I really enjoyed the characters and how the history was woven into the narrative. It was nice to have a time period that isn't often covered in historical fiction novels!

Jawbone Holler was a very surprising book for me, I found myself slowly drawn more and more into the character of Perry. First, when he leaves his place from his father and only takes a few items his mule, also a spyglass from his granddads. Here begins his journey to Kanas the people he meets along the way and the different stories he hears. All along you see that he is not that tender young buck that some people take him for he has learned to see the signs of men coming up on him so he gets the jump. He still has many miles and when he finally arrives and begins to get settled that first winter is more than he can take and though he makes it he also makes sure he has something left of his mule you did not but saved him. You then begin to meet the different people in town and he finally meets a woman but when he wants to talk to her she has left, she does come back later and slowly he begins to speak to her. Then the war breaks out and by then he has already made friends with the freed slave and his son so he does not rush off until later. By the time you are getting to the end you don’t want the story to end you want to continue to see what will happen with Perry and the others. I found this to be a wonderful book and very much worth the read.