Historical Western Romance

Soulmates Lost in Time by Ellen Knightly is a historical romance story set in the old west. Josephine’s family is struggling to make ends meet and bring in money for a doctor for her sick mother. Josephine and her father are exhausted. Then Josephine’s mother mentions something that she lost many years ago. This sparks an idea in Josephine, so she leaves home and ends up in a town she lived in as a young girl. She secures a job as a maid for a wealthy ranch family without realizing how much trouble this will bring.

Johnnie is being pressured by his parents to marry, not a woman of his choosing, but the one they think is best. His father is also pressuring him to focus on running the ranch, insisting that what Johnnie dreams of doing is a useless endeavor. Then his parents hire a new maid and he is immediately intrigued by her.

Ellen Knightly does a great job of writing a story with lots of surprises and twists that keep the reader turning pages. She is also talented at creating characters who face struggles that cause them great internal conflict. She even included a bit of a mystery in this story.

Soulmates Lost in Time does have lots of tension and suspense as well as a couple scary scenes, but the scary scenes are not too scary and there is no violence.

There is no clear religion mentioned or represented in Soulmates Lost in Time, but there is a pastor in the story and there is a clear representation that marriage is a lifetime commitment and there is no such thing as acceptable divorce.

The only issue I had with this novel is that the ending, though fairly satisfying, is left a bit open and Ms. Knightly mentions that there is an Extended Epilogue to the story, but she doesn’t include it at the end of the story or on the ebook at all. Instead, she includes the first chapter of one of her other novels, but here is the link where you can get the Extended Epilogue to Soulmates Lost in Time: http://ellenknightley.com/soulmates-lost-time-extended-epilogue/

The epilogue gives a glimpse into a few years after the end of Soulmates Lost in Time and wraps things up very nicely, so it is well worth going to the link to read it.

Also, I feel the need to issue a warning here. I have reason to believe this book may have been written by a bot writer and not an actual person.

Historical romance readers who enjoy stories set in the Old West will enjoy this story just as I did.

I give Soulmates Lost in Time by Ellen Knightley 4 stars.

This is a new book by a new author, Meghan’s Choice by Donna L. H. Smith, the first in Ms. Smith’s “A Known by Heart” series. After being rejected by a man she thought she loved, her father demands that she work for a year. So Meghan determines to do just that–anywhere but St. Louis.

Soon she moves to New Boston, Kansas to tutor eight children in a wild Kansas railroad town. It doesn’t take long for her to experience the danger in this town. In addition, she quickly catches the eye of a dark, handsome cowboy, as well as an attractive doctor. Which one will win her heart?

In all honesty, I have to say that Meghan is not my kind of main character, (this has nothing to do with the author or the writing, just my personal taste). Therefore it took me a few chapters to really start to care about what happened to her. However, I did take quite an interest in one of the two men who were vying for her attention, and the other intrigued me–that was enough to keep me reading. Of course, I am also partial to stories set in the historic west.

I found this to be a sweet story with a couple of disturbing surprises. Throughout the book, I met many interesting characters and learned some interesting Kansas history. I also found a couple of characters to root for.

Meghan’s Choice is a delightful debut novel from a new author. I look forward to following Donna L. H. Smith on her writing journey.