A nice change with two new-to-me authors and a detour to the romance side of things after a long stint with mysteries. Both of them, historical fiction set in the American wild west. Add to that a couple of spunky women and it should be a good read times two.

When Love Comes in Disguise: A Historical Western Romance Book

After meeting in an orphanage many years ago, Ellen and Alice promised to stay close and protect each other, no matter what. When Alice attracts the attention of a kind man who wants to marry her, Ellen follows her to Fort Worth without a second thought… not even about where she will stay in this new town. Fearless and determined, she quickly comes up with an outrageous plan; she disguises herself as a man and gets a job at Alice’s husband’s ranch. Yet she never counted on meeting a handsome man there who complicates her thoughts and feelings. Should she risk telling him who she really is? Or should she keep her secret and never even have the chance to be with him?

Ben is happy helping at his best friend’s ranch, learning a lot and guiding the new ranch hands. When his best friend finds a wife from a newspaper ad, Ben thinks he’s quite careless to marry someone he has never met. His thoughts are completely forgotten though the minute he meets a mysterious woman in town and becomes determined to learn more about her. Much to his frustration, she disappears and reappears at the ranch out of nowhere, visiting a friend and always seeming to keep her distance from him. Where did she come from and why doesn’t she allow him to spend more time with her? Can Ben solve this riddle and earn her trust?

Both Ellen and Ben feel a strong pull to each other from the very first moment their eyes meet. Ellen’s heart flutters during their fleeting moments together but sinks as soon as she has to disguise herself again. When everything inevitably comes to light, will it shatter their growing connection forever? Or could their feelings be enough to keep them together?

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The Wagon Master’s Wife (First Families of Sterling Book 1)

A woman set on escaping her circumstances. A man determined to start a new life, and a past that haunts them both.

Amanda Crumb is determined to have a fresh start. After hearing her brother’s plans to offer her as a prize in a high-stakes poker game, she knows she must leave the only home she’s ever known immediately. When she is rejected by the local wagon master to join his traveling party, she takes matters into her own hands. What she didn’t expect was a man with hard rules and a secret that is closer than she could ever imagine.

Charlie Holstead has rules he lives by. No unmarried women on his wagon train. Never get married…again. He is ready to lead his final wagon train and settle down in the town of Sterling, Co. and he doesn’t want any complications. But when he finds a stowaway in one of his wagons, things just became more complicated.

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I’m ready for a change after the intense mysteries I’ve been reading the last while. I do like mysteries though.

To break things up a little I’ve been re-watching my plentiful music video collection while redoing a ten puzzle box of jigsaw puzzles, puzzles I don’t remember doing in the first place. There’s plenty of evidence to convince me I have though. Lots of fun on a snowy Friday.

A little ADHD kicking in here.