Regina Jennings has a new series available. Holding the Fort is Book One of The Fort Reno Series. The setting is June 1885 in Wichita, Kansas. Louisa has lost her job as a dance hall singer, and sets off to find her brother, a private with the army on a Cheyenne/Arapaho Indian Reservation. Her reputation won't allow her much choice for employment and she has no where else to go. While on the stagecoach journey, a governess position fall in her lap and she uses her performing skills to act the part of a Mennonite governess for Major Daniel Adams's two daughters on the Indian Reservation. She can keep her younger brother out of trouble and have employment that includes room and board. She just didn't expect to have to be so deceitful, nor did she expect to enjoy the time she spends with the Major and his family. Daniel is an expert at reading people and anticipating their every move. Louisa is a mystery that he intends to solve, because she sure doesn't seem like an other Mennonite he has met before, nor does she teach his daughters the normal school subjects.
I love how Regina Jennings brings in so much history into her novels. She uses the real characters from the 1880's such as Agent Dyer, Running Buffalo, and Chief Powder Face, so the reader is learning history as well as enjoying a romance novel. The story of Daniel and Louisa is sweet and believable to the time period. Louisa must find her way to God too, and I love how Regina shows her heart transformation. Louisa discovers that God doesn't hold our past against us; He leaves it in the past! I will definitely be looking forward to Book Two. Thank you Bethany House Publishers for sending me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
