Review: The Bride Bargain

My husband reminds me periodically that I would have had an engagment ring on my finger sooner if I hadn't been so hell-bent on independence. Unlike the main character of this book, I hadn't been hurt by a man; I just like calling the shots in my life. This story is about two women who head west after one's abusive husband dies. They are determined to make it on their own, but along the way the wagon train master gives them the choice of marrying a man in the train or being left behind. They stay in nearby town where they are taken in by the local shopkeeper. He hires them to keep house and, when he heads back east to see his daughter and grandson, he offers his home to one of the women if she can convince his son, who is a doctor, to marry a girl from the town and remain. Guess what happens. Hey, great literature this is not, but it was a fun read.