About the Book:

Patience Callahan is twenty-five and fast becoming an old maid. But she s spent most of her life dreaming over romantic European literature and wants a dashing d Artagnan, not a bookish Bob Cratchit. Alas, the Colorado town of Gilman is chock-full of Cratchit s without a d Artagnan in sight. Peter Foote, the general store owner, has been in love with Patience for seven years. But every time he s on the verge of proposing, she cuts him off; he can only imagine on purpose. This time though, dadburn it, he s going to go through with it. Ring in hand, he s moments from touching knee to floor, when Patience pulls out a list of mail-order bride advertisements and declares her intention to marry a backwoods stranger, on Christmas Day. Peter has two weeks to change her mind.

My Thoughts:

This is a short romantic story written from the point of view of the hero. Peter is a wonderful character, strong, dependable, and quiet. Patience, on the other hand is confused and rather stand-offish. It took me some time to warm to her. The setting of the story is lovely, at a time when there was a proper way to be courted and to behave. Kitty is a wonderful addition to the story, and is quite likeable.

The story however seems to be quite mainstream. The usual guy loves girl, but girl doesn’t think that he is good enough, influenced by the kind of books she reads and by her fancy idea of how a perfect guy should be. In steps a thief, whose sole aim is to steal the silver that has been mined in the town. Throw in some fights and a series of events that open up the heroine’s eyes to the true nature of the hero, making her fall in love or even realize the love she may have always had for him and we have our story.

Contrary to the cliched plot, the story is written in a simple straightforward manner focused in a single point of view. The story is set around the time of Christmas and is rather fast paced with the plot moving along swiftly. The author doesn’t stop to expand on any of the unnecessary details making this good for a novella. It is a decent one time pick-me up for those who want a quick read while on the move.