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The Front Range #4

Wild Secret, Wild Longing

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A new story of love and danger in The Front Range Series set in Colorado 1876. A historical Western romance that will get your heart racing ...


LeRoy Banks has no time for love or romance—he's busy breaking in horses at Whitcomb's ranch. But on the afternoon of his brother's wedding, a grizzly attacks the herd of horses, and though Whitcomb's ranch hands shoot him, the bear lumbers off, injured and enraged. LeRoy, the only competent tracker around, heads out into the Rockies after the bear before it kills again. But not before his ma, a Cheyenne medicine woman, gives him a warning. The mountain holds secrets, she tells him, and LeRoy must not be afraid of what he'll find. Unsettled by her puzzling words, he sets out, unaware of the dangers he is about to face—not just to his life but to his heart.


Geneviève Champlain has spent long, lonely years in isolation in the mountains, her life a trail of broken dreams, loss, and heartache. Her supplies running out, she is teetering on the edge of despair and madness as a snowstorm blows in, signaling an early winter. Her hope is failing—she knows she cannot face another winter alone. Yet she sees no way out. She can never leave her cabin and live a normal life like other women. There is no place for a tainted woman like her in frontier society. Before the storm blows in, she learns the killer grizzly is close by. She has no choice but to head out and try to kill it before it reaches her cabin. Yet when she tracks the bear, she finds something she never expected—something even more threatening than a grizzly.


Wild Secret, Wild Longing, a companion novella to Colorado Promise and Colorado Hope, takes readers on a heart-wrenching journey into the wilds of the Rocky Mountains. Don't miss this next installment in The Front Range Series—a powerful, moving story that shows how love conquers all fears—if only you'll let it.




Praise for Colorado Hope:


"I was so utterly thrilled to have a story hold my attention this completely...To me, this is the perfect story to ‘cocoon’ yourself in to your favorite reading spot, and try not to come out ‘til you’re done." —FictionZeal.com


"This was one of the BEST books I've ever read! The heart-stopping adventures are believable and gripping, but best of all is the empathy and understanding you'll feel for the heroes! You will fall in love with the two protagonists, whose hearts are good and kind. And you'll love to hate the antagonists, whose hearts are cold and calculating. Whitman's savvy and understanding of human nature is matched perfectly with her beautiful writing ability: her descriptions draw you in; her pacing keeps you hooked; and her emotional sensitivity will keep you turning pages long into the night!" —author Pamela Walls



Praise for Colorado Promise:


"A fresh new voice in Historical Romance, Charlene Whitman captured me from the beginning with characters I won't soon forget, a sizzling-sweet romance, a love triangle, spiteful villains, heart-throbbing heroes, and a plot full of intrigue that kept me guessing. Ms. Whitman's magnificent research transported me to the Colorado plains and left me longing to join the characters amidst the wildflower-dotted fields, rushing rivers, and panoramic Rocky Mountains. Fans of Historical Western Romance will not soon forget Colorado Promise.

136 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 29, 2015

118 people are currently reading
182 people want to read

About the author

Charlene Whitman

9 books44 followers

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5 stars
138 (49%)
4 stars
84 (30%)
3 stars
39 (14%)
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10 (3%)
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6 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
Profile Image for Jo-Anne.
1,758 reviews38 followers
May 31, 2015
I just loved this book! It lets us take a look at life in the mountains in the 1870s. Sure makes me glad not to be living in that time. We follow LeRoy Banks when a grizzly bear attacks some horses on the ranch during his brother's wedding.

Two cowboys are sent out to kill the bear but LeRoy doesn't have much faith in their ability to handle the job so he sets out tracking the bear on his own. LeRoy has had problems being accepted his entire life because he is half white and half Cheyenne Indian. He has learned to be tough and not let the names he is called bother him. LeRoy is a very skilled tracker so is on the trail of the grizzly in no time. That is until a blizzard hits.

Before leaving, LeRoy's mother (a Cheyenne medicine woman) gave him a pouch filled with medicines she said he would need. She also gave him some wise words about not being afraid to accept love when he found it. She knew falling in love was his biggest fear. She tells him to be receptive to the secrets he finds in the mountain and accept them.

LeRoy runs into someone else who is after the grizzly and they work together to get the bear. It was a good thing there were two of them going after the bear because it was hard enough to take down a grizzly at all but this one was massively huge and then they had the blizzard to make matters worse.

Charlene Whitman is a very illustrative writer who creates an entire world for her audience to get lost in. Every aspect of this story is fully developed in a manner that you can’t help but picture. I could easily envision LeRoy tracking the grizzly bear. I was on the edge of my seat wondering who was going to kill who - LeRoy or the bear. She presents her readers with a novel that is simultaneously exciting, suspenseful, and emotional. The author did a remarkable job of illustrating just how hard life was in those times.

I absolutely love this author. I don’t think that I’ve read a single piece of her work that hasn’t held me captive. This story definitely holds up to that standard. This novella may be short and sweet, but it definitely packs a punch.

It was very hard for me to put down. The writing was fantastic and the characters! The characters were wonderfully written. I highly recommend Wild Secret, Wild Longing to anyone who likes historical romance.

Please note I received a complementary copy of this novella in exchange for my honest review.

Profile Image for Sharon Paavola.
253 reviews29 followers
December 1, 2015
Wild Secret Wild Longing contains multiple elements that make a book worth reading; deep characters that grow, suspense and action, romance, history, tension, and a strong storyline that carries throughout.

LeRoy is a man's man, one who can stand on his own yet willing to open his heart. Discover what happens the night his brother weds and he leaves to hunt down a horse killing bear. Will the words of his Indian mother lead him to the longing of his soul? How does the rough kid Dan open a new door for LeRoy?

I recommend reading Wild Secret Wild Longing. Only cooking Thanksgiving dinner stopped me from completing it.

The gracious author gave me a copy and I have written an honest review of her book. Thank you, Charlene!
Profile Image for Kathy.
1,709 reviews5 followers
October 2, 2020
An excellent story of a bear hunt that brings two people together. When a bear attacks the horses that LeRoy is training, killing three. He sets off to the mountains to kill the bear. Gennie has lived in the mountains for eleven years. The last three by herself. Her family was killed by Indians. Old Bill took her in, but he was a mean son of a bitch. She’s had trouble with this bear before, but has never been close enough to kill it.
Profile Image for Raelene Cowley.
131 reviews2 followers
November 7, 2016
Title is right for the book!

Loved the book. Enjoyed how these characters show so much compassion, heart and how they endured so much in their lives. Enjoyed the story and the characters, and also Charlene's other books. Defiantly worth reading!!!
~Raelene~
Profile Image for Rosalie Bennett.
22 reviews
October 9, 2018
Love the Colorado Frontier Range series

T
I have read the other good but this one was very exciting! It had a different storyline and I really enjoyed it.
Profile Image for Kathy Brickert.
3,490 reviews17 followers
January 4, 2020
Loved it!

Couldn't put it down! Great story, and I love these characters! The Banks brothers come across like a breath of fresh wind! Such a wonderful series! Great read!
Profile Image for Willadale.
89 reviews
March 16, 2017
After just a few pages I realized that I had read this book a while back, but I continued reading because I remembered enjoying it a lot the first time. I was not disappointed.
Profile Image for Julie Morales.
427 reviews1 follower
January 11, 2017
FACING DOWN YOUR FEARS

Eli Banks is now married, and his brother Leroy is being hounded next. Eli says he needs to marry, his mother says he needs to marry, and for Pete's sake, even Eli's wife is now telling him he needs to marry. But Leroy isn't ready. When he marries, it's got to be a special woman for sure, and that kind of woman just hadn't come his way yet. If she was out there, he'd find her eventually, but he was in no hurry.
Genevieve has lived on the mountain for several years by herself now, and before that, she lived with an older man who instilled in her how worthless she was because of her past. She believed it, and spent her time around others living as a man, although she saw others as infrequently as possible. It was just her and her dog, and that's the way she wanted it. Or at least it had been. Living in isolation like that takes its toll eventually though, and Gennie was starting to realize she couldn't live like this much longer.
Leroy is helping out at a neighboring ranch, helping with the herd of horses he and Eli had captured not long before. The wedding between Eli and Clare is just over and the guests are still mingling and celebrating when a grizzly attacks the herd, dragging off one mare, injuring two and killing three others. Leroy is devastated and knows he's got to find that bear. Other ranch hands were sent out separately, but Leroy was known for his tracking skills and would rather go alone anyway, so he sets off.
He doesn't count on meeting up with a wolf mix, preparing to shoot what he thought was a threat, and getting knocked in the head with the butt of a rifle by someone he hadn't even seen. No one snuck up on him like that, but Gennie did. Thing is, Gennie was dressed like a man and gave the name Dan.
Gennie was after that grizzly too, and it was while hunting him that she came upon Leroy. Their paths had now merged completely and forever. They would face together what both thought they were going to do alone, but both would eventually realize they couldn't have done it alone anyway, not with the way things had happened.
I love these books. The reviews that say they're page-turners and you lose sleep over them, determined to find out how things turned out, are absolutely true, and I've gotten emotionally involved in all of them so far. I'm kind of sad to know I'm about to start the last book. Each one has characters overlapping from previous books, so you get to see how things are going with characters you'd met before, and it's like visiting with friends. It takes a good writer to give you feelings like that.
Profile Image for Penny.
Author 9 books36 followers
June 4, 2015
I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. For my complete review, visit http://bit.ly/1cA1ye9

Simply put, this book is everything I have come to expect from this author, if a little shorter than I had hoped. Her world creation is authentic without being intrusive, her characters complex and heartfelt, her plot intriguing and engrossing without challenging the credulity of the reader. Whitman does a superb job of taking the reader to the time and place. She captures the era perfectly not only with the external trappings but with the attitudes and actions of her characters. That said, if and when they act contrary to the prevailing attitudes of the day, she creates a rich and satisfying read.

In style and substance, this novella fits well with her catalog of fantasy and literary fiction, although not quite as polished as her other works I've read. I did find that her denouement lagged a little, and some of her tertiary characters felt a little too pat/flat in their responses to the situation, particularly at the end. It just seemed a bit too easy.

That said, I did read an advanced reader's copy, rather than the final release, and the very format of a novella precludes the rich development of characters not central to the plot. In addition, this is the third novella in the series, of which previous works I have read none. My issues with the tertiary characters may well have been addressed in previous installments. I look forward to going back to the beginning and savoring each story.

Each genre comes with its own set of tropes, Westerns and sweet romances entirely different from literary fiction (thus the pseudonym). This issue and those above argue for negation of points docked, as does the rich delight that is her prose. However, based on the comparisons with her other works, I give Wild Heart, Wild longing 4/5 stars.
Profile Image for Kathy Heare Watts.
6,986 reviews175 followers
July 2, 2015
DON'T JUST TRACK WITH YOUR EYES. TRACK WITH YOUR HEART

I loved this story, with the mystery and suspense that kept the pages turning. This is part of a series, but can read easily as a stand-alone. This story is full of delightful characters, witty dialogue, heartbreaking moments, death-defying feats, emotional breakdowns and two people who feel as an outcast, finding each other. I look forward to more in this series.

LeRoy Banks, half Cheyenne and half white, he lives in the white man's world but feels lost in either world. His father was a white man, trained horses and was killed when the boys were young. His mother, Sarah Banks, is a Cheyenne medicine woman, has great insight, can speak with animals, and loves her sons. What starts out as an enjoyable day, the wedding of Eli Banks and Clare, take a sudden turn when a grizzly bear attacks the horses, killing and maiming several of them. A danger to man and animals, LeRoy decides he must track and kill this dangerous bear. What he never expected was to encounter a wolf and it's owner. Gennie Champlain, has lived on the mountain, away from people, after being taken in by a mountain man called Old Bill. After Bill's death, she had managed the rough mountain terrain on her own for three years. What happens when Dan and LeRoy together confront this deadly bear? It becomes a life and death struggle on the mountain. He'd tracked a bear and found her at the end of his trail, and at the end of his hope. Disclosure: I received an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts, opinions, and ratings are my own.
Profile Image for John W..
Author 1 book13 followers
May 29, 2015
WILD SECRET, WILD LONGING by Charlene Whitman focuses on life in Colorado in 1876. Whitman introduces her male protagonist, LeRoy Banks, who is half Cheyenne Indian and half white. A grizzly bear attacks at the Whitcomb ranch on his brother Eli’s wedding day. LeRoy, the only experienced tracker, plans to track and kill the grizzly. Whitman’s readers are LeRoy’s shadow, listening to a conversation between Leroy and his mother Sarah, a Cheyenne medicine woman. Sarah tells LeRoy to be open to the secrets of the mountain and to what he finds.

Leroy begins tracking the grizzly into the mountains. At the same time, a lonely inhabitant living on the mountain is also tracking the grizzly. Whitman introduces her female protagonist, Gennie Champlain who has been living in isolation in her mountain cabin. Whitman details Gennie’s backstory full of loss and heartache and the importance of her secrets to the storyline.

While tracking the grizzly in the mountains, LeRoy encounters something even more daunting. Something that forces him to face the deepest fear in his heart.

The pace of Whitman’s storyline never slows down and builds on a message of how love can conquer all fears. WILD SECRET, WILD LONGING is a love story full of adventure and life experiences. A must read and earns a thumbs up.
Profile Image for Margaret.
2,652 reviews11 followers
November 11, 2016
4.5 stars Well worth reading!! This is a sweet western novella dating back to the 1860-1870's. Many struggled for survival and this story about LeRoy & Dan is great. Dan was taken at the age of about 12 years old and abused by a nasty mountain man. Dan didn't trust that any mountain men were much better than the Indians that killed the entire family. Dan lived for many years alone & surviving due to the skills learned throughout the last several years. LeRoy was tracking the grizzly that killed several horses he was training. Once he was hurt and Dan took care of him and started to trust him. It took him a while to realize the entire situation. He was kind and taught that not all men are like those she'd previously encountered. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more of Ms Whitman' s books in the future. I received a free copy of this book from the author solely in exchange for an honest review.z
Profile Image for Sarah Bierle.
Author 9 books39 followers
September 4, 2015
I received a copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.

This historical romance novel was a real page-turner. Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down! There was lots of action, but it fit well into the story and was certainly believable in the historical setting. I really enjoyed the themes and symbolism woven into the story.

While there is a dark theme surrounding one of the character's experiences, it makes her secret and her life choices understandable and realistic. The semi-parallel, lonely pasts of the characters made a great conflict. I appreciated that the romance theme was thoughtfully crafted.

Overall, an easy-to-read story in a rugged Western setting and a tough, yet sweet romance.
Profile Image for Will Decker.
Author 23 books17 followers
April 13, 2016
A nice quick romantic read about a man that sets out on a dangerous journey only to meet a strange and enticing woman that not only saves his life, but also his heart. Although the story was predictable from the beginning to the end, the characters were well developed and believable. The challenges along their journey could be metaphors for a modern day life. It didn't suck me in and take me for a ride like a 5 star story, but it did take me to another time and place far from reality and for that I give it 4 stars.
Profile Image for Gina Smith.
466 reviews10 followers
June 20, 2015
Sweet story between LeRoy and Gennie. Gennie has been living on her own in a cabin for the past few years. Feeling she is unlovable due to her past circumstances she has resigned herself to live this way. Leroy meets Gennie as he is on his way to kill a grizzly bear that has been attacking the livestock back at the ranch where he is working. Thrown together can love blossom for them?
Profile Image for BookSnuggle.
1,233 reviews4 followers
July 5, 2015
I received a copy of this book for an honest review. "Wild Secret, Wild Longing" is a great historical romance. The author did a great job of bringing the story to life. I enjoyed the sweet romance of LeRoy and Gennie. The supporting characters were great too. I especially liked LeRoy's mom. This is a quick clean read. Excellent read!
Profile Image for Barbara "Cookie" Serfaty Williams.
2,705 reviews5 followers
July 3, 2016
Wild Secret, Wild Longing: A Sweet Historical Western Romance Novella (The Front Range Series)

The love story of LoRoy and Gennie. LoRoy is a great tracker and horseman whose mother want him to find a wife. Gennie is a woman who was taught that she was nothing and no one would want her. She save LoRoy's life and he teach her she is something of value. You love it.
26 reviews
February 13, 2016
Good story

I found the characters interesting and the story is clean. I wish it were a bit longer so the characters could be more developed. I like the writing and will try another book to see how I like it and see if the writer develops characters better.

46 reviews
July 7, 2016
Excellent Book

I loved this book! This was such a moving tender love story. I love this writer's attention to detail. I can say I truly felt I was there with the characters watching this story unfold.
11 reviews
February 12, 2016
Good book

It was interesting. It should be read as light reading; don't expect the novel of a lifetime. Just a decent, pleasant book.
Profile Image for Helen.
327 reviews5 followers
February 14, 2016
Wild Secret, Wild Longings-Charlene Whitman

This book is well written. There's action, strong characters & much more. I couldn't stop reading it, very intense too.
Profile Image for Laura.
276 reviews
June 14, 2016
Wild Secret, Wild Longing

Intriguing story of a half-breed Cheyenne young man and a young woman who had been raised by a mountain man after her family was killed by the Pawnee.
Profile Image for Vickie Halitsky.
12 reviews1 follower
August 18, 2016
Good easy read

A good ,easy to read book, interesting story, a little predictable, enjoyed the historical views, good series of books over all
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews

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