Brody’s Bride by Kathleen Lawless

Complex Romantic Tale of the Old West

This second-chance-at-romance Western tale is surprisingly full of subplots, crazy characters, and double crosses that often happen in stories of the Old West. A greedy land grab? A murderous old man? Precious minerals? Perhaps lost treasure? Long-lost mother showing up? This author has packed a lot into a novella, that’s for sure. Laura has come back to Bullet, Arizona, because she fears that her love from ten years ago is at the crux of the machinations of a dastardly older man who wants Brody’s property. She was able to ingratiate herself with that man’s son and let him think that it was his idea that she become the new schoolmarm in Bullet. But what she really wants to do is figure out this man’s plot against her teenage love. Her and Brody’s relationship ended poorly because she made a bad decision. He has remained unwed, and his heart was broken by her because of her treatment of him back then.

Bullet is a nest of vipers, most working at the behest of Hawkes (the bad older man), as well as a place where good people are just trying to live their lives. The most interesting characters are the men who live at Brody’s ranch, the Copper Moon. They called themselves brothers, and while some are, they are more brothers bound by hard work, a shared history, and a desire for a better future. I really enjoyed the brother characters, and I look forward to their future romances, as the title of the series suggests. All in all, I enjoyed this complex story about the happenings in the small town of Bullet sometime in the late 1800s, and I’m eager to learn more about these characters and seeing what else unfolds in this small town.