It's 1877 and Alexia Travers is alone in the world. Her father has died unexpectedly, leaving her burdened with a heavily mortgaged horse ranch. Marrying one of the town's all-too-willing bachelors would offer an easy solution, but Alex has no interest in marriage. Instead, she dons men's trousers and rides the range, determined to make the ranch a success on her own.
But despite Alex's best efforts, everything seems to go wrong: ranch hands quit, horses are stolen, and her father's gold goes missing. Alex is at her wit's end when wrangler Justin Phillips arrives in Last Chance with his young son, looking for a job. But there seems to be more to Justin's story than he's willing to share. Will Alex ever be able to trust him? More importantly, will the independent woman finally learn to depend on God?
Published by Summerside Press
Buy at Amazon or Christianbook.com
Miralee and her husband Allen have been married almost 40 yrs. They live on 11 acres in the beautiful Columbia River Gorge in southern Washington State, where they love to garden, play with their dogs, take walks, and go sailing. Miralee also rides her horse on the wooded trails near their home with her grown daughter who lives nearby. She’s an avid reader and has a large collection of first edition Zane Grey books, which inspired her desire to write fiction set in the Old West. When she started writing fiction Miralee believed that she’d always stay with women’s contemporary, but has since branched out to historical romance. Her first two books were women’s contemporary with Kregel Publications, The Other Daughter, and Finding Jeena.
Miralee serves as president of the Portland, Oregon, chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and belongs to a number of writer’s groups. She speaks at women’s groups, libraries, and churches about her writing journey, and has taught a both writers and library conferences.
Her fourth historical romance with Summerside Press in their Love Finds You series, set in Sundance, Wyoming released summer of 2011. Miralee is currently under contract with David C. Cook for a three-book series of historical romance novels, set in Oregon. Some of her books have a suspense thread as well as romance, and three have a higher degree of action with a decided Old West slant. Her upcoming series will be somewhat of a women’s fiction/historical romance combination, with the emphasis on well-developed characters and plot.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/miralee
Twitter: www.twitter.com/#!/MiraleeFerrell
Blog: www.miraleesdesk.blogspot.com
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| Last Chance hotel. The upstairs could only be accessed by a ladder on the outside of the building. Mostly unmarried miners used the large room. This building fronted Main Street. |
My Thoughts
1877 Last Chance, California.
Alexia Travers has many loose ends to tie up after her father's recent death. Luckily she still has the support of Uncle Joe and Martha. The ranch hands don't like the idea of working for a woman rancher even if she could hold her own while working and roping the horses.
Unbeknownst to Alex her father had notified Justin Phillips a friend of his to come to Last Chance. Because his life and ranch were in danger. Her father feared for his life and needed Justin to work undercover in hopes of revealing the culprit causing the trouble. But Justin was not alone, he is a widower with his three year old son. He no sooner got to town and there was trouble. He soon straightens that mess out and in the process managed to make a few friends in town. He was told he could probably get hired on as ranch hand on a local ranch owned by a woman. Which he had not problem working for a woman. He just wanted to make sure his son would be looked after while he worked.
Uncle Joe and Martha liked Justin right off and told him if Alex hired him that Martha would be more than happy to watch his son. Uncle Joe even volunteered to help her with the boy. Alex recognized Justin from the incident when he first arrived in town so she wasn't too sure about hiring him. But it looked like his boy and Martha had already bonded so she told Justin she would try him out. To Alex's surprise Justin turned out to be a big asset to the ranch. He definitely knew his way around a ranch.
Alex uncovered some things about her father and the ranch she had no idea was going on. She is afraid she might lose the ranch. No way will she let that happen. But now someone is stealing her horses and cutting her fences.
Her distant cousin that really isn't related at all has asked to court her. But he seems to be into her business way to much. Justin notices this also and plans on keeping an eye on him. He made a promise to her father and he plans to see it through. From the looks of things he is pretty sure her father's death was not an accident.
This book had just the right amount of intrigue, adventure and romance. The author writes about trusting in God and having faith that He has plan for each one of us. The character of Alex was head strong and a little to prideful and too independent at times but when she started to trust in God she was able to accept help from others. Justin was about in the same situation with God, once he let go and let God his whole outlook on life changed. In my opinion the author has a wonderful story here and it is hard to put down once you start reading.
I highly recommend this book.
I rated this book a 5 out of 5.
Disclosure
I purchased this book for my own reading pleasure. I was not compensated for this review in any way. It is my own opinion.
If you found this review helpful
Thank you for this wonderful review, and for all the effort you put into it. It's so rare to find a blogger who (on their own without being asked) posts info about the author, the book and a review. What a blessing you are!!
ReplyDeleteIt took me approximately 48 hrs to read the book put together my post and write a review. It took you a whole lot longer to research your book and get it to press. So you see it is you the author that deserves all the glory. You gave me the pleasure of reading a wonderful book.
DeleteBlessing to all you that write these books to entertain us!