Molly McFarlane comes to her drying sister Nellie's aid after their father killed himself a month ago. She's in shock to see how Nellie's second husband, Daniel Fletcher, has been mistreating her and her six-year old niece, Penny and eight-year-old nephew Charlie. Molly promises to take the children with her after Nellie dies because Fletcher may hurt them. But what she doesn't realize is that one of the children has taken top secret papers that will incriminate Fletcher and the man he works for regarding a new type of artillery that may help the South rise again and start a second Civil War. Molly and the two children have disappeared and Fletcher has no idea where they went. Now Molly maybe in grave danger because a very dangerous man is searching for her, and won't stop unless he gets those papers back, even if it means hurting everyone she cares for.

Things become very desperate for Molly because she has run out of money. While she is on a train near El Paso, Texas, it derails and Molly helps the victims due to her training in medicine because of the years she had helped her doctor father. When she hears that the railway will offer three hundred dollars to the families of the deceased, she spots a familiar man who kept eying her on the train and is now close to death. She does something very unethical and pretends to be his fiancée and marries him. But then his brother comes and figures out that Molly is lying. He is Brady Wilkins of the very profitable Wilkins Cattle and Mining Company out of New Mexico, and the unconscious man is Hank. Brady blackmails Molly where she has no choice but to keep up the rouse.

When Hank comes to, he has no memory of Molly or their marriage ceremony, but takes Brady's word for it. They head out to the Wilkins' family ranch where Hank wants to court Molly and get to know her all over again. Molly is torn because her feelings for Hank have grown, but he has no clue that she is deceiving him. As the months fly by, Molly is still being stalked by a man, who is a true monster in face and in spirit. She has to come clean to Hank before he figures out her deception and before she is harmed.

Fans of Western Romance will truly enjoy OPEN COUNTRY by Kaki Warner. The second book in her Blood Rose Trilogy is well-written, has wonderful description of the frontier life in the early 1870's and characters you can really connect with. Hank has a reputation of being hard and mean, but this is never shown, especially in the way he treats Molly and her two charges. His interaction with Penny and Charlie are delightful and his feelings for Molly, and the way he acts on them, will make your heart swell.

The first part of OPEN COUNTRY is everything I could have hoped for in a romance. Things slide a bit when the dastardly villain confronts Molly. The Wilkins' men are worthy warriors who can protect Molly and take down any bad guy, but all of a sudden they act unsure even though the villain lurks around with no real weapons and is vastly outnumbered. The way Molly handles this situation turned me off a bit, especially without any thought to her safety

Kaki Warner is really making a name in the Western Romance genre. Even with a few issues on my end, I found myself right in the middle of all the action and can't wait to read the third and final book in this lovely trilogy.

Book Summary

The award-winning Blood Rose trilogy continues in a bold romance of the Old West by the author of Pieces of Sky.

From a "truly original new voice in historical fiction"* (New York Times bestselling author Jodi Thomas) comes the second novel in a passionate new saga of the three Wilkins brothers, living and loving on the dangerous American frontier. It's a tale of unlikely romance in an unforgiving land, where the greatest reward awaits those with the will to overcome all obstacles.