Heat of a Savage Moon by Jane Bonander

Heat of a Savage Moon ('93) comes before FM and was a better book. It does have GASP a virgin!widow. Her hubby is murdered right after she get to Pine Valley. (I giggle every time I see Pine Valley and want to know where Erica is) I liked Rachel and Jason. Buck is hard ass, drinker at the end of his rope asshat but you feel for him more here. I wondered if I would have liked FM more if I had read it after this. The big theme that runs through the novel is how the settlers treated the Indians. We do see how horrid the Indian's could be as well, so there is something of a balance going on - but I would rec Ride the Fire over this. The book was ok but nothing I would shout about.