Maggie’s Wish is a fairly well-written, “married to the wrong man” kind of a story. It has some strong characterizations and a likeable hero and heroine. The setting, 1880s Prescott, Arizona, is well-described and interesting. If it weren’t for the heroine spending a little too much time worrying about the wrong man, it would be a great book.

For seven years, Maggie Hollister has been raising her daughter, Holly, without the help of a father. Every year Holly’s Christmas wish is the same: she wants Santa to bring her daddy back. This year, Maggie is determined to make Holly’s dream come true. With the help of the local sheriff, Maggie hires ex-Texas Ranger Matt Weston to find her absent husband.

The minute Matt sets his eyes on Maggie, he thinks she is beautiful. Everyone else seems to only notice how tall she is, but Matt thinks she’s perfect. And not only is she beautiful, she is a wonderful cook, too. Matt decides her husband is a complete fool for having left her, but he does his job and locates the errant husband, Rafe Hollister, within a month. Rafe is lying face-down in an El Paso gutter, looking terrible and smelling worse. Rafe also has a “sister” Peggy, a one legged whore. Matt brings Rafe back to Prescott and begins a long campaign to clean him up so he can be presentable for Holly. The plan is for Rafe to be presented to Holly on Christmas as a gift from Santa. But meanwhile, Matt is falling harder for Maggie and thinking all the while that Rafe doesn’t deserve her. To further complicate things, Rafe’s “sister” shows up, and she’s willing to do anything to have Rafe for herself.

Matt and Maggie are pretty good characters. Matt has an endearing habit of referring to Rafe as “the luckiest bastard on earth.” Maggie is a concerned mother who is usually more worried about Holly’s needs than her own. The problem is that it is really obvious Matt would be the better husband and father. He thinks Maggie is beautiful, while Rafe makes mean jokes about her height.

Matt plays with Holly, while Rafe can barely drum up a passing interest. The whole scenario of Maggie wanting Rafe to be the her husband goes on way, way too long. Not until the bitter end are she and Matt really together. I thought both of them should have been smart enough to fight for their relationship sooner.

In some ways, Rafe is the more interesting character. He can be really annoying, and he definitely sounds unattractive. But he also really cares about Peggy. Other men have been cruel to her because of her misfortune, but Rafe takes care of her, and tries to keep her off the streets. His attitude toward Peggy really humanizes him, although we can still see that he isn’t the right man for Maggie.

Holly’s character is also well done. She acts like a child and is inconvenient in ways that children tend to be. But characters as smart as these should have been able to resolve their problems much earlier. All in all, Maggie’s Wish wasn’t bad, but Holly figured out that Matt was the right guy right away. Matt and Maggie could surely have done the same.