Isobel Glasen was so disappointed. She had been saving to buy the shop next door to expand her dressmaking business and almost had enough when she learns that the establishment had been sold. And to a veterinarian! Her disenchantment turned to dismay when she learned the new business owner's identity: Alec Russell, her former fiancé's younger brother! Alec has come from Pittsburgh to Wyoming to open his clinic because that's where his best friend, West McCall had relocated. Alec had not known that was also where Isobel had resettled. He's been secretly in love with her, but once again, he had been relegated to second best, behind his brother Whitman. His clinic would be successful, and the woman he married would choose him for who he was.

Isobel was a secondary character in the previous books of this short series and here is her story at last, in all its glory! Stacy Henrie's powerful descriptive voice resonates like never before as we stroll through Isobel's dressmaking business and as we learn what it was to be a veterinarian in 1902 Wyoming. I love to read about the challenges that ordinary people faced, and this book is a shining example of the daily lives of small business owners. Isobel is a rather successful dressmaker, but she longs for more personally and professionally, while Alec needs to see his business thrive -- not only to show his own family that he can but most of all to himself. He's felt insecure for too long, and to his astonishment, it is Isobel who helps him. THEIR WYOMING COURTSHIP AGREEMENT has one of the best starts to a romance that I have ever read. Isobel and Alec are, understandably, somewhat ill at ease being in each other's presence again, but they don't resort to childish behavior. They realize early on that it is in their best interest to listen to the sound advice they can give each other, and how they warm up to each other is so normal, so matter-of-fact, that it is almost unbearably lovely to watch.

The Ride for a Bride race that brings about the courtship agreement is based on a similar event that happened a few years later in the century, which Ms. Henrie dutifully points out in the notes at the end. What amazes me is that Stacy Henrie is so meticulous in crafting her story and her characters, that every little detail makes the outcome of the race entirely believable, and also provides the foundation for the growth Isobel and Alec experience. And contrary to what you might think, the race is not a fun-filled farce but a rather terrifying moment; it also filled me with joy because it marked a turning point in Isobel and Alec's relationship. I felt like I had the privilege of reading the diaries of relatives from long ago and being privy to their lives as it really happened. THEIR WYOMING COURTSHIP AGREEMENT shows how a brilliant writer can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. " -- she was of worth because she was God's child." And so was he.

Book Summary

The Sweetheart Arrangement

After two broken engagements, Isobel Glasen’s determined to stay single—until a runaway horse makes her an accidental entrant in the Ride for a Bride race. And her ex-fiancé’s brother is the winner. With a successful business and a cozy apartment, Isobel has a life as carefully constructed as the beautiful gowns she designs. But now a fake courtship may be the only way to quell town gossip.

New to town, Alec Russell aims to get his veterinary clinic off the ground. Though he once secretly pined for Isobel, he’s determined to escape his brother’s shadow and find a woman who chooses him first. But could time spent together provide a second chance—and turn pretense into the perfect match?