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reviewsbyerinMy choice for my personal memorial to Stephen Bly was what I consider one of his funniest books. Identity theft was alive and well in the Old West... who needed a computer or the internet in those days?
Tap Andrews is on the run for a crime he didn't commit. Catching a stage out of Arizona seemed like a good idea, until they were ambushed in an Indian attack. Among the wounded was Zachariah Hatcher, a man with a bright future ahead of him. He had just bought a ranch in Colorado and was on his way to meet his fiancee, whom he only knew through the letters they had exchanged. When it becomes clear Zach isn't going to make it, he asks Tap to deliver the news to his Miss Cedar. But when Tap gets mistaken for Zach on the trail, he begins to think it might not be a bad thing to slip into Hatcher's identity. It has to be worth a shot, at least.
Pepper Paige is fed up with life. Tough breaks required her to work in a dance hall and she's never been able to escape. Finding herself the favorite of a rough outlaw is pushing her over the edge. She is forced out of work one evening to care for a woman badly injured in a stage accident. While watching over her unconscious patient, Pepper looks through her things in order to discover her identity and finds out that Suzanne Cedar is on her way to meet her fiance, whom she has never met. When Suzanne does pass away, Pepper decides that they look enough alike that assuming Miss Cedar's life might just be her ticket out of her living nightmare.
When Tap and Pepper meet, they are both pretending and both worried that the other will see through them. They're in a rush to get married and officially start their new lives. When circumstances arise to push the wedding off for a while, the Lord starts working on both of their hearts about the deception they find themselves in. They are in for encounters with an Almighty God which may turn their lives around even more than that which they are seeking.
There are horseback rides, gun fights, romance, humor, faith, and unexpected turns. Just what every good western needs! Stephen Bly brought us the west in a unique way, as it seems all of his stories are related to the other. You never know when heroes or heroines from other series are going to pop up or be mentiond in conversation. It's a whole world within a world kind of thing.
If you'd like to check out other books by Bly but aren't sure where to start, I'd say with the Stuart Brannon Westerns. If you're looking for young adult fiction, I absolutely love the Lewis & Clark Squad stories. For something contemporary and with a female lead, try the Horse Dreams Trilogy. Those are the ones that I always come back to and do not leave disappointed. May you have happy reading adventures as well!
Tap Andrews is on the run for a crime he didn't commit. Catching a stage out of Arizona seemed like a good idea, until they were ambushed in an Indian attack. Among the wounded was Zachariah Hatcher, a man with a bright future ahead of him. He had just bought a ranch in Colorado and was on his way to meet his fiancee, whom he only knew through the letters they had exchanged. When it becomes clear Zach isn't going to make it, he asks Tap to deliver the news to his Miss Cedar. But when Tap gets mistaken for Zach on the trail, he begins to think it might not be a bad thing to slip into Hatcher's identity. It has to be worth a shot, at least.
Pepper Paige is fed up with life. Tough breaks required her to work in a dance hall and she's never been able to escape. Finding herself the favorite of a rough outlaw is pushing her over the edge. She is forced out of work one evening to care for a woman badly injured in a stage accident. While watching over her unconscious patient, Pepper looks through her things in order to discover her identity and finds out that Suzanne Cedar is on her way to meet her fiance, whom she has never met. When Suzanne does pass away, Pepper decides that they look enough alike that assuming Miss Cedar's life might just be her ticket out of her living nightmare.
When Tap and Pepper meet, they are both pretending and both worried that the other will see through them. They're in a rush to get married and officially start their new lives. When circumstances arise to push the wedding off for a while, the Lord starts working on both of their hearts about the deception they find themselves in. They are in for encounters with an Almighty God which may turn their lives around even more than that which they are seeking.
There are horseback rides, gun fights, romance, humor, faith, and unexpected turns. Just what every good western needs! Stephen Bly brought us the west in a unique way, as it seems all of his stories are related to the other. You never know when heroes or heroines from other series are going to pop up or be mentiond in conversation. It's a whole world within a world kind of thing.
If you'd like to check out other books by Bly but aren't sure where to start, I'd say with the Stuart Brannon Westerns. If you're looking for young adult fiction, I absolutely love the Lewis & Clark Squad stories. For something contemporary and with a female lead, try the Horse Dreams Trilogy. Those are the ones that I always come back to and do not leave disappointed. May you have happy reading adventures as well!
