Santa Fe Sunrise

by Kathleen Fuller

Luke Jackson, a volunteer soldier based in Santa Fe, is eager to return home to San Antonio, Texas. Weary from the war and healing from a serious injury, he is given one last assignment before his discharge--to escort the daughter of a wealthy businessman to Las Vegas in the New Mexico Territory. Luke is stunned to discover that not only does he have to escort the woman and her chaperone, but four young orphans as well. Melanie Faraday has always been an obedient daughter, but she is dismayed to learn her widowed father has brought her to Santa Fe to marry the son of one of his business partners. Unprepared for marriage to a stranger, but unwilling to go against her father, she feels her future is doomed until she meets four abandoned Mexican children shortly after her arrival in Santa Fe. She vows to find them a home and, in a desperate attempt to avoid her impending marriage, she uses her father's connections to secure an escort for her to take the children to an orphanage in Las Vegas, unbeknownst to her father. During the journey the group is hampered with thunderstorms, which delays their travels but gives Luke and Melanie much time to not only fall in love with each other, but to fall in love with the children as well.

Genres: Romance, Historical, Westerns, Historical Fiction

184 pages, Hardcover

First published December 30, 2004

About the author

Best-selling author of Amish fiction. Also a wife, mother, crafter, coffee addict, football fan, and chocolate aficionado.

Reviews

[Donia · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only interesting thing about this novel was the cover. It was lovely, however beyond that the book was a wash. The plot was simplistic and has been told in elaborate detail (which this story did NOT include) many times over in novels throughout the past 100 years at least.

All of Fullers characters were wooden and cliche. The plot was predictable and from page three any reader with any sense knew how the entire story was going to play out from start to finish. There is a flash flood, lightening strike, lost person, deaths, shootings, Indian attack that are all resolved in one tiny paragraph each.

[Lori Grim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book! I read it all in one sitting. What a sweet story of not just the love between a man and a woman but the man and woman and children that aren't theirs.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

You seen the end of the story from chapter 1, but it was a fun, sweet read.

[Audry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short easy read. Sweet story.

[Dorcas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an easy read, pleasant for a rainy afternoon (we seem to be getting a lot of those lately) but forgettable. The writing is adequate but very predictable and I felt that the subject has been done too many times before. You could guess what was going to happen next...lets see,what'll it be? Indians? Floods? Scorpion bite? which would be ok if there was enough conflict/ tension but the obstacles were so easily overcome that I couldn't help groaning. Indians? Don't panic, theres only two; one I shot and the other ran away...Arrow in leg? Hang on, soldiers are coming and they have a traveling doctor with them they'll escort you to the nearest town....it went on like that.
Like I said it was a pleasant book and a cheap read but nothing to grab you by the shoulders.

FYI: No cussing, no sex, no violence

If you're into "wagon trail west" books and are looking for something a bit more gutsy I would recommend "The Dairy Of Mattie Spencer" and "These is My Words".(but I would rate those PG-13 for a few intense scenes)

[Harisa- EsquiredToRead · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was short, and incredibly cute.

I like Kathleen Fuller a lot, and she was my introduction into Amish romance novels. I think she is a really good writer This is a nice little book that can be read in a day, with a sweet romance, and good social commentary that is relevant today.

[Dana Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good clean romance

This was a good clean romance and I loved it. I definitely recommend this book. I read it in one evening.