Summer of Promise by Amanda Cabot

Once again I have discovered a new-to-me author and thoroughly enjoyed her work.  Abigail Harding is content with her life as a teacher in Vermont.  Her students love her and she has an understanding with another teacher with an engagement to come soon, but letters from her sister, Charlotte, bring her great concern. Charlotte, married and living on a Fort in Wyoming, sounds distressed and melancholy... very uncharacteristic for Charlotte. Abigail decides to make a surprise visit to see for herself what is afoot.

As Abigail travels on her journey, she finds the landscape boring and the trip monotonous... she longs for the beauty of the lush greens of Vermont.  A robbery attempt shakes her from her boredom and opens her eyes to a whole new world... and to Lieutenant Ethan Bowles.

As their attraction grows, so does the tension. Abigail has a life and a sweetheart in Vermont.  Ethan loves the military life and Wyoming.  Add to this a bit of intrigue and scandal at the Fort and you have the makings of a wonderful well rounded story with full rich characters... joy and love, but also heart ache and sadness.

Book 1 of the Westward Winds was a wonderful book and makes me look forward to the others in the series.