Book Review: Gingham Mountain by Mary Connealy

All aboard for a delightful, suspense-filled romance, where a Texan is torn between his attraction to a meddlesome schoolmarm and the charms of a designing dressmaker. When Hannah Cartwright meets Grant, she's determined to keep him from committing her orphans to hard labor on his ranch. How far will she go to ensure their welfare? Grant is determined to provide a home for the two kids brought in by the orphan train. Can he keep his ragtag family together while steering clear of love and marriage?

Grant was such a unique type of man. Instead of getting married and raising a family of his own, he spends his time finding orphans to adopt and raise, some of them being only a few years younger than himself. He adopted his first child at the age of 17. Really...who does that?! I loved watching the interactions and the relationship that he had with his kids. Hannah, being an orphan herself, is passing through this small Texas town on the way to find her sister, Grace. She ends up becoming the teacher there and is very stubborn and determined to succeed. I love the way she is able to turn the hearts and minds of some of the townspeople by her gentle ways and new ideas. As for the romance part of it, things were very gradual, yet when they finally happened, it was a little too sudden. I really liked the little snippets we got of Grace's life. In book 2, Calico Canyon, we meet Grace and see her romance, but it was fun to see her "happily ever after" and how she's faring. All in all, I did enjoy this last installment of the Lassoed in Texas series, but wish that there was a little more romance to support the ending. Content: a little mild violence; some kissing. Clean.  

****--4 Stars.