That's a Novel Idea

It is not often I read a series and each book just gets better and better, but in this series I think this last book was the best! (And they were all good).  It was a very romantic western with a story line that I always enjoy, which is about a mail-order bride.  I like the way the author started the book and the depiction you get when you read about Walker McKay.  "He had it made: no interfering woman to tell him what to wear, when to eat, or whom to eat with.  His life was his own, and he had no intention of changing it." His philosophy was, "women were good for just two things: cooking and childbearing and not necessarily in that order."  He ran a ranch, led a good lifestyle, enjoyed hunting and fishing and had no interest in getting married.  But when a bull almost kills him, he realizes his need to get serious about marrying and having some children to carry on his name, so he orders a mail-order bride.

Sarah Livingston is the heiress to a wealthy railroad father and she wants nothing more than to get married and raise children, but her and her father cannot agree on who she should marry.  So Sarah decides to run away.  On the train she comes across a mail-order bride who doesn't want to go through with it and Sarah offers to take her place.  So Sarah shows up to finally get married and raise children with Walker McKay.  From here on out it is a challenge for Sarah to get Walker to love her, but a challenge she is very up to.  I loved her determination and the way they were made for each other.  But Walker is a hard man to let down his guard and when he finally does he will discover Sarah has lied to him.  Forgiveness is not one of Walker's better qualities and it will take a near death experience to get him to realize he really does love this woman.

I really enjoyed the chemistry between these two main characters.  It was one of the stories that it was hard for me to put down until I had read it all.  Did I know how it was going to end.  Yes.  But it sure was fun reading how it all comes together.  As the back of the book says, this was "a tender romance that shows how even a wounded past does not stand a chance when God's mercy, warm friendship, and true love come to reside in a lonely man's heart."  This would be a book I could easily read again.