WESTERN NOVEL TOO LONG ON ROMANCE, SHORT ON ADVENTURE

A Deadly Promise

Author: Joan Lowrey Nixon.

Pages: 169 pages.

Price: $16.

Publisher: Bantam.

A Deadly Promise, the sequel to High Trail to Danger, is meant to be a book of adventure, but it really turns out to be a drawn-out and boring western romance.

The story continues in Leadville, where Sarah Lindley is impatiently waiting for her younger sister, Susannah, to arrive on the Leadville stagecoach. It is snowing terribly, but Sarah knows that Susannah is in good hands with Clint Barnes, a stagecoach driver.

Clint is one of two people who are in love with Sarah. The other person is Jeremy Caufield, who works at Chester Caufield's small-town newspaper. Sarah is constantly being courted by these two young men, but she feels her first priority is finding the cause of her father's murder.

Too many longing looks

The plot, which is the story of Sarah Lindley's quest to find answers, is cleverly thought out and well structured, but unfortunately is sullied with boring western romance.

There is not a page that goes by that the name Clint or Jeremy is not mentioned. Many times entire pages or more are dedicated to the relationships between Sarah and these two men.

The two following excerpts describe the quest of Sarah, and the quest of Jeremy and Clint:

"As Jeremy held out a hand to help Sarah alight from the carriage, his glance met hers with so much warmth and affection that she melted. . ."

"Sarah stood before Clint, looking into his incredible eyes, and wishing she could reach up and entwine her fingers in his short, thick, black, curls. Clint had never looked so handsome, so totally and completly wonderful."

I was very disappointed in this book because I was expecting more adventure. What would you expect if you saw the title A Deadly Promise?