A Lady in the Making

Sometimes the hardest thing to do in life is to convince people you have wronged, that you have truly changed. That's exactly what Millie Evans is trying to do. She no longer took part in swindling innocent people or conspire to have people murdered and even giving up being part of her brother-in-law's gang. Nope for Millie, she's had a complete change of heart. Must have been all that time, working hard at cooking and trying to make an honest living that has changed her deep down inside. However for some people, they believe no one ever really changes.

When Millie decides to take the stage to Salt Lake City to being her new life away from her past and her brother in law, she didn't plan on running into David Stone. He was the man she had fallen in love with and also the man she tried to murder and run off with all his money. Is it possible for her to convince David Stone to give her another chance? He believes Millie has been watching him for sometime and planned to take the same stage coach in an effort to finish what she had begun the first time she met David. Now he was wealthier and part owner in his own stage coach business and wonders just what Millie is up to now. He's not about to be caught off guard this time. Not if he can help it.

Millie thinks this is divine providence that she has run into David. It at least provides her with an opportunity to return the Bible she has stolen from him as well as the onyx cuff links his grandfather had given him on his twelfth birthday. . No matter how much she pleads with David that she has found God and has truly changed, he's not about to give her a second chance. He'd come so close to losing his heart to her. He'd been blinded by her charms. The knowledge left him feeling witless and old. He never wanted to see her again. Yet something kept nagging at him. Was even a tenth of what she'd said to him the truth?

In the conclusion of the Prairie Dreams Series, A Lady in the Making by Susan Page Davis takes us back to the late 1800's to the Oregon Territory to see just where David Stone and Millie Evans have wound up since their fateful encounter in the previous books. She has stolen from him and tried to lure him into marrying her so she could live in style. Without meaning to, she'd endangered his life. If only he'd give her the chance to show him that she had transformed into a new Millie Evans. He didn't even know her really name since she changed it to Charlotte Evan in Scottsburg because it sounded more elegant than Millie. This novel shows how difficult it can be for people to accept the changes we make, even if they are for the right reasons. Will Millie give up and go back to the life people have come to believe is true about her or has she truly changed both inside and out?

I received A Lady in the Making by Susan Page Davis compliments of Barbour Publishing and Net Galley for my honest opinion. I have read the entire series and have grown to love each of the characters that Susan creates for her reader to come to know and really love. I didn't care for Millie's character in the first two books because she was truly rooted in greed and deceit but looked forward to seeing how Susan would convince me that she had changed as well. For those that love Christian Historical Fiction set in the old west, then you will absolutely LOVE this one! You can read this as a stand alone since Susan does a great job at outlining Millie's past in this book, but trust me, you'll want to see where this all began! In my opinion, I easily rate this one a 5 out of 5 stars!!!! This is one of my favorite genre's to indulge in!

For more information about A Lady in the Making, Susan Page Davis or where you can pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

A Lady in the Making by Susan Page Davis

You can also find Susan Page Davis on Facebook to stay up to date with all her latest books.

Be sure to look for the other books in the Prairie Dreams Series as well at your favorite book retailer.

# 1 The Lady's Maid
#2 Lady Anne's Quest
# 3 A Lady in the Making

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Barbour Books (October 1, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1616264411
• ISBN-13: 978-1616264413
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1 inches

Lady Anne's Quest

Anne Stone has been searching for quite some time for the only remaining family she has left. Her parents died within months of one another and now, her future lies in finding her Uncle David Stone. Traveling along the Oregon Trail by wagon is not where she would have dreamed her search would lead her, especially since leaving her family's estate in London, England. But if she couldn't find her Uncle David, the estate would fall into her cousin Randolph's hands because her parents had no sons to leave the estate to, and a woman could not become heir to the estate. All the money that was tied up, now rested in Anne's hand to locate her Uncle David. Since he hadn't kept in communication, she has been searching for his whereabouts for quite some time, and she now believes he has settled in a ranch in Oregon.

Anne has made those who know her real identity keep it a secret because people had a tendency to treat her differently if they knew she was an heir to an estate in London and was considered a true Lady! But that doesn't stop Dan Adams from falling head over heels in love, even proposing to Anne along the wagon trail. But Anne can't fall in love with anyone until she can resolve her future and for now that means finding her uncle, no matter where it takes her or how long she must travel.

When Anne finds her Uncle's ranch, she is more than surprised to see he is not alone and not at all like the Uncle she remembers from her childhood. Long gone are his well-bred manners and English accent. He has gained considerable weight and has apparently married a woman named Millie. When she informs him of the deaths of his only brothers, he doesn't seem the least bit concerned and instead wants to know more about his inheritance. Anne soon realizes along with Dan that the man, she believed was her Uncle is not really him and soon learns it is a man her Uncle hired to watch over the ranch in his absence while he went mining for gold.

They call in the sheriff who has the man arrested but the woman, Millie flees on horseback. It seems Sam Hastings and his sister Millie are con-artists and have been hired to make sure that David Stone winds up dead and that Anne Stone doesn't find him. What could the connection be and who is behind it all? Will Anne find her Uncle before the Hastings do? Can she save him in time?

I received Lady Anne's Quest by Susan Page Davis compliments of Barbour Publishers and Net Galley for my honest review. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel from start to finish. I couldn't imagine how a lady of proper upbringing could endure have to search for her uncle along a wagon trail and later on horse back during the worst types of weather imaginable while learning that she would need to depend on others to help her along the way from Dan Adams to a cast of lovable characters like the miner Whitey! This one is a must read for those who love a bit of historical elegance along the western trail! I rate this one a 5 out of 5 stars and can't wait to read more in the Prairie Dreams series! This is the second book in the series and since I hadn't read the first one, I can honestly say it doesn't need to be read to understand where this one picks up. However, I can't wait to go back and see what I missed out on in the first book!

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Barbour Books (April 1, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1616264403
• ISBN-13: 978-1616264406
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1 inches

Lady Anne's Quest by Susan Page Davis

You can also find Susan Page Davis on Facebook by clicking here.

The books in the series are:

The Lady's Maid (1st)
Lady Anne's Quest (2nd)
A Lady in the Making (3rd)

Cowgirl Trail

Maggie Porter has grown up on the Rocking P Ranch and has come to love everything there is to about ranching, from riding horses, roping and driving cattle. As a young girl at 13, she had developed a school girl crush for ranch-hand Alex Bright because he didn't treat her any different because she was the bosses daughter.

Now that she has returned to the Rocking P as an older women, she wonders if that same crush exists and she can't wait to see Alex again. When she arrives home on the ranch, she learns Alex has been promoted as foreman, but even though her heart continues to chase after Alex, she finds out that things on the ranch aren't running as smoothly as her father would like. Maggie returns home after a long stay from helping her ill mother at the sanatorium and later attending her funeral, she finds her father isn't his usual self. She believes he is taking her mother's grief harder than she expected and learns that he has relinquished most of the ranch's task to Alex instead of being there on hand to help.

Maggie learns from Alex that most of the men are considering striking against the Rocking P, since her father has taken back some of the benefits they used to have working for him, from herding their own cattle on the ranch, to basic help in maintaining the bunkhouses and they haven't had a pay raise in ten years. Things get worse when Leo, one of the ranch hands is injured and her father refuses to help. He tells Leo that his wife will have to take him to town to see a doctor because he can't spare any men. That leaves Leo's wife, Sela to have to manage with an infant and leave her three young boys in the care of Dolores, the housekeeper. But when her father learns of this, he dismisses the boys and Sela to town because he can't afford to help them manage their family affairs on the ranch.

This places Maggie and Alex in the middle as Alex attempts to keep the men working on the ranch at least til they finish the cattle drive and they can get paid, while Maggie tries in vain to find out what is going on with the change in her father. It goes against how he has managed the ranch up to this point and if they can't reach a compromise, the ranch will fail.

In the novel, Cowgirl Trail by Susan Page Davis, the reader is transported back to Brady, Texas during the late 1800's for a look at what it takes to manage and run a large cattle ranch and how people made a living back then, either running a ranch or helping to maintain it. I feel for Maggie Porter, because as a daughter she is stuck between her loyalty to her father and toward helping the men when she feels her father is out of line. Will she be able to help them all find a compromise or will the ranch be lost along with her dreams of falling in love with Alex?

I received Cowgirl Trail compliments of Moody Publishers and Net Galley for my honest review and being a huge fan of Christian Western Romances, I absolutely loved this one. Susan Page Davis creates a different type of conflict and the way she has Maggie attempt to handle this as the only child of the Rocking P is brilliant and virtually unheard of in most western fictional books but one that works well in this one. I rate this book a 5 out of 5 stars and shows the strength that can be required of us when faced with challenging and difficult situations if we are willing to look to God for answers! This is book 5 in the Texas Trails series and one I've really enjoyed if you love westerns!!

For more information on Cowgirl Trail, Susan Page Davis or where to pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

Cowgirl Trail by Susan Page Davis

You can also stay up with the latest from Susan Page Davis on Facebook.

Captive Trail

The only thing worse from being taken from your family is trying to find a way back to them when you don't know where to begin. For Taabe Waipu, she has spent her young childhood forgetting the language of her family, English, when she winds up in a Comanche village. It's either learn the language of the Numinu or starve and continue to be treated as an outside. So as a way to survive, she forgets the family she was remembers raising her until she finally grows old enough to find a way back home.

Now years later she escapes her tribe and tries to locate her family again. Remember little details from distant memories and a faded piece of paper she has kept hidden may hold the clues towards reclaiming her identity and finding home again. So when she winds up injured and alone on a wagon train road, it seems fate has smiled upon her in the form of Ned Bright, the Butterfield Overland Mail driver who finds her lying in the road along with a group of nuns he is transporting to open a school for girls.

Fearing that she may be a child taken by the Comanche Indians and has now escaped, Ned feels that her best place for healing may be with the Ursuline nuns while he works with the fort to try and find out who Taabe Waipu really is and try to reunite her with her family, if only the Comanche's didn't have other plans.

I received, Captive Trail by Susan Paige Davis compliments of Christian Fiction Blog Alliance for my honest review and feel in love with the sincerity of this storyline. Historically speaking there were hundreds of children taken by Indians but many never were able to return home to the families that never gave up searching for them. With the Comanche tribe, they have never had someone escape and they will stop at nothing to bring a runaway back. This one rates a 5 out of 5 stars in my opinion and love the duality the title insists, not only in being a captive in the Comanche tribe but also losing her heart to the man who will stop at nothing to help her.

Here's even more great information about the book, the author and even a first chapter sneak peek!

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Captive Trail Moody Publishers (September 1, 2011) by Susan Page Davis



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:





From Susan: I've always loved reading, history, and horses. These things come together in several of my historical books. My young adult novel, Sarah's Long Ride, also spotlights horses and the rugged sport of endurance riding, as does the contemporary romance Trail to Justice. I took a vocational course in horseshoeing after earning a bachelor's degree in history. I don't shoe horses anymore, but the experience has come in handy in writing my books.



Another longtime hobby of mine is genealogy, which has led me down many fascinating paths. I'm proud to be a DAR member! Some of Jim's and my quirkier ancestors have inspired fictional characters.



For many years I worked for the Central Maine Morning Sentinel as a freelancer, covering local government, school board meetings, business news, fires, auto accidents, and other local events, including a murder trial. I've also written many profiles and features for the newspaper and its special sections. This experience was a great help in developing fictional characters and writing realistic scenes. I also published nonfiction articles in several magazines and had several short stories appear in Woman's World, Grit, and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.



My husband, Jim, and I moved to his birth state, Oregon, for a while after we were married, but decided to move back to Maine and be near my family. We're so glad we did. It allowed our six children to grow up feeling close to their cousins and grandparents, and some of Jim's family have even moved to Maine!



Our children are all home-schooled. The two youngest are still learning at home. Jim recently retired from his vocation as an editor at a daily newspaper, and we’ve moved from Maine to Kentucky.





ABOUT THE BOOK

Captive Trail is second in a six-book series about four generations of the Morgan family living, fighting, and thriving amidst a turbulent Texas history spanning from 1845 to 1896. Although a series, each book can be read on its own.



Taabe Waipu has run away from her Comanche village and is fleeing south in Texas on a horse she stole from a dowry left outside her family’s teepee. The horse has an accident and she is left on foot, injured and exhausted. She staggers onto a road near Fort Chadbourne and collapses.



On one of the first runs through Texas, Butterfield Overland Mail Company driver Ned Bright carries two Ursuline nuns returning to their mission station. They come across a woman who is nearly dead from exposure and dehydration and take her to the mission.



With some detective work, Ned discovers Taabe Waipu identity. He plans to unite her with her family, but the Comanche have other ideas, and the two end up defending the mission station. Through Taabe and Ned we learn the true meaning of healing and restoration amid seemingly powerless situations.



If you would like to read the first chapter of Captive Trail, go HERE.