Callie Grant is at the inauguration of her cousin Ulysses Grant the night she finds out the fate her guardians have in store for her.  She is to marry a lecherous, potential congressman who is old enough to be her father.  This causes her to overindulge in wine and sleep ‘like the dead’. 

Captain Chase Brooks is done with marriage, and love in general after the way his last marriage turned out.  While at the inauguration he imbibes in a bit too much whisky.  When he wakes up the next morning in bed with a lovely young woman he doesn’t know how she got there, but is determined to believe the worst in her.  As the Army is the only home he has known he will marry her rather than give up his commission.

Callie finds this the opportunity she has always wanted.  Despite the conviction by her husband she thinks that she will be fine as an Army wife.  It doesn’t even bother her that the troops her husband commands are all Negro soldiers, which is uncommon.  She convinces Chase to not make her stay behind.  She is desperately attracted to him but, knows that she must let things take their own course if she is to win his heart.  While life is tough on the outpost she makes a good friend and is doing things to make her life fulfilled.  She only hopes that her husband will come to love her has she does him.

The Calvary Wife is an intriguing blend of romance and a potential link to those in history.  The author takes the time to develop a world that revolves around actual characters from the time after the Civil War and how others might have interacted with them, but had their own struggles.  I loved how Callie uses the ‘back bone’ she has always hidden to stick up for what she believes in and to get what she really wants.  I was drawn into The Calvary Wife at the very beginning and had a very hard time putting it down.  Therefore this is one of my September Recommended Reads and I look forward to other offerings from this author, especially in this genre.