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Springwater #1
Springwater
Evangeline Keating came west because she had after her husband's passing, she needed to build a new life for her young daughter, and marrying a stranger from Montana Territory was her best chance. After a difficult winter journey, she arrives at an isolated outpost called Springwater Station. But the handsome man who's come for her is not her husband-to-be, and Evangeline soon finds herself thrust into a most inconvenient -- and highly improper -- arrangement. Scully Wainwright never intended to be left alone with his ranching partner's fiancée. But his partner's not due back until spring, and he can't leave a defenseless woman and her child unguarded -- not with wolves and Indians threatening. Biding his time with the lovely Evangeline begins to feel dangerously close to setting up a real home. But as a reckless passion sparks between them, Scully and Evangeline discover a destiny -- and a passion -- as boundless as the open frontier.
304 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
194 people are currently reading
907 people want to read
About the author
Linda Lael Miller
553 books3,229 followersThe daughter of a town marshal, Linda Lael Miller is a #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of more than 100 historical and contemporary novels, most of which reflect her love of the West. Raised in Northport, Washington, Linda pursued her wanderlust, living in London and Arizona and traveling the world before returning to the state of her birth to settle down on a spacious property outside Spokane.
Linda traces the birth of her writing career to the day when a Northport teacher told her that the stories she was writing were good, that she just might have a future in writing. Later, when she decided to write novels, she endured her share of rejection before she sold Fletcher’s Woman in 1983 to Pocket Books. Since then, Linda has successfully published historicals, contemporaries, paranormals, mysteries and thrillers before coming home, in a literal sense, and concentrating on novels with a Western flavor. For her devotion to her craft, the Romance Writers of America awarded her their prestigious Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.
Long a passionate Civil War buff, Linda has studied the era avidly for almost thirty years. She has read literally hundreds of books on the subject, explored numerous battlegrounds and made many visits to her favorite, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where she has witnessed re-enactments of the legendary clash between North and South. Linda explores that turbulent time in The Yankee Widow, a May 7, 2019 MIRA Books hardcover, also available in digital and audiobook formats.
Dedicated to helping others, “The First Lady of the West” personally financed fifteen years of her Linda Lael Miller Scholarships for Women, which she awarded to women 25 years and older who were seeking to improve their lot in life through education. She anticipates that her next charitable endeavors will benefit four-legged critters.
More information about Linda and her novels is available at www.lindalaelmiller.com, on Facebook and from Nancy Berland Public Relations, nancy@nancyberland.com, 405-206-4748.
Linda traces the birth of her writing career to the day when a Northport teacher told her that the stories she was writing were good, that she just might have a future in writing. Later, when she decided to write novels, she endured her share of rejection before she sold Fletcher’s Woman in 1983 to Pocket Books. Since then, Linda has successfully published historicals, contemporaries, paranormals, mysteries and thrillers before coming home, in a literal sense, and concentrating on novels with a Western flavor. For her devotion to her craft, the Romance Writers of America awarded her their prestigious Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.
Long a passionate Civil War buff, Linda has studied the era avidly for almost thirty years. She has read literally hundreds of books on the subject, explored numerous battlegrounds and made many visits to her favorite, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where she has witnessed re-enactments of the legendary clash between North and South. Linda explores that turbulent time in The Yankee Widow, a May 7, 2019 MIRA Books hardcover, also available in digital and audiobook formats.
Dedicated to helping others, “The First Lady of the West” personally financed fifteen years of her Linda Lael Miller Scholarships for Women, which she awarded to women 25 years and older who were seeking to improve their lot in life through education. She anticipates that her next charitable endeavors will benefit four-legged critters.
More information about Linda and her novels is available at www.lindalaelmiller.com, on Facebook and from Nancy Berland Public Relations, nancy@nancyberland.com, 405-206-4748.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
March 14, 2009
Western romance novel, set 1870 in Montana, outside of a stagecoach station named Springwater Station, hence the title.
The heroine is the widow Evangeline Keating, whose much older husband died of natural causes. She had to get out of town because her stepson, who is actually older than she is and inherited everything, started making untoward advances and he happens to be a toad, so there’s no way she’d marry him. It turns out that her dead husband had a cousin in Montana who was looking for a wife, so she becomes his mail-order bride. Just one snag: When she and her daughter Abigail arrive at Springwater Station, they’re expecting him to pick them up, but he’s hauling cattle to market down in Texas. So, who’s there to haul them to the ranch? Scully Wainwright, who just happens to be the handsomest man she’s ever seen. Of course, he’s also very honorable and could never engage in a relationship with his best friend’s fiancee. Drama ensues. Delightful drama filled with sexual tension as Evangeline and Scully must live together in a one-room cabin all winter. Maniacal laughter!
I love Linda Lael Miller’s western historicals. Yeah, they can be a little hokey, but it’s like eating vanilla pudding. I do love vanilla pudding; I just don’t mistake it for tiramisu.
My one complaint is that almost the entire book is spent denying their attraction to each other, so when everything works out in the end, the love scene feels a little tacked on. I almost would have preferred a fade to black, since everything up to that point had been a very gentle, restrained courtship, that sort of relishes in stolen touches, and then they get hitched and all of a sudden he’s going down on her. It was weird.
But! I did enjoy it, since it broke up the usual romance novel rhythm.
The heroine is the widow Evangeline Keating, whose much older husband died of natural causes. She had to get out of town because her stepson, who is actually older than she is and inherited everything, started making untoward advances and he happens to be a toad, so there’s no way she’d marry him. It turns out that her dead husband had a cousin in Montana who was looking for a wife, so she becomes his mail-order bride. Just one snag: When she and her daughter Abigail arrive at Springwater Station, they’re expecting him to pick them up, but he’s hauling cattle to market down in Texas. So, who’s there to haul them to the ranch? Scully Wainwright, who just happens to be the handsomest man she’s ever seen. Of course, he’s also very honorable and could never engage in a relationship with his best friend’s fiancee. Drama ensues. Delightful drama filled with sexual tension as Evangeline and Scully must live together in a one-room cabin all winter. Maniacal laughter!
I love Linda Lael Miller’s western historicals. Yeah, they can be a little hokey, but it’s like eating vanilla pudding. I do love vanilla pudding; I just don’t mistake it for tiramisu.
My one complaint is that almost the entire book is spent denying their attraction to each other, so when everything works out in the end, the love scene feels a little tacked on. I almost would have preferred a fade to black, since everything up to that point had been a very gentle, restrained courtship, that sort of relishes in stolen touches, and then they get hitched and all of a sudden he’s going down on her. It was weird.
But! I did enjoy it, since it broke up the usual romance novel rhythm.
March 12, 2012
I have been a Linda Lael Miller fan for some time but our library picked up the "Springwater" series lately so this book, although older than her other series, was new to me. Heartily agree with reader, Sara B., that said she would like to have more of the backstory on Scully.
The story unfolds around a young widow and her daughter fleeing the safety of the Pennsylvania "city-life" and a mean-spirited man shortly after the Civil War. Evangeline climbs aboard a westbound train with few possessions and even less funds for the trip and travels to the territories to marry a cousin of her late husband who has promised to provide for her and the daughter that she loves.
Wolves, Indians, and hardships are just a few of the trials that they face together as they rebuild their lives in a new place. It is very interesting to read more of how our fore-mothers struggled to build this country, and I am glad that the author will address the small community of pioneers in future books of the series.
The story unfolds around a young widow and her daughter fleeing the safety of the Pennsylvania "city-life" and a mean-spirited man shortly after the Civil War. Evangeline climbs aboard a westbound train with few possessions and even less funds for the trip and travels to the territories to marry a cousin of her late husband who has promised to provide for her and the daughter that she loves.
Wolves, Indians, and hardships are just a few of the trials that they face together as they rebuild their lives in a new place. It is very interesting to read more of how our fore-mothers struggled to build this country, and I am glad that the author will address the small community of pioneers in future books of the series.
September 30, 2020
I am so thankful I found Linda Lael Miller and this series! Wow. A long story but I loved it... The narrator spoke slower than I would like so I sped it to 1.2 and it was perfect! Her different characters voices were so good and she told the story perfectly! I cannot wait to hear more of this series! This one had me wanting to speed it up to make sure everything turned out well, although I knew it would in the end!!
March 25, 2022
Post Civil War, settling westward!!!
This period has special interest for me as my own family experienced such similar experiences! Miss Miller brings the romance, hardships and valor of those who left the slightly safer confines of more settled and populated regions to push towards areas with more possibilities and hazard s! It's as though she's there and simply relating what she has experienced! I love her characters as fully developed and real and true to that period in time! At this time in my life, I have to fully like and care for the characters or I just won't read it! This is something I don't say about any movie star's or popular personalities, but I am well and truly a FAN of Miss Miller and dread the day when I have read everything she has written and have no more to look forward to reading!
This period has special interest for me as my own family experienced such similar experiences! Miss Miller brings the romance, hardships and valor of those who left the slightly safer confines of more settled and populated regions to push towards areas with more possibilities and hazard s! It's as though she's there and simply relating what she has experienced! I love her characters as fully developed and real and true to that period in time! At this time in my life, I have to fully like and care for the characters or I just won't read it! This is something I don't say about any movie star's or popular personalities, but I am well and truly a FAN of Miss Miller and dread the day when I have read everything she has written and have no more to look forward to reading!
March 23, 2023
Linda Lael Miller writes some of the best Western historical and contemporary books, and this is no exception. In a slow-burn romance, Evangeline and her young daughter Abigail come west to wed Big John Keating, but he's gone south on a cattle drive, leaving his partner Scully to meet them and take care of them for the winter. You know Eve and Scully are going to end up together, but they are honorable people, and Scully is determined to leave as soon as Big John returns.
There are all sorts of adventures in a Montana winter, with storms, wolves, and Indians threatening the ranch. Both Eve and Scully are nuanced characters, and Abigail is adorable without being the precocious brat that you sometimes find in romance stories. It's an enjoyable read, one of Ms. Miller's older books that was just republished and I can't wait for the rest of the series to come out.
There are all sorts of adventures in a Montana winter, with storms, wolves, and Indians threatening the ranch. Both Eve and Scully are nuanced characters, and Abigail is adorable without being the precocious brat that you sometimes find in romance stories. It's an enjoyable read, one of Ms. Miller's older books that was just republished and I can't wait for the rest of the series to come out.
March 23, 2023
I do love this author! Beginning this series is both exciting and wonderful. We begin the story of a widowed mother, Evangeline Keating, and her young daughter, Abigail, traveling across country to Montana to meet and marry the cousin of her dead husband. Now at the stagecoach station, she sees the man coming on his horse to meet her and take her to his ranch. The book is of isolation far in the country, a stranger to live with and the harshness of the wilderness of the ranch. Who was this stranger she came to know, what would this adventure bring and how would her darling little girl adapt. It was one of the most heartfelt stories I’ve read recently and enjoyed every moment. Looking forward to more!
September 19, 2019
Evangeline Keating is a widow with a six-year-old daughter. She doesn't have many choices, so travels to MT from PA to marry her husband's cousin. When she arrives, Big John's not there - he's gone south to get cattle leaving his partner Scully Wainwright to pick them up and care for them over the winter. Honorable people, they resist their mutual attraction. When spring comes, Scully plans to leave. When Big John does finally arrive, he already has a wife from Denver, so Scully and Eve are free to marry. One bedroom scene on their wedding night.
A final letter to a friend back in PA sets up the story for the next book in the series - Rachel.
A final letter to a friend back in PA sets up the story for the next book in the series - Rachel.
June 24, 2024
I have just recently discovered the Springwater Series by Linda Lael Miller. This is the first book in the series and we meet a group of folks who aren't afraid to tame the wilderness. The beauty of nature is what draws these folks to Montana and they put their backs into creating a life for themselves. The story centers around the stagecoach station run by the MacCafferys, two entertaining characters unto themselves. We are introduced to several other townspeople in this tiny, one-horse town but by story's end we can be assured that Springwater will soon find its place on the map.
Highly recommended if you can find the book - it was first published in 2011.
Highly recommended if you can find the book - it was first published in 2011.
January 24, 2021
This was awesome! Evangeline is a widow and her creepy stepson Wants to marry her. When she receives an offer of marriage from her husbands cousin on the frontier she accepts and makes the journey from Pennsylvania with her delightful 6 year older daughter. When she arrives she finds Big John is gone until spring and he’s partner, Scully, is to care for them. Of course they fall in love but swear to honor the promise she made to big John and he made as a best friend, dreading his return in April. Tons of glorious frontier life and character details!
August 13, 2024
good book
I enjoyed reading this book. I found the struggles that the characters endured heart-warming and endearing. The only thing I did not like was the ending. I find story endings the most disappointing. Few writers do it well. This one seemed to drag on but at least it was not abrupt. There must be a way to write an interesting ending that does not drag but is also not abrupt.
I enjoyed reading this book. I found the struggles that the characters endured heart-warming and endearing. The only thing I did not like was the ending. I find story endings the most disappointing. Few writers do it well. This one seemed to drag on but at least it was not abrupt. There must be a way to write an interesting ending that does not drag but is also not abrupt.
December 16, 2024
Springwater
I haven't read a Linda Lael Miller book in a long time. She did not disappoint. Scully and Evangeline are very loyal. Knowing she was to marry Big John while being in love with Scully tugged at heartstrings. Almost losing Abigail was heart rendering. Needless to say, have tissues close at hand.
I haven't read a Linda Lael Miller book in a long time. She did not disappoint. Scully and Evangeline are very loyal. Knowing she was to marry Big John while being in love with Scully tugged at heartstrings. Almost losing Abigail was heart rendering. Needless to say, have tissues close at hand.
January 15, 2020
Winter read
I have previously read Miller's books and enjoyed them. This one has the ranch appeal, characters were real. It was fast paced and kept your interest. Readers who enjoy ranch life or the slower pace of living will enjoy this book.
I have previously read Miller's books and enjoyed them. This one has the ranch appeal, characters were real. It was fast paced and kept your interest. Readers who enjoy ranch life or the slower pace of living will enjoy this book.
March 9, 2023
A master storyteller.
Any book by Ms. Miller is a treasure trove of detail and desire that keeps me reading page after page. Her voice is wonderful, and every book by her is exceptional.
Any book by Ms. Miller is a treasure trove of detail and desire that keeps me reading page after page. Her voice is wonderful, and every book by her is exceptional.
March 18, 2024
A Hero who doesn't even think about fighting for the heroine he loves. A heroine who marries whoever asks her and a prospective groom who we don't see until the last chapter when he unceremoniously dumps the heroine. Oh and a story so predictable you'll have a hard time staying awake.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 2, 2024
Well I had not read an old romance type novel in a while and had this one in a stack of old books. It is an old west setting Montana. It was a good story and characters and well written. Also a reminder of how hard it was in the pioneer times.
May 28, 2018
One of the best I've read from Linda, really felt romantic, Scully and Eve went though many trials together
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 1, 2019
I love frontier stories, but the insta-love was unbelievable
April 23, 2019
Springwater
This was a good story with many twists and turns. The characters were complex and likeable. The story pulled me in and completed the story in one afternoon.
This was a good story with many twists and turns. The characters were complex and likeable. The story pulled me in and completed the story in one afternoon.
August 19, 2019
This was my second time reading this book. I am going to go back and read the rest of the series next.
April 29, 2020
Historical romances are not usually my cup of tea but this series was recommended to me. This story was okay but not enough romance for my liking!
July 19, 2020
4.5 Stars
library
July 30, 20215
February 7, 2022
Oddly entertaining
August 3, 2024
Sweet romance story. Clean storyline. Excellent narration. It’s a series and left me interested in the town and the people enough to continue on to the next book.
January 26, 2025
What a great book. I loved the characters and how their story unfolded.
November 12, 2025
🙇♀️🐈⬛👱♀️🧔♂️🏕❄️🌬🐎🐄🐤🎅🎄🎁
December 23, 2025
Good beginning to the series. Audio narration was great.
May 16, 2023
True Love
What a nice love story. The character’s were respectful of each other and had morals and respect for big John and wouldn’t give in to their on desires like they wanted to. Was glad to see it all worked out in the end with all happy. The wedding nite was wonderful it almost made it feel like you were the one there WONDERFUL BOOK.
What a nice love story. The character’s were respectful of each other and had morals and respect for big John and wouldn’t give in to their on desires like they wanted to. Was glad to see it all worked out in the end with all happy. The wedding nite was wonderful it almost made it feel like you were the one there WONDERFUL BOOK.
October 2, 2025
First off...Scully?? That's a choice.
This story was very sweet and emotional. The angst! They both grew to love each other but knew they couldn't be together. This was a very slow burn for the romance. I like that they got to know each other over several months while waiting for her groom to return.
The ending was sweet and perfect for the story.
This story was very sweet and emotional. The angst! They both grew to love each other but knew they couldn't be together. This was a very slow burn for the romance. I like that they got to know each other over several months while waiting for her groom to return.
The ending was sweet and perfect for the story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews