The Element of Love. (The Lumber Baron's Daughters #1) Mary Connealy. 2022. 304 pages. [Source: Review copy]
First sentence: They were running away from the threat of misery, pain, and degradation. And running straight toward danger. Deadly danger. Margaret Stiles Beaumont chose danger. What's more, she chose it for her daughters and prayed without ceasing that she'd chosen right. Even worse, the girls had to face that danger alone. Going back by herself was the only way to be sure the girls made their escape.
Premise/plot: Laura, Michelle, and Jilly (Jillian) Stiles are running away from their (evil) stepfather. They've left their mother (and their home) behind. They need to--all while finding a place to hide away--find husbands. All three young women need to find husbands--the sooner the better. Laura feels led to join a preacher in his new mission. The "town" of Purgatory is the bottom of the bottom of the bottom of the barrel. If you can live anywhere else, you do. This is a shanty town of sorts with nothing going for it except folks down on their luck. But Caleb along with the Stiles sisters (along with others part of the new mission) want to make a difference to those in Purgatory. And it starts with Laura searching for some milk cows to buy communally for Purgatory. That brings in the Hart ranch (with eligible men). But Laura, well, has her eyes set on Caleb. Even being bold enough to propose to him very very early on in their acquaintance.
My thoughts: This one has a super-fast pace. I really found the first half super compelling and enjoyable. I was enjoying all three sisters. I was hooked on the story. About the 80% mark, unfortunately, I began losing my enthusiasm for the story. Up until this point, there was plenty of tension and conflict. Plenty. Any more conflict and the story would become unbalanced and ridiculous. So, of course, the book turned ridiculous to the point of obnoxiousness. It's hard to recover from that. So up until that point, it was a definite five stars for me. The last twenty percent, however, was one star.
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