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It is 1916, and Ellen has moved to Wallace, Wyoming, to start a career as a schoolteacher. But, what she wasn’t expecting, was to fall in love with a handsome cowboy named Charlie Bacon. After marrying Charlie, Ellen finds her purpose in being a rancher’s wife and purpose in her friendships with the other women living in the prairie. But life isn’t easy for Charlie or Ellen. When tragedies and trials threaten their happiness, Charlie and Ellen must face and endure them together. Can they weather everything life is throwing at them? Or will they crumble?
I wasn’t exactly sure what to get into when I started reading Where Coyotes Howl. I only knew what I read in the blurb: It was a Western, and the author set it in the Wild West. This book was so much more than what was in the blurb. But, this book’s center was the love story between Charlie and Ellen. It was this love story that made the book.
There are trigger warnings in Where Coyotes Howl. They are:
- Domestic Violence: There were several scenes in this book where one of Ellen’s good friends was beaten by her husband. Keeping with the time, Ellen’s husband wrote off the DV as something between that woman and her husband and refused to get involved. The DV was mainly off-page, but the author highlighted a few scenes. The most memorable one was when that woman’s husband burned her hands on the stove because she dared to crochet Ellen something.
- Death: Death is a common theme throughout the book. People died all the time from various things. There were a few on-page deaths, but I will explain more about them in the other trigger warnings.
- Child Death: There were quite a few scenes where children died, either from illness, accident, or murder.
- Child Murder: There was one brutal scene to read where a woman went crazy and killed two out of her six children. It was graphic (because of where and how she did it) and heartbreaking.
- Stillbirth: Ellen gets into a carriage accident when she is almost to term with her pregnancy and loses the baby. The author doesn’t get too much into detail, but enough is given to understand what happened.
- Death during Childbirth: There is a scene where one of the characters dies during childbirth, along with the baby.
If any of these triggers you, I suggest not reading this book.
Where Coyotes Howl is a medium-paced book set entirely in Wallace, Wyoming. There is a brief trip to Iowa at the beginning of the book but other than that; it stays in Wallace.
I enjoyed reading this book. It is a good book when it surprises me and captures my attention. What I liked the most about this book was that it didn’t sugarcoat how awful the living conditions were back then (they were pretty awful). But it also showcased how good people were to each other.
The author beautifully wrote the main storyline centered around Ellen, Charlie, and their love story. Neither Ellen nor Charlie was perfect, but they were perfect together if that makes sense. There were times when I laughed and other times when I cried. I hated how it ended (but I will get to that later in the review).
The secondary characters and storylines in Where Coyotes Howl gave this book extra depth and fleshed-out characters.
The end of Where Coyotes Howl was not a happy ending. I was astonished because, typically, in these types of books, they are. I had to reread the last couple of chapters before it sunk in. But, as surprised as I was, I understood why the author ended the book as she did.
I would recommend Where Coyotes Howl to anyone over 16. There are nongraphic sexual situations (off-page), violence, and mild language. Also, see my trigger warnings.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley, and Sandra Dallas for allowing me to read and review Where Coyotes Howl. All opinions stated in this review are mine.