A Lady's Heart of Gold

by Sally Britton

Formats

Included in Subscription

When a determined English newspaper woman arrives in the Arizona desert, she expects to find the lawless and the illiterate. Instead, she meets a well-spoken and handsome cowboy who's ready to prove to her there's more to the Territory than cattle and cacti.

English newspaper reporter Molly McKinney is determined to make a name for herself by writing about the wilds of the American West. After convincing her editor to take a chance on her idea, Molly travels to the United States looking for tales that will transport and inspire her readers. When she meets a quiet cowboy in the middle of Arizona Territory, she can sense that his story might be the most important of all—if only he’ll open up enough to tell it.

Eduardo “Ed” Byrd has worked at the KB Ranch for five years, making an honest living and trying to ignore his past. He’s one-quarter Cherokee, three-quarters Mexican-American, and entirely his own person. Light-hearted and hard-working, Ed keeps to himself and reserves his dreams for the privacy of his notebooks. When one meeting with the tenacious English woman rattles his mind and heart, Ed can’t help but wonder if he’s been playing things safe for too long.

A reporter’s natural curiosity spurs Molly to make her way to the ranch where Ed works, and she’s determined to find out what the cowboy is hiding beneath his gentle smiles. There’s more to Ed than he lets on, and when Molly starts to unravel his past, he realizes their story might only have a happy ending if he’s willing to risk more than just his heart.

This is the third novel in the Hearts of Arizona series. Each story is set in Arizona Territory and features a Victorian hero or heroine, with a mild heat level.

Formats

Open reader Upgrade Account

Included in Subscription

Book Details

Genre

Historical Romance

Subgenre

Victorian (1830–1900), Western / Cowboy (frontier-era or modern ranch settings)

Series

Hearts of Arizona • Book 3

Audience

Adult

Bell Peppers

🫑

Profanity

2 Mild

Violence

2 Mild

Drugs, Alcohol, Tobacco

2 Mild

Publication Date

September 14, 2022

Language Versions

English

Fiction Form

Novella

Sensitive Themes

Animal harm or death, Historical discrimination, Racism or prejudice

Representation

BIPOC main character / cast

En western med hjärta

When I looked into your father's eyes, I saw my soul within them. That's when I knew everything would change. ", Ed's mother had told him many times. But he was Hispanic/Cherokee and the woman who's eyes he'd met was a white woman, English actually, and his experience told him that was not a combination acceptabel, no matter what he felt or what she seemed to experience when their eyes connected.This sets the stage for this final book, set in 1896, in the Hearts of Arizona series, one of my all-time favorite book series. If it was all left up to Ed, there would not have been any story, since he knew to keep away from all the daughters of his white neighbours and knew when the day came he would marry someone who looked like himself.Fortunate for us, Molly, the English traveling journalist, is not a shy rose and makes sure to give us another great story about someone from the KB Ranch and someone from England finding their happily ever after. We get to laugh on poor Ed's behalf when he tries to navigate his feelings and this forward woman's lack of letting him be.Though these two come from very different cultures, there are more to us humans than first meets the eye, and it will show itself that they have more in common, which is of greater importance, than anyone would guess.The author let us, through Ed's words and thoughts, get a small insight into the lives of minorities and the way people have a tendency to not being very accepting of others. Let us all work for a better world than all too often shows itself in the form of people pushing down others in the hope of getting higher up themselves. The only true 'better' there is is to be more kind, more generous and more merciful.I received an ARC of this book from the author, but these are all my true opinions of this story.

Enchanting

This story was very compelling from the beginning until the endIt had me wondering what was going to happen nextI would have to say that I would recommend it very much

Great finish to a favorite series!

“Your writing is wonderful. I fell into each story and hated coming out again. You have a storyteller’s gift, and it’s incredible.”This is a line from Molly in The Lady’s Heart of Gold, and as I read it, it rang true for me for the entire Hearts of Arizona series and Sally Britton. I absolutely adore these swoony western romances!Book 3, The Lady’s Heart of Gold, did not disappoint! The story begins with Molly McKinney, an English newspaper reporter trying to make a name for herself in a man’s profession by writing about something unique—the wilds of the American West. She travels to the U.S. looking for stories that will entertain and engage her readers. Soon after arriving in Arizona Territory, she meets a quiet, handsome cowboy, Eduardo “Ed” Byrd—a meeting that will change everything for both of them. (Ed is mentioned in the previous books and I am so happy he gets his own story.)What I loved about this book:💜Wonderful storytelling—I couldn’t put it down.💜Ed and Molly are intriguing and very likable characters. I loved seeing the layers peel back to reveal their depth.💜The Arizona landscape felt like another character. The descriptions of it were lovely and evocative.💜 Clean but heated romance💜This book is more serious than the previous two as it addresses discrimination against women, racism, mixed race marriages, and tragic historical events regarding Native Americans. This was not the primary focus of the book, but important to the storyline. I appreciated the way the author candidly dealt with these things.💜 There were some heavy topics, but the book is a happy, uplifting story.If you’ve only read Sally’s wonderful regency books, do yourself a huge favor and read these fantastic western romances! They are some of my favorites!TW: the aforementioned racism, brief mention of animal cruelty.Many thanks to @authorsallybritton for an arc copy of her lovely book! All opinions are my own.

Great final book! Wonderful characters!!!

I love this western trilogy from Sally Britton. Each book has been wonderful. I've loved getting a glimpse into what life on a desert ranch in the late 1800s would have been like. You can tell that the author has done a lot of research to use for these books. So many fascinating aspects have been included.I've loved all of the characters that are on KB Ranch. Especially being able to continue seeing them in each subsequent book. They're great friends to each other and support and help each other. It's been fun to see how their "family" has grown and changed over the course of all three books.Molly was a delightful character. She's spunky and fun and proper and not afraid to follow her dreams. I loved watching her take her chance and go on this adventure from England to traveling across the United States all for the chance to share her adventures as a newspaper columnist.Ed was a very constant and steady character. I enjoyed watching his calm demeanor and his ability to read people and watch them. He's had some hardships from his childhood, his ancestors' history and his life, yet I loved his goodness and watching him continue to move forward.Watching these two together was fun. I loved their witty banter. They were both very quick witted and I loved how Molly kept surprising Ed throughout the book. Their sweet friendship to more was darling. The chemistry and spark between them was a perfect match for their personalities.They have their ups and downs but they also have each other to help through all of those. I loved the trust that built between them and how they were able to share their pasts with each other as well as their dreams. And how they worked towards those dreams with each other. Just a very sweet couple.Content: Clean. There is a content warning at the beginning of the book where the author explains about some of the history of Ed's people. If you pick up the book, make sure to read the content warning on the copyright page. The author also tells you that as a chapter heading for the chapter that contains the content. It's not graphic, it's just to help you understand the nature of the topic. She also says that there is talk about some of the more cruel methods of horse training. The character doesn't use those methods, just explains them and how he would never treat an animal that way.Happy Reading!!!

Loved it!

This is a beautiful and gentle love story, and I enjoyed reading it very much! I’ve been looking forward to Ed’s story, and it was as good as I hoped it would be.Molly is an English reporter who is traveling and sending stories back to her publisher. I loved her enthusiasm for learning new things! Her curiosity and persistence were fun to read about, and I appreciated how kind she was to those around her. I loved learning more about Ed; he is a wonderful character and is very well written. He knows who he is, but he still struggles with what he wants to do in the future and what that future will look like. I loved that he is a writer, and some of my favorite parts of the book are when Ed and Molly talk about his stories and the perspective he brings to them.There are some hard themes of racism and abuse towards Native Americans briefly touched on in this story. I think Sally Britton wrote in a respectful and caring way, while still pulling back the veil and showing the reader what it was like at that time. I appreciate all the research and work she put into this book. Though there are some hard things briefly mentioned, they are perfectly balanced out by the sweet romance, interesting story, and heartwarming moments between the characters.It was wonderful to see KB Ranch again, and to spend time with the characters of the previous books in this series!5/5 stars!Trigger warning:Brief mentions of horse abuse (not shown on the page)Brief mentions of Native American children being taken away from their families by the government (not shown on the page)