Summer of Promise by Amanda Cabot

Westward Winds, Book 1

Abigail Harding knows something is wrong when she reads her sisters letters to her. So she travels from her home in Vermont to spend a few weeks with her sister at Fort Laramie, Wyoming. Her sister Charlotte is married to an officer stationed at the fort. Abigail believes Wyoming to be a boring place, but all of that changes when her stagecoach is attacked near the Fort. As Abigail learns of her sister’s life and life at the fort, she finds herself drawn to the land and its people. Will she find all that she is looking for or will she go back to Vermont longing for her old life?

Amanda Cabot has weaved a great story about life in the west. Set not as a part of life on the Oregon Trail, Summer of Promise tells of life at Fort Laramie, Wyoming, which while it was a major stop on the Oregon Trail, was also a quiet fort without any wars and few conflicts in its last decade of existence in the 1880’s. “Instead it was a place where officers lived in relative luxury, where their wives held teas and balls, and where the parade ground boasted gaslights and birdbaths” (Letter to the Reader, 406).

I must say that I greatly enjoyed reading this book, but I am sad that the next book doesn’t come out until spring 2013. I don’t think I can wait that long to find out what happens next! I give this book 5 out of 5 stars! You will see this book again at the end of the year on my list of top reads for 2012!