Fancy (Love Train, #10) by Linda Broday

Fancy: Sweet Historical Western Romance by Linda Broday
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fancy is an emotion-filled and gripping historical western romance by veteran author Linda Broday.

It had been just Fancy and her mother for a long time, and they’d been through a lot together. Fancy’s father had died when she was very small: a military man killed while on duty. But her mother had done her best to keep body and soul together, and she and Fancy survived, thriving on love.

As a girl just entering womanhood, Fancy had been grabbed, raped, and left in a filthy alley by an unknown assailant. The attack had resulted in a pregnancy. But her mother was there for her. Fancy had not blamed the tiny life growing inside her and began to plan a hopeful future for herself, the baby, and her mother. But when her time came unexpectedly, she was alone and helped into a nearby midwife’s home, and her baby boy was born. The midwife hurried from the room the minute she had the tiny body in her hands. She returned and told Fancy the horrible news that the baby had not lived.

Fancy’s grief threatened to overwhelm her, but her mother was there to hold her hand and urge her on. But a little over two years later, Fancy was now the one doing the hand-holding: her mother sick and dying. As the sudden illness was taking away the only other person Fancy had in the world, there was a knock at the door. A familiar-looking woman stood in the dark and told her that her baby boy was still alive!

Fancy by Linda Broday is the tenth book in the multi-authored series, The Love Train. Each story is connected to the others via a particular train, the Union Pacific #1216, where each main character finds their true love.

Broday’s contribution is exciting and, despite the tragic circumstances that launch Fancy’s story, hopeful as well. With this series, you can count on a HEA ending. I enjoyed how everyone’s luck seemed to improve after they rode on the train. Readers are treated to a ride aboard the “1216” as it would have been during the early 1880s, and there are also solid glimpses of early Omaha (Saratoga), Nebraska, and Denver, Colorado.

The plot of Fancy going to retrieve her son is an emotional one. She feels like she’s fighting a losing battle almost every step of the way, but her spirit and determination are strong. Little Piper, the 12-year-old orphan, escorting her mother’s casket to Denver and the grandparents she’d never met, has an even more heartbreaking tale. I was gripped by her story, wondering how things would work for her. Jack Coltrain is the type of cowboy hero that dreams are made of.

I recommend FANCY to fans of Linda Broday’s previous books; they certainly won’t be disappointed, and to romance readers in the mood for an engaging historical Western tale where the underdog wins big.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author through Lone Star Book Blog Tours.

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