Whispers on the Prairie by Vickie McDonough

Review By Lena Nelson Dooley,
Co-founder & President of DFW Ready Writers, Author, Speaker, Radio Host

A City Girl Far from Home…

Sarah Marshall never wanted to leave Chicago
and head west on a wagon train bound for the New Mexico Territory,
but she wasn’t given a choice. The rugged trail is no place for her ailing
aunt—and tending oxen and gathering buffalo chips is no job for a sophisticated
young woman. All Sarah wants is to see her aunt safely to Santa
Fe, and then she plans to return home to the Windy City.

A Country Boy Seeking to Right a Wrong…

Ethan Harper, the youngest of three adult brothers, enjoys a
peaceful existence helping run his family’s stage stop in Kansas,
along the Santa Fe Trail. Only one cloud
continues to darken his horizon—guilt over his part in the tragic death of his
oldest brother’s wife. The only acceptable penance Ethan can think of is to
find Aaron a new wife, and then his two children would have a mother.

A Match so Incompatible, It Just Might Work…

A series of misfortunes strands Sarah and her aunt at the
Harpers’ Stage Stop, where they depend upon the generosity of the kindhearted
Harper family. Soon, the presence of an attractive young woman, however
unversed in the ways of prairie living, wreaks havoc on the well–ordered lives
of the Harper brothers. Ethan grasps at this chance to get Aaron a wife, but
the more interest Aaron shows in Sarah, the less Ethan likes it. And Josh wants
his chance at wooing her, too. Will any of the brothers prove himself worthy to
Sarah? Or will she finally head home to Chicago,
leaving behind a trail of broken hearts?

I love this new book of Vickie’s. Every part of the setting
was skillfully crafted so I felt as if I were there: Chicago,
the wagon train, the Kansas
prairie, and the stagecoach stop run by the Harpers. The sights, the smells,
the feel of the wind.

The story has a unique twist. All of the various twists and
turns in the plot were plausible. That’s important to me.

And she took me deep inside the characters, so I felt their
emotions. Their interactions kept me turning pages. Some of them still live in
my heart.

I highly recommend this wonderful read.