Montana Rose by Mary Connealy - REVIEWED and GIVE AWAY!

Montana Rose is the first book of the Montana Marriages series by Mary Connealy, and it explores some not-so-pleasant topics with the gentle touch of romance and humor that has become Mary’s trademark. Cassie Griffin has lost her husband, but in the confusion that follows his death, doesn’t realize that her husband’s cruelty has robbed her of far more than she realized.

Red Dawson is working hard to build his cattle ranch and has no time for a wife and family. Yet he barely finishes digging Lester Griffin’s grave before he finds himself married to the man’s widow! Acting partly out of a desire to rescue Cassie from certain death and partly out of his secret attraction to her beauty, Red is astounded to find himself teaching his new wife how to do many of the daily chores on his ranch. It’s a job filled with much joy and danger!

Using humor and clever story-telling, Mary Connealy takes a look at the darker side of human relationships. The story focuses primarily on Cassie as she heals and grieves while trying to begin a new relationship with Red. The story also looks inside the damaged heart of another character – Wade Sawyer. The two story-lines blend to form a realistic look at the redeeming power of God’s love and the strength it gives us as believers to reach beyond our own hurt and unforgiveness and share love with the unlovable.

I enjoyed Montana Rose, and I think it provides a solid foundation for Mary’s new series. I can’t help but wonder which of these characters I’ll see again in the future, but I know that I’ll enjoy the journey. Thanks for another great read Mary!

I have an extra copy of this book to give away! So please leave your name and contact information and I’ll drop your name in the hat for a drawing!!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Mary's writing journey is similar to a lot of others. Boil it down to persistence, oh, go ahead and call it stubbornness. She just kept typing away. She think the reason she did it was because she was more or less a dunce around people—prone to sit silently when she really ought to speak up(or far worse, speak up when she ought to sit silently).

So, Mary had all these things, she want to say, in her head; the perfect zinger to the rude cashier, which you think of an hour after you’ve left the store, the perfect bit of wisdom when someone needs help, which doesn’t occur to you until they solve their problems themselves, the perfect guilt trip for the kids, which you don’t say because you’re not an idiot. She keep all this wit to herself, much to the relief of all who know her, and then wrote all her great ideas into books. It’s therapeutic if nothing else, and more affordable than a psychiatrist.

So then a very nice, oh so nice publishing company like Barbour Heartsong comes along and says, “Hey, we’ll pay you money for this 45,000 word therapy session.” That’s as sweet as it gets.

Mary's journey to publication is the same as everyone’s except for a few geniuses out there who make it hard for all of us. And even they probably have an Ode to Roast Beef or two in their past.