The Major’s Daughter

Jennings (The Lieutenant’s Bargain) returns to 1889 Oklahoma Territory in this excellent third installment to the Fort Reno series. When President Harrison signs an order opening up 3,000 square miles of prairie to homesteaders, 21-year-old Caroline Adams is determined to get her own piece of land. Frisco Smith, a roguish frontiersman turned lawyer, has his own plans and has already divvied up plots in a town he plans to settle. After Caroline stakes her claim near Frisco’s proposed site, she discovers that the land already has a garden and a house. Frisco, who was a “boomer” working this plot of land, is unable to legally contest Caroline’s claim. He instead goes to work defending settlers’ rights, but remains determined to get Caroline to switch claims. As the pair spend more time together trying to settle the ownership claim, Frisco falls in love with more than Caroline’s land. Caroline, meanwhile, seeks the solace of God’s word as she struggles with loneliness on the prairie and with trying to resolve things with Frisco. Fans of Tracie Peterson will enjoy Jennings’s fine romance that mines the adventure and challenges of life in the Old West. (Dec.)