A Simply Enchanted Life

Whispers in the Wind by Lauraine Snelling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Whispers in the Wind is book two in the Wild West Wind series by Lauraine Snelling and picks up where Valley of Dreams left off.

Cassie has made it to her father's Valley of Dreams and finds that it is already occupied by another family. Not only that, the ranch isn't hers in it's entirety. The deed was written up between her father and the Engstrom family. Meaning, the ranch is only half hers and the Engstrom boys are none too pleased to be sharing.

Mavis Engstrom, the matriarch of the Engstroms, warmly welcomes Cassie as a part of the family and has a small cabin fixed up for her and her makeshift family consisting of two indians and a wrangler from the wild west show. However, not everyone in town is so accepting of Cassie's friends, nor of the color of their skin. Branding the Engstroms and Cassie as "injun lovers", a group of local drunks decide to run them out of town and as a result, certain events cause Cassie to question whether God is truly keeping his promise to be her protection.

Through it all, Lucas makes his intentions known to Cassie and professes his love. Cassie is confused. She cares for Lucas but in a way that a sister cares for a brother. He asks her to let him make her love him and this too confuses Cassie. It is with that thought that the book wraps up and leaves us hanging. Honestly, I like Lucas but I just don't see Cassie falling for him. I'm very curious as to how this will conclude and will definitely be looking for the release of A Place to Belong which is coming out in the spring of 2013!

About the Author:

Award-winning and best selling author Lauraine Snelling began living her dream to be a writer with her first published book for young adult readers, Tragedy on the Toutle, in 1982. She has since continued writing more horse books for young girls, adding historical and contemporary fiction and nonfiction for adults and young readers to her repertoire. All told, she has seventy books published.


Shown in her contemporary romances and women’s fiction, a hallmark of Lauraine’s style is writing about real issues of forgiveness, loss, domestic violence, and cancer within a compelling story. Her work has been translated into Norwegian, Danish, and German, and she has won the Silver Angel Award for An Untamed Land and a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart for Song of Laughter.


As a sought after speaker, Lauraine encourages others to find their gifts and live their lives with humor and joy. Her readers clamor for more books more often, and Lauraine would like to comply ... if only her paintbrushes and easel didn’t call quite so loudly.

Lauraine and her husband, Wayne, have two grown sons, and live in the Tehachapi Mountains with a watchdog Basset named Winston. They love to travel, most especially in their forty-foot motor coach, which they affectionately deem “a work in progress”.


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Valley of Dreams by Lauraine Snelling

Yesterday is gone, tomorrow not yet here, so live today the best you can. -P.15 Valley of Dreams

Valley of Dreams by Lauraine Snelling

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Valley of Dreams by Lauraine Snelling is the first in the Wild West Wind series and follows the life and struggles of the main character, Cassie Lockwood.

Cassie is the star rider and sharp shooter in a wild west show that had been owned by her now deceased parents. When her parents died, the show was left in the care of her honorary uncle, Jason. However, Jason isn't business saavy and likes to drink too much which leads to the demise of the show.

When the show collapses, Cassie heads south in search of her late father's "valley of dreams", 400 acres of land that he had purchased with the hope of owning a ranch out in the Black Hills of South Dakota. She is joined by Chief, a Sioux indian that has been with the show for years and a wrangler by the name of Micah. On their way they encounter an injured indian woman, Runs like a Deer, whom they nurse back to health on their journey.

Living off the land is much different for Cassie and she must learn to use her shooting skills to kill animals to provide meat for her makeshift family. Gone are the days of being pampered and having everything done for her. Under the guidance of Chief she must learn a new way and how to do things for herself.

We are also introduced to another family that is already living in the valley of South Dakota. The Engstrom family consists of Mavis, her two boys-Ransom and Lucas and her daughter, Gretchen. Mavis' husband has died some years back and the boys are struggling to keep it all together. Their importance in this story becomes more apparant towards the end of the book. I really enjoyed reading about Ransom, especially. Though Lucas has declared upon seeing Cassie that he is "in love" I am really hoping that she ends up with Ransom instead. I guess I'll have to pick up book two to find out!

I have only a few complaints about this book and they're minor. I found some of the situations unrealistic. In the early 1900s, outside of the wild west show, I'm not so sure that folks in the towns would have so accepting of Cassie while she was wearing pants and accompanied by two indians. Everything just seemed to fall perfectly in place for her and I found that unrealistic for the time period. I also had a small complaint that the end of the book offered no reference to the next book. Without a title listed for a future release I think that may discourage future readers who may not be an avid follower of the author or perhaps doesn't follow sites like Goodreads.

Otherwise I enjoyed the book and I look forward to reading more of her stories!



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