romance because the romantic side is eclipsed by daily struggles on the frontier.
Content alert: Although I really liked this novel, I did not like the swearing and especially the religious expletives. There is also a few moderately described sexually intimate scenes and frontier violence.
I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily post this review. This is my honest review.
I am especially drawn to historical westerns and the pioneer spirit in overcoming obstacles. This book details what it might have been like for the early settlers in Kentucky. It was a very good read. I gave it 1 less star as the characters and story line were well developed until the very ending chapter. A lot happens, a lot of emotion and soul searching. I was there, feeling it, but the ending seemed too rushed. It is still a very good read.
A very realistic narrative of early life in the Kentucky Territory and travel on the Wilderness Trail before it was open to wagons. Livi, her husband David and 3 children leave Lynchburg,Va for his land in Ky, but he is soon killed by thieves and she must continue alone. The tell of the hardships as she travels alternately alone and with a group bound for the Territory is a real page turner. The struggle to set up a homestead when they arrive is equally enjoyable,especially when David’s friend and partner arrives and claims ownership of Livi’s property. There are skirmishes with Indians and encounters with runaway slaves. Parts of the story are hard to read and may elicit a few tears but the ending is healing.
I could not put this book down. Held my interest until the end. Loved it.
Great read. Struggles in traveling and settling a new territory with lots of drama. Easy to read. I couldn’t put it down.
I absolutely LOVED this book. Could hardly set it down. I’m finding Elizabeth Grayson to be a favorite author of mine. I wish Barnes & Noble carried more books of hers.
What a story. You never knew what would happen next.
Loved this book, even though there were parts that brought me to tears. Very well written. A long time ago I read “Color of the Wind” by this author and found it hard to put down as well!