Read Anywhere and on Any Device!

Subscribe to Read | $0.00

Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!

Create Free Account

The Hardest Ride

Gordon L. Rottman

4.3/5 ( ratings)

The Texas-Mexico border, the winter of 1886—The Great Die Up. A raw rift separates Mexicans and Anglos. A loner cowpoke and a mute Mexican girl fight man and nature to reunite.

Out of work cowpoke Bud Eugen comes across Marta, a mute sixteen-year old Mexican girl whose family has been killed by Indians. Bud reluctantly takes her along, even though he’s never had to accommodate another person in his simple life. He’s unable to find anyone willing to take her. In spite of his prejudices, Bud grows to like the spunky girl .

Eventually, they both find work on a border ranch. Here, the relationship between the girl and the young cowboy hesitantly grows. But banditos raid the ranch, kidnapping the rancher’s daughters and Marta. Bud, with twelve other men, pursue the banditos into the most desolate reaches of Mexico. Ambushes and battles with banditos, Rurales, and traitors are constant, and the brutal weather is as much a threat as the man-made perils. Life and death choices are made at every turn as one side gains the advantage, then the other.

The rancher’s daughters are rescued, and the exhausted party turns back. But Bud presses on alone, against insurmountable odds – determined to fulfill an unspoken promise to Marta.

A USA TODAY and Amazon bestseller, this wonderfully crafted tale of 1800s Western life won the Western Fictioneers' Peacemaker Award for Best Western Novel 2014, was a Western Fictioneers Peacemaker Award Finalist for Best First Western Novel 2014, and was a Western Writers of America Spur Award Finalist for Best Traditional Western Novel for 2013.

Language: English

Pages: 314

Format: Kindle Edition

Publisher: Hartwood Publishing

Release: December 04, 2013

The Hardest Ride

Gordon L. Rottman

4.3/5 ( ratings)

The Texas-Mexico border, the winter of 1886—The Great Die Up. A raw rift separates Mexicans and Anglos. A loner cowpoke and a mute Mexican girl fight man and nature to reunite.

Out of work cowpoke Bud Eugen comes across Marta, a mute sixteen-year old Mexican girl whose family has been killed by Indians. Bud reluctantly takes her along, even though he’s never had to accommodate another person in his simple life. He’s unable to find anyone willing to take her. In spite of his prejudices, Bud grows to like the spunky girl .

Eventually, they both find work on a border ranch. Here, the relationship between the girl and the young cowboy hesitantly grows. But banditos raid the ranch, kidnapping the rancher’s daughters and Marta. Bud, with twelve other men, pursue the banditos into the most desolate reaches of Mexico. Ambushes and battles with banditos, Rurales, and traitors are constant, and the brutal weather is as much a threat as the man-made perils. Life and death choices are made at every turn as one side gains the advantage, then the other.

The rancher’s daughters are rescued, and the exhausted party turns back. But Bud presses on alone, against insurmountable odds – determined to fulfill an unspoken promise to Marta.

A USA TODAY and Amazon bestseller, this wonderfully crafted tale of 1800s Western life won the Western Fictioneers' Peacemaker Award for Best Western Novel 2014, was a Western Fictioneers Peacemaker Award Finalist for Best First Western Novel 2014, and was a Western Writers of America Spur Award Finalist for Best Traditional Western Novel for 2013.

Language: English

Pages: 314

Format: Kindle Edition

Publisher: Hartwood Publishing

Release: December 04, 2013

More books from Gordon L. Rottman

Ride Harder

4.2/5 ( ratings)

Marta's Ride

4.4/5 ( ratings)

Tears of the River

3.9/5 ( ratings)

FUBAR F***ed Up Beyond All Recognition: Soldier Slang of World War II

3.7/5 ( ratings)

The AK-47

3.8/5 ( ratings)

The Berlin Wall and the Intra-German Border 1961-89

3.6/5 ( ratings)

US MACV-SOG Reconnaissance Team in Vietnam

3.9/5 ( ratings)

Marta's Daughter

4.4/5 ( ratings)

The M16

Warsaw Pact Ground Forces

3.8/5 ( ratings)

World War II Infantry Anti-Tank Tactics

3.5/5 ( ratings)

The Rocket Propelled Grenade

3.6/5 ( ratings)

The Great Locomotive Chase: The Andrews Raid 1862

3.5/5 ( ratings)

US Army Rangers & LRRP Units 1942–87

3.2/5 ( ratings)

Guam 1941 & 1944: Loss and Reconquest

3.7/5 ( ratings)

German Combat Equipments 1939–45

3.3/5 ( ratings)

Special Forces Camps in Vietnam 1961–70

3.4/5 ( ratings)

US Army Special Forces 1952–84

3.5/5 ( ratings)

Saipan & Tinian 1944: Piercing the Japanese Empire

3.1/5 ( ratings)

Armies of the Gulf War

3.7/5 ( ratings)

Rate this book!

Write a review?