The Diary of Mattie Spenser of Sandra Dallas

Mattie is surprised when the handsome Luke Spenser asks for her hand in marriage.  As they begin their life together he takes her to the Colorado frontier.  Her best friend Carrie gives her a journal as a wedding present and Mattie uses it to record the events of her days and her deepest feelings.  She hides the book in a trunk and writes in it only in the absence of her husband.

As she and Luke make a new life for themselves on the harsh Colorado plains, Mattie learns some bitter truths about her new life and her husband.

Sandra Dallas had become one of my new favorite authors.  She writes about women and their emotions with honesty and openness.  I love reading the details of days long past and find it fascinating to read about a everyday life that is so different from our modern days.

4 stars (Rated PG – for some violence and sex talk—although the sex talk is talked about in terms so obscure that a young person would more than likely not understand it.)