Kate Bridges, Alaska Bride on the Run

Alaska Bride on the Run

Kate Bridges

Harlequin, Jul 1 2010, $5.99

ISBN: 9780373295999

In 1899 in Eagle's Cliff, District of Alaska, Harrison Rowlan prepares to open a neighborhood tavern in which locals can drop by for a pint and a bite. He does not want a bar where patrons drop to the floor either from too much to drink or a brawl. He places an ad for a bartender in the window of his new establishment. Willa Banks wearing a torn wedding gown applies for the position. She persuades Harrison a lady will bring in the type of customer he desires. He hires her on a temporary basis that quickly turns permanent.

An orphan Willa thinks back to her uncle and cousins who took for granted her hard work on the ranch and ignored her plea for some land. She read of opportunity for even women in Alaska and left. In Skagway, she made friends with Keenan Crawford the butcher, but fled when her groom tried to r*pe her; she muses he can stuff his sausage elsewhere. As Willa and Harrison fall in love, cattle rustlers and Crawford intrude.

This is a strong late nineteenth century Alaska Territory romance that enables the audience to feel they are in the Panhandle region (think of Call of the Wild by London). The lead couple is a caring pair, but it is the towns that have sprung up since the Gold Rush that make for a vivid atmospheric historical. Nobody does 1880s and 1890s Alaska-Canada better than Kate Bridges consistently does as affirmed by returning lead characters (see Alaska Renegade and Wanted in a Alaska)

Harriet Klausner