Sweetwater

Wow. I just typed up a long review then hit some key that made me lose it all. I want to cry. I just know it's not as good as what I had, but here's my best effort at recalling what I wrote:

Sweetwater is written with the skill I've come to expect from Henry, the kind that transports you to the time and place of the story, makes you feel like you're experiencing the events right along with the characters. Most of the book was from Elijah's perspective, and I loved how well developed a character he was as a result. I particularly enjoyed some of the descriptions of how things sounded to his mostly deaf ears:

Song was water, tipped from a ewer into a hollow basin. Song swelled, reverberated, and he couldn't distinguish the words from the echo.

Getting to know Elijah so well allowed me to experience his emotions with him, and let's just say he was put through the wringer! Unfortunately, in getting such depth with Elijah, I feel like I had to give up that depth elsewhere, especially in the relationship development between him and Grady. I was only given a glimpse of Grady's background and personality, and the two men didn't even have a true conversation until halfway through the book. From that point, their relationship felt rushed and superficial.

My other issue was purely personal, in that historical fiction in general, and Westerns set in the 1800s in particular, are really not my thing (I had to read it despite that, since Lisa Henry is one of my favorite authors and so many others raved about it). Those in combination meant that while I liked the book and think it's very well written, I didn't love it and found it lacking in key areas.