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Woman of Courage #1

A Love for Delicious

Head to Oregon…

…with no husband and five children?


Married less than a week, Delicious (Delly) Williams, watches her new husband die, leaving her to raise his five children all under the age of thirteen. He also left her a deed to property in Oregon. His dying wish…for Delly to get the deed and the children to his brother in order for them to be protected from the man who wants their land, at any cost.

Zeke Williams wants to marry Delly in order to keep her safe. Another marriage is the last thing Delly wants.

Can these two come together and forge a love and a new life in an untamed land?

Readers who enjoy Linda Ford, Tracie Peterson, and Kathleen Ball will also enjoy this tale of bravery
as a woman pioneer fights against overwhelming odds to reach the Promised Land.

Grab this heart-warming historical romance by best-selling, award-winning author.

Kindle ebook tags: Christian historical romance, inspirational historical romance, women’s historical romance, clean read for teen girls, western and frontier Christian romance, Christian western, religious historical fiction

274 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 1, 2019

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About the author

Cynthia Hickey

1,723 books339 followers
Website at www.cynthiahickey.com
Also www.forgetmenotromances.com

Multi-published and Amazon and ECPA Best-Selling author Cynthia Hickey had three cozy mysteries and two novellas published through Barbour Publishing. Her first mystery, Fudge-Laced Felonies, won first place in the inspirational category of the Great Expectations contest in 2007. Her third cozy, Chocolate-Covered Crime, received a four-star review from Romantic Times. All three cozies have been re-released as ebooks through the MacGregor Literary Agency, along with a new cozy series, all of which stay in the top 50 of Amazon’s ebooks for their genre. She had several historical romances release through Harlequin’s Heartsong Presents, and has sold close to a million copies of her works since 2013. She has taught a Continuing Education class at the 2015 American Christian Fiction Writers conference, several small ACFW chapters and RWA chapters. You can find her on FB, twitter, and Goodreads, and is a contributor to Cozy Mystery Magazine blog and Suspense Sisters blog. She and her husband run the small press, Forget Me Not Romances, which includes some of the CBA’s best well-known authors. She lives in Arizona with her husband, one of their seven children, two dogs, two cats, three box turtles, and two Sulcata tortoises. She has eight grandchildren who keep her busy and tell everyone they know that “Nana is a writer”.

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Community Reviews

5 stars
69 (38%)
4 stars
52 (29%)
3 stars
35 (19%)
2 stars
17 (9%)
1 star
4 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
Profile Image for Tiffany.
512 reviews8 followers
April 24, 2015
Who doesn't love a good, clean romance set on the Oregon Trail? After all, I played Oregon Trail on a slow computer at school where my family often died of dysentery or cholera every single time. And apparently, so did the author, because every misfortunate that befell the characters in the game also afflicted the characters in this novel. Which is all well and good--but awfully overwhelming. The author was so busy plowing her way through tragedies and misfortunate that she forgot about the character development, the romance development, and even the five children Delly-the heroine, was supposed to be raising. About halfway through the book, she stopped really mentioning half of the kids. She also dropped other characters without explanation, which was frustrating.

I think this book had great potential with such an exciting and interesting backdrop as the Oregon trail. The story would have been much stronger had she dropped a few tragedies, either strengthened the plotline where Delly was being stalked by a gambler or dropped that plot line altogether. The other problem in the story is that the author was so intent on the action--that she missed a valuable character/relationship development. Delly keeps insisting upon her independence and self-sufficiency, but it becomes clear throughout the book that when she doesn't work together with her love interest, misfortunate bashes her on the head which is about every freaking page. This never gets resolved which drove me BATTTY.

If you like a story strong on one adventure/misfortunate/tragedy/disaster after another, with more misfortunate/stalker sidelines thrown in haphazardly, a little (clean) romance, and a little character development--this is the book for you. If you like your stories a little tighter and more polished--I would look elsewhere.
Profile Image for Paula Singleton.
191 reviews2 followers
April 21, 2019
Loved this book

This book is about the hardships along the Oregon trail. Really was an orphan that had been married for only a week and had become the mother of 5 children from this marriage. She was widowed after a week and was going West with the children's uncle as she had made a promise to her dead husband. This book is about hardships and overcoming them and trusting in God along the way. There are deaths, births, pregnancies, marriages, Indian captured and attacks, etc but through it all they kept the faith and made it to their promised land. A very good book and I am excited to continue this series with the next one about Ruth. This is a new author for me and I love her style of writing and will be reading a lot more of her books.
Profile Image for Joyful.
564 reviews
October 15, 2014
Wow! So much action. Delly is so young to have the responsibility to raise 5 stepchildren, then to find she is pregnant after her husband dies, and be given a baby on the trail to Oregon. Such a spunky 18 year old, yet she finds love again with her brother-in-law. The things they go through together makes for adventure and action from the beginning to the end of this wonderful story. I could not put it down. I was given this read for an honest review.
Profile Image for Sally.
562 reviews20 followers
April 13, 2020
A Love for Delicious is a great title for this adventurous lady nicknamed Delly. After only a few days after marrying for convenience, she inherited 5 children to raise but first traveling with them across the country in a wagon train. Instead of having lots of supplies, she had little. Her husband's brother, Zeke was the wagon master, so she sought him out for help and he complied the best he could. There was an immediate attraction on both sides but neither wanted to admit it to themselves.
Some of the problems involved: near-death experiences, kidnapping, dangerous weather, disease, supply shortages, extreme cold and dryness, lack of protective shoes.
When I recently moved by crossing the country I thought it was hard! Ha! After reading this really good book, I know now it was a breeze!
This is my first book by Cynthia Hickey that I have read and I look forward to more of her books.
I think this book would be good for anyone to read. It truly made me feel appreciative of my life now.
Profile Image for Raquel .
197 reviews13 followers
May 22, 2020
What a "Delicious" book!

This was a delicious read. You've got romance, mystery with a small twist of comedy.
This book had great character development and the reader actually felt like they knew them.
I laughed and cried with them and celebrated their victories.
Good clean read!
Profile Image for Rose Helg.
3,034 reviews27 followers
August 25, 2017
Good Book parts I read

This was an Good Book. At least the parts I read, want downloading, for some reason. I know the parts I read, was an Good Book.
Profile Image for Loraine Alcorn.
162 reviews17 followers
July 29, 2019
Really great story

I have read this book several times it’s one of my favorites and has so much action in it you will not be able to put it down
Profile Image for Mark.
2,683 reviews57 followers
May 6, 2023
This is the first historical novel I have read by this author, and I really enjoyed it. I have always liked stories set on the wagon trail, and the author did a great job on this one
Profile Image for Dianne Sidebottom.
1,480 reviews20 followers
August 19, 2014
A lovely story of drama, grief n loss. You got to be ever thankful for the people who did the Oregon Trail journeys. Those who first paved the way (pioneer spirit) n those that kept coming over the 70 years or so to establish homes n communities. Delly had wondered many a time n doubted if she had made the right decision. Months of being on the trail n battling the environment, first nation people, crooks who take advantage of people, shortage of water, food, firewood. Being responsible for 5 kids also was also n huge task when her "no good of a husband of less than a week" got shot at cheating at cards. I would say the orphanage had taught her well to work n not be lazy. Being abandoned n not knowing where her siblings or father are. Wanting to belong is a basic human emotion which drove Delly to marriage, getting on the last wagon train for the year. Zeke on the other hand had lost n wife n son on the trail previously n wasn't wanting to get personally involved even though it would be considered the right thing to do to marry his brother's widow. So the story grows the love between them through the hardships on the trail. It interested me the tolls the wagons had to pay at river crossings. I am not sure which character I would be in this story...
73 reviews1 follower
September 15, 2014
In the beginning I loved this book. Delly was a strong woman who loved her stepchildren. The more I read the more I became frustrated with her character. She never listen to the wagon master. She was a know it more all! She felt she knew what was best for everyone! But she had never been to Oregon! Delly, the main character, compared the group to the Israelites. I think the author need to re-read her Bible, because Moses was in charged of leading the Israelites out of Egypt and whoever didn't follow his orders were punished, most of the time with death.
Another thing, her family was the only one that didn't have any tragedy. After a while I didn't care about the book, so I skimmed through it. I got tried of reading about how beautiful she was every man wanted her, Really? Walking all day long, not bathing, around all those stinky animals? Not believable,! I'm Not going to read another book by this author. I think if the author had included the five stepchildren in more (she mainly talked about 2) I might had enjoyed it more.
Profile Image for Lisa C..
609 reviews
August 26, 2014
Where to start trying to review this one? I normally like a tough, get it done kind of heroine, but this one was just dense. How many things had to go wrong before she listened to someone more experienced and wiser? I wanted to smack her up side the head so many times. And could anything else possibly happen to her? She was an accident waiting to happen.

On a positive note, I liked the way she took the kids on as her own and treated them with such love and patience and initially stood up for Sadie. They were great together, taking care of the kids and each other. It was a clean story; suitable for ages 12-90.

There were a number of grammar and spelling errors. Grrr. The cover was totally off. Not only was the hair the wrong color, the girl on the cover looks like she's ready for a modeling class, not the Oregon trail.
Profile Image for Kim  Dennis.
1,229 reviews7 followers
June 12, 2015
This one is a 3 star -- barely. In the "Red Hot Squeaky Clean Romance" collection, I have found the stories to be marginal. Each story starts out with me thinking that I could really enjoy it -- more so than the ones before -- and then they fall flat. This one in particular was that way. There were so many situations in this that were redundant. There were things that the author brought in that she just didn't seem to know how to handle, so she just tied everything up in a nice little bow. And the heroine annoyed me -- she kept getting into problem after problem after problem and the hero was oh-so-patient with her. I just didn't enjoy them as much as I expected to at the beginning of the book. I don't think I will be reading another book by this author.
Profile Image for Bethany Marks.
354 reviews13 followers
November 22, 2014
If you love the pioneer spirit and a feisty woman who constantly gets herself into trouble, then A Love for Delicious is for you. This spunky heroine escapes near death to protect her own. She makes friends and finds love on the way to Oregon. (Her nickname) Delly is a strong, independent woman and she learns that her strength is not enough for the pioneer trail. Cynthia Hickey draws you into the journey. Enjoy!
2,372 reviews82 followers
August 4, 2015
A Love for Delicious
Woman of Courage, Book 1
Book 1 of Hearts of the West Collection
By Cynthia Hickey
Jan 6, 2023
5 stars

The Oregon Trail is laced with soo many dangers, it's a miracle anyone made it to the West Coast! This story not only discusses the dangers, but also highlights poor choices, terrors, stubborn pride, and true love and friendship! A story of God's grace and mercy, and a story very realistic. I loved it, but, there are definitely parts hard to read about!
Profile Image for Kristen.
1,711 reviews48 followers
August 26, 2014
Just ok for me, her name is seriously ridiculous - Delicious, really? Glad they shortened it to Delly most of the time.

Lots of trials and hardships as they are on the Organ Trail...was entertaining enough I suppose, hey, I finished it didn't I

Moral Note: Some hardships including people dying from them, some mild violence, no language, clean romance.
Profile Image for Kim.
171 reviews
February 19, 2015
This story was ok. It was clean. The writing was not very sophisticated and the kindle version had so many mistakes. Editors should be more thorough. This tale of Pioneer life has every imaginable element of drama or trauma imaginable...from death to kidnapping to bear attacks. Seriously, how much can happen to one family?
124 reviews4 followers
January 5, 2014
This book was good. It started off weird and like I had missed a book before reading it but after getting into it, it was good. Love how she just takes care of all the child and love them as her own! Easy read!
Profile Image for Kathryn.
302 reviews12 followers
July 29, 2014
The main character, Delicious, is my idea of a TSTL heroine. Every chance she gets, she disobeys the experienced leader of the wagon train and falls face first into danger. This happened over and over throughout the novel. I did enjoy the description of traveling the Oregon Trail though.
Profile Image for Heather Hart.
Author 71 books89 followers
September 9, 2015
Loved it!!!

This historical romance novel by Cynthia Hickey captivated me from beginning to end. I stayed up way too late reading and fell in love with the characters. I will definitely be looking for more books from this author.
44 reviews
November 10, 2015
An amazing book!

A true to life story full of the hardships that were encountered while traveling to new lives in the west. Great characters, lots of suspense, and a happy ending. Great read!
959 reviews4 followers
October 30, 2012
This was really good. She is very determined lady. She did what she felt was right no matter what and it got her in some trouble but it all comes out fine in the end.
Profile Image for Jenny.
94 reviews2 followers
November 3, 2014
Part of the Red Hot Squeaky Clean Romances box set available for Kindle.
1,915 reviews8 followers
April 20, 2015
I'm sure this was a pretty accurate description of what an actual expedition on the Oregon Trail was like. Not my cup of tea. Way too much angst and trouble for me.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews