Beautiful story! Western romance – not typical of the type of books I read, but the newspaper add from Texas, “Rancher Seeking Wife’ captured my attention. Add to that the prologue with sweet Kate being rushed to an orphanage by her desperate mother and I did not want to put this book down. Finding out what happened to Kate kept me interested until the very end. For a young lady who was, basically, thrown out with the wash, her mother’s words of some day forgiving had the truth of love about them from a woman who truly loved her daughter and wanted a different life for her.

Then, add in Reed Benton seeking kidnapped son. Great story line! Handsome Reed, a Texas Ranger looking for his son for the last five years. Finally, believes he has found him and heads home to place he has hated since before he lost his son and wife. He has been shot twice during the raid in which he was able to retrieve his son, but his son is no longer the loving child he had. His father, whom he had come to dislike, possibly even hate, died just before he returns wounded. But, wait, his father has married him, by proxy, to lovely sweet Kate from Maine.

Such a mess. Kate does not know all of this was contrived by his father and the current housekeeper. Along this difficult path, the housekeeper leaves, a friend brings a beat up lady of the night to the ranch, the boy/son refuses to believe he is the long lost son, Daniel. Kate, for all she has lived through, still has an innocence and hope of life that begins to win Daniel over, yet, it mystifies Reed. The difficult part for her is that she is not really married to Reed. His plan is to dismiss the proxy wedding so she can leave. Again, such a mess.

The conflict is not just between Reed and Kate. Although he closed off his heart, strong, sweet Kate was not willing to have less than she deserved. She was give great advice early on and stuck with it. Reed needed the time to learn about what he really wanted in life and in marriage before he could truly address Kate.

Ms. Landis uses this opportunity to share with us the difficulties of both sides of the situation of the settlers moving to Texas and of the Comanche who were herded to reservations in Oklahoma – neither side really won. Both lost loved ones.

I enjoyed the story line of this book. I was intrigued by who wrote letters and how they both came into contact. Also with the twists in the story I wasn’t able to put the book down! I needed to finish it. Heat level is a little racey.

I received an advanced reader's copy of Summer Moon by Jill Marie Landis from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I had never read anything by Jill Marie Landis before this and had no expectations either way. Happily, I did enjoy her writing style and would gladly read other novels in the future.

I'm a fan of historical novels and the mail-order bride, so a romance that features the old west and that plot device is right up my alley; and I am glad that this novel didn't disappoint. From the start of the novel, the main characters, mail-order bride Kate Whittington and Texas Ranger Reed Benton, are kind of adorable. Their relationship started at a disadvantage when Kate was lured to Texas to be Reed's bride...but not by Reed (who doesn't want a bride). Add Reed's rediscovered child who had been kidnapped and raised by Comanche - thus was not used to (or wanted to be used to) the white person's way of life of life or culture - and it's a recipe for conflict. Jill Marie Landis kept the plot moving along though and never got bogged down in the drama so two thumbs up for that.

All in all, it was an enjoyable novel to read!