The Trouble with Patience

Back Cover

Patience Cavanaugh has lost hope in romance.  The man she yearned to marry is dead and her dreams are gone with him.  Now she is consumed with restoring a dilapidated boardinghouse in order to support herself.

Despite Patience’s desire for solitude, Jedediah Jones, the local marshal with a reputation for hanging criminals, becomes an ever-looming part of her life.  It seems like such a simple arrangement:  She needs someone with a strong back to help her fix up the boardinghouse.  He needs a dependable source of food for himself and his prisoners.  But as she gets to know this “hanging lawman”, Patience finds there is far more to him than meets the eye—and it could destroy their tenuous relationship forever.

Review

Ah, it would be fun to have a time machine, where one can step back in time and experience days gone by: the Bible times, Middle Ages, Renaissance, Victorian era, the Wild West, and so on.  But since such a contraption does not exist (at least, in the real world!), we have pleasant historical novels like The Trouble with Patience to help us relive history.  

Book one in a new series, “Virtues and Vices of the Old West”, The Trouble with Patience follows Patience Cavanaugh as she embarks on her own and starts up a boardinghouse that used to be her Grandmother’s.  She quickly encounters the quick-to-draw Jedediah Jones, the town marshal who has a very black and white view on justice.  They initially get off on the wrong foot, that is soon forgotten as Jedediah enlists Patience to supply meals for his search parties and, at times, prisoners.  With each passing day, they find themselves drawn together; and, much to the delight of the town baker, romance is in the air.

For those worried that romance is the only ingredient to this novel, rest assured, that is not the case.  Maggie Brendan added a barn dance, cattle rustlers, murder, and a little bit of mystery to round out this classic Western story.  While at times I found The Trouble with Patience a little too classic, and not enough uniqueness, its “virtues” outshine the bumps with themes of forgiveness, grace and acceptance rising to the forefront. 

The Trouble with Patience is a story that will leave you feeling good after turning the final page – and who doesn’t like that type of ending?

Book has been provided courtesy of Revell and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.  Available at your favourite bookseller from BakerBooks, a division of Baker Publishing Group.