Synopsis: On the frontier of a new life… Tired and hungry after two days of traveling, Susanna Hopkins is just about at the end of her tether when her train finally arrives in Cheyenne. She’s bound for a new life in a Western garrison town. Then she discovers she doesn’t even have enough money to pay for the stagecoach! Luckily for her, the compassionate Major Joseph Randolph is heading in the same direction. As a military surgeon, Joe is used to keeping his professional distance. But, despite Susanna’s understated beauty, he’s drawn to this woman who carries loss and pain equal to his own and has a heart that is just as hesitant and wary....
If there is one consistent theme in Carla Kelly's books it is this: Everyone bends and we try not to break. Bending without breaking is a hard lesson, usually learned over and over and over in life. I am always grateful when the wind blows the other direction and reminds me, by the grace of God, I am more supple than I thought. Ms. Kelly's books feel like a rush of affirming wind for me. I am always glad I read them, always reminded that there is more to life than the hum drum grind of petty annoyances, and always give me characters I feel like I know.
Overall, the writing is excellent, the dialog genuine, and the narrative tenderly handled. Secondary characters are human, flaws and all, and worth the time spent on them. The sense of place and historical details are wonderful without info dumps or neglect of little things we forgot we knew. The friendships and romance was given time to develop and are laced with both humor and determination. This isn't a book for skimming, reading on a commute, or beginning late in the evening [unless you don't work the next day]. It is a put dinner in the crock pot, turn off the phone, and curl up read, definitely for the Keeper file.
*** NO spoilers here***
