A Love to Last Forever (Brides of Gallatin County Series #2) Book

3.5 stars! This was surprisingly good, but it's definitely obvious that it's part of a series. It's a lot of day in the life stuff of the whole community that would probably be more interesting if you read all 3 books.
This is the story of Beth falling in love and marrying Nick. Beth is a book lover and i thought that part was so fun! She lives in the Gallatin house with her sisters Lacey and Gwen. Gwen is married to Hank (a local shop owner) and Lacey is the youngest sister who is a little bit of a rebellious tomboy who has a love hate relationship with the town deputy. Their father died mysteriously' was it murder? Lacey is determined to find out!
The book is set in the end of the 1800s I believe in Montana. I liked the setting and thought it was funny that some of the people came from the seemingly great land of KS. Montana must really be bleak.
Nick has a tarnished past and he's just recently found God. Beth had denied him multiple times because he wasn't a Christian but now that he is she's willing to admit her love for him. They start courting and then his young son shows up. He had loved another girl, gotten her pregnant, and then her family ran him out of town. She died while giving birth and her parents raised the boy but now they're old and sick and bring him to nick. Beth is surprisingly cool with all of it and the 3 of them become one happy family.
There are also side stories including Simon (nicks brother) and one of the prostitutes. They were planning on getting married and moving away because she ended up pregnant by one of her clients but the bar owner beat her so bad she lost the baby. They're still in love but there will be no baby and I don't know if they'll leave. There's also the aspect of the railroad being built. It's going to run north of their town so they're going to lose any hope of traffic and the township may not survive. Beth and her sisters were always moving as kids and all she wants is a stable home. She's so fearful of leaving that she thinks about ending her relationship with nick but then she realizes that home is where he and their son are.
As for the other sisters, Gwen is pregnant at the end of this book and Lacey is just investigating their father's death and her relationship with Dave the deputy.
This is Christian fiction and even though I am a Christian I felt like this was overkill at some points. At times it felt very real, authentic and applicable but at other times it felt like it was just convenient to throw in a God reference. I also didn't like how judgmental and holier-than-thou the sisters were. They were going to drug everyone at the local bar to get them to pass out and stop drinking?? Let God do the judging ladies. 2 wrongs don't make a right. I'm all for protecting the rights of the prostitutes but when we're talking about drinking that's not harming others' mind your business.
Overall I'd recommend this book. I'm intrigued enough to read the other books but I probably won't be rushing to buy them.