Love at Any Cost by Julie Lessman (2013)

Book One in The Heart of San Francisco series

Julie Lessman has another winner with her new offering of a story about Cassie McClare, a spunky Texas cowgirl, set in the early twentieth century.

Cassie, an oil heiress, arrives at the home of her aunt and cousins in California with her lasso, jeans, and boots (not the proper attire for a young lady in 1902), when Jamie McKenna, a young man who happens to be at the train station, accidentally knocks her off her feet. When he shows up at the McClare house for dinner, Cassie wants nothing to do with this “pretty boy.” He is too much like the young man in her hometown of Humble, Texas, who just jilted her. But Jamie is smitten and sets out to win the heart of this petite blonde from Texas.

Jamie, the son of a poor woman living on San Francisco’s Barbary Coast, has pulled himself up by his boot strings, educating himself and finding a good job as a lawyer. He feels responsible for his mother and invalid sister, Jess, and is trying to save money to obtain an operation for her to enable her to walk. He wants to marry a rich woman so he can live on Nob Hill and enjoy the pleasures that his friends, the McClares, have all the time, as well being able to help his mother and sister.

Meanwhile, Cassie’s aunt, Caitlyn, is being wooed by her late husband’s brother, Logan McClare. Both women realize they cannot marry men who are not lovers of God, but their hearts tell them otherwise, as the handsome men try to win their affections.

The family takes part in many activities of the time—games, elegant balls, picnics, time at the beach—as the reader learns about and comes to love each character. In every instance, the author brings us to the historical period with her adequate descriptions of the activities and the people of that day.

As situations arise and the familiar Lessman twists and turns occur, the reader is surprised again and again. If you enjoy historical Christian romance, you will love this book.

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