The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn by Lori Benton - A book review

The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn is a beautifully written and poetic novel based during the frontier times in early America.  This is actually not my first Lori Benton novel, so I knew I was likely going to really enjoy this read before I even started it.

Tamsen Littlejohn has been living under a harsh life with a not so kind stepfather who expects her to do everything she is told and exactly as he wishes.  He's also been an abusive husband to her mother and Tamsen has longed for escape.
When her stepfather pushes the limits by setting up an arranged marriage, Tamsen knows she must get out. Unfortunately attempts on her own do not go as planned.  But when the most horrible thing she could ever imagine happens, she is accepts help from a stranger and frontiersman Jesse Bird and puts her life and fate into his hands.
With nothing more than the clothes on her back, and her own secret treasure together they venture into the wilderness and begin crossing the mountains to escape the stepfather who could be onto them at any time.

Her stepfather and the man he has chosen as her suitor are convinced that Tamsen must have been kidnapped and together they enlist a tracker and head out to bring her back.  But her stepfather has hidden motives for wanting her back, and those motives put her life at complete risk if she is found.

Jesse and his father have been on their own since they left the Shawnee and decided to make their way as frontiersman.  They are highly respected and are known for being able to get a job done, even in dangerous Indian territory.  From the minute Jesse saw Tamsen running out into the street, he was taken by her.  Which is why when he realized the danger she was in, and the help she needed, he didn't hesitate to offer his assistance.  He wasn't sure what would happen next, but one thing has been certain, each day he spends with her, his heart grows fonder and fonder.

Tamsen and Jesse have a rough start, but one thing Tamsen decides early on.  She knows in her heart she can trust Jesse.  Nothing goes exactly as they both hope, but even with all of the bad.  They begin to find friendship in one another.  Jesse knows where his heart is, but is unsure if Tamsen will ever find her way in her heart to that same place.

The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn, is full of adventure.  Lot's of historically accurate points, that intrigue the mind.  With an early American and Indian frontier timeline.  However, there is no overload of facts.  Lori Benton does a beautiful job of weaving the historical information into her storyline. In other words, you'll feel like you are in full on story, not a bunch of information dump pages!  Additionally, this book has several twists and suspense.
I loved it from beginning to end, this is one of those books that I know I will keep and read again in the future, I enjoyed it so much!  This book is appropriate for any audience, but will probably be more enjoyed by adults or anyone over 16.

VISIT THE AUTHORS WEBSITE HERE

YOU CAN READ THE FIRST CHAPTER HERE

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS BOOK HERE

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Disclaimer: I was provided a complimentary copy of this book from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing for my honest review.  I was not asked to write a positive review, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Wild Animals in my Travels

So probably you can tell if you read my blog, that I love to travel and love to take pictures.  Although I am not anywhere near a professional photographer, that doesn't stop me from trying to grab some of the best shots that I am capable of.

I also love to find and see wild animals, I have ever since I was a child.  If I am up camping or out hiking, you can bet I am first enjoying the scenery, but second keeping my eyes out for nearby wildlife.  Most of the time when I see something great, I don't have my camera with me, or don't get it out in time.  However, on one of those rare moments that the camera is there, and I get the shot in, in time then I get some of these that you'll see below.

I captured this young Grizzly bear up near the Montana/Wyoming boarder in Yellowstone National Park.  I love this picture because as I chased him around a little he walked into this meadow of multi-colored wildflowers.  Let me tell you the other favorite part of this picture, no zoom was needed.  I was lucky he came this close to me!

This is the same young grizzly, leaving me.  I think he was annoyed that he was being followed around with a camera.  Which brings me to my rules of capturing bears on camera at close range. Let them come to you.  You can follow them a little after, but if you annoy them too much they will either just leave, or they could become violent.  You can place yourself in bear country and walk around and wait, but if they come near you, are are likely more safe to photograph them, than if you sneak up on them (which I don't recommend ever doing!)

Sorry for the grainy quality of this picture.  I had to use one of those disposable under water cameras.
The picture above, and below were taking off the North Shore in Oahu, Hawaii.  The boat took us out a few miles so we could get out and enjoy diving with sharks.

We had several surrounding us the entire time.  It was awesome!  I hope to have the chance to do it again, and maybe in the future I can purchase a camera that the pictures will be a tad more clear underwater!

I took this picture in Capitol Reef National Park in Utah.  My sister and I were out hiking in the back country in the hot June month and stopped to take a drink break.  All of a sudden this Desert Bighorn Sheep jumped up out of his shade spot underneath the beautiful multi-colored rock you see in the background.  He actually allowed me to get pretty close to him even for a few shots after this one, before he decided to go find some better peace and quiet elsewhere.

The three shots above were taken in the waters off of Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska.  We were actually surrounded by close to 60 of these beautiful Orca's.  These were just a few of my more favorite shots.  Of course I never had the camera ready when they were jumping full out of the water....  But that is the story of my life.  Still I loved capturing a few great shots of these beautiful creatures while they were playing and eating in the water.

I love spotting mountain goats up in the mountains.  Its not as easy as you would think because these agile creatures get way high up in the tops of the rocky mountains and can get around in these high cliff area's amazingly at ease.  These particular shots were taken up in Montana in Glacier National Park.  I was lucky because they were all resting on the mountain close to where we were so it was easy to get a few great shots.  If you've never had the opportunity to spot and watch mountain goats, this is something I highly recommend.  Its amazing to see them walk around with their hooves on high cliff ledges, especially the cute young babies!

Above is the back of a Humpback Whale!  My favorite humpback watching area's are in the Summer in Alaska, or in the winter months in Hawaii.  The picture I chose above was actually taken in the icy waters off of Alaska, near the Seward area.

Elk are something I can easily say I have seen hundred's of in my lifetime.  This is most definitely not the best shot I have, in fact I have some amazing close up shots of some trophy elk.  But I'll save those for another time.  That and they are on some of my other camera cards, that I can't remember at this exact time where I placed them:)  Still the above shot is still of a beautiful one!  This shot was taken in Wyoming, in Yellowstone National Park.

Seals are always easy to spot, along certain coasts.  This large pack of them I took on one of the islands in Alaska, in the Northwestern Fjords area.  A side note, the reason the rock they are on looks the way it does, it was once covered as likely a huge glacier, and the cracks and look of it is the after effect of the melting process.  the seals jump up onto the island rock at higher tide and then sunbath.

This beautiful and huge sleepy buffalo was taken up in Yellowstone National Park, on the Montana side.  I will be honest, getting down to grab this shot was probably not one of my smarter moments!  Luckily, he didn't wake up and I got in and out quick!  I'll go with my "do not do this" caption with this photo.  Buffalo can be really aggressive, and although they are easily found in Yellowstone, they will come after you or your vehicle if you get in their way.  So be smart and keep a safe distance.

I saved this cute picture for last.  This is a mother Grizzly Bear and her two younger cubs.  This shot was taken in Denali National Park, Alaska.  They were taking an afternoon nap in this picture.  But as I went through Denali, I believe we counted seeing over 22 bears in one day.  However, most people visit and never see even one.  I've even spoken to people who live there and have never seen any.
Like all animals, they key is to keep your eyes open.  Bear watching is a tad different than other animals because basically you are looking around for fuzzy looking rocks:)  That is the best way to describe what you are looking for when you are bear watching.  Its also a lot easier to spot them in open terrain, versus forest area's.
I'll be honest, before I learned this trick about 6 years ago, I hardly ever spotted bears unless they walked right out in front of me.  Now that I have learned a few tricks, I spot bears all the time when I am traveling or even here in my home state.

Another tip for bear watching and photography.  If you are out hiking, it is best to make noise in bear country, you never want to surprise them!  You can talk or carry a bell... Most the time they'll know you are in the area long before you get there, and they'll leave or hide until you leave.  Sometimes they won't care and they'll stay out and let you take pictures.  But just remember, don't get closer than they want you to be, and keep a safe distance!
If they are out and about and walking around and come near you great.  If you see one in the distance and try to run up to get closer, not good!  Be smart and maybe you'll be lucky to get some great shots too!

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I have 100's more photo's of different animals.  But I will save them for another time, so this post doesn't get too huge!  But to give you a teaser, sometime in the future I'll show some other favorite pictures - Trophy deer, Antelope, Wild Mustangs, Fox, Dolphins, Sea Turtles, Stingray's, Trophy Elk and probably some more awesome bear shots to name a few.

I am yet to get a cougar (a.k.a. mountain lion) shot though....  I have been pretty close to a cougar and once had a great shot of one 20 feet away.  However, I didn't have a camera with me on that day when I was out running.  So that is one wild animal I am still waiting for my great shot of!  Maybe this summer...