Disgraced dime novelist Kate Tenney fled the city that banned her latest novel for the emptiness of the desert. Answering an ad to be “heiress” to a vast cattle ranch in the Arizona Territory, Kate hopes ranching turns out to be as romantic as she portrayed it in her novels.
But what awaits her is a life harder than the one she just left. There is no room for mistakes on a working cattle ranch, and Kate is ill-prepared for her new life. She quickly learns that dawn comes early. But she is tenacious.
Having been abandoned by a string of men, Kate has no intention of ever marrying. But she didn’t expect to meet Luke Adams, either. Luke awakens feelings inside Kate she doesn’t recognize, and his steady presence is a constant distraction. She has only written about love in the past, never known it herself. But her feelings for Luke stand in the way of all she has to gain if she is chosen as the heir.
Perhaps God brought Kate to the barrenness of the desert to give new life to her jaded heart.
Connect with the author, Margaret Brownley here: http://www.margaretbrownley.com/.
My Take:
Overall, I liked this story. The plot was good and there was enough going on – enough action – to keep it moving. With the main character, Kate, I thought this plot was a very interesting way to get a young girl out to a ranch in the Wild West. Offering to make someone your heiress would have people coming out of the woodwork, and, of course, most of those young women would know nothing about a ranch. I have said in other reviews that I like ‘fish-out-of-water’ stories, and this one was pretty good in that respect.
There were a lot of characters in this novel. It was fairly
easy to keep them all sorted out, but I sometimes thought there was too much
attention given to the minor characters’ stories. The one with Luke’s Aunt
Bessie and Uncle Sam was amusing at first but got pretty ridiculous towards the
end.
My favorite character in this novel was Ruckus. I loved his
simple faith and his knowledge of Scripture. But even though many of the
characters exhibited strong faith in God like Ruckus did, I was a bit confused
as to when the main character, Kate, demonstrated this same faith. At the end,
she seemed to be a believer, but I’m not sure when this change actually took
place. I felt as if I missed something. I was also confused as to why Luke, who
seemed to have faith in God, would even consider making his feelings known to
Kate and going after her when he knew she did not claim faith in God. I thought
that was out of character, and, again, I felt as if I had missed something along
the way.
One of the best parts of this book was the quotes from Kate’s
novel at the beginning of each chapter that related to what was going on. I liked
having a little teaser at the start of each chapter to get my mind focused on
what was going to be happening. I also liked that the main character of this
novel was a published author. Sometimes when Kate was describing her writing
and her experiences as an author, I felt as if the author was putting her own thoughts
down on the page. I enjoyed how Kate was able to ‘handle’ Cactus Joe (the bad
guy) by writing a book about him!
There were a few things in this novel that seemed as if they
weren’t completely wrapped up, but the stories will be continuing in the other Brides
of Last Chance Ranch books to come.
I will give Dawn Comes
Early … 3 BookWorms.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers through their BookSneeze blogger review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this is accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."
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