Mary Connealy has a new series called Wild At Heart. Set in Idaho Territory in 1866, the series centers around the Wilde Sisters who have served their time in the Civil War and now they have applied for a homestead using their Union Soldier Exemption. Their father had convinced them to enlist as soldiers after their brother was killed in battle, and now has each of his three daughters on their own homestead. Book 1 begins with Kylie the youngest of the three sisters. She only wants to stay out west long enough to fulfill her homesteading contract. While dressing like a man has some benefits when it comes to building her cabin, and helping care for her sister Shannon's sheep, she longs for the day of attending tea parties and balls wearing beautiful gowns back East. When local land agent Aaron Masterson rescues her from a potential fall off her roof, he realizes Kylie's true identity. Now his conscience is torn between reporting her for fraud or protecting her from the single men in town that either want to marry her or run her off her land.
This novel has all the action of a western romance as well as some comedy. I enjoyed the banter between Kylie and Aaron and the closeness of the three Wilde sisters. Mary Connealy has intertwined the historical facts of the time period too so that I learned about the ways of western homesteading. Mary Connealy has an excerpt from Book 2 available at the close of this book. I look forward to reading Shannon's story in Now and Forever. Thank-you Bethany House Publishers for providing me a free copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
