Excellent! This is a wonderfull series and a great story, vivid characters, funny, sad and adventurous !!
Every HF fan should read Kaki Warner and they will become an addicted fan as I am!

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Overall Rating: 4.65 // Action: 2.5 / Emotion: 4.25 / Romance: 4.5 / Sensuous: 1.0 / Suspense: 4.0 // Historical Flavor: 4.5 // Laughter: 6 / Grins: 1 // Tears: 1 / Teary: 2

Bride of the High Country: 4.65:
Kaki Warner is a gifted storyteller. Her skill is evident as she gives readers this most beautifully written, emotionally engaging romance story. This book is an un-put-down-able read that slowly and irrevocably draws one deep into the lives of multi-dimensional characters.

Hero: 4.5:
Tait Rylander: An honorable man forced to partner with one not so trustworthy. Loved the way this honest, kind-hearted, loyal, intelligent, big, strong, 'behind the scenes' hero persevered through thick and thin -- always staying true to his sense of right and wrong. Tait slowly and deeply worms his way into the recesses of your heart just as surely as he did with his heroine.

Heroine: 4.0:
Cathleen Donovan / Margaret Hamilton / Lucinda Hathaway: From captive Irish orphan, to high society socialite, to cynical hotel owner, Warner painted a heart-rending picture of a survivor. So maybe, Lucinda wasn't the warmest member of the cast, but after reading her story, you couldn't help but admire her strength and identify with her desire to not only feel safe and secure but also to be loved and part of a family.

Story Line: 4.0:
A story filled with contrasts! Take two Irish orphans who knew true destitution, clean them up, give them money, and bring them together in the future. One was striving for safety and security, the other for acceptance. Remove the love and trust from the union and you end up with a bride who flees the wedding. Thankfully, waiting in the wings there is a partner who is faithful, true and tender-hearted who can come to the rescue. This story lost it's punch when Tait and Lucinda were separated. It's too bad that Warner couldn't find a way to speed up (and shorten) the "recap" process.

Action: 2.5:
The story moved at a rapid clip with a few inclusive action scenes until Lucinda reached Heartbreak Creek. Then the story slowed down to take a more mundane, sometimes repetitious path.

Emotion: 4.25:
Although not as deeply felt as in the previous books of the series (in that there were fewer tears and moments of laughter), the emotion Warner squeezed from the reader was no less powerful. You could just feel the wariness, frustration, desperation and longing in both Tait and Lucinda. Warner knows how to wring emotions from her readers.

Romance: 4.5:
Loved the way that Tait and Lucinda were so "aware" of each other, even when Lucinda though of Tait as the enemy. There was such a surety and calmness about Tait that his spirit finally inveigled it's way through the mile-wide barriers Lucinda had around her heart.

Sensuous: 1.0:
Even though Tait and Lucinda were sexually aware of each other and Warner included a bit more nudity into the lovemaking scenes, she still does not include spice, heat or sizzle in her love scenes. Yes, they are well-written and "fit" the story line, but a bit of pepper sure could add a sharper flavor to the mix.

Suspense: 4.0:
No, this wasn't an 'edge of your seat' intensely suspenseful novel, but there were moments when Warner had one on pins and needles wondering how she was going to extract Tait and Lucinda from the mess they were making. How was Lucinda going to escape? How was Tait going to find her? How were they going to end up together?

Secondary Characters: 4.75:
Warner is truly gifted when it comes to including well-developed, amazingly memorable secondary characters in her books. Yes, it was nice to get to spend time with {1} Declan and Ed (and their children), {2} Ash and Maddie, and {3} Thomas and Prudence, but the best addition to the cast of characters was Ida Throckmorton and her butler Pringle. There were several other characters that inspired interest as well; namely, {1} Doyle Kerrigan, {2} Franklin Horne, {3} Buster Quinn, {4} Elder and Ceily Rice, and {5} Abram, Levi, and Martha Yoder.

Historical Flavor: 4.5
Wow! This book will filled with bits of historical data. Warner filled the pages with details of the rich streets of upper-class Manhattan versus the desolation of Five Points. And then she includes incredible amounts of information about the multitude of companies vying to build the railway system spanning America. Tait and Lucinda spent many hours on various trains, revealing even more historical detail about train travel in the 1870s. Warner has proven she knows this subject inside and out.

See Wolf Bear Does Books (http://goo.gl/9LDZJ) for a more in-depth, detailed review of Bride of the High Country. ( )

This is another terrific story, by Ms Warner!
This book is the third in the Runaway Bride series--and I'm so sad to see the series end! Those of you have just discovered Kaki Warner are lucky because you can read the stories back-to-back. This is Lucinda's tale and as with all the others, the writing is very strong, the story compelling, the love scene is sensual and passionate without going into details--well done!

Tait is a wonderful hero. In time when woman were mothers and housekeepers, It was great to see a man so supportive and proud of a strong, smart woman whose interest lay in the non-traditional female sphere of business. I'd love to see their story continue--to catch up with all the brides, in fact.
Perhaps there's a Christmas story coming that catches us up on all the runaway brides?
A reunion story--that would be wonderful!
I'm putting in my request now. ( )