Renegade

by Anna Schmidt

Overview

MEET THE HARVEY GIRLS. These real-life pioneering women were symbols of elegance in the wild frontier: taming rough manners, falling in love, and changing the face of the West forever.

Lily Travis may be a Harvey Girl, but she's a rebel—and a romantic—at heart. Too bad her impulsive nature led her to marry a man who promised a life of ease and prosperity, only to disappear the very next day. She's kept her secret as best she can, and now she's convinced she'll never find true love…not even with the handsome local sheriff she can't get off her mind.

Cody Daniels knows Lily isn't the right woman for a by-the-book lawman with political ambitions. She's brash, headstrong…and entirely too tempting. But when Lily's past catches up with her and the villain she married threatens everything she holds dear, Cody is determined to defend her honor and show her the future they could have together—no matter the consequences.

Cowboys & Harvey Girls Series:

Trailblazer (Book 1)

Renegade (Book 2)

Praise for Anna Schmidt:

"Readers wanting a good old-fashioned Western romance need look no further than this one." —Dear Author for Last Chance Cowboys: The Drifter

"The perfect read." —RT Book Reviews for Last Chance Cowboys: The Lawman

"A plot twist that will leave readers speechless." —Fresh Fiction for Last Chance Cowboys: The Lawman

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781492667070
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	06/25/2019
Series:	Cowboys & Harvey Girls , #2
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	4.20(w) x 6.80(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Award-winning author Anna Schmidt delights in creating stories where her characters must wrestle with the challenges of their times. Critics have consistently praised Schmidt for her ability to seamlessly integrate actual events with her fictional characters to produce strong tales of hope and love in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. She resides in Wisconsin.

Editorial Reviews

04/22/2019

The second in Schmidt’s Cowboys and Harvey Girls western series (after Trailblazer) is a serviceable but unremarkable example of the genre. Lily Travis, a friend to Grace Rogers, the first book’s protagonist, has little to look forward to except serving up food with a smile as a Harvey Girl, working at one of the first restaurants in the American West. Her assumption of a bleak future is challenged after Lily witnesses a troublesome exchange surrounding her friend, kitchen manager Jake Collier, and decides to help him. This partnership also means joining forces with by-the-book sheriff Cody Daniels. Cody and Lily don’t see eye-to-eye on much of anything, but their mutual attraction makes for more chemistry than either one can ignore. The book is tame and sweet; it hesitantly goes to dark or serious places once in a while, such as Lily’s history of being abused by violent men , but mostly remains lighthearted. Like its supposedly renegade heroine, the story is only mildly rebellious and doesn’t pack much of a punch. Agent: Natasha Kern, Natasha Kern Literary. (July)

Publishers Weekly

"Heartwarming...is sure to delight fans of historical western romance." — Booklist

From the Publisher

2019-04-28
In 1899 New Mexico, a waitress with a questionable past falls in love with a straight-laced lawman.

This is the second book in Schmidt's (Trailblazer, 2019) Cowboys & Harvey Girls series, which focuses on a less-well-known aspect of frontier living. In the late 1800s, Fred Harvey established a chain of "eating houses" along the railroad lines to newly established frontier towns. Lily Travis is one of the young, single women of "good moral character" hired to serve meals and live in company housing in Juniper, New Mexico. After fleeing an abusive stepfather in Chicago and being hastily married to and then ditched by an unscrupulous stranger, she fears she has missed her chance at love and family. Sheriff Cody Daniels is attracted to Lily, but he's a by-the-book lawman with political ambitions. When one of Lily's co-workers at the Harvey Company is murdered, she turns to Cody for help. The murderer is pure evil, and everyone else is pure goodness. Lily frets that other men "only knew how to take what they wanted, and in the process, they robbed me of my ability to trust," but she and Cody are too honorable to actually fight over misunderstandings or hold grudges.

Competent writing and an unusual historical setting are marred by flat characters and a dull romance.

Kirkus Reviews