Paper Roses

by Amanda Cabot

Her future stretched out like the clear blue Texas sky. But a storm is coming.

Leaving the past behind in Philadelphia, mail-order bride Sarah Dobbs arrives in San Antonio ready to greet her groom - a man she has never met but whose letters, her paper roses, have won her heart from afar. But there is a problem - Austin Canfield is dead, and Sarah cannot go back East.

As Sarah tries to reconcile herself to a future that is drastically changed, Austin's brother Clay wants nothing more than to shake the Texas dust from his boots, but first he must find his brother's killer. And then there's Sarah.

Something is blooming out in the vast Texas landscape that neither Clay nor Sarah is ready to admit, and the promise of redemption blows like a gentle breeze through the prairie grasses. (c) Amanda Cabot, 2009, Paper Roses, back cover

As I said on my home page, I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be looking for the next in this series. The beginning of the book pulls me in immediately - who wouldn't be hooked by the idea of a young bride-to-be who arrives on the prairie from her big city life to find her fiance, a man she has come to love through his letters to her, has died and she is left at the mercy of the hard-hearted brother. Not only that, but she is responsible for her young sister who is eager for a "papa" as well. To add to this misery, is the fact that she is not "whole" but has "a right leg that was twisted and scarred and an inch shorter than her left." (pg. 12). Her beloved had assured her that this didn't make the least difference to him, but had he changed his mind?

The characters are very well-developed and interesting. There is a depth to all of the main characters that points to the craftmanship of the author. The plot definitely starts off strong and doesn't disappoint throughout the entire book. There are several interesting twists and turns that keep the reader guessing. I REALLY enjoyed this book and am confident that you, too, will enjoy it.

I would love to read more by this author, but unfortunately, she has authored many books under different pen names so it is difficult to track all her works of fiction. Why do authors write under different pen names anyways? I can understand women having to do that in the 18th and 19th centuries as their position as women or women of "society" wouldn't allow them to publish their works of fiction, but there is no such stigma attached to female authors today. One of the only reasons I can think of is that if a previous book has failed miserably, the author might want to change pen names to "start over" again with a new piece of work. Or perhaps an author wants to see if her work is still very good or if it is their "name" that gets them published, then they might want to shop their book around as a new author. This doesn't really make a lot of sense as I understand it is very difficult to get a book published in the first place. Hmmm. Perhaps I will get an opportunity to ask an author like Amanda Cabot some day. But I digress....

Go out and find this book.