David Chesney is a wanderer and what some consider a Jack-of-all-Trades. His one real home has always been the California Gold Country. As he travels back home, childhood memories flood his mind. Just eyeing the ruins of the old home, he gets an eerie feeling. He visits the libraries historical section looking for records or newspaper articles pertaining to the Gold Rush area, for the foothill area and people who lived in that area. He comes across county records involving Henry McBride, with wife, Brandy Lee, and daughter, Pennie. David recalls a ghostly figure of a woman in the house next door to his grandfathers when he was a child, practically crying for help. He wonders if the woman who still troubles and haunts him has some connection with the past and he needs to find answers. David had no idea the old ruins would transport him to the year 1850 where it all began. When David is pulled from the river and taken to the home of Henry and Brandy, he doesn’t understand how Brandy can stay with a drunken man who treats her callously. Henry McBride believes all women are ungrateful and he hates when any woman speaks up in his house. David wishes to help her but he doesn’t want to overstep his boundaries. Being in another year with gold miners, he isn’t certain if he will ever get back to the present day. While there, he feels certain that it isn’t safe for Brandy and he intends to do what he can to make her life a bit easier as he unlocks the mystery of the woman who haunts his dreams. If Henry has his way, things may not go as smoothly as David had hoped.

Sometimes in September is a lovely story. I found myself traveling along with David and shared in all the activity with the miners and the families. Seeing everything that Brandy had to endure with Henry made me want to jump in the pages and take care of Henry myself. His character was definitely one bad guy the reader loved to discard. Cassidy McKay pens a great story on survival, love, and discovery that kept this reader captivated. It was a historical period that I thoroughly loved. Brandy showed true grit, with so much strength, in an era when men loved to rule with their fists. With in-depth characters and strong emotions, this is one tale that captures the reader from the first page to the last. Thanks Ms. McKay for sketching a story so convincingly real it grabs the reader completely.

Reviewed by: Linda L.