Books read Feb 3

Christmas at the Homestead Mail Order Brides, VOlume 1 by Cora Leland
Dedication starts with book out. Starts in Chicago 1882 and Crystal receies a letter and she's being asked to marry Lawrence Arcaady.
She loads up her items and takes a train to Larkspur, NE where he never shows up to get her.
She feels forced leaving Chicago because her brother and sister can't afford the house or things they are accustomed to. Their parents had died and a man took advantage of their situation and promised them a lot of money to no avail.
That man is Mr. Arcady and she is rescued at the station by the deputy Brand. He leads her to a rooming house where they take very good care of her-she's filthy and her clothes are very worn and not warm enough for NE.
They attend to her needs and feed her and put her to bed. They also help get her a job as she knows how to cater food and is very good at it.
Brand takes her around a lot and he is suspicious of Mr. Arcady when he's around and he gets details from Crystal about the problems she's had with him.
Emily comes back to town and she is under the assumption that she's marrying Brand but she is not. At one party she runs into Arcady and with the snow storm she's thrown off her horse...
Brand was visiting his relatives in TV and stops in Chicago to visit her relatives, without her knowing.
Love the time they spend together and the soddy house is so funny to hear about when he's got a huge house right next door with all the comforts.
Love the surprise ending...  Ends with about the author

The Treasures of Death Valley by Tom Hunter

Starts in Death Valley 2030...dig team is on their way into the mine along established rail ways that the miners used to use.

They experience a earthquake type rumbling and one almost falls through the crack and then they are able to find the journal of the first man ever there but there is a gun involved and things get out of control quick..

So interesting the things they find and where. Love that there are many groups now searching in the mines and the things they discover are out of this world to me!

Fast paced action, no idea what they are up against and they fall into a pit...

Like this book for the adventures it took me on.