The Element of Love by Mary Connealy
Reviewed by Sandra Merville Hart
Book 1 in The Lumber Baron’s Daughters series
Three beautiful sisters are running away from their stepfather’s plans to marry them off to his money-hungry friends whom they are all certain will mistreat them—possibly worse than their stepfather mistreats their mother. Their mother sends them off to find husbands and then return. She remains to face her husband’s wrath, but at least her strong, intelligent, beautiful daughters will be safe.
Laura, the youngest, meets a parson at the train station. Caleb heads a mission team heading to remote area of California. She convinces him to take her and her companions—she hides her relationship to her sisters to maintain secrecy. Then the real adventure begins.
Laura soon decides she must convince Caleb to marry her so that she can claim her third of her inheritance out of the clutches of her violent stepfather. But Caleb has secrets of his own…
This novel leaps from one dangerous adventure to the next so that I could barely put down the book. The characters are realistic and the relationship between the sisters is believable. Their mission—to choose their own husbands, take charge of their inheritance, and rescue their mother—drives the story.
Danger follows all four women, making this a page-turner.
One caution—the ending will leave you wanting to read Book 2!
Recommended!
