This is considered a classic western by Zane Grey...when men were men, women were on a pedestal, and Hispanics were Greasers! I've read a few other Grey westerns and remember enjoying them for the most part (he was a favorite author of my father's who read them back close to when they were written) but I just couldn't get into this. The story was about a young woman, Madeline, who decides to travel west where her brother is working as a cowhand on a ranch in New Mexico. As soon as she gets there, one of the other cowboys tries to forcibly marry her on a bet! Of course Majesty (Madeline's pet name) thinks this was romantic rather than sexual assault and later in the novel her maid actually does appear to be forced into a marriage. But of course the maid decides this is love and Majesty liked the idea. Well, Majesty being a woman of means, bails out her brother and his boss and establishes a ranch called Majesty's Rancho where all seems wonderful. The book is full of descriptions of the country and of life on the ranch including cattle roundups and branding but to me the story just seemed to go nowhere and the characters were very cliched and could have been out of a Hopalong Cassidy or Roy Rogers movie. In fact, Light of Western Stars was made into several different movie versions from the silent days up through 1940 or so. I stopped reading this about halfway through, deciding to move on to something a little more up to date and realistic.
