A Wyoming Summer (Timeless Western Collection Book 4)

ANTHOLOGY: The first novella in this anthology is “Ellen Found” by Carla Kelly. This story is about the construction of the Old Faithful Inn in 1903. Ellen Found decides to leave a rough work environment in Montana for an unknown job in the kitchen feeding the workers completing the Inn. There, she meets some people who change her life. In “The Widow of Daybreak” by Christine Sterling, Doris Whistler is living a nightmare in Daybreak, Wyoming in 1909. Her town gets overrun by outlaws. They kill her husband, and the head outlaw decides Doris will marry him, or he will start killing townsfolk. She sends a telegraph to her brother, who sends a friend to help her out. In “May I Kiss the Bride?” Heather B. Moore writes about Viola Delany, a young lady who has been sent to the small town of Mayfair, Wyoming, after a failed society engagement. Her parents send her via train to live and work with her aunt. The sheriff thwarts a robbery on the train but gets shot in the melee. A beautiful lady is a hot commodity in the male-dominated area, so her presence causes a few issues.

These novellas are all well-written, sweet stories about life in the early 1900’s in Wyoming. These women face challenges with grit and courage. They exhibit fiercely independent spirits, and they carve out a place where they can not only belong but thrive. They sometimes challenge established female stereotypes, which causes issues at times for certain unenlightened males. The conflicts are defined clearly in each novella; however, there is some 21^st century progressive thought interjected within the book, which strains believability occasionally. Regardless, this is a delightful book that offers readers a glimpse of what life may have been like over a hundred years ago in Wyoming.

Carey Sullivan