This book actually made me cry (several times). I loved the heroine, Willow. She was strong, but Lowell showed it by how she handled her circumanstances with maturity and a sense of responsibility for her own actions. She was only 20, but had been through the Civil War, so she had already seen a lot of hard times before she tried to trek across the Rockies. A lot of writers tend to show the heroine's "strength" by having them throw screaming fits or do stupid, reckless things.

The hero was harder to warm up to. He was a jerk through half the book. He took out his anger and contempt on Willow for things that he thought her lover had done (it was actually her brother they were going to find). He wasn't violent to her, he protected her on the trail, but he was very contemptuous of her at first. Also, as is so common in romance novels, he was a big jerk because he wanted her so badly. But, despite himself, she kept surprising him and ended up being totally different from what he had supposed. You could see that he'd fallen in love with her well before he ever realized that's what he was feeling.

Both of them went through so much together that you could see them slowly going from attraction to love. For once, I was actually interested in the back story of their dangerous trek and the fate of the Arabians she brought with her. Often, I skim through sections that aren't solely focused on the H/h relationship, but not this time. It was exciting and I could see, feel, what it must have been like to be so isolated and in such dangerous terrain. The Rockies are both magnificent and terrifying and the author did a great job of putting you there

DNF at 50 pages. It's not the book, it's me. I like the story line and characters well enough, but the language and tone is just too over-the-top bodice ripper for my taste. I prefer plainer language.