California, 1864
Sarah West will do whatever she has to in order to rescue her daughter from the Sioux. She's already lost her home, her husband and the man she loves - there's no way she's going to calmly accept that her daughter is lost to her forever. Sarah needs help and for that she tracks down the one man she's never stopped loving.

Thomas West has never forgotten Sarah. He believed he was doing the right thing when he headed west to make his fortune, but things went very wrong and he's never forgiven himself. When he was finally able to write home, he learned that Sarah had married his brother Samuel. He believed that she'd betrayed him and had no idea that she'd been pregnant when he left.

Sarah's exhausted every available source she could turn to for help finding her daughter and Thomas is her last hope. The last thing Thomas expects is to be looking down the business end of a gun held by a very determined Sarah. He assumed that she was still in Illinois happily married to his brother Samuel. He hadn't known that they'd ventured west and doesn't understand why Samuel would have made such a risky move. Samuel died of cholera two weeks before the Indian attack when Lucia was taken. Thomas and Jenna soon realize that they were both deceived by Samuel. Sarah only married Samuel because she was pregnant with Thomas's baby and believed that he was dead. Samuel had known that Thomas was alive and kept that information from her. Now fourteen years later, Thomas and Sarah must find a way to bury their past resentments and regrets in order to save their daughter from the Sioux. Can they rediscover the passion between them? Will they be able to find a way to rescue Lucia without endangering her life?

Jenna Kernan just became a `must read' author for me. HIGH PLAINS BRIDE contains an intriguing storyline, suspense, realistic characters, fascinating situations, and emotional situations that capture your interest and hold you captive until the very end. As a mother, I couldn't help but ache for Sarah over the loss of her daughter. Thomas is a character I had to admire, he's never met his daughter but he risks everything to help Sarah find her. They have issues that need to be resolved but rescuing Lucia takes priority over everything. I was fascinated by the scenes involving Lucia and her time amongst the Sioux. While most of the tribe members were horrible to her, there's something about Eagle Dancer that endeared him to me. There were several characters in this story that I found unforgettable and would love to know more about what happens after this story ends.

Chrissy Dionne (courtesy of Romance Junkies)

As a reader who has loved the western historicals of Lavyrle Spencer, Maggie Osborne, Lorraine Heath and Jodi Thomas, I celebrate the addition of Jenna Kernan to this pantheon. I just finished this, my first book by Ms. Kernan. I will be searching out her backlist as soon as I finish this.

"High Plains Bride" may, at first glance, appear to tell a familiar tale: Young man leaves his love behind to find his fortune in the California Gold Rush, promising to return. Young woman finds herself pregnant and, told that her love has died, marries his brother. Fourteen years later, after losing their farm, they head west, whereupon woman (no longer young) loses her husband to cholera and her daughter to a Sioux war party. She realizes that her only hope of rescuing their daughter is to find her first and only love (whom, she learned some years earlier, had not died). This theme, familiar though it may be, in Ms. Kernan's able hands, becomes a thrilling and poignant tale.

Sarah West has lost everyone she had ever loved, and she knows that if she cannot find her daughter, she will have no reason to endure. Although it disturbs her to her core, she knows that she must find Thomas, her first and only love, and insist that he help her find their daughter - the daughter he didn't know he had. As they set out from California to the Dakotas (I think), the descriptions of the hardships of the plains, the bareness of the creature comforts and the melancholy of these peoples' lives are written with such skill by Ms. Kernan that you feel as though you are right there with the characters: suffering through the cold, long rides through the bitter snows; the meagerness of their meals; the crushing fear of Sioux "savagery." The characters were fully fleshed out, even the "wicked" mother of the warrior who cares for the Lucie, Sarah's captive daughter. These were people who acted appropriately for their day and age. This isn't a politically correct novel, but it does reflect the thinking of the times; how could it not and feel this authentic?

Rarely have I felt such urgent need to read the next page of a romance novel. Romantic suspense, maybe; but a western? This book speeds along with adventure, danger (from the elements and Indian raiders) and passion.

If you like well-paced, wonderfully written fiction, I highly recommend this book.

High Plains Bride is a lovely story. It has a lot of adventure and love.
If you like western and romance this book is an excellent choice.

This is a wonderful novel of the Old West! The characters are fascinating (with interesting baggage) and well-rounded; the situations dramatic; the emotions intense and very moving; and it's all handled with a realism that really takes me into the setting.
One of the best western historicals I have read recently!