jjares reviewed on 2/27/2022 + 3294 more book reviews

Scarlett Dunn writes great books; her plots keep the reader guessing. There's lots going on in this drama, including rustling, land grabs, suspense, and lots of great dialogue. Victoria Eastman is a strong woman with two small boys. She has done the nearly impossible, taking care of them in a place and time that offered few options to women (without men).

Victoria accepts a mail-order marriage and arrives (without the boys) to check things out. She arrives to find that her fiancee has died of a heart attack out on the range. She gets ready to return to St. Louis, and the job she had there when she finds that she is the owner of the farm of her intended.

Colt McBride is the type of man any woman would want, handsome and successful. However, Colt isn't the marrying kind and works hard at keeping his ranch together, in spite of rustlers and various problems that arrive with a new landowner, who keeps buying up the town.

I had two problems with this novel, small though they might be. First, I wish that every hero and heroine (of Ms. Dunn) wasn't singularly beautiful and handsome. It isn't realistic or necessary. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and there were so few women available, that any and just about all could have husbands if they wished.

Second, Colt getting up out of bed (after a bullet removal near his spine) for a funeral, and then riding a horse to confront some bad guys seemed impossible and unrealistic. Otherwise, I loved this story. It is the first of three about the McBride brothers.

McBride Brothers Series
** 1. Promises Kept (2015)
2. Finding Promise (2015)
3. Last Promise (2016)

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