Her father lost everything to a swindler in New York, and now she’s been sent west as a mail-order bride.Pearl Stout is angry.Her parents put her on a train to the Arizona frontier to marry a man she’s never met and didn’t agree to marry. Feeling betrayed and alone, at first, she goes along with their plan. But before long she discovers the freedom that can accompany a pioneering life and grabs … pioneering life and grabs onto it with both hands.
Pearl’s intended is Hilton Pullman, a local reporter for the Tucson Gazette. He’s tired of being alone – his parents died when he was young, and his older brother abandoned him after losing his own fiancée. But when that trouble-making brother, Hank, returns right before the wedding, Hilton’s carefully laid plans are thrown into question.
Will Pearl marry her intended? Or will she forge her own path along the western frontier and discover love along the way?
Inspired by true events.
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THE TALES LEGENDS ARE MADE OF
Each of the Cowboys and Debutantes will read as a standalone book. The story will have the family of Pearl Stout in dire straits when a swindler damages her father’s business and the reputation of the Stout family. From one day being a social butterfly debutant to the family being destitute and now Pearl’s father has made a mail-order match for her to Hilton Pullman, a newspaperman in Tucson, Arizona. Not only her but also her sisters have also become mail-ordered brides and sent them westward.
Seventeen-year-old Pearl Stout will be shocked to learn her father has made a match for her to become the bride to Hilton Pullman without her opinion and placed on a train westward from her life in New York City. But once she arrives, she questions why she is allowing him to control her life since he didn’t care for her opinion on the matter and she decides to do her own thing. What a shock to apply and to be hired to become a stagecoach driver. She will talk her friend, Belle, into signing on too.
“She was a pioneer woman now—strong, capable and at ease handling a team of horses.”
Hilton Pullman is a man who must have order, neatness, and control. He is thrown for a loop when his bride-to-be, Miss Pearl Stout of New York City announces she isn’t sure she is ready to marry. While he has rented an apartment for her, it was only to be a very short-term arrangement. Not only dealing with his errant mail-order bride but his older brother, Hank, has shown up in town and moves in with Hilton, disrupting her orderly world.
The plot will have Pearl not wanting to be controlled by her father and deciding she isn’t willing to just marry unless she is in love. While Hilton is a nice man, she doesn’t feel the connection she wants in a marriage. Hank Pullman, Hilton’s older brother, has a reputation as a gunman and traveler, but when Hank and Pearl are together, there is more than just being friends.
The area of Arizona is known as a legend of the Red Ghost and not once or twice, but several times now, Pearl and her friend and co-worker, Belle, have seen this monstrous creature. Pearl is determined to solve this mystery.
“It’s like nothing I’ve seen before. It was orange and big, bigger than a horse, but it runs like a horse. Its head looks misshapen, and it’s got a hunchback. The sound it makes send shivers down your spine. I want to know why it carries a headless rider. It’s so macabre, so bizarre.”
Once Pearl and Hilton dissolve their betrothal, he moves on with plans with another young lady. Will Pearl become a spinster or will she find her happily ever after? While she and Hank become close, he has previously stated he has no plans for marriage and settling down. Maybe making her own way will work out.
“She was in control of her future and had taken on challenges.”
What makes this story unique is that it is a story with a real legend that will be solved and has historical value to it. Also, there really were women who drove stagecoaches. While the story is fictitious, it is based on some actual events and truths, and the author has used her artistic liberties to create this amazing and fun story.
Pearl
May 25, 2020
5 stars
Sweet Historical Romance
This book was so odd at first with the sighting of the unknown creature, but the end brings it all together!
I love Pearls rebellious and independent spirit! She’s a “firecracker” for sure! Although not too deep into the details of the second love story, there are two romances in this book and the best part is that they’re brothers!
The narration for this whole series was very good!
The Red Ghost
The family has been swindled and bankrupted; three debutante sisters, the pride of society, have now lost all social standing–and any promises made by aspiring suitors have been forgone. Papa’s solution? Ship them off as mail-order brides. Each of the girls ends up in a different state or territory. Pearl’s destination is Tucson, Arizona Territory, with a pair of freed slaves as travel companions who introduce her to the concept of freedom and making choices for herself. Lest anyone think the emancipation of women was not an ongoing struggle through the millenia, Pearl’s papa’s absolute belief that he had the right to use his daughters as chattel was still the societal norm despite the progress being made in the west as women proved their mettle taking on any and every job as needed. Vivi Holt’s story pushes the boundaries a bit but precedence existed. Meghan Kelly’s excellent narration keeps you focused on the unfolding story and not pondering the probabilities of survival, and, as this is a romance we are guaranteed a happy ending! But not, perhaps, what you might first have expected!