GRR Reviews The Texas Women of Spirit Trilogy by Angela Castillo

Texas Women of Spirit Trilogy is a set of clean historical western romance about hardship and perseverance, with a bit of faith and miracle. The plot dragged on in a few places, but overall the three novels are pretty good.

Book 1: Zillia Bright was orphaned at 16 and trying to raise her baby brother... AND run papa's farm, and guard what was hers, with no horse and just an old mule. Her step-father took anything of value and left town. Zillia must rely on her neighbor Soonie and Wylder to keep going, and perhaps, God was listening to her prayers with a miracle or two on the way.

Book 2: Soonie Eckhart, quarter Comanche, followed an expedition to teach at an "illegal" Comanche and Kiowa settlement in North Texas, but her white skin and city ways made her unwelcome, esp. by "Lone Warrior", the camp's Comanche protector. When a group of trappers stumbled upon the area, Soonie must draw upon her faith and courage to survive.

Book 3: Darla North left her saloon days behind after discovering faith and started over at Downs House in Dallas, a shelter for unfortunate women, and met Ethan Downs, the matriarch owner's sweet carpenter son. When Darla's past threatened to catch up with her, she chose to run... but Ethan was not about to let her leave without saying goodbye...

All three novels featured a couple good twists with threats to the FMC, but the MMC will obviously carry the day. The characters are definitely not the typical "mail order bride" and the adventures are indeed clean. There are a places where the plot seemed to drag, but otherwise the story moved at a good pace. If you dig this genre and need a break from mail-order bride stories these should work quite well.

Category: Historical Western

Primary Plot: N/A, collection

Tropes: neighbor, orphan, fish out of water, protector, woman in peril, different worlds, no good for you

Overall Rating:  4/5