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I absolutely loved this historic western romantic suspense. I received this for free and I voluntarily chose to review it. This had me laughing and in tears. Add four little girls to men who are not used to children, it touched me. Everyone has a say in this family. Will be reading a lot more of this author's work. I gave this a 5* rating. ( )

Set in the wild Texan frontier in the 1800s, Sophie McClellan and her daughters are living alone in hiding since her husband, Cliff, was murdered by some vigilantes. With a storm approaching she hears the sound of a runaway horse and is unable to stop the horse and its rider going over a cliff. She rescues the stranger from a flash flood, and is stunned to see he is the spitting image of her deceased husband. He turned out to be Clayton (Clay) McClellan, Cliff's long lost twin brother. Clay quickly decides that he is going to reclaim the lost family ranch and look for his brother’s murderers. The women are obviously delicate and unable to look after themselves so it is up to him to take control. Sophie is bullied into marrying him, but Clay soon realises his womenfolk are not as weak as he thought, and Sophie is not willing to give up control, this is not a marriage of convenience, its a battle of wills. They will have to learn to work as a team as the vigilantes are on their way back to kill the only living witness to their crime, Sophie.

PETTICOAT RANCH is a Christian western, and is often laugh-out-loud funny as the battle of the sexes starts. It is a debut novel for author Mary Connealy and has the right balance of humour, faith, interesting characters, danger, slapstick and really nasty bad guys! Connealy has gone on to write heaps more western romances and I have now got two more on my TBR pile.
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The first couple of chapters were a bit slow...but after that it really drew me into a rather humorous story ( )

Historical fiction is my favorite Christian fiction genre I believe. It is how I got started reading Christian fiction, one problem with it, is that some how I seem to have started with the best and often have a hard time finding anything that really meets the par. Things are great and enjoyable, but not quite as exciting as those first [author: Liz Curtis Higgs] or [author: Tracie Peterson] and even [author: Francine Rivers]' [book: Redeeming Love]. Well, boy is that not the case with Mary Connealy! Welcome to my favorites' shelf! (Literally I do have a favorites' shelf, if my mom didn't have half my books from it, I'd post a picture). (Ugh, it was a library book... I'll have to get a copy to put on my favorites' shelf....)Petticoat Ranch is everything that a good historical fiction should be, and I'm glad to have read it. I'm a southern gal through and through, and I'd like to think myself a Southern Belle. I'm really invested in my genealogy, and I have my family tracked for years to the late sixteen century in the Carolinas, and Virginia, and then later Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Texas. I guess one way to put it, is to say that I'm completely biased. I love the bumper sticker that says "North 1 South 0 Half Time". Not that I'm saying "yay to slavery", but I know the stories, and have read journals of my own family members and have seen how cruel some of the North was against them. Not saying the South were angels, but I'm partial to my rebels, as they are my own blood. With that said... It's often hard for me to ever feel much for a story with Norther ties and empathy.Not at all the case with this book. I so feel for the characters, they are completely real to me, and I'm fully on their side! This book was incredible. I cannot count the times that I giggled, or rolled my eyes. I have no recollection of how many times I scoffed or said, "MEN!". I am quite unsure of how many times I snickered and had a little evil laugh, feeling I'm sure the emotions of Sophie and her girls. In all cases, it was plenty, and I definitely was smiling through out this novel. That is, when I wasn't scowling and wanting revenge for my own self. The sermons were perfect and powerful, and so true to how God works. The reactions of the characters was real, and the men were not overly flowery, but were such "men". (A problem often found with women authors, but not so with this book in my opinion. With that said, usually male authors have problems with their female characters in my mind too.) Sophie is such a strong woman, struggling to keep it all together, and I just love her personality. The girls are fabulous, and I really giggle and evil giggle with Beth loving what she's up to. I really cannot praise this story enough, now that I think about it. So many different personalities are captured within the different characters, and the main two commandments of Love from Jesus Christ reverberate through the pages. Even the most stubborn of a person can see a little insight into themselves through these pages. ( )