Awe-Struck E-Books (Ebook),
Connie Crow 's charming story begins in 1819 Philadelphia where Corinna McGinnis works as a kitchen maid. When her employer makes unwelcome advances, Corinna douses him with hot soup and promptly loses her job. With nowhere to go and no job prospects she joins the army as a laundress and sets out for the Missouri Territory. 

A strong young woman who long ago learned to survive on her own, Corinna determines to take full advantage of the adventure facing her. Unlike her contemporaries, she reaches out and embraces the unknown, opening herself to the new experiences offered by the territory's untamed lands. 

The friends who accompany Corinna on her trek provide comfort, support and even a little danger. The leader of her regiment, Captain Humbolt, finds himself attracted to the lively laundress, but military regulations and social prejudice threaten to destroy their romance before it buds, much less blooms. The captain, as much as Corinna must travel far, but unlike Corinna, he must jettison much of his cultural baggage to reach his personal goals. 

Crow's appealing characters provide a glimpse of the lives and mind sets of the people who pushed the boundaries of civilization as we know it. She shows us how a complex military operation can be brought to a grinding halt by something as simple as a lack of laundresses.  

The army moves slowly across the land followed by wives, children, wagons, carts and hundreds of feet trodding the mud. But Crow's plot moves quick and sure and pulls the reader along a bouncing trail into the Missouri Territory. Although the structure of most romances seldom permits a sequel, I hope Crow considers one for Moonlight Fire. Corinna's life in the developing west certainly merits further exploration. 

Heather Firth

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