A Lady Like Sarah
Reverend Justin Wells was a minister in Boston but now is heading to Texas to become the minister in Rocky Creek, Texas.
He finds a U.S. Marshal and his prisoner on a trail and the marshal shot. As hard as they try to help him, the marshal dies but Justin had promised him he would take his prisoner to Rocky Creek and her fate is the gallows. Along the journey, they find a dying mother that had been attacked by Indians and her baby. Justin takes the baby, Elizabeth, and Sarah and Justin continue.
Sarah Prescott has three brothers who are Wells Fargo stagecoach robbers. Sarah has never robbed but she is condemned by a judge in Rocky Creek for the death of a passenger on a stagecoach.
The journey has a lot of twists and turns but Justin has faith in God and has an answer for almost everything.
This is my second book I have read by Margaret Brownley and both are good reads. A Lady Like Sarah is a Christian romance book and the trials God seems to put them through.
Some of the sayings that I liked are Monkey Wards, for Montgomery Wards (my father who was from Oklahoma and Texas, where I was raised, used to always say this). Noah was the pack mule, Moses, and his horse, Noah. When someone died, Justin said God received them with open arms, he did not say they had died. Longhorns, quilting bee,hand cranked sewing machine, grasshoppers, mail order catalog, Barnum's Circus, click of the tongue (to encourage a horse) and pulling my leg are some words that Margaret Browning uses that add to the descriptions of the story. Something I never thought about was where did bone china get the name and the answer is partially in this book. Longhorn cattle bones were collected to be sold and used to make the china. http://www.visitdodgecity.org/documents/Visitors%20Guide/2012%20Visitors%20Guide... see page 3.
A Lady Like Sarah is an easy read and I look forward to her other books.Find Margaret Brownley on Facebook under Margaret Brownley Books and also her site margaretbrownley.com

Leona Olson
mnleona.blogspot.com ( )

This is the second book I have read by Margaret Brownley and she writes a story I really enjoy reading. Her writing style reminds me somewhat of Mary Connealy's style of writing. This story is filled with "laughter, mishaps and adventures" as the back of the book cover states. This was the first story in the Rocky Creek Romance series. I had already read book #3 in this series and not having read them in order was not a big deal.

The author has a way of catching your interest quickly, within the first few pages. In this story you find Justin Wells, a preacher who has left Boston for the tough country in Texas. He meets up with two people near death, a U.S. Marshal who is handcuffed to a redheaded outlaw being taken to Texas to hang. As Justin works to get this "lady" to Texas you find yourself falling in love with both of them. Sarah is such an open, outspoken "outlaw" who finds herself caring for someone for the first time in her life. And Justin is trying so hard to not care too deeply for Sarah. The interaction throughout this story kept me smiling for most of my way through this story. What can I say other than this is a very enjoyable read. Can't wait to read book #2 in this series soon! ( )

This book begins with a great idea: a handsome, educated preacher from Boston escorting a young, pretty female outlaw to Texas. Many adventures follow (some sobering, others hysterical), and along the way, they fall in love. Unfortunately, Sarah's been sentenced to hang. Meanwhile, Justin encourages her to trust in her newfound faith and believe God for a miracle.

It started out great for me, but it soon became predictable. I knew how it would end way too soon, and in fact, it seemed almost too easy for Sarah. Everything fell into place just in the nick of time. It was an okay read, but it didn't hold my interest like many other books do. I still don't understand why Justin fell in love with Sarah, except that she's pretty and speaks her mind. He came to care for her very early on, seemingly without knowing much about her true character. She's portrayed as a good-hearted, misunderstood young woman caught in the fallout of her brothers' thieving ways. There should have been more character development to make me truly care about Sarah and Justin. It's an easy read and enjoyable for what it is--light reading with a focus on Christian values. ( )

This book put a smile on my face throughout the time I was reading it. It's cute, delightful, and romantic. I loved Sarah's character. She was so bold, outspoken, full of spirits, and completely oblivious on how women were suppose to act during that time, which made her character gleeful and interesting. ( )

Sarah Prescott (who in mind is just like the red-headed cowgirl on Toy Story 2) is an outlaw running from justice when she crosses baths with Justin Wells, a preacher from the upper crust of Boston. She is not his idea of a woman and he's like no man she's ever met before. Together they travel from Missouri to Texas getting into scrapes and learning to rethink their first impressions.

This book was okay, just not good enough. I didn't find the characters particularly believable for their time and place, more like the author just thought "you know what's fun? The west. Super." and proceeded as usual. I found it very difficult to believe that any man, even an eastern preacher, would travel by horse across U.S. in 1879 with only a knife as a weapon. And pacifist or no pacifist, the man foolish enough to do so would deserve to get eaten by a wild animal. The first portion of the book, with the preacher and the outlaw traveling the west together, was better than the second half, which was more concerned about the outlaw becoming a "lady." I have liked this genre in the past, but I would recommend something by Janette Oke over this in a heartbeat. ( )