Join Ruby Murphy on her quest for true love. As a young orphan used cruelly by her aunt and cousins, she is kicked out into the street and left to fend for herself. Homeless and unable to find employment, she turns in desperation to the Western Matrimonial Agency and answers a complete stranger’s advertisement for a bride.

Alone on the long trip west, she wonders, will the groom turn out to be all that he appears? Will she find a love in which she’ll never be mistreated or abandoned again?

Her husband-to-be also has a fragment of map framed above his fireplace, one that his father believed would one day lead to a lucky strike. Maybe Ruby will be the lucky strike he has been looking for all along!

Interview with the author

What kind of stories do you enjoy writing?

My favorites are clean romance short stories, especially mail-order bride. I love writing historical Western romance novellas and short stories. I also write a cozy mystery or two. They are such fun!

Your books often contain an element of faith as well as clean romance and love. Is that important to you as a writer?

Yes, my faith is important to me, and as an author, clean Christian Western romance is my heart passion. I love being able to tell a story, be it an American mail-order brides series, a mail-order bride and babies tale, or a historical Western romance novella, and at the same time bring a positive message of hope, faith, and love to uplift readers.

Are all of your stories clean reads?

Yes, every story I write is clean and wholesome, and I find that language and sex-free mail-order bride books are just as good as those that include such things. I don't think that offensive elements are necessary to tell a great story, and I always ensure that I write great Christian Western romance free of anything that might compromise my readers in any way. The main thing for me is always the story, and the characters. A great plot is what makes a story worth reading.

Where do your brides and their stories come from?

Mail-order brides of the West, East, or sometimes even foreign brides jump into my imagination every day, each telling their own special story! I have mail order brides of Texas, New York, even Liverpool, England. So many places, so many tales to tell. I get an idea for a book or a series, and when I begin to write, the stories often take on a life all of their own. Just like my readers, I am often on the edge of my seat eagerly waiting to find out what will happen next! I even have a few mail-order husbands cooking.

What would you like to say to your readers?

Just two short words. Thank you! I think many authors take their readers for granted, but without you there would be no stories. A story only really comes alive in the hand of a reader. My readers are the reason I write, the reason I can tell my tales. Without them, well, there would be no story to tell. Every email I receive, every review that is left - every one of them means so much to me.

Why should a new reader pick up one of your books?

If you enjoy clean Christian Western romance and mail-order bride romance free from smutty themes; if you love great romantic stories full of surprises; if you love delightful characters and happy endings, any Terri Grace book will be thoroughly enjoyable for you.