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The continuing story of mail-order brides in the successful Brides of the West series. Spunky, young Ruth Priggish is on the run from an 80-year-old suitor. Her only hope of eluding him is to seek help from an unwilling protector, U.S. Marshall Dylan McCall. Copeland's readers will delight in this rollicking story of romance and danger.
311 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2002
91 people are currently reading
641 people want to read
About the author
Lori Copeland
195 books534 followersLori Copeland was born on 12 June 1941. She had a relatively late start in writing, breaking into publishing in 1982 when she was already forty years old. Over the next dozen years, her romance novels achieved much success, as was evidenced by her winning the Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award, The Holt Medallion, and Walden Books' Best Seller award. She has been inducted into the Missouri Writers Hall of Fame.
Despite her success in more mainstream romantic fiction, in 1995, she decided to switch focus. Her subsequent books have been in the relatively new subgenre of Christian romance. She has also collaborated with authors Angela Elwell Hunt or Virginia Smith on a series of Christian romance novels.
Lori and her husband of over forty years, Lance, live in Springfield, Missouri, surrounded by the beautiful Ozarks. They have three grown sons, three daughter-in-laws, and six wonderful grandchildren, and two great-granddaughters. She and her husband are very involved in their church, and active in supporting mission work in Mali, West Africa.
Despite her success in more mainstream romantic fiction, in 1995, she decided to switch focus. Her subsequent books have been in the relatively new subgenre of Christian romance. She has also collaborated with authors Angela Elwell Hunt or Virginia Smith on a series of Christian romance novels.
Lori and her husband of over forty years, Lance, live in Springfield, Missouri, surrounded by the beautiful Ozarks. They have three grown sons, three daughter-in-laws, and six wonderful grandchildren, and two great-granddaughters. She and her husband are very involved in their church, and active in supporting mission work in Mali, West Africa.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
July 4, 2023
This book was sooo fun!!!😁 I would definitely recommend this book , and the rest of the series!!🥰
March 26, 2025
I might be embarassed about reading these books except I'm doing research for my mom...lol. The books are getting sillier and sillier...but I admit this book made me think of a book I checked out of my small town library when I was in grade school. The book I checked out was about life in "hillbilly" country and if my mom had known what was in that book, she would have tried to wash my brain out. Why the librarian let a little kid like me check it out, I have no idea, but I got quite an education. Not so with Lori Copeland's books. They're all very clean is the romance department. Typically enemies to marriage troupe.
I was told my mom would like her books. I did not realize that I was reading them out of order, but I read each one within a 24 hour period so it wasn't an issue. Clean romance. The book reminded me of an old tv series titled "Here Come the Brides". The series is fun (both the tv and the books), ludicrous at times; still, I thought back to some recent tv series and movies I've watched and they were ludicrous as well. The book series is also highly Christian, but somehow I didn't mind it. The books were a good diversion.
I was told my mom would like her books. I did not realize that I was reading them out of order, but I read each one within a 24 hour period so it wasn't an issue. Clean romance. The book reminded me of an old tv series titled "Here Come the Brides". The series is fun (both the tv and the books), ludicrous at times; still, I thought back to some recent tv series and movies I've watched and they were ludicrous as well. The book series is also highly Christian, but somehow I didn't mind it. The books were a good diversion.
May 21, 2008
I started out really liking this book about Ruth a spunky orphan who came out west thinking she was a mail order bride, but then finds plans have changed. When she is proposed to by an 80 year old miner she runs away, following Marshal Dylan McCall to Wyoming. The book started out with a fun adventure/ romance theme, but then got a bit cheesey. The author is Christian, which is nice beacause it's clean, but when the Christian element of "saving" is introduced, the story kind of stopped there.
February 7, 2022
Lori Copeland is now on my favorite authors list! This book was well written. The story was adventurous, inspiring, and humorous in the midst of great difficulty. I would recommend this author to anyone. Looking at this series, the different women’s stories are in various U.S. states and with unique circumstances. I look forward to reading more in this series, perhaps every one of them.
April 26, 2017
guess I liked the book fine, but it wasn't one of her better books. I'm just wondering how many of her leading females are going to threaten their men at gun point and still end up being loved and cherished by them by the end of the book. Ruth's situation didn't grab me as being sever enough to run away. She could have easily set things straight by announcing the misunderstanding. The old man was more annoying and silly than a fearful suitor. She wasn't in danger. Ruth was supposed to be this strong willed girl who could pull a gun on a large US Marshall and get what she wanted from him, but too frighten to stand up to a little old squirlly man wanting to marry her. She was inconsistent in her strengths. I wasn't sure how I felt about her. She was spunky, strong and hot tempered, but she was too helpless to detach herself from a silly old man.
And then I didn't understand why Dylan being this strong US Marshall man would allow himself to be misused by Mr. Ford as though he was some grunt worker, not a man used to being in control. It wasn't as if Mr. Ford was uninformed that Dylan was a US Marshall, why would he try to take advantage of him. Mr. Ford wasn't arrogant, just a real lousy man. It just didn't add up. I disliked how long it took them to travel 20 miles, even in the snow. I felt impatient for them to finally reach the little town. However, I did like the scene in the beginning when Ruth is ticked at Dylan because he has refused to help her run away. She dowses him with a bucket of water and runs for her life before he catches her and drops her in the watering trough outside. There were some fun moments, so the book was okay. I have not read any of the other series in this Brides of the West.
And then I didn't understand why Dylan being this strong US Marshall man would allow himself to be misused by Mr. Ford as though he was some grunt worker, not a man used to being in control. It wasn't as if Mr. Ford was uninformed that Dylan was a US Marshall, why would he try to take advantage of him. Mr. Ford wasn't arrogant, just a real lousy man. It just didn't add up. I disliked how long it took them to travel 20 miles, even in the snow. I felt impatient for them to finally reach the little town. However, I did like the scene in the beginning when Ruth is ticked at Dylan because he has refused to help her run away. She dowses him with a bucket of water and runs for her life before he catches her and drops her in the watering trough outside. There were some fun moments, so the book was okay. I have not read any of the other series in this Brides of the West.
February 9, 2014
Yeah, I got nothing. That is how memorable this was for me after two months. And that was rereading after several years. There is a baby and they are on this wagon trail. And there is this arranged marriage to this ancient geezer and of course the lively and lovely Ruth marries the handsome but very ideal Christian lawman escorting her and the baby. Ta-da. The end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 5, 2026
Where to begin with this train-wreck of a so-called book?
1. Continuity is zilch. Ruth changes from a gentle, sweet, shy Bible-reading girl in the previous book, to a sharp-tongued, sulking, "spunky" (no-one would use that adjective if they actually knew what it meant), know-it-allish, unforgiving twit. And she drugs Dylan with an unknown quantity of laudanum to stop him from hurting himself? If you've read the book/series, there's so much wrong with that sentence.
2. You never pull out an arrow, especially if it's deep and you don't know what blood-vessels are involved. If there's no worry of poison, you either cut off as much as you can and wait till a doctor can safely remove it or you force it through the back, cut off the head, then pull it out. And you can't tell me she doesn't know because Copeland goes to great lengths to tell us that Ruth knows all about weapons (especially guns, and I won't comment on the ridiculous Star Warsian keep-warm-in-an-animal's-corpse scene; yes, it happened, but I sincerely doubt Ruth could do it). And then he lays on his wounded shoulder?? Nope. Couldn't happen.
3. The nursing scene. It's possible in rare instances, but this ain't it. Under immense stress and hormonal shifts, women have been known to nurse babies without having been pregnant, but it's not an instant thing. Ridiculous.
4. Guess who else's personality did a 180? Dylan's. (I refuse to pronounce it Dih-LAN, even in my head) From quiet, gentlemanly, strong, silent type to woman-hater. Just got plot convenience. Ugh! And how'd he magically get his ID after saying he didn't have it? We'll never know. Probably magic.
5. The wedding-cake toppers startled some, but I just grunted. They *did* exist back then, made from plaster, resin, celluloid, or wood, but they weren't *popular* until at least a decade later, so chances of them using them are slim.
6. Trying to tame an unbroken stallion with prayer? Spare me. This whole scene is laughable, and not in the funny sense.
7. She starts off by saying that Ruth and Dylan have only just met, but then several chapters later says that they meet in the wagon-train (which is accurate to the novel). Like I said, lots of continuity errors. Too many to list.
There's so much I could point out, but I'm honestly too disgusted by the waste of time spent reading this tripe to bother wasting more time reviewing it.
1. Continuity is zilch. Ruth changes from a gentle, sweet, shy Bible-reading girl in the previous book, to a sharp-tongued, sulking, "spunky" (no-one would use that adjective if they actually knew what it meant), know-it-allish, unforgiving twit. And she drugs Dylan with an unknown quantity of laudanum to stop him from hurting himself? If you've read the book/series, there's so much wrong with that sentence.
2. You never pull out an arrow, especially if it's deep and you don't know what blood-vessels are involved. If there's no worry of poison, you either cut off as much as you can and wait till a doctor can safely remove it or you force it through the back, cut off the head, then pull it out. And you can't tell me she doesn't know because Copeland goes to great lengths to tell us that Ruth knows all about weapons (especially guns, and I won't comment on the ridiculous Star Warsian keep-warm-in-an-animal's-corpse scene; yes, it happened, but I sincerely doubt Ruth could do it). And then he lays on his wounded shoulder?? Nope. Couldn't happen.
3. The nursing scene. It's possible in rare instances, but this ain't it. Under immense stress and hormonal shifts, women have been known to nurse babies without having been pregnant, but it's not an instant thing. Ridiculous.
4. Guess who else's personality did a 180? Dylan's. (I refuse to pronounce it Dih-LAN, even in my head) From quiet, gentlemanly, strong, silent type to woman-hater. Just got plot convenience. Ugh! And how'd he magically get his ID after saying he didn't have it? We'll never know. Probably magic.
5. The wedding-cake toppers startled some, but I just grunted. They *did* exist back then, made from plaster, resin, celluloid, or wood, but they weren't *popular* until at least a decade later, so chances of them using them are slim.
6. Trying to tame an unbroken stallion with prayer? Spare me. This whole scene is laughable, and not in the funny sense.
7. She starts off by saying that Ruth and Dylan have only just met, but then several chapters later says that they meet in the wagon-train (which is accurate to the novel). Like I said, lots of continuity errors. Too many to list.
There's so much I could point out, but I'm honestly too disgusted by the waste of time spent reading this tripe to bother wasting more time reviewing it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 2, 2023
I want to give this book a 0, but I can’t, so I give it a 1.
The plot, characters, dialogue, writing… every part of this book was just atrocious. I hated how the characters fit into specific stereotypes and the “enemies to lovers” trope just did not work with the story. The dialogue was simple, repetitive, and just bad. The story was filled with random, unnecessary events and descriptions. Not to mention the lack of basic knowledge of science? How is it possible that Ruth was able to nurse this random baby??? A “gift from god”? I don’t think so. Honestly the book was horrible and the religion aspect only made it less realistic to me as a reader. The Christian “saving” of Dylan was too cliché for my liking. It made the storyline seem to end before it really did. Overall I would not recommend this book.
The plot, characters, dialogue, writing… every part of this book was just atrocious. I hated how the characters fit into specific stereotypes and the “enemies to lovers” trope just did not work with the story. The dialogue was simple, repetitive, and just bad. The story was filled with random, unnecessary events and descriptions. Not to mention the lack of basic knowledge of science? How is it possible that Ruth was able to nurse this random baby??? A “gift from god”? I don’t think so. Honestly the book was horrible and the religion aspect only made it less realistic to me as a reader. The Christian “saving” of Dylan was too cliché for my liking. It made the storyline seem to end before it really did. Overall I would not recommend this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 29, 2023
5th book in the series and the 2nd with this set of characters. Still enjoying them, however suddenly one of the girls has an additional description to her that I found a bit jarring. Harper is now: the black girl. Didn't find it necessary for that added description, or maybe it's how it was used. There are other ways to convey the color of one's skin. I guess it felt a bit demeaning to me when I read it.
But still enjoying the series and immediately downloaded the next, and last, book to read!
But still enjoying the series and immediately downloaded the next, and last, book to read!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 17, 2017
This is book #5 of the Brides of the West series. Ruth is the main character in this one and she claims to not like the Marshal. Of course when circumstances forces her to follow him, she finds out that she really is stronger than she realizes. Marshal Dylan McCall doesn't won't to take Ruth to her cousins house or anywhere but she follow him anyway making him responsible for her. But events unfold where she may just be taking care of him rather than the other way around. LOVED it!
February 11, 2021
Book wasn't bad but we all know they didn't have plastic bride and groom figures in the 1800s on wedding cakes...that didn't bother me nearly as much as when she has this girl walking along the trail and finding a 7 month old baby and attempts to nurse it and that this child is satisfied by whatever fluids it got form her breast. This is sooo far fetched and unbiologically possible and just really killed the book for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 27, 2025
Maybe 2 stars is a little low for this one…. But it is Very cheesy. My least favorite in this series and it would have been a good storyline if it didn’t become so far fetched, comical (not in a good way) and unbelievable. Ruth , who we know from the other books, deserves better, I almost stopped reading about 1/3 of the way through but a serious event occurs that brings the story around, but the cheese returns in the last few chapters.
November 29, 2017
It was not my favorite of the series but still a good read about life in the west during the 1870's. I enjoyed seeing the characters develop in this series. Loved the wrap up with crisis of faith and relationship conclusion. I always appreciate a happy ending! The cliff hanger about the last book has me hungry to read the story of Patience. ;o)
February 25, 2022
Ruth by Lori Copeland
Book 5 Brides of the West Collection
Such a whirlwind! Ruth and her man seem like a totally different couple than they were in the last book. That was pretty hard to grasp for me. And oh, the trouble these two find themselves in, but for the patience of God, where would they be! I loved the Bert scene!
Book 5 Brides of the West Collection
Such a whirlwind! Ruth and her man seem like a totally different couple than they were in the last book. That was pretty hard to grasp for me. And oh, the trouble these two find themselves in, but for the patience of God, where would they be! I loved the Bert scene!
February 6, 2023
What a beautiful continuation of the series! Themes of trust, forgiveness, and redemption are woven throughout. This does end on a bit of a cliffhanger...which led me to read Patience's story in less than a day! I was able to read a copy of this book via Hoopla, but it did not in any way affect my review. All opinions are my own.
Want to read
February 19, 2020
October 4, 2017
I loved this book and how through the the story Ruth realizes her strength and all that she can do.
August 9, 2019
Good read. The book was well written, kept my attention, and I would love to read more from this author.
September 14, 2020
Not as interesting as Glory, but a nice cozy novel.
November 10, 2020
Love this author. Another enjoyable story.
January 22, 2021
4.5 stars
June 22, 2021
These book are definirely awewome
December 24, 2021
A struggle to find love. Strong willed Dyland McCall & Ruth Priggish find Indian child, named her Rose. Difficult happenings but faith in God keeps them safe & together. A good read.
May 14, 2022
Ruth by Lori Copeland – This one had vibes of Ruth’s story in the Bible, so I’m thinking that names wasn’t a coincidence. Happy Reading!
September 14, 2022
Well written very enjoyable
October 17, 2022
A typical historical Christian literature. An easy read.
January 12, 2023
Did not like it.
Read
September 18, 2023Audiobook-enjoyed the series. Easy read
October 26, 2023
Boring!
May 31, 2024
Great story. I read it pretty quickly. Will be buying the next one in this series.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews