Petticoat Ranch
by Mary Connealy
Life in the 1860s was hard for everyone, but as the book opens we see how Sophie McClellen’s been living for several years. She and her four daughters have been hiding out after her husband was falsely accused of stealing horses and hanged. The men in the village had tried to force her into marriage so for her safety and the safety of her four children she sneaks off her ranch in the middle of the night with as much as she could carry and hid away in a shack that she’d found.
As the book opens she hears the pounding of horse hoofs. Someone’s being pursued! And
they’re headed for the cliff. She runs out and tries to stop the rider, but it’s too late. He and his horse fly over the cliff. Sophie runs to get the older girls’ help and heads to the cliff. The stranger is barely alive. To complicate things Sophie hears thunder which means there’s rain in the distance. The cliff is above a creek that’s known to flood. Sophie knows she doesn’t have much time at all. One of her daughter’s brings Hector the mule to help them drag the man up off the cliff to safety. They aren’t quite clear before the now raging river crashes into Sophie and the stranger.
As the book unfolds the stranger tries to do what he can to help Sophie. He assumes that she’s a damsel in distress, not realizing that Sophie and the girls had been left to do everything on their own for years. Before her husband died he’d been off in the army for months at a time. The day to day running of the ranch had fallen on her shoulders
long before.
During the majority of the book Sophie has to let the stranger think that he’s doing more than he is to help out. It’s hard going into any more detail about the book without giving away
too much of the plot. The book deals with concepts of hate and revenge as those who have loved ones murdered seek to deal with those who committed the crimes. The book deals with the daily struggles of life at this time, of racial tensions and lynchings, and mostly how
Christians are to respond when others treat them so badly and hurt and kill those they love.
I enjoyed reading about this period in time. The author really brought the characters to life and made me fell as if I was really there. I would definitely recommend this book.
Reviewed by Lynn Worley
Laura V. Hilton June 11, 2007
Title: PETTICOAT RANCH
Author: Mary Connealy
Publisher: Barbour Books
February 2007
ISBN: 978-1-59789-647-4
Genre: Inspirational/historical
Sophie Edwards is used to running men off her property. Ever since her husband, Cliff, was hung by a bunch of men up to no good, Sophie has had to fend them off and protect her four daughters. So she doesn’t hesitate to get prepared when she hears a horse charging straight toward her house shortly after she got her baby to bed.
Clay McClellan is a Texas Ranger trying to find what happened to his twin brother. He’s fleeing from a gang of men that want to hang him because they want his horse. He’s thrown from the horse and lands in a creek that has a tendency to flash floods. Only Sophie’s quick thinking saves him.
When Clay learns that his brother is dead, he feels he has no choice but to do his scriptural duty and marry his brother’s widow. After all, she needs someone to protect her, right? Someone is determined to get their hands on Sophie’s land. What will it take to get Sophie out of his way?
I was looking forward to reading PETTICOAT RANCH as it was really talked up on some loops I’m on, and I wasn’t disappointed. It held my attention from page one with nonstop action and humor. Sophie is a strong heroine, used to caring for herself, and Clay is a man’s man, a rough, untrained mountain man who isn’t used to women or little girls. I had to laugh out loud as he struggled to make sense of women’s ways.
If you like historicals you won’t want to miss PETTICOAT RANCH. Ms. Connealy has a unique voice, and a truly different historical romance that is like none other I’ve ever read. Bravo, Mary! PETTICOAT RANCH is not a book you’ll want to miss. $12.95. 285 pages.
Laura V. Hilton
Margaret Chind August 9, 2008
Petticoat Ranch (Lassoed in Texas #1)
by Mary Connealy
Historical fiction is my favorite Christian fiction genre I believe. It is how I got started reading Christian fiction, one problem with it, is that some how I seem to have started with the best and often have a hard time finding anything that really meets the par. Things are great and enjoyable, but not quite as exciting as those first Liz Curtis Higgs or Tracie Peterson and even Francine Rivers’ Redeeming Love. Well, boy is that not the case with Mary Connealy! Welcome to my favorites’ shelf! (Literally I do have a favorites’ shelf, if my mom didn’t have half my books from it, I’d post a picture). (Ugh, it was a library book… I’ll have to get a copy to put on my favorites’ shelf….)
Petticoat Ranch is everything that a good historical fiction should be, and I’m glad to have read it. I’m a southern gal through and through, and I’d like to think myself a Southern Belle. I’m really invested in my genealogy, and I have my family tracked for years to the late sixteen century in the Carolinas, and Virginia, and then later Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Texas. I guess one way to put it, is to say that I’m completely biased. I love the bumper sticker that says “North 1 South 0 Half Time”. Not that I’m saying “yay to slavery”, but I know the stories, and have read journals of my own family members and have seen how cruel some of the North was against them. Not saying the South were angels, but I’m partial to my rebels, as they are my own blood. With that said… It’s often hard for me to ever feel much for a story with Norther ties and empathy.
Not at all the case with this book. I so feel for the characters, they are completely real to me, and I’m fully on their side! This book was incredible. I cannot count the times that I giggled, or rolled my eyes. I have no recollection of how many times I scoffed or said, “MEN!”. I am quite unsure of how many times I snickered and had a little evil laugh, feeling I’m sure the emotions of Sophie and her girls. In all cases, it was plenty, and I definitely was smiling through out this novel. That is, when I wasn’t scowling and wanting revenge for my own self. The sermons were perfect and powerful, and so true to how God works. The reactions of the characters was real, and the men were not overly flowery, but were such “men”. (A problem often found with women authors, but not so with this book in my opinion. With that said, usually male authors have problems with their female characters in my mind too.)
Sophie is such a strong woman, struggling to keep it all together, and I just love her personality. The girls are fabulous, and I really giggle and evil giggle with Beth loving what she’s up to. I really cannot praise this story enough, now that I think about it. So many different personalities are captured within the different characters, and the main two commandments of Love from Jesus Christ reverberate through the pages. Even the most stubborn of a person can see a little insight into themselves through these pages.
Reviewed by Margaret Chind
Creative Madness