Wrangler in Petticoats by Mary Connealy

Well I did it again. After reading the last book in this series first, I then moved on to the 2nd in the series. Guess that leaves the first for last. It didn't effect the reading too much, but I do highly suggest reading the Montana and Texas trilogies before reading these books of the Sophie's daughters trilogy. There is a lot of background to be had.

Sally is the tomboy of the group. As such she has a penchant for going around in boys clothes. But that's not important, what is important is that she and a group of travelers are off to visit her sister Mandy. They are ambushed on the way though and Sally is the sole survivor despite getting shot at and falling off a cliff. Locally Logan, a tremendous artist who happens to be in the area painting scenery is there to help her after her fall. He takes her back to his cabin where his friend and helper Wise Sister tends to her wounds. They then have to plan what to do next as the people who shot her realize she's still alive, and they don't want witnesses.

I think the only character I actually liked in this book was Wise Sister. She was indeed wise and had common sense and just seemed the most believable out of all of them. Logan, what can I say, I've hung around plenty of artists and none seemed so scatterbrained or single minded as him. They had some depth. Sally too was pretty one dimensional with only a few interests and I couldn't follow her thought processes at all. Everything just seemed so conflicting with her. It is important to note that several of these characters are recycled from the Lassoed in Texas series and Montana Marriages series and as such it is highly advisable to read those books before these in order to understand who, why, where and what these characters are.

I thought the plot was kind of shakily done. There was the whole boy saves girl romance but she was too busy berating him for being an idiot that you don't really see a whole lot of the romance. The bad guys were dangerous but unconvincing and it seemed foolhardy for them to go to the extremes that they did. Since this is a Christian fiction book there is a bit of religion incorporated, but not as much as there has been in the previous series. I think I would have liked this book a whole lot better if the characters had better motivations and had there been a more deeply involved plot. It just seemed like this one was rushed through.

Another one that isn't so great by Connealy. I can only hope as I venture into some of her other series that they were as good as the first few seemed to be.

Wrangler in Petticoats
Copyright 2010
314 pages