"Proposing Mischief" by Regina Jennings - Joplin Chronicles, book 2

Maisie Kentworth is stuck on the ranch. Having fallen in love with the wrong guy, she can't risk inflaming things between her former beau and her protective family. Left to rue her mistakes, she keeps busy exploring the idle mine at the edge of their property. Boone Bragg is also stuck. With his parents on vacation, the management of Bragg Mining falls on him, and one of his advisors wants him as a son-in-law. One wrong move, and Boone will end up either offending an associate or getting married to a woman he can't endure. While closing up a spent mine, Boone gets two surprises. One is an untamed farm girl who's trespassing with a pickax, and the other is the amazing crystal cavern that she's discovered. Suddenly Boone sees a way to overhaul the family business. With part of the cavern on Kentworth land, Boone makes Maisie a proposal that he hopes will solve all of their problems. Instead it throws Joplin into chaos.

This was a fun marriage of convenience story. I enjoyed the progression of strangers marrying for practical reasons to friends to finally in love, with all sorts of shenanigans in the meantime. 

Although they come from two very different worlds, Boone and Maisie ended up being a fun and believable couple. They're both awkward in their own special ways--Maisie mostly out of country bumpkin-ness, and Boone out of extreme single-minded focus. But they do have one other trait in common--sheer practicality. It's a bit scary what creative activity Maisie might get up to when bored, but it's amazing that how no matter how off the wall her decision might be--like breaking into a locked trunk to borrow equipment for her trespassing expedition in a mine, or marrying a basic stranger--it's undergirded with practical thinking. And they both have a strong sense of commitment and loyalty. Perhaps they do have a lot in common after all!

It was fun learning more Joplin history, like the fact that a crystal cave did (and does) exist--it's just no longer physically accessible. And getting more of the Kentworth cousins was a delight--from rough-and-tumble Hank and Amos, to dogged--but elegant--former Pinkerton agent Calista, to genius architect Olive. Hopefully Olive will star in the next book, but I'm looking forward to it, whichever cousin it will feature!

Thank you Bethany House and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.

Joplin Chronicles
1. Courting Misfortune
2. Proposing Mischief
3. Engaging Deception