Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Cedar Fort Publishing & Media whereupon I am thankful to have been able to host such a diverse breadth of stories, authors and wonderful guest features since I became a hostess! I received a complimentary copy of “The Buckskin Trail” direct from the publisher Sweetwater Books (an imprint of Cedar Fort Inc.) in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
An interest in Native American culture & spirituality:
I grew up in a metropolis where I lived amongst a wide diversity of people, cultures and religions; some of my most fond memories are visiting a Native American art gallery and bookstore, wherein I would speak with the owner on different occasions about tribal heritage, culture and spirituality. One of the things I have appreciated the most about their beliefs is how much they give back to the Earth and how centred they are in acknowledging it is our gift to be guardians of the natural world whilst realising that it’s up to us not to only protect the Earth but to ensure it’s longevity by not expelling the Earth of her resources.
When I first heard about the premise behind this novel, I was quite intrigued as I love a wicked good mystery especially one that is tightly crafted and keeps you guessing until the very end of the last chapters – as far as whom might be behind the angst and anguish of the story. I finished reading a Cosy Historical Mystery yesterday (The Secret Life of Anna Blanc) and was quite happy to settle inside another mystery straight-away as mysteries have a curious appeal which is why I read as many of them as I can per year! Even tomorrow, I am reading my first Tessa Arlen novel Death Sits Down to Dinner which strikes the reason I am never quite far from a mystery in hand!
I grew up reading the Mandie series by Lois Gladys Leppard wherein young Mandie would take travelling adventures with her Aunt and her dearly beloved cat (Snowball) in tow all the while looking forward to spending time with her Uncle Ned of whom was her Cherokee relation who kept this side of her heritage in full focus. I love finding writers who have a tangible way of bringing diversity to their stories where it’s organically occurring and warms your heart to read. This is why The Buckskin Trail appealed to me, as it felt like a mystery fit for someone who grew up on the Mandie series whilst appreciating her real-life conversations at an art gallery, as well.
The Buckskin Trail
A miracle saved Kelzi's life when she was younger, and now it's her turn to save others. When Kelzi discovers the truth about her parent's deaths, she steps onto a dangerous path, one where she must avenge those who have died and protect the land of her Cherokee people - at any cost.
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 9781462118229
on 1st April, 2016
Pages: 240
Published By: Sweetwater Books (@SweetwaterBooks),
an imprint of Cedar Fort, Inc (@CedarFortBooks)
Available Formats: Paperback, Ebook
Converse via: #TheBuckskinTrail
About Joann Arnold
“The Buckskin Trail” is the sixth book in JoAnn’s library of authorship. Writing it invited her into yet another realm, one that charts a higher path.
“Miracles for Michael,” “Journey of the Promise,” “Pages From the Past,” “The Silent Patriots” and her first fantasy, “Prince Etcheon and the Secret of the Ancient,” have taken JoAnn on some amazing imaginative journeys. “The Buckskin Trail” is no exception.
JoAnn lives in Santa Clara, Utah, with her husband, Brent.
Native American culture & spirituality:
I appreciated the gentle touches and glimpses of Native American culture and spirituality as it was being presented throughout the novel. Arnold has a keen knowledge of how to insert certain details that speak volumes about what she wants to show the reader without spoiling it with heavy descriptions as she writes her characters as true as they were if they were alive. They tuck their spirituality close to their hearts and walk a living faith which is quite important to them whilst giving them the strength to greet the challenges they will face in life. This is one reason I marked this as an INSPY Fiction story, as I felt Arnold balanced the realism of Kelzi’s life shift with the inspiring back-story of how being grounded in her faith helped her move through the difficulties.
My review of The Buckskin Trail:
Keeping true to it’s suspenseful opening, we’re not given too much information yet about why Kelzi’s life has become so dearly upturnt to include the devastating loss of her parents. We are greeted by their deaths and the relocation of a young girl who survived a terrible fire, of whom is going to live with her grandmother and learn the ways of her tribe: the Cherokee. There are underpinnings of a story proceeding this change of scenery for Kelzi, but without knowledge of what they will foretell, we tuck inside her living moments and await the details to reveal themselves as they alight.
Her youth was accelerated in order to tell the story, but I did not feel as if I missed too much by having her childhood told in small snippets as they lended a small insight into her developing character. She was humble and wise ahead of her years due to a natural talent she had inherited which keep her aware of when people were being honest or deceitful. She had a normal upbringing despite the fact her parents were taken before their time and she had to relocate to the reservation. She developed a keen sense of the natural world and drew a conscience awareness about listening to her intuition. She emerges as a Harvard graduate ready to tackle the world of law and justice.
Right when Kelzi starts to make her way towards a career in law, her life takes a detour as a harbinger from the past comes into view where her people need her help more than she needs to excel at being a lawyer. She hastily quits her job at the firm and visits her father’s old law firm instead, where most of the action starts to erupt – except to say, I had trouble following those chapters because it felt a bit forced and pulled together too quickly. It did not surprise me she used her bow and arrows to surprise the men with guns, but their clip dialogue exchanges and her hide/seek counter-attack maneuvers did not entice me to linger on those paragraphs. I originally felt the fast pace was a good lead-in to the heart of the story, where Kelzi would be older rather than a young girl when the facts behind her parents death would be brought to the surface, so using an accelerated plot made sense. Until I realised the whole novel is writ at a high speed of delivery, where you barely get to see characters (both major and minor) fully fleshed out and living on the page rather than taking cues to enter and exit their scenes.
Sadly, I had to finally recognise I could not find traction inside the novel and stopped trying to make it work for me when it simply wasn’t meant to be. I initially loved the undertone of the story leading into an Inspirational story-line about a young girl whose spirituality was an active part of her life. The hardest part for me was connecting with Kelzi and being invested in the story she had to share with me.
Fly in the Ointment:
The pace continued to quicken quite a bit (especially within the first quarter of the novel) as one thing I was a bit confused about is how once we’ve re-joined Kelzi as an adult, why the quick pacing was returning. I liked seeing her in her apartment whilst she continued to have a strong connection to her parrot, Chekee – who like most animal companions gave her both solace and love. This is one of the first times where I felt the writer was telling us more than we were allowed to see for ourselves – where before we could speculate about what was being implicated, we were told the answer outright. More to the point, we did not to always see the pieces knitting themselves together because they were already pre-assembled for us. This is one deviation from what I appreciated about the Mandie series – I liked walking inside Mandie’s shoes because I felt I was living her life whilst I was reading her latest adventure; whereas when it comes to Kelzi her character feels a bit removed from my being, as if I’m watching her from afar, but I haven’t quite crossed inside her spirit.
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I look forward to reading your thoughts & commentary! Especially if you read the book or were thinking you might be inclined to read it. I appreciate hearing different points of view especially amongst bloggers who picked up the same story to read.
{SOURCES: Book Cover Art for “The Buckskin Trail”, author photograph of Joann Arnold, author biography, book synopsis, blog tour badge and the badge for Cedar Fort Publishing & Media were provided by Cedar Fort Publishing & Media and used with permission. Ruminations & Impressions Book Review Banner created by Jorie in Canva. Photo Credit: Unsplash Public Domain Photographer Sergey Zolkin. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Comment banner created by Jorie in Canva. Tweets are embedded due to codes via Twitter.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2016.
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by JoAnn Arnold via @SweetwaterBooks#mystery about a young girl orphaned & sent to live w/her grandmother— Jorie Loves A Story (@joriestory) April 14, 2016
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