Read This Book! Doctor in Petticoats

Mary Connealy is one of my favorite Christian authors and the the book, Doctor in Petticoats, did not disapoint.  It was a delight to revisit the McClellen clan with the daughters all grown up!  The novel contained all the humor, suspense, danger, love and faith that I've come to expect in a Connealy offering.

Beth, the oldest of the McClellan daughters is returning to her home in West Texas after four years back East training to be a nurse.  She is rushing home to be on time for her sister's wedding but one thing after another delays her journey.  She is only hours away from home when the stagecoach she is sharing with a drunk who has been passed out for days comes across another stagecoach wreck.  It turns out the drunk is Alex,  a doctor who is suffering from mental anguish caused by the trauma and blood he saw as a frontier doctor during the years of Indian warfare.  After patching up the survivors of the wreck, they barely make it to town to be confronted by is a constant demand for doctoring from the townspeople.  Alex is afraid to doctor and the townspeople won't accept Beth as one so the two must work together.  As they work together, Alex begins to regain his confidence and he and Beth fall in love.

Unfortunately, Alex is also a military deserter who is being pursued by a ruthless bounty hunter who is determined to collect the money by bringing his prey in dead or alive--preferably dead!

Can Beth and Alex and their love survive a dangerous trip across the badlands of West Texas?  Read Doctor in Petticoats and find out!