An enjoyable mail-order bride story ( )

I have to be honest, when I first read this book I gave it a 3. I had to go back and re-read it after reading the second and third books in this series. I have no idea why I gave it such low marks because I now love Amanda's style of writing. I like that it is clean, and wholesome and a romance western. She captured me right from the start. I also like that she has a nice life lesson hidden in her stories. ( )

... not for me. Everything was a bit too 'convenient'. But for what it is supposed to be, I guess it was 'ok'. Sigh. ( )

This is a sweet story about finding love again. I really connected with the characters and felt the writing really captured the time period. I will definitely read more by this author. ( )

Her future stretched out like the clear blue Texas sky.

But a storm is coming.

Leaving the past behind in Philadelphia, mail-order bride Sarah Dobbs arrives in San Antonio ready to greet her groom—a man she has never met but whose letters, her paper roses, have won her heart from afar. But there is a problem—Austin Canfield is dead, and Sarah cannot go back East.

As Sarah tries to reconcile herself to a future that is drastically changed, Austin's brother Clay wants nothing more than to shake the Texas dust from his boots, but first he must find his brother's killer. And then there's Sarah.

Something is blooming out in the vast Texas landscape that neither Clay nor Sarah is ready to admit, and the promise of redemption blows like a gentle breeze through the prairie grasses.

I totally enjoyed reading this first book in the series and look forward to reading the next. ( )