Down the Rio Grande, 1829

On the southwestern frontier in 1829, stepsisters Rosita Trevino, sixteen, and Maria Alvarez, fifteen, both dream of better lives, but they do not realize how much they have in common. They're more strangers than sisters. On the same day an American named Austin sails down the Rio Bravo to their home town of Guerrero, Rosita's father brings home a rich old man who choses to marry her! Desperate to escape, Rosita runs away, boarding Austin's steamboat. That very night, Maria sneaks aboard, disguised as a boy! Rosita discovers Maria was just as miserable as she. Along the difficult and near deadly journey down the river, they face an attack by bandits and a fire. But it's when they are kidnapped and held for ransom when they must truly work together. This was an excellant addition the American Sisters series (the first new book in a year and a half!) that brought to life the American southwest (then part of Mexico) in 1829.