Western Kansas, 2008 – Lila Scott desperately needs a miracle.  All her efforts to bring Pete Hawkins to justice and ensure he couldn’t violate any more women have failed and now he’s out to kill her.  Her prayers are answered when she makes the decision to hide in an old farm house and hears a voice instructing her on where to hide from her pursuer.

Since his death Steven ‘Skeeter’ Quinter’s ghost has inhabited the old farmhouse.  He regrets participating in the ghost dance his friend Buffalo Killer talked him into and misses his family desperately.   He is however fascinated by the contraptions he views through the windows.  The last thing he expects is a young woman wearing, in his opinion, practically nothing, to arrive and actually be able to hear him.  She follows his advice and crawls through a tunnel – right into the year 1882.

Western Kansas, 1882

Lila’s stunned when she exits the tunnel and discovers a man dressed in old fashion clothing asleep near a fire pit.  Of course, Skeeter’s just as stunned when he awakens to discover that he isn’t dead after all – and the woman he’d sent through the tunnel is standing before him.  When he clues her into the fact that she’s traveled back in time, Lila is horrified.  She’s pregnant and fully intends to take advantage of all the marvels of modern medicine.  Women die in childbirth and she’s determined not to suffer that fate - all she has to do is travel back through the tunnel.  Only it’s not quite that simple.  The tunnel’s collapsed and it’s going to take time to dig through the rubble to the other side.  Skeeter makes the decision to take Lila home where she’ll be comfortable but then Ma Quinter learns of Lila’s pregnancy and takes matters into her own hands – with the business end of a double barreled shotgun.  

Lauri Robinson ingeniously brings the past and present together in a witty storyline that keeps the reader chuckling and marveling at the changes made in the name of progress.  BADLAND BRIDES allows readers to envision a simpler existence – one where family and friends are more important than possessions.  With their straight talking (or shooting as the case may be) attitudes, simplistic lifestyle, and openhearted natures, the Quinter family as well as Buffalo Killer are sure to earn a place in readers’ hearts. 

I really enjoyed everything about this story, but I have to confess it’s the ending that left me awestruck.  Ms. Robinson pulls everything together and answers so many lingering questions that I simply had to smile at the wonder of it all. 

We can only hope there will be more QUINTER BRIDES books soon to come.  If you’re anything like me, you’ll want to also read the first book in the series so be sure to pick up a copy of SHOTGUN BRIDE.