Spotlight Review:

WYOMING BRIDE - Joan Johnston
Bitter Creek Series #10, Mail Order Brides #2
Dell
ISBN: 978-0-345-52746-2
January 2013
Historical Western Romance

Wyoming Territory - 1875

Chicago, 1874: Six Wentworth children escaped the Great Chicago Fire only to be banished to an orphanage by their uncle. Eager to escape the severe beatings from the headmistress, Mrs. Birch, eighteen-year-old Miranda Wentworth answered a newspaper ad and left in the dark of the night, her younger brothers in tow, to become a mail order bride in Texas. She left her three sisters behind: twins, Hannah and Henrietta, and the youngest sister, Josie. Miranda promised she would soon send for them, (TEXAS BRIDE, April 2012).

Months later, there has been no word from Miranda. Hannah and her sisters can no longer endure the evil Mrs. Birch, so this time, Hannah, the eldest twin by just a few minutes, is the chosen one.

It isn't long before Hannah has agreed to marry an Irish immigrant and travel west on the condition that he allows her younger sisters to accompany them. Hannah swallows her pride, goes through with the marriage and beds Mr. McMurtry, her new husband, before climbing into a Conestoga and joining a wagon train bound for the Oregon Trail. Now, far from the wealth and privilege of their Chicago home, the Wentworth sisters are once again in trouble when Fate steps in to change their plans. They're cast out of the wagon train after an altercation caused by Henrietta; Mr. McMurtry contracts cholera and dies, and their wagon is attacked by Indians. Days after the attack, Hannah is lying on the prairie, sick and dehydrated, when Flint Creed rides by. Flint nurses her back to consciousness and immediately asks her to marry him!

Flint Creed has always taken care of his brother Ransom. Returning to Texas after the civil war, he and Ransom learned there was nothing left for them at the family ranch, so they settled in Wyoming Territory, started a cattle ranch, and built a large multi-family house where they and their wives will live while they build their empire. Now, Flint is angry and upset that the woman he loves, Emaline Simmons, has accepted Ransom's proposal. How can he live in the same house with Emaline as his brother's wife? The only sensible solution is to find his own bride, but while riding on the prairie, he comes upon a bedraggled Hannah, only inches from death.

Hannah will become Flint's WYOMING BRIDE in a fun, romantic, and emotional story of love and loss. When Flint finds Hannah, she is dehydrated and near death, and cannot remember anything about how or why she came to be in the middle of the wilderness and alone. When she does recall, she can only remember that her sister Henrietta was near death and Josie was taken by the Indians. She has to find them! But first, she and Flint have to come to an agreement about their impending marriage. Meanwhile, Flint is dealing with cattle rustlers, and Ransom and Emaline are trying to make their own tough choices about their upcoming wedding. Hannah and Fling both have secrets. Hannah decides not to tell Flint that she carries McMurtry's child in her womb, and Flint is unlikely to share the fact that he and Hannah will be living in the same house as his brother and the woman Flint really loves.

WYOMING BRIDE is the second book in the Mail Order Bride mini-series about the Wentworth children; and it is also the tenth novel inside the Bitter Creek series. The order of the books is a tad confusing, but this novel is another perfect package from the pen of Ms. Johnston. MONTANA BRIDE (Henrietta's story) does not have a release date yet, but I am hoping to see it hit the stores soon! After which will be BLACKTHORNE'S BRIDE (Josie's story), and hopefully, we'll see stories for Nick and Harry, the young Wentworth brothers.

WYOMING BRIDE is a great novel with lots of pages, but I guarantee you will not put it down until the exciting end!

Diana Risso