Calico Ball by Carla Kelly, Sarah Eden, Kristin HoltMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Source: Received to Review
Genre: Historical Romance Anthology
Book Description: From the publisher of the USA TODAY bestselling & #1 Amazon bestselling Timeless Romance Anthology series in Clean & Wholesome Romance, comes CALICO BALL.
Three brand new Historical Western Romance novellas by Carla Kelly, Sarah M. Eden, and Kristin Holt.
THE KEEPER OF THE WESTERN DOOR by Carla Kelly
When Mary Blue Eye travels to Wyoming Territory with her friend to help her settle into her new married life at Fort Laramie, Mary is treated more like a servant than the friend she thought she was. Thankfully, she finds a new friend in Sergeant Blade, though Mary fears that her Seneca Indian heritage will keep a man like Blade from truly caring for her. Soon Mary is tasked with making fourteen calico dresses in two weeks, and Blade turns out to be the best ally she could ever ask for.
A CONVENIENT ARRANGEMENT by Sarah M. Eden
Patrick Quinn needs a wife. Hiring maids who leave within weeks to marry another fellow in a female-scarce Wyoming town hasn’t been helpful. Quinn needs a woman who will stay. When he writes to a mail-order bride service, and four-foot-eleven Mirabelle Smith shows up, they agree to each attend to their own duties and tasks. Their marriage will be a convenient arrangement for them both. But sometimes the heart has other ideas.
ISABELLA’S CALICO GROOM by Kristin Holt
Dr. Henry Merritt is desperate for dental patients, especially since Dr. Isabella Pattison arrived in the growing town of Evanston in the Wyoming Territory. It seems the female patients want a woman’s touch, and the male patients are quite fond of a pretty dentist. But if Henry doesn’t find a way to put Isabella out of business, his own practice will go under. When Isabella proposes that they team up together, and Henry gets to know her, he discovers the last thing he wants is for Isabella to leave.
My thoughts: Another winner from the Timeless Romance Collections. Calico Ball shares three stories set in the Western Frontier. Each of the stories share the theme of a the characters participating in a Calico Ball. Now, I did not know what a Calico Ball was before reading this book. It was a worthy endeavor. The women would make a dress made of Calico, attend the ball, and then donate it to someone in need.
I love the variety of the stories. Each of the female MC's are very different in personality and circumstance. The first story has a woman who is a Native American and how she is treated differently from the white women, even though she is a woman of refinement.
The second story the woman is a mail-order bride. She is spunky and sweet and wants nothing more than to be loved. A commodity that she has not know in her life. The issue of the donated dress is sweet and loved how it turned out. You have to read it to discover the compassion of an ornery old man.
The final story is about a professional woman, she is a dentist during the time when it frowned upon for women to have a career. She breaks many barriers and is not what she seems to be at the beginning of the story.
The three stories make you think about life and values. I enjoyed every moment lost in this book and it is one that I would pick up and read again. It is clean with a few kisses scattered in.
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