by Misty M. Beller (Author), Lisa Kelly (Narrator), Misty M. Beller Books (Publisher)

An Audiobook

Misty M. Beller’s sweet romance book, THE LADY AND THE MOUNTAIN CALL, is an easy, relaxing read.  That’s not to say there aren’t suspenseful and despairing moments in it. Fighting wild wolves and falling over a cliff are indeed scary.  And several choices that must be made are hard and cause tears. But there is a good warmth to the story (not soft and fuzzy) that leaves you feeling satisfied when you close the book.

This is #5 in the series, but they are totally separate. You haven’t missed anything crucial that’s happened before when you read this one.

“The Mountain Call” in the title is to Cathleen Donaghue, who has traveled from Boston to care for her newborn nephew in her brother’s Colorado home.  But the baby is doing well, and the gal is feeling a bit antsy.  She loves Colorado, but should she return to Boston and her parents?

And then, (yes, the call), her doctor-brother tells her of an elderly woman living alone in a mountain cabin, who has just lost her husband. What is worse, the woman is experiencing dementia. How in the world can she live alone, even though she insists upon it.

Cathleen heeds the call – at least for a couple weeks – to help the woman, until her trapper-son comes home.  She finds the situation more desperate than they realized and must nurse the woman to bodily health. As she does, she also gently attempts to help with the woman’s mind, using salves, herbs, and teas her brother gives her. Gradually, she develops a daughterly love for the woman  And she makes progress. 

This part is very interesting.  You don’t think about dementia being a part of living in the “wild west.” Beller handles it well, using what helpful techniques that might have been available at the time.  

Of course, then arrives the big bear-like son, Reuben, shocked to hear his father is dead, his mother is in such poor mental condition, and a strange woman is living in their house.

Yes, that’s when the “sweet romance” begins, VERY slowly at first, of course. Kathleen sees that she cannot leave the care of this mentally confused woman in the hands of a man who only knows how to trap animals and prepare pelts. She stays on.  And on.  And the atmosphere slides into a “family.”

But that only lasts a short time. Bad news draws Kathleen back to town.  Reuben is overwhelmed by the care of his mother; and then a terrible accident!

The ending will satisfy, even if the epilogue leaves a little bit wanting. A good, sweet story, like a mug of hot chocolate with melting marshmallows on top, sipped in front of a warm winter fireplace.