Choices (Love's Valley Book 1)

Douglass Esmeralda Sullivan has just discovered that all men are gutter rats, all except for her six half-Irish, half-Mexican brothers, and sometimes she's not so sure about them. She's sitting in the middle of a dusty road on a hot Texas day, fuming because she's made a horrible mistake concerning Raymond Pierce, a despicable Yankee, one who has led her down the daisy path to destruction. She has no doubts her folks and her brothers would put her in a convent for the rest of her life for her rash misjudgment, but dang it all, it was her choice to show him who was boss. Little did she know that the choice would determine her destiny.

Monroe Hamilton is on his way home from a year in Galveston, Texas where he's been assigned to help with the reconstruction of Texas after the Civil War. He's been to the big circus called war and had seen the big elephant called life. His heart is so hardened and scarred, it is impossible for him to foresee a love in his future. He has made up his mind that he will be a bachelor for the rest of his life and that Love's Valley, Pennsylvania will be his love.

Then, out of nowhere, he sees an exotic-looking, beautiful woman sitting right in the middle of the road. It's his choice to play a knight in shining armor and rescue the helpless, pretty lady. Little does he know that this choice would determine his destiny.

The war might have split the country in two, but it didn't make rascals of all its men. Guided by his conscience, Monroe chooses to escort the lady to the nearest town. Guided by a desire to avoid a life of prayers and meditation, Douglass chooses to lie.

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Douglass Esmeralda Sullivan, half-Mexican and half-Irish, wanted an adventure, but placed her trust in a sorry Yankee rascal who would have bedded and abandoned her. So she descends the stagecoach in the middle of the desert and perches on her trunk, awaiting help, only to be accosted by Captain Monroe Hamilton, a true gentleman (albeit another Yankee) , who insists on seeing her to safety. Caught in a tangled web of lies, fearing pursuit by her brothers and incarceration in a convent for her misbehavior, and plotting revenge against the dastardly Raymond, Esmie finds herself willy-nilly on the road to Philadelphia with the handsome captain, who is alternately exasperated and amused by her antics. While not up to her usual standard--much of it reads like a rehash of her previous series--Brown's latest is nonetheless an enjoyable light and frothy historical romance with plenty of her trademark sass, down-home descriptions, and verbal sparring. Lynne Welch
Copyright American Library Association. All rights reserved ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Carolyn Brown and her husband live in southern Oklahoma. In addition to writing, Carolyn enjoys reading and traveling. Read more Continue reading Read less