Eugenia Riley

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the copy of this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This historical romance takes place in 1873 and begins several years after two young girls were abandoned by their father with a mother who leaves much to be desired. Amy Harris has been waiting some time for her beau to come through and marry her but with him still missing and a new rather intriguing man suddenly on her doorstep eager to marry her she hastily marries and moves to his home hoping show more for a better life. At eighteen she is not really sure what being a farmer’s wife or even what a being a wife might entail so is thankful that Matt Kendall has promised to “give her time”.

Matt is rather distant and opinionated while Amy is saucy and outspoken. Their time is not easy together and it takes a LONG time for them to actually start getting along. There is someone from the past that shows up, her sister’s situation to think about, train and bank robberies taking place, new neighbors to get to know and a whole lot more going on before everyone ends up with their happy ending.

This was an okay book with plenty of story to read although I found it difficult to believe that Matt would wait as long as he did or that the two together could or would behave as they did in many places in this story. It was entertaining and solid and typical of books of this genre. show less

The author tries too hard to make the heroine seem determined to not be taken advantage of by a man again. However, I got bored with Viveca's need to push away the one man she seems genuinely attracted to. The servants in her home are delightful. I love the characters of Winnie, Miguel and Ruvi. I would love to read about their continuing adventures. The book is well-written just took too long to get to the heart of the story.

I hate the cover of the book. I really really hate it. But the story is quite entertaining with its mystery and sleuthing stuff. And yes, I'm a sucker for those. So despite the cover, I rate it 4/5 for the very well made story. One can't very well judge a book by it's cover.

Lots of on/off in this story.
This is the first book I have read from this author and after reading this I would definitely read another.
The Hero has serious hangups and as a result his paranoia affects his relationship with the heroine, in some ways it was good, it was definitely well written but at times I got fed up up of the push/pull.
I would have liked an epilogue just to round things off esp as the final reconciliation cones very late towards the end and as a result it feels a bit abrupt.