Kylie was sick and tired of wearing pants. Yep. Pants. She’d had enough.
Although, being up on her roof hearing thunder, that would have been a fine time to have had a pair of them on. Nonetheless, Kylie has got to get her roof repaired before the rain hit.
But roofs are tricky. She’d need a ladder. And she didn’t have one on hand. Her Pa had a ladder.
“Talk about someone Kylie didn’t want to ask for help! Cudgel Wilde would scold and snarl and in the end make Kylie want to jump on her horse and ride off and never come back.”
And, he’d make her wear pants.
Kylie was sick of pants.
Sisters Bailey and Shannon wore pants and didn’t mind. Of course, it was all part of the disguise….. Disguised as boys, the three sisters went off to war after their brother died during his service. Their pa demanded they go, so then they could homestead using the special exemption for having served in the Civil War- as boys. And being a boy meant wearing pants. Did I mention Kylie was sick of pants?
And that brings us to the present situation- Kylie on top of her roof in a skirt, with a thunderstorm coming. But before the rain came, there was thunder- and lightening. That meant Kylie had to get down without repairing the roof. Kylie hated roofs just as much as she hated pants.
“A sprinkle hit the back of her neck. Just how slippery did a roof get? Could she survive a fall? What if she broke her leg? Would she have to lie in the yard until help came? Or wolves came?
“Dear Lord,” she cried as she glanced at the dark clouds and spoke past them to God, “don’t let me be eaten by wolves because I was too stubborn to ride over to Shannon’s and wheedle her into fixing my roof.””
As she slipped and worked her way down the roof, she repeated the same mantra, “Three years to earn the life I want….” Down to the furthest point she could reach with her hands around her stove pipe, she realized the ladder back chair she had used to climb up with- is missing.
“She began losing her grip on the pipe, feeling her fingernails scraping along its length, and then lost her hold completely and fell. Solid arms closed around her legs. “I’ve got you, miss!””
And thus, her introduction to Aaron Masterson, land agent for Aspen Ridge. Land agent, as in, the person responsible for inspecting homestead claims and making sure there’s a cabin on the homestead after 6 months. As in, the homestead claim Kylie’s pa forced her to make for her two years of service during the Civil War. And, the homestead claim only men were allowed to have……..
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One of the reasons Mary Connealy is one of my all-time favorite authors is because of her humor. I was laughing pretty much from the get-go, and didn’t stop until the satisfying end. This title is classic Mary Connealy, through and through.
This is the first book in the Wild at Hearts series. You can bet I’m going to read about sisters Shannon and Bailey. Don’t miss it!
As usual, I give this title 5 out of 5 stars.
I received this book for free from Bethany House publishers (www.bethanyhouse.com) for this review.
I’m so glad you liked it. THANK YOU
You are one of my absolute most favorite authors, Mary. I ADORE your books! It is rare that I like every single title of a particular author that I’ve read. And even more rare will I re-read books {I have a bit of a photographic memory in that regard}. There have been a few times I’ve re-read several of your books, after a string of disappointing titles, or going to do a review of a sequel and then get sucked back into the earlier book.
So THANK YOU for such great, memorable, delightful, and genuinely funny books!!! ♡♡♡ 😀