Treble Heart Books
© Copyright 2001 - 2011 Treble Heart Books.  All rights reserved.
This web site is owned and maintained by Treble Heart Books.
designed with Homestead
Mary Trimble Synopsis & Reviews
CORRIE STEPHENS is eager to learn about ranch  life, but reluctant to become involved; it’s just not worth the heartache. Rancher J McClure, on the other hand, has been alone too long. Tenderfoot draws the reader into the story’s strong emotions based on family, love, and the first-hand adventure of the eruption of Mount St. Helens.

A romantic suspense story, Tenderfoot takes place on a working cattle ranch in 1980, the year the world remembers for the catastrophic eruption of Mount St. Helens. Although the story is fiction, incidents relating to the mountain are true and accurately portrayed.

Tenderfoot
by
Mary E. Trimble
ISBN: 978-1-936127-09-2
Rated PG
PRINT BOOK
$13.50 Trade Paperback
ELECTRONIC BOOK
REVIEWS
“... a finely told tale... above all, Tenderfoot is a story about love: love of the land, love of each other and love that forgives and moves on, reaching past the comforts of familiarity into the tempest of the unknown where love and life truly bloom. A page turner and a delight.”
....Jane Kirkpatrick, Award-winning author of A Flickering Light


“A woman seeking to come to terms with her past and start anew, a man torn between his need for love and his responsibilities, a mountain poised to erupt. Mary Trimble kept me on the edge of my seat with this compelling story set during the spring of 1980 as Mount St. Helens trembled and shook. Tenderfoot is one explosive read!”
....Suzanne Lyon, Author of A Heart for Any Fate

"The eruption of Mount St. Helens is a natural disaster like none other.  “Tenderfoot’ is a romance set in Seattle" [actually Northwest Washington State] "in 1980, the year of the infamous eruption.  Set in a cattle ranch, as rookie rancher Corrie Stephens tries to get a grip on her new life.  Learning her profession however has its own challenges as she becomes infatuated with one J. McClure, making the looming disaster ahead all the more intriguing for her.  “Tenderfoot” is an exciting read that draws from reality, Recommended."

—The Midwest Book Review, Small press Bookwatch
James A. Cox, Editor in Chief

Mary E. Trimble has written a great novel that kept me on the edge until the very end of the book.  I was so involved with the emotional side of this story and couldn’t predict how the story would end, and that makes for a good book, in my opinion.  I loved the way that Ms. Trimble began each chapter with a newspaper article relating to Mt. St. Helens in 1980, which was an integral part of this book. I must admit that I’ve never been a history buff, but when put into a book in this fashion, it works for even me! It is a gifted writer that can combine the history with the romance and suspense. 

The characters were so real and believable.  Corrie, who is dealing with the emotions of a divorce, leaves the city to go out and research the life of ranching.  She meets up with J McClure, who is a widower with a daughter, who is running a huge cattle ranch.  For very different reasons neither one of them thinks they are ready for any romance in their life.  Mary Trimble does an excellent job of pulling her readers into the story of these two lives and keeps readers wondering until the very end to discover just how things turn out for Corrie and J.  Tenderfoot is a real page turner, for sure. 

Many books come across my desk, but I must say that Tenderfoot is one that touched my heart and because of that was one that I didn’t want to put down. Readers who enjoy romance and suspense will find this book one that will linger with them for a long time to come.  I have never considered myself someone who would enjoy a “Western,” but I can’t say that anymore, either.  Thank you, Mary Trimble, for sharing your gift of writing with us. I can highly recommend Tenderfoot as a great read.

--Reviewer: Joyce M. Gilmour
http://www.editingtlc.com/book_reviews
Western Writers of America
FINALIST!
When I read that this tale of reluctant romance was set on a working cattle ranch during the drama of the Mt. St. Helens eruption in 1980, I was hooked. Tenderfoot held compelling personal interest because I experienced the drama of that eruption and ash fall first-hand from my home in Richland, Washington, 135 miles due east of Mt. St. Helens.

Due to my personal involvement, I especially appreciate the way Trimble begins each chapter: with a news flash about the state of the mountain that particular day, creating a growing sense of foreboding that I remember well. Although her accounts are attributed to a fictitious reporter and published in a fictitious paper, they ring true to my memory. Trimble.s description of the mountain and events relating to the ultimate eruption are vividly portrayed with gripping drama and are consistent with numerous factual accounts I've read and watched in the ensuing decades. Even though I am fairly knowledgeable about the topic, Trimble's descriptions and accounts of people who circumvented barricades to be on the mountain before and during the eruption provided welcome new insight. In my opinion, if there were no other reason to read Tenderfoot, this element would be enough.

Trimble also takes pains to deftly portray life on a working ranch, drawing from city girl Corrie Stephens' experiences after rehabilitating a run-down cabin on the Circle J ranch. Corrie arrives for a post-divorce change of scene and to gather material for her writing career. Her insatiable writer's curiosity provides a perfect vehicle for instructive conversations with dashingly handsome owner J McClure and his ranch hands. From the conversations, combined with Corrie's adventures, I gained the sense that I too could saddle a horse, pitch hay to herds, de-louse and ear tag a cow, or teach an orphaned calf to drink from a bottle.

Not surprisingly, the romance between Corrie and J is predictable, with the usual string of obstacles, many self-imposed. The tensions lay not in doubt about the outcome, but how they will overcome those obstacles. I found it refreshing that Trimble was able to convey the power of raging emotions between Corrie and J without explicit scenes. Perhaps for some, the romance will be the main feature of the story. I found it a heart-warming thread for educating readers about ranch life while also reporting on one of the major cataclysmic events of the twentieth century.

---Reviewed by Sharon Lippincott
http://www.storycirclebookreviews.org/reviews/tenderfoot.shtml

Tenderfoot combines a bit of whimsical fluff with new beginnings as Corrie, a divorcée, decides she’s had enough of city life and heads to the ranching country of Washington. As with any romance, Corrie soon meets handsome widower, J McClure. That’s when problematic issues rear up. She wants to learn all about ranching so she can write about it and that brings her face to face with her need for companionship. She has to admit J is one handsome man. His fourteen year old daughter makes no bones about the fact she feels one female around is enough. Throw in J’s pushy mother, his personal desires, the widower hardware store owner, and the infamous Mount St. Helen’s eruption and you have a mix that makes a whopping good story.
Trimble is most adept at blending factual ranching information with her storyline. Included are such routine ranch things as grooming a horse, putting on its bridle and saddle to birthing, to spreading hay.
Refreshing is an apt word to describe Tenderfoot. It’s not loaded with descriptive sex, explicit foul language, and lacks the ever present inappropriate sprinkling of the “F” word so dominate in much of today’s fiction.

--Norman W. Wilson Book Review
Normal W. Wilson, PhD.

Mary Trimble knows disaster and loss personally and,in TENDERFOOT, she conveys her understanding and knowledge of how events affect nature, the geography of the land and the souls of men and women. In her heroine, Corrie Stephens, Trimble has drawn a character of depth and determination. After the wreckage of her marriage, Corrie ventures into Washington ranching country to study and practice the lifestyle. With one book successfully published, she is looking for material for another.

When her aimless driving brings her into bumper to cow-butt contact with the ranching McClures, she finds her opportunity. A new life unfolds in stages as she comes up against J, the lonely widower whose cabin she rents, his truculent daughter, upright young nephew and tough out-spoken ranch hand. Families, neighbors, horses and cows, weather and suitors mark her growth in the shadows of Mount St. Helens. She takes every opportunity to meld into the life and does it successfully. Riding, calving, round-up, branding and sorting mark her growing skills. A school lecture and a rescue win over the daughter.

Parallel to these changes, Corrie makes friends with a local columnist and photographer and joins them in trips to the mountains to investigate changes to the volcano. Her college age daughter visits and tries to plead for daddy's return; the miscreant appears, unexpected and unwanted,and is soon sent on his way. Meanwhile, Corrie and J do the dance of reluctant, anxious would-be lovers.

The story flows smoothly, even as lava-flow threatens the land. Perhaps Trimble's strongest, finest writing is to be found in the final chapters where adventure leads to tragedy and the impact of St. Helens rains down life-changes for many. This book is a fast read, compelled by strong characters, a delightful love story and the urgent threat hovering over all.

--Arletta Dawdy
Reader/Writer