In THE BRIDE WORE SPURS Hannah's neighbour Matt has been helping to run the ranch. Like her father, he believes she should sell and move to Charleston. In her annoyance the stubborn girl doesn't realise that she's going to need friends. The ranch foreman checks with the boss before taking her orders, the cowpokes refuse to answer to a girl, her father tells her to confine her efforts to helping in the kitchen. Women's work is hard work, but Hannah is determined not to lose her home. She asks Matt, who was widowed young, to marry her. He's not at all sure that this is a good solution....

I was pleased by all the fine detail about the cattle and living conditions at the time. Longhorns were crossed with Herefords for an improved strain, and Hannah helps to deliver a calf, though most cows are quite competent. Dresses are altered to fit, including wedding dresses, and water is carried to rooms where it is required. The work and danger of branding and trail driving is well described. Just as with Laura Ingalls Wilder, Hannah forgets to add sugar to her first pie. The arrival of a seven-year-old girl brings a new dimension into the lives of the ranchers, and wonderfully it brings love - then drama.

Janet Dean has written THE BRIDE WORE SPURS as an inspirational romance, and it is in keeping with the times that people consult a Bible and thank the Lord for something good in their lives. However I did get tired of the characters expressing wonder at the Creation every time they looked at the night sky. Once or twice would have made the point.

I also thought that devout people would not have entered into a marriage that was going to be for business purposes only, as a marriage was considered to be a complete union. But it's good to see that inspirational doesn't have to mean stuffy, as Dean writes with a quiet sense of mischief and the collected wisdom of western women. THE BRIDE WORE SPURS is a slow-burning sweet romance for lovers of the Little House books.

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