Review: A Heart's Promise by ColOwen Coble. At Fort Laramie, soldier Isaac Liddle determines he will court and win Emmie Croftner's hand. Though courting seems improbable for a woman in her condition, Emmie begins to care deeply for Issac and chafes as Jessica Dubois sets her bonnet for him. When Jessica learns of Emmie's secret pregnancy, she blackmails her. With the Sioux Wars raging outside the safety of Fort Laramie, Emmie knows she cannot lose Isaac. But will he reject her--and her child--if he learns the truth?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      This is part 5 in a series. I timed my review to go up as.the next book in the series is becoming available for all of you who have been the victims of the cliffhanger effect. That is when you are stoked to find out what happens next and have to wait months or sometimes years to find out. Luckily this is a previously published series which is being re-released. It is one of the authors earlier series and one that has special meaning for her. This is because she wrote it to her to deal with the loss of  a loved one.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                The story takes place in the Wyoming Territory and since I am calling it a territory rather than a state you probably just put together that it is  a historical novel. It follows Emma who is the wronged "wife" of a vocalist who is pregnant with his child. The man passed away . She is in a fort with some other military officers wives. She is staying with friends. Two of the other wives are also pregnant. One is having  a difficult time. Emma is attracted to an officer named Isaac but believes that if he knew the situation he would not want her. To make matters worse another female enters the picture and signals her intentions to snag Isaac for  a husband. She threatens to out Emma to the whole fort if she doesn't stay away from him. Can't a girl get a break here?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          This book is more of  novella in length and that is good because as I indicated earlier you want to get on to the next installment to find out what happens next. You really root for Emma because she is very caring and decent. She did not have the ideal situation growing up and feels for the other women at the fort. The spectre of her childhood colors her current life situation as first she was ashamed because of a men(her father and brothers) and now another man(her duplicitous husband to whom she was never really married) make her life miserable with effects of their bad choices and behaviors. Isaac has the character that these men lacked so you really want them to get together. The sense of solidarity and sisterhood among  the women  in the story was lovely and well presented as was the camaraderie among the men. The women though are definitely the stars here and get the most attention.The realities of their situation in the wilderness is well portrayed. The next installment in this series A Heart's Home releases August 4th so pick it up along with this to keep going and not keep hanging from that cliff.