Ambush of the Heart

By Mary Connealy

Book Overview

When bandits strike in the wilderness, can love and faith overcome the shadows of danger?

As Owen Riley and his fellow Marshals escort Delaney Bridger, her brother, and an escaped prisoner to Fort Russell, a gang of outlaws ambushes them, bringing death and devastation to their party. With their lives on the line and the outlaws in pursuit, Owen directs the rest of his battered group to seek hiding at a remote ranch.

After the attack leaves her brother Boone seriously injured, Delaney helps Owen, nursing Boone and a wounded Marshal back to health while danger looms ever closer. Despite the threat at their heels, romance sparks between Owen and Delaney as they fight for survival on their perilous trek to the fort. Can they overcome the obstacles and find a future together?

Mary Connealy presents a riveting historical Frontier series starter of adventure, love, and high jinks in the rugged wilderness of 1870s Colorado. This Western romance features a determined Marshal, a courageous woman, forced proximity romance, and a risky journey of survival.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0764245996
• ISBN13: 9780764245992
• Release Date: February 2026
• Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.57 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Adventure, Faith, & Tender Romance

Get ready for some heart pounding action from the first page as we begin the Rocky Mountain Marshals series with a shootout. Visiting the Wild West in 1872 takes your breath away at times as you realize just how vast and dangerous the terrain is as the Marshals try to get their prisoner and spunky Delaney Bridger and her brother to Fort Russell. With outlaws and danger around every boulder it becomes a battle for survival with romantic sparks flying and a touch of humor to bring a smile to your face. I love the strong women in this story that don’t run and cower but face the situations head on as it will take strength of character and faith to see them through. I was fully invested in this story and cannot wait for the next book in the series as I did not want this one to end. What more can you ask for, when you have shootouts, outlaws, dangerous territory, faith, family, romance, and humor to satisfy you bibliophile needs. I received a complimentary copy from CelebrateLit/Bethany House Publishing. The honest review and opinions are my own and were not required.

Exciting adventure

This fast paced first book in Mary Connealy’s Rocky Mountain Marshals series is full of action, danger, and intrigue with a bit of romance and testing of faith thrown in. Five marshals had set out to transport an escaped prisoner back to Cheyenne. When the grown children of Colonel Bridger, the commander at Fort D. A. Russell, learned that the train couldn’t run until the tracks were repaired they asked if they could ride along with the marshals. The family of the escaped prisoner makes valiant efforts to stop the marshals, which leads them and their party to travel through the wild, unsettled mountains for protection. Delaney Bridger and Marshal Owen Riley find themselves attracted to each other but fighting to stay alive and find their way out of the wilderness before the family of the prisoner catches up with them. Mary Connealy has written another enthralling Christian historical fiction adventure story with strong female characters along side strong, intriguing male characters in this book, Ambush of the Heart.

Western adventure

Ambush of the Heart is about 3 US Marshall's tasked with getting a prisoner to trial. They start the journey with Boone and Delaney Bridger riding with them to Fort Russell where their parents are. Along the way they get ambushed, flee from criminals, ride through the roughest country/mountains they've ever seen, pick up more people to add to their group, chase after escaped prisoners and lots of other escapades. All three of the Marshall's get their hearts "ambushed" in this first book. It's full of adventure, action, romance, humor, inspiration and fun. I love the characters and the descriptions of the country they are riding through. A wild western ride!