...from the publisher...
Greta Nilsson's trip west to save her ailing little sister, Astrid, could not have gone more wrong. First, bandits hold up her stagecoach, stealing all her money. Then, upon arriving in Fairplay, Colorado, she learns the man she was betrothed to as a mail-order bride has died.
Homeless, penniless, and jobless, Greta and her sister are worse off than when they started.
Wyatt McQuaid is struggling to get his new ranch up and running and is in town to purchase cattle when the mayor proposes the most unlikely of bargains. He'll invest in a herd of cattle for Wyatt's ranch if Wyatt agrees to help the town become more respectable by marrying and starting a family. And the mayor, who has promised to try to help Greta, has just the candidate in mind for Wyatt to marry.
...my thoughts...
Digging into Jody Hedlund's A Cowboy for Keeps was an easy prospect for me. I enjoy her books and was curious to start her new Colorado Cowboys series. It wasn't long before I found myself fully engaged in the story. Marriages of convenience are a popular topics and sometimes dismissed as lightweight fiction. Not so when you dig deeper. These men and women endured a hard life and their rewards were very different than what we expect for ourselves today. I enjoy reading these stories because they remind me that this was how many parts of our country were settled into communities. Communities with families, schools and churches became the fabric of life for the men and women who had the gumption to work hard and build homes on their ranches or farmed their land.
Greta was a courageous young woman for leaving her home behind to forge a new life in an unknown territory to marry a perfect stranger. A stranger who promised to also support her ailing little sister Astrid, whose life depended on this move.
Watt hadn't planned to saddle himself with a wife, but the mayor's proposition to help him increase his herd was too good to overlook. The conditions of the deal were another story, but he had plenty of time to meet the requirements so he agreed. Time, though, is a funny thing as it slips by day by day until finally something has to happen and it all happened as predicted. Yes, this story was predictable but I didn't mind because the characters were likable and the author wove the tale together in a unique way.
The location was also a character in this story with descriptions that are picturesque and engaging. I don't think Greta could have found her new home in a better place. It seemed to have it all with plenty of hills, plains and of course, hot springs. I think this is one of those books that would appeal to any reader who enjoys good, clean historical fiction. I am already looking forward to the second book in this series.
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