The Berenstain Bears Out West by Stan & Jan Berenstain

The Berenstain Bears Out West by Stan & Jan Berenstain-32 pages

The Bear family visits Uncle Tex's B-Bar-X Ranch "out west" in this adventure. They fly instead of taking a train, like normal. Papa Bear is bucked from a rowdy horse, among other things, on the family's visit. I am enjoying reading these Berenstain Bears picture books.

Montana Sky by Nora Roberts

Montana Sky by Nora Roberts - 440 pages

Jack Mercy has died and is still as hated as ever.  Turns out that he has stipulated in his will that all three of his daughters must live for one year on his ranch to inherit anything at all.  This is a difficult adjustment as the sisters have never met before and only one of them has ever lived on the ranch.  To make it worse, it seems that someone has a vendetta against the ranch, killing people and animals.

This Nora Roberts book is from the early 1990s.  I was amazed at how well it aged compared to some of her other earlier works.  The lack of technology wasn't as noticeable -- probably because of the location.  You don't expect cell phones in the mountains of Montana to work anyway so you don't question why they don't use the cell phones to call for help.

Come Sundown by Nora Roberts

Come Sundown by Nora Roberts - 466 pages

Bo's family has always been haunted by the aunt who ran away nearly 30 years ago and was never seen again.  It's the elephant in the room that is very rarely ever acknowledged.  It's been assumed that she ran off as she just didn't care enough about her family.  Turns out they've always thought wrong.  She's been captive for almost that entire time.  But now, she's escaped.  The only problem is that the man she escaped from is still out there . . . and he's hunting for a new wife.

This book reminded me quite strongly of one of Nora Roberts' earlier books -- Montana Sky.  While a lot of it was the landscape and setting of the book, there were also a lot of similarities between the families in the stories and the reasoning behind the villain.  Still, I enjoyed the book.  It was a good read and one I would definitely recommend to others.