THE PATCHWORK BRIDE is about the wisdom that is passed down through generations and the stories that accompany it. A runaway bride named June arrives at her grandmother’s door as Ellen is putting the finishing touches on a wedding quilt made of old dresses. Ellen can see June’s distress and decides that, in order to help June figure out her apprehension, she will relay to her the tale of Nell, a woman from 1898 Kansas who troops off to the High Plains of New Mexico Territory in order to find herself a husband.

Nell’s story is quite romantic and fraught with emotional peril. While working as a biscuit-shooter at a ranch, Nell falls in love with a cowboy named Buddy. She is convinced that they were meant to be together and imagines a full and beautiful life with him. However, when Buddy breaks her heart, Nell disappears, on the run from her heartache into a world of unexpected adventures.

"THE PATCHWORK BRIDE is a deceptively easy read with characters who will resonate with you and hard-won truths about life and love that will continue to matter to you long after you flip the last page."

Searching for her soul mate is tough, and she moves through two marriages before successfully building a true love match. THE PATCHWORK BRIDE feels like an old-fashioned romance but is written with such skill and exacting language that a novel from the turn of the last century feels very much like a story about a contemporary woman wanting, needing and looking for good in her life.

Sandra Dallas has written over 25 books and is a former Denver bureau chief at Business Week magazine. This may account for the sparse and searing language she uses throughout the book, particularly the story within a story. Nell is tough, constantly proving that she can do the hardest of tasks or the most typically masculine duties in the High Plains. When Nell takes a job as a waitress, the reader can feel her frustration coming off the page and understand her desire for a better life. Nell is a character who could show up in these #MeToo times and stand on solid ground with any modern-day woman.

Combining frontier wisdom, a penchant for drama (fans of “Sister Wives” will be delighted with one of the subplots) and enough self-discovery to launch a talk show on the Oprah Network, THE PATCHWORK BRIDE is a deceptively easy read with characters who will resonate with you and hard-won truths about life and love that will continue to matter to you long after you flip the last page. Dallas’ lovely work is a tome that needs to be read in a comfortable summer lounge with iced refreshments at hand, a conversation between people you don’t know that will mean so much to you and those you really do know.