Left at the Altar

Brownley’s 19th-century western romance leaves much to be desired. When Tommy Farrell leaves Meg Lockwood at the altar in Two-Time, Tex., her father files a $10,000 breach-of-promise lawsuit against him. Humiliated by her father’s insistence that she is now “damaged goods,” Meg is also horrified by her attraction to Grant Garrison, the new-to-town lawyer Tommy hires. The two friends were marrying to end their fathers’ long-standing feud; as the town’s two jewelers, they set time locally, and each worked on a different clock. The feud’s genesis is anything but mysterious, and the townsfolk fulfill roles straight out of Central Casting, from Meg’s suffragist sister to the outlaw awaiting hangin’. Choppy storytelling does not serve the romance. Agent: Natasha Kern, Natasha Kern Literary Agency. (Nov.)