Sing in the Sunlight

The fake relationship trope gets a new spin in this Christian Western romance from Denly (after Waltz in the Wilderness). Clarinda Humphrey believes she has finally found a man who can see past her marred surface and love her, but when he abandons her, she finds herself in a desperate situation. Richard Stevens is a mine owner who has recently had his own life upended. After Richard encounters a lovely veiled woman on a ferry, he has a dream that they are meant to be together, and he sets out on a quest to find his God-chosen bride. But when he does find her, he learns she has been telling people they are already married. Readers may spend the first chapter or so wondering if they are already supposed to know what caused Clarinda’s scars. Richard comes across as too good to be true. He sees past Clarinda’s trauma immediately, figures out her emotional issues, barely bats an eye at the falsehood she has presented, and wants to marry her on sight in spite of the fact that she is pregnant with another man’s child.