Juliana Brady hopes that there is more to life than washing miners’ clothes and living in a
shack. When she finds herself alone she at least has her friend Marion, daughter of a wealthy
hotelier, and the scant hope that she might see her miner father again one day. Meanwhile,
Josh McBride is trying his luck at keeping sheep and hopes to earn enough from his venture to
build a ranch house. He’ll prove to his successful rancher father that he can make it
alone... but maybe alone is a little too lonely?
If you have read No Place For a Lady (also
reviewed on this site) then
you will have already met Josh and know that his first romance was unsuccessful. Ms. Brendan
has written another highly readable and pacy western with a new gutsy heroine and a mining town
filled with heroes and villains, although it is not always easy at first glance to see who is who.
It is also a moving inspirational novel in which the heroine has lost her faith, and the hero
thinks that material success is the most important thing in his life—what does he truly
want?
This is a fairly cozy, heartwarming tale, all in all, where life’s trials are delightfully
offset by the rewards of good companionship and perhaps ultimately the message that "the best
things in life are free." Like the first book in the series this is a slim volume in no need of
editing, with a lively plot and a few surprises. I hope I won’t have to wait long for book three;
this sort of thing probably ought to be available on prescription.