Rebecca Reviews ~ Out of the Embers (Mesquite Springs, #1) by Amanda Cabot

Paperback, 336 pages

Published March 3rd 2020 by Fleming H. Revell Company

Ten years after her parents were killed, Evelyn Radcliffe is once more homeless. The orphanage that was her refuge and later her workplace has burned to the ground, and only she and a young orphan girl have escaped. Convinced this must be related to her parents' murders, Evelyn flees with the girl to Mesquite Springs in the Texas Hill Country and finds refuge in the home of Wyatt Clark, a talented horse rancher whose plans don't include a family of his own.

At first, Evelyn is a distraction. But when it becomes clear that trouble has followed her to Mesquite Springs, she becomes a full-blown disruption. Can Wyatt keep her safe from the man who wants her dead? And will his own plans become collateral damage?

Suspenseful and sweetly romantic, Out of the Embers is the first in a new series that invites you to the Texas Hill Country in the 1850s, when the West was wild, the men were noble, and the women were strong. 

Rebecca's Review

3 STARS

"Oh God, what should I do?"

Devasted after finding the only home she has known for the past ten years reduced to ashes, Evelyn Radcliffe flees Logansville, Texas with a young orphaned girl who has become like a sister to her. Travelling with Polly for days on end with no particular destination in mind brings them to the outskirts of Mesquite Springs, where Evelyn finally feels a sense of peace, for she has spent the past ten years looking over her shoulder, sensing danger lurking just around the corner.

It's in Mesquite Springs where she meets a horse rancher named Wyatt Clark, whose kind family offers Evelyn and Polly a warm welcome while Evelyn searches for a means of supporting herself. It seems like providence provides her with the perfect opportunity, doing what she knows and loves; managing a restaurant. But will what she holds dear, eventually put a killer back on her trail? And will Wyatt acknowledge how the lovely proprietor of "Polly's Place" might change the course of his future?

Readers will be charmed with the "folksy" atmosphere in Mesquite Springs where kindness and solidarity abound. But like any small town, there are misfortunes, and those who refuse to be thwarted. Written with a pleasant cadence and portraying an innocent romance, "Out of the Embers" hides a slightly darker agenda which the author cleverly disguises until the very end.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher. The opinions stated above are entirely my own.

Rebecca is a graduate of Bryan College with a degree in Christian Education, and is currently serving at the First Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in Gastonia, North Carolina as the Director of Children's Ministry. With over 30 years of experience in her field, she has had many opportunities to use her love of reading and writing in creative ways across the generations. A wife, mother of four "nearly" grown children, and grandmother to four beautiful grandchildren, Rebecca has been able to return to her love of reading and more recently reviewing, with a renewed passion for the "beauty of story".