This book is great. I LOVE mustangs and this book explained a life of a horse. I could imagine everything the author wrote as I read it. My favorite part is when Spirit returns home. HORSELOVERS SHOULD READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!

Song of the Cimarron depicts everything a good historical inspirational romance should: historical authenticity, God's love and mercy, and a beautiful love story. Very well written.
Kelly's characters are real. I found myself involved in therr emotions: love, hate, elation, fear, laughter, tears, pain, and redemption.
I was impressed with the manner in which the hero and heroine examined their thoughts, motives, and decisions and in the process moved closer to the Lord. This impelled me to examine the inner most workings of my own heart in hopes of obtaining the same result.
If the sweetness of God's love and the power of love between a man and woman inspire and lift your spirits, this is the book you must read.
Highly recommended.

Kelly has a wonderful way of reaching inside and touching the heart with her stories. I Also read Ragdoll, wonderful book... grab any book you can by Kelly R Stevens... I look forward to many more!

From the author:

Christianity is real life.

I never could fully understand how Christianity got to be so sugar-coated, so unreal, especially in writings. The Bible doesn't leave out the harsh realities of life, and I won't either. In my own life, I've experienced the good and bad just as the next person. Many are afraid to reveal the bad, yet there's always good and bad in everyone's life. I believe we should handle both sides in a ministry. There are times when we walk in darkness and times when we walk in the light. There are always mountains and valleys, for everybody, that help us learn about our lives and about our God. How else are we to teach, or guide others? I, also, was able to learn from the experiences of others, those who weren't afraid to share the truth.

And, that's what you'll find in my novels: The truth.

Ragdoll, Song of the Cimarron, One With the Wind and any upcoming titles are meant to teach and provide inspiration, while revealing the truth about humanity, who we are, and how we can better ourselves. Though my novels deal with such things as rape, alcoholism, murder, revenge, depression, co-dependancy, lack of self-esteem and a myriad of other human shortcomings, they will still warm your heart and help light the way along the journey. My novels are also about forgiveness, faith, and most of all, love. Bottom line.

So, if you're interested in an inspiring experience that will stick with you and help you feel as though you can rise above your own problems in life, these novels I write are meant to do just that.

God bless you all!

Kelly R. Stevens

Having had this book recommended to me because I am a fan of James Michener's work, I eagerly dove into this story of the earliest years of white settlement of Oklahoma. And I stayed immersed in it until the final page! Although Ferber's portrayal of blacks is dated and condescending, readers who can overlook this fault will find a plot and characters that grab their interest from the start. Curiously, although her Indian characters generally are flat and unpolished portrayals, those whites who speak up for the displaced Indians are quite eloquent in defense of those same Indians. The story of the Sooners, the Cherokee Strip, the impact of "Oil!" and the eventual statehood of Oklahoma is sure to provide an entertaining--and perhaps even informative and enlightening--selection for readers who don't mind the occasional purple prose paragraph. I'd recommend it!

I don't do too many reviews, but I wanted to say this is a great book about buffalo hunters that should be a hit with anyone who likes the gritty true west. It keeps you turning the pages and has plenty of action and some romance, too.

If you like writers like Louis L'Amour, Kirby Jonas, and Elmer Kelton, you should get a kick out of this one. Good read. I gave it a four only because the language is a little harder than I enjoy reading.

If you have never read a Burke novel then you may like this. If you are familiar with the Robicheaux novels, then pass this one up. I like James Lee Burke's novels, but this book is just the same story and same characters with different names and in Texas instead of New Iberia, LA. Billy Bob is just Dave Robicheaux except as a small town lawyer rather than a small town cop. He has a woman partner, has semi-adopted a young ethnic child, talks to a ghost, defends the down-trodden and his father was killed in an oil company accident just like Robicheaux's father. He deals with sketchy characters from his past and has to deal with the "psychic scars" of his past as the NY Book Review put it. Sound familiar? If you have read the Robicheaux series then, of course it does. I found myself missing the antics of Clete Purcel. Same idea here: the rich and powerful screw with the down and out. Guess who wins in the end?

Former US Assistant DA,and Texas Ranger Billy Bob Holland rides his horse into a honkey-tonk, unfurls his lariat and effortlessly loops it around the torso of a woman-beating thug. He drags the dude out the door for a bit of cowboy keelhauling discipline. Readers NOW must be aware--like Dorothy--they're "no longer in Kansas". Courtesy of James Lee Burke's hard-edged,yet superbly literary style, our New West hero essays roles of defense attorney by day and LONE RANGER at night. Burke convinces us Deaf Smith (a town near Austin,combining resort ambience of Lake Travis with working class morphed-Yuppster Round Rock Texas, and generously violent doses of old West Tombstone) exists on Earth, not galaxy far away in the Final Frontier.

This is only Setting. CIMARRON ROSE evokes old West and the New(Drug Thug)West. Billy Bob finds himself legally defending his unacknowledged son Lucas in a gruesome rape/murder case featuring a dog soldier battle-array of drug dealers; bent DEA; feckless FBI agents; a formerly abused-child, now border-line psychopath bent on revenge against the Bobster; some repugnant nouveau rich whose adopted son,at very least,is a sociopathic punk and prime candidate for the murder Lucas is(?)framed-for.

James Lee Burke writes like John Updike. He's got poet's command of language and maturely controls a difficult(fantastic)plot. Characterizations are excellent; psychological observations ring astute; his physical descriptions are striking and beautiful. Do yourself a favor. Read what a great writer can do with a seedy study of the human condition. I'm told Burke does this trick often.If this is formula writing, it's excellent. Take a gander at CIMARRON ROSE.It's no New Age Flower shop tour for sure.And in this one,The Lone Ranger doesn't use silver bullets.(4 & 1/2 stars)

Having read several of James Lee Burke's novels now, I have come to see that his approach to weaving together a story is intriguingly unorthodox. His narrative is choppy and at times almost disjointed; short vignettes, encounters, and episodes are cobbled together, and change-of-voice digressions and flashbacks are not unusual. Readers accustomed to a smoother ride will find Burke's approach difficult in places.

At the same time, Burke can positively hypnotize readers through the beauty of the language he employs and his ability to capture a thought, a moment, a mood, or a concept in a few well-chosen words or phrases. This combination of organizational looseness and powerful, evocative writing makes reading Burke a truly distinctive literary experience.

In *Cimarron Rose*, Burke has taken a break from his Dave Robacheaux series and has introduced a new protagonist, Billy Bob Holland in a new setting, Deaf Smith County, Texas. Still, the overall tone and style of the story will be familiar to readers of previous Burke novels. Holland is another fallen lawman-type haunted by his past, and his similarity to Robacheaux in terms of his patterns of action and thinking are hardly surprising. The story itself is populated by desperate criminal types, fallen women, drunkards, corrupt "leading citizens," a demented maniac, and in fact, a entire cast of typical denizens of Burke's stories.

With its loosely woven whodunit plot line and its accompanying quota of broken noses and gunshot wounds, the story is a kind of classic combination of police mystery and violent pulp fiction novella. Added to this are some interesting added elements, including recurring reference to Billy Bob's great-grandaddy's journal and the regular appearance of the ghost of Billy Bob's ex-best friend and partner. Combined with a rather weird ... ending, the whole mish-mash makes for interesting reading but doesn't constitute a satisfactorily well-woven novel overall.

Despite its flaws, *Cimarron Rose* is worthwhile not only because of Burke's talents as a wordsmith, but also because of his astute eye for social and class interactions and conflict in his small-town southern setting. His descriptions of the myriad ways in which the affluent "East enders" dominate the small Texas community in which events unfold in this book shows Burke's keen understanding of the sociological and economic as well as psychological aspects of his human subject matter. Clearly, his own sympathies are with the lower classes, the downtrodden, the underprivileged, and the way he skewers the powerful and hypocritical in this book is impressive, indeed.

Clay Allison is regarded by my most historians as a psychopathic killer, yet John A Truett has written a very readable novel sympathetic to Allison's cause. This book should not be taken as completely factual, and should be remembered that it is a novel. Yet the skeleton of this story is based upon fact, and is incorporated into some fictitious storylines. Clay Allison as a man suffered a split personality, believed to stem from epilepsy, and this is a fact Truett relies upon to explain why this otherwise, gentleman, found himself plagued by troublesome incidents. Allison's obvious flaw in life was his insatiable appetite for drink, which certainly contributed to many of his altercations, some of which proved to be fatal. Truett's portrayal of Allison is a competent business man and was also a valuable member of the community, with an overbearing need to see justice done. His stubborness and fun loving nature are emphasized in this novel, and both characteristics could at times contribute to his less glorious moments. Yet consistently through the story Allison himself tries to justify all of his deeds, and Truett does an excellent job of putting that across to the readers. It certainly provides an interesting alternative to the usual interpretation of Allison's life. The book succeeds in provoking sympathy for this controversial figure. John A. Truett should be commended for his ability to tell a good tale, which is based upon so many factual events.

I worked at Philmont Scout Ranch outside of Cimarron for three years, two of those working for Steve Zimmer at the Kit Carson Museum at Rayado. Having read this book, I feel it provides a rather insightful glimpse into the lives of some of the people and events that have added some color to the history of Colfax County. It is organized in a series of short (average of about 10 pages) essays and stories concerning those figures (i.e. Kit Carson, Clay Allison, Black Jack Ketchum, etc.,.) that is both informative as well as easy to read.

Only sheer determination did I finish the paperback. Tis' the fourth Tabor Evans' Longarm book I've read, and I know Mr. Evans has the ability to intrigue his readers more so than this particular book does.