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After her mother’s death, Faith Hardwood’s father is determined to leave the memories behind. On the train to Denver, a rough-looking man captures Faith’s attention; the stranger compels her in a way she’s never known. When robbers beset the passengers, he comes to her aid. The damage is done however, as they are robbed of every penny—the money they needed to live on.
Owen Birch, the stranger, has gambled his way to success, owning several hotels and saloons, including the Inter-Ocean Hotel in Denver. Traveling on business, he encounters a young woman, Faith, who takes his breath away. He can feel the weight of her interest, as her dark, expressive eyes linger on him. After the robbery, he generously gives Faith and her pa money, because they have lost everything.
Two years later, life in the city isn’t what Faith had hoped it would be. Her pa’s rarely sober and a gambler, while she is a saloon girl, working for tips and hoping for a better life. At the faro table one evening, Faith sees the man she met on the train. He too recognizes her. Although fate has been unkind, Faith senses her luck is about to change. However, Owen isn’t the sort of man to settle down. He prefers to keep things simple. He offers to take care of Faith, to spoil her as his mistress, but this isn’t what she wants. She’s in love, and, if she can’t have all of him, then she wants nothing at all.
Owen Birch, the stranger, has gambled his way to success, owning several hotels and saloons, including the Inter-Ocean Hotel in Denver. Traveling on business, he encounters a young woman, Faith, who takes his breath away. He can feel the weight of her interest, as her dark, expressive eyes linger on him. After the robbery, he generously gives Faith and her pa money, because they have lost everything.
Two years later, life in the city isn’t what Faith had hoped it would be. Her pa’s rarely sober and a gambler, while she is a saloon girl, working for tips and hoping for a better life. At the faro table one evening, Faith sees the man she met on the train. He too recognizes her. Although fate has been unkind, Faith senses her luck is about to change. However, Owen isn’t the sort of man to settle down. He prefers to keep things simple. He offers to take care of Faith, to spoil her as his mistress, but this isn’t what she wants. She’s in love, and, if she can’t have all of him, then she wants nothing at all.
207 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 17, 2015
52 people are currently reading
128 people want to read
About the author
Carré White
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Carré White is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary and historical romance. Her Colorado Brides Series has been a historical and western top 100 bestseller. The romance anthology, Western Kisses - Old West Christmas Romances, is an Amazon top 100 bestseller.
Carré lives in Colorado with her husband and two children. When she's not writing, she loves to travel and explore new places for story ideas. Her newest series, Bachelors of the Prairie, is available now on Amazon.
Follow my blog at http://carrewhite.wordpress.com
Just copy and paste the following link into your web browser:
http://eepurl.com/APXBf
Carré White is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary and historical romance. Her Colorado Brides Series has been a historical and western top 100 bestseller. The romance anthology, Western Kisses - Old West Christmas Romances, is an Amazon top 100 bestseller.
Carré lives in Colorado with her husband and two children. When she's not writing, she loves to travel and explore new places for story ideas. Her newest series, Bachelors of the Prairie, is available now on Amazon.
Follow my blog at http://carrewhite.wordpress.com
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 10, 2015
After 16 year old Faith Hardwood's mother passes away her father sells his business and packs her up to head out to Denver for a fresh start. Unfortunately things do not go as planned when robbers board the train and steal the Hardwood's life savings. A stranger aboard the train, Owen Birch gives Faith fifty dollars to help get her and her father a start at their new life.
Two years later Faith is working as a saloon girl to help support her and her father who has taken to gambling and drinking. One night while working Owen enters the saloon to gamble. Faith is still very attracted to Owen as she had been on the train.
There is actually nothing wrong with the writing of this book to make my rating so low. My problem came with the fact that Owen was twice Faith's age. That just really didn't work for me at all so it really didn't matter how the relationship went in the book.
Overall, it is well written and the historical parts seemed accurate. Just not a relationship I cared about.
Two years later Faith is working as a saloon girl to help support her and her father who has taken to gambling and drinking. One night while working Owen enters the saloon to gamble. Faith is still very attracted to Owen as she had been on the train.
There is actually nothing wrong with the writing of this book to make my rating so low. My problem came with the fact that Owen was twice Faith's age. That just really didn't work for me at all so it really didn't matter how the relationship went in the book.
Overall, it is well written and the historical parts seemed accurate. Just not a relationship I cared about.
March 19, 2015
Wow! This little story bowled me over. I didn't know what to expect when I started reading. Truth be told, I tried to keep my expectations low, but wow! It's pretty amazing. It's the second in Ms. White's "Brides of the Rockies" series. The first book is Cassie (Brides of the Rockies Book 1). As far as I can tell, to date, there are only two books in the series. In this story, there is a pretty big age gap between the characters; Faith is eighteen, Owen is thirty six. I usually prefer that there not be such a huge age difference between the h and H, but in this instance it didn't bother me at all. The age difference was referred to a couple of times in the story; Owen makes mention that he's too old for Faith, but it wasn't really an issue for the couple. I really enjoyed Ms. White's writing style and for an for an e-book, the editing is par excellence. I can honestly say that I don't remember noticing a single misspelled or misused word. That's extremely rare with e-books, even those that are not self-published. Additionally, the characters are all well developed and relatable.
Faith is a wonderful heroine. She and her father travel west to start anew after her mother's death, but things don't turn out the way they expect and Faith has to deal with the hand which she has been dealt. She's strong, smart, determined, and loyal. Owen too is a wonderful hero. He has no interest in ever getting married; this determination stems from a bad childhood. Nevertheless, when he meets Faith he just can't resist her; he wants her with him forever. Unfortunately, the arrangement that Owen wants is not one with which Faith could be happy. The most amazing thing about this story is that it's written in the first person, and yet I hardly noticed.
I hate first person account stories and typically avoid them like the plague. There have been a few instances where I've read a book told in the first person, and yet I've loved it, so I do TRY to remain open-minded; although it is hard. In this instance I can honestly say that it didn't bother me at all. As a matter of fact, although the story is told in the first person I never once felt as though I was missing out on what was going on with the rest of the characters. I still felt as though I knew Owen, I felt in tune with him and why he was the way he was. In my experience books told in the first person suffer from the huge drawback of not allowing the reader to really get to know any other character aside from the one who is telling the story...that did not happen here. It's magical the way Ms. White employs first person. I haven't experienced anything like it in a very long time.
As stated in the book blurb, Faith and Owen meet when they are both traveling west by train. Faith is fascinated by the attractive Owen and finds her eyes being constantly drawn to him during the journey. When Faith and her father are robbed of all their valuables, Owen graciously gives them some money to prevent them having to live on the streets. Two years later, Faith and her father are now living in a small Denver town. Life is nothing like Faith expected; her father is a drunk and spends his time gambling what little they have. The two live in a tiny room in a boardinghouse and Faith is forced to work as a saloon girl to eke out a living for the two of them.
For those of you who are wondering, Faith is still an innocent. Her job entails bring drinks and providing companionship for the saloons patrons, no sex. Two years after the two had their first encounter, Owen shows up in the saloon where Faith works. The two become reacquainted. Owen has never forgotten the young woman who first captured his attention on the train. He is captivated by Faith and asks her to be his mistress, but Faith wants a husband and children. Due to his horrible childhood, Owen doesn't think he'd make good husband material, plus he has no interest in settling down; he likes to travel around. Despite the fact that Owen assures Faith that he wants her with him forever, the two find themselves at an impasse as Faith is not willing to give up on her dreams...she's already lost so many.
The story that unfolds is a beautiful one. Owen and Faith are wonderful together, and even when Owen was bent on gaining Faith as a mistress I was never in any doubt that he truly cared for her. Eventually, of course, all works out and the couple does achieve their HEA. FYI this is a clean romance. There is no sex, and only a couple of sweet kisses. I loved this book, so much so that I immediately went and checked out Ms. White's Amazon page. Imagine my delight when I discovered that she has a few other books available for free here on Amazon. Oh I also remembered that I've read one other book by her before A Mail Order Bride For Charlie (The Carson Brothers of Kansas Book 1). I read that book over a year ago and gave it 3 stars. This one, IMO, was a much, much better story.
BTW for those of you who may be suspicious about the fact that my review is the only one so far and it's such a glowing one, no I am neither related to, nor acquainted with the author, nor was I given a copy in exchange for an honest opinion. I came by my copy on my own, free, compliments of searching the freebie section on Amazon. LOL Happy reading!
Faith is a wonderful heroine. She and her father travel west to start anew after her mother's death, but things don't turn out the way they expect and Faith has to deal with the hand which she has been dealt. She's strong, smart, determined, and loyal. Owen too is a wonderful hero. He has no interest in ever getting married; this determination stems from a bad childhood. Nevertheless, when he meets Faith he just can't resist her; he wants her with him forever. Unfortunately, the arrangement that Owen wants is not one with which Faith could be happy. The most amazing thing about this story is that it's written in the first person, and yet I hardly noticed.
I hate first person account stories and typically avoid them like the plague. There have been a few instances where I've read a book told in the first person, and yet I've loved it, so I do TRY to remain open-minded; although it is hard. In this instance I can honestly say that it didn't bother me at all. As a matter of fact, although the story is told in the first person I never once felt as though I was missing out on what was going on with the rest of the characters. I still felt as though I knew Owen, I felt in tune with him and why he was the way he was. In my experience books told in the first person suffer from the huge drawback of not allowing the reader to really get to know any other character aside from the one who is telling the story...that did not happen here. It's magical the way Ms. White employs first person. I haven't experienced anything like it in a very long time.
As stated in the book blurb, Faith and Owen meet when they are both traveling west by train. Faith is fascinated by the attractive Owen and finds her eyes being constantly drawn to him during the journey. When Faith and her father are robbed of all their valuables, Owen graciously gives them some money to prevent them having to live on the streets. Two years later, Faith and her father are now living in a small Denver town. Life is nothing like Faith expected; her father is a drunk and spends his time gambling what little they have. The two live in a tiny room in a boardinghouse and Faith is forced to work as a saloon girl to eke out a living for the two of them.
For those of you who are wondering, Faith is still an innocent. Her job entails bring drinks and providing companionship for the saloons patrons, no sex. Two years after the two had their first encounter, Owen shows up in the saloon where Faith works. The two become reacquainted. Owen has never forgotten the young woman who first captured his attention on the train. He is captivated by Faith and asks her to be his mistress, but Faith wants a husband and children. Due to his horrible childhood, Owen doesn't think he'd make good husband material, plus he has no interest in settling down; he likes to travel around. Despite the fact that Owen assures Faith that he wants her with him forever, the two find themselves at an impasse as Faith is not willing to give up on her dreams...she's already lost so many.
The story that unfolds is a beautiful one. Owen and Faith are wonderful together, and even when Owen was bent on gaining Faith as a mistress I was never in any doubt that he truly cared for her. Eventually, of course, all works out and the couple does achieve their HEA. FYI this is a clean romance. There is no sex, and only a couple of sweet kisses. I loved this book, so much so that I immediately went and checked out Ms. White's Amazon page. Imagine my delight when I discovered that she has a few other books available for free here on Amazon. Oh I also remembered that I've read one other book by her before A Mail Order Bride For Charlie (The Carson Brothers of Kansas Book 1). I read that book over a year ago and gave it 3 stars. This one, IMO, was a much, much better story.
BTW for those of you who may be suspicious about the fact that my review is the only one so far and it's such a glowing one, no I am neither related to, nor acquainted with the author, nor was I given a copy in exchange for an honest opinion. I came by my copy on my own, free, compliments of searching the freebie section on Amazon. LOL Happy reading!
August 30, 2020
Okay.
This book was okay, but I don't think it is her best work. I breezed through it in less than 3 hours. A very easy read and a little predictable.
This book was okay, but I don't think it is her best work. I breezed through it in less than 3 hours. A very easy read and a little predictable.
November 2, 2015
2nd book in Rocky Mountain Brides series
This book was much better that the first book...I really cared about the heroine, and the hero...which is pretty important when reading a cozy western romance!
With grief killing her father by alcohol and gambling, poor Faith is reduced to working as a saloon girl to help support them. She refuses to fall any further from grace by becoming a 'soiled dove' or a mistress to the wealthy man she is falling in love with. He refuses to consider marriage and children for his future, and that's what she wants.
When disaster strikes, character comes through. A good HEA book!
This book was much better that the first book...I really cared about the heroine, and the hero...which is pretty important when reading a cozy western romance!
With grief killing her father by alcohol and gambling, poor Faith is reduced to working as a saloon girl to help support them. She refuses to fall any further from grace by becoming a 'soiled dove' or a mistress to the wealthy man she is falling in love with. He refuses to consider marriage and children for his future, and that's what she wants.
When disaster strikes, character comes through. A good HEA book!
March 24, 2015
This was an enjoyable western romance read. Faith is a very determined young lady. She goes through many trials in the two-year span of this book. Some of the dialogue could have been better, but overall it's a good read.
June 12, 2015
Good read. Characters were very interesting.
This book was hard to put down wanting to see what was going to happen next. The friendships were formed by working together and each incident they went through riding the stage coach
This book was hard to put down wanting to see what was going to happen next. The friendships were formed by working together and each incident they went through riding the stage coach
February 27, 2016
Emotional roller coaster
This was a wonderful romance, but my heart was he an emotional roller coaster! You never knew what would happen, whether Faith would end up with Owen or have some horrible fate. It was fantastic!
This was a wonderful romance, but my heart was he an emotional roller coaster! You never knew what would happen, whether Faith would end up with Owen or have some horrible fate. It was fantastic!
March 19, 2015
Loved!!
Another great book by Carrie white, I haven't read one of her books that I didn't like. (I've read all of them).. Can't wait for another to come out..
Another great book by Carrie white, I haven't read one of her books that I didn't like. (I've read all of them).. Can't wait for another to come out..
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews