WESTWARD by Amanda MacLean

Juliana St. Clair has had a southern plantation born lifestyle.  But when her father suddenly dies, Juliana and her younger sister Callie must suddenly leave the plantation behind and run from their uncle who has plans for them they want nothing to do with.  They head West, with a goal of reaching New Mexico.  Along the way Juliana will be be torn between the attraction she has for the rugged captain of their wagon train and the protection offered by another man who seems to say and do all the right things.  There will be adventure, danger and intrigue and of course a beautiful romance in the historical drama set in the 1800's.

I found the story very interesting and was always wondering what would happen next to these two young ladies.  I did have a hard time liking Miss Juliana St. Clair.  She seems to be intelligent in some of her decisions but very lacking in her ability to see the true worth of some men.  She was a hard lady for me to become friends with, but by the end of the story she seems to get her act together.  This had  a lot of interesting characters in it and a very good theme throughout of how God interacts with folks by loving, forgiving, guiding and always being there for us when we need Him.  I look forward to book two in this series, "Stonehaven".