About the Book

Title: The Chisholm Trail Bride

Series: #12 The Daughters of the Mayflower

Author: Kathleen Y’Barbo

Genre: Christian Historical Romance

Publisher: Barbour

Released: March 2020

Stubborn Hearts Clash on a Cattle Drive

Eliza Gentry’s pursuit of marriage to the son of her family’s sworn enemy has cost her greatly. Furious at his daughter’s choices, her father sends her off with the cattle drive heading toward Fort Worth and the Barnhart ranch, but under the watchful eye of Wyatt Creed, a Pinkerton man he has hired to see to her safety. With danger at every turn—not the least of which to his heart—can Wyatt Creed keep his focus with Eliza Gentry around? Is the Chisholm Trail a place for falling in love or a place to die at the hands of cattle thieves?

(Babbling Becky L’s insert here: I don’t know who read the book to prepare this blurb, or if the author had a loose idea of what the storyline would be, but the above is way off. 😦 )

 

Join the adventure as the Daughters of the Mayflower series continues with The Chisholm Trail Bride by Kathleen Y’Barbo

More in the Daughters of the Mayflower series:
The Mayflower Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse – set 1620 Atlantic Ocean (February 2018)
The Pirate Bride by Kathleen Y’Barbo – set 1725 New Orleans (April 2018)
The Captured Bride by Michelle Griep – set 1760 during the French and Indian War (June 2018)
The Patriot Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse – set 1774 Philadelphia (August 2018)
The Cumberland Bride by Shannon McNear – set 1794 on the Wilderness Road (October 2018)
The Liberty Bride by MaryLu Tyndall – set 1814 Baltimore (December 2018)
The Alamo Bride by Kathleen Y’Barbo – set 1836 Texas (February 2019)
The Golden Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse – set 1849 San Francisco (April 2019)
The Express Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse – set 1860 Utah (July 2019)The Rebel Bride by Shannon McNear – set 1863 Tennessee (December 2019)
The Blizzard Bride by Susanne Dietze – set 1888 Nebraska

 

My Review

Kathleen Y’Barbo has produced one of the best installments of The Daughters of the Mayflower. I loved almost everything about #12, The Chisholm Trail Bride. We first meet Eliza Gentry on a trail ride with her beloved father, William, and brothers. At fourteen, Eliza should be at finishing school, but she is much more interested in things of the Texas ranch, including the yearly cattle drive. When a trail skirmish ends in disaster, Eliza loses more than she can imagine.
Nine years later, in 1889, Eliza is still bucking her parents’ ideas of what is best for her. Will she marry Ben Barnhart, rich, ambitious, and headed for the presidency? Or will her father’s security guard protect her heart from ruin?

Any romance reader that has ever laid on the grass at night and located different star constellations or watched meteor showers is sure to enjoy this book. Especially as Y’Barbo’s Eliza is both so strong-headed and yet loves her father so fiercely. I love this quote that explains much of the two main tensions of the book:
‘“Eliza, you are me in female form, and that confounds the daylights out of me…
But there is one thing we do that is sometimes our downfall.” “What is that, Papa?” she asked. “We love too easily and too hard.”

William Gentry seems very unbending at times, yet at others, is wound around his daughter’s little finger. Even when it seems like he has drawn a definite line for her behavior, he makes provision for how he knows his daughter will act.
This, in turn, reminds me of the Heavenly Father. He knows what is best for us but ultimately allows us to make our own choice, just as Gentry does for Eliza. And, the Father also makes a provision for the choices we may make.
Another element of the novel I loved was the ability Y’Barbo has to make me identify with the characters. I felt every emotion Eliza and Wyatt felt, and I sure hated a few characters!
As a reader, I was happy to be engrossed by action that continued until the end of the novel. I liked some of the “little” odd twists that turned out to be important.
Definitely a book I recommend if you like westerns.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author and publisher through NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinions, which are solely my own.

 

My Rating

5 Stars- Superior- Hits My Reading Sweet Spot

About the Author

Bestselling author Kathleen Y’Barbo is a multiple Carol Award and RITA nominee of more than eighty novels with almost two million copies in print in the US and abroad.

A tenth-generation Texan and certified paralegal, she has been nominated for a Career Achievement Award as well a Reader’s Choice Award and is the winner of the Inspirational Romance of the Year by Romantic Times magazine.

To connect with her through social media, check out the links on her website at www.kathleenybarbo.com.