What do you think?
Rate this book
Brides of Simpson Creek #7
A Hero in the Making
Man on a Mission…
Nate Bohannan won't let anything stand in the way of his grand plans in California. Even if it means traveling there with unreliable huckster Robert Salali. But after a destructive bender in Simpson Creek, Texas, the unscrupulous Salali runs out, leaving Nate to carry the blame—and the debt. He can fix broken furniture…but can anything fix the despair in café owner Ella Justiss's eyes?
When her café was destroyed, Ella felt sure she'd lost her dreams along with it. Yet somehow Nate's cheerful care and optimism fill her with hope again. Painful secrets from her childhood make Ella wary of men. When danger threatens, will Nate be the hero Ella can finally trust—and love?
Brides of Simpson Creek: Small-town Texas spinsters find love with mail-order grooms!
Nate Bohannan won't let anything stand in the way of his grand plans in California. Even if it means traveling there with unreliable huckster Robert Salali. But after a destructive bender in Simpson Creek, Texas, the unscrupulous Salali runs out, leaving Nate to carry the blame—and the debt. He can fix broken furniture…but can anything fix the despair in café owner Ella Justiss's eyes?
When her café was destroyed, Ella felt sure she'd lost her dreams along with it. Yet somehow Nate's cheerful care and optimism fill her with hope again. Painful secrets from her childhood make Ella wary of men. When danger threatens, will Nate be the hero Ella can finally trust—and love?
Brides of Simpson Creek: Small-town Texas spinsters find love with mail-order grooms!
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 2014
18 people are currently reading
93 people want to read
About the author
Laurie Kingery
25 books89 followersLaurie Kingery is a central Ohio author and veteran E.R. RN who wrote 16 historical romances as Laurie Grant and now writes inspirational historicals for Steeple Hill. She won the Reader's Choice for short historicals in 1994. Her website is http://www.lauriekingery.com. Country Christmas was her first inspirational historical in Oct. '08; her next release from Steeple Hill was The Outlaw's Lady in Aug. '09. Her next release will be Marrying Milly in November 2010.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 11 reviews
February 12, 2018
I had fun with my 4 year old and chalk the other day. I learned you can't erase chalk mistakes after accidentally drawing a huge hat on Nate Bohannan. 😁🎩
I finally finished reading this book! I started reading this back in October! I really enjoyed this story. I'm going to look up others in this collection. It was a sweet romance. I give it 4 out of 5 stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I let audiobooks and netflix slow my reading. I'm going to keep fighting netflix to help me read more because I love reading! 💗📖
^^
📚A Hero in the Making by Laurie Kingery @lauriekingery
^^
#februarybookchallenge #BookPhotoChallenge #bookstagram #instabook #bookphotography #photography #booklove #bookaddict #booknerdigans #cleanreads #cleanromance #LoveInspired #loveinspiredbooks
I finally finished reading this book! I started reading this back in October! I really enjoyed this story. I'm going to look up others in this collection. It was a sweet romance. I give it 4 out of 5 stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I let audiobooks and netflix slow my reading. I'm going to keep fighting netflix to help me read more because I love reading! 💗📖
^^
📚A Hero in the Making by Laurie Kingery @lauriekingery
^^
#februarybookchallenge #BookPhotoChallenge #bookstagram #instabook #bookphotography #photography #booklove #bookaddict #booknerdigans #cleanreads #cleanromance #LoveInspired #loveinspiredbooks
July 13, 2014
A Hero in the Making by Laurie Kingery (Brides of Simpson Creek #7)
4 STARS
This seems to be a good series I have only read the last two books, but I would love to go back and read the first 5 of them. This was a nice story. Some things you could see what was going to happen but others had no idea of.
Nate did not have much left but skills his father taught him. He did not have to make right the wrongs is boss Robert Salali did. He was talented and wanted to help others.
Ella Justiss was a good cook, but she had a hard time trusting men and others. The more you learn about Ella you want to help her. She had some tough things in her life. Makes you glad that I had loving parents.
The setting for this book is Simpson Creek, Texas 1869
Ella Justiss has a café in the back of saloon. She wants to someday have her own café with a building. She works all the time. It is not the best location with the drunks. Her business and saloon were destroyed by Salali and Nate was left behind and everything he had taken.
Nate was working with Salali medicine show for a little money but mostly to help him get to California. He has big plans. But he wants to help rebuild the furniture that was destroyed. If he can get tools and would he could fix things. So he trades his skills for room and board.
Dose talk a lot about prayer, scriptures and church in a good way that is natural to the story. It does inspire you. Makes for a clean read and thankful for what we do have.
I was given this ebook to read so I could give a honest review of the story by Net Galley and Harlequin.
4 STARS
This seems to be a good series I have only read the last two books, but I would love to go back and read the first 5 of them. This was a nice story. Some things you could see what was going to happen but others had no idea of.
Nate did not have much left but skills his father taught him. He did not have to make right the wrongs is boss Robert Salali did. He was talented and wanted to help others.
Ella Justiss was a good cook, but she had a hard time trusting men and others. The more you learn about Ella you want to help her. She had some tough things in her life. Makes you glad that I had loving parents.
The setting for this book is Simpson Creek, Texas 1869
Ella Justiss has a café in the back of saloon. She wants to someday have her own café with a building. She works all the time. It is not the best location with the drunks. Her business and saloon were destroyed by Salali and Nate was left behind and everything he had taken.
Nate was working with Salali medicine show for a little money but mostly to help him get to California. He has big plans. But he wants to help rebuild the furniture that was destroyed. If he can get tools and would he could fix things. So he trades his skills for room and board.
Dose talk a lot about prayer, scriptures and church in a good way that is natural to the story. It does inspire you. Makes for a clean read and thankful for what we do have.
I was given this ebook to read so I could give a honest review of the story by Net Galley and Harlequin.
February 7, 2015
This book is set in Texas during the time of the Old West.
Ella has a history that she wants to keep in the past. Her life has been altered by emotional and physical abuse by her caregivers as a child. It is hard for her to open her heart and mind to others. She doesn't feel worthy of love and friendship.
Nate came into the small town as a sidekick to a man selling a miracle elixir, sure to fix all ills. He does it to earn money and passage San Francisco. His plans are interrupted when the business goes bad and he is left to atone for the sins of his employer.
I enjoyed this story of two people who have had problems growing up. They both need someone to stabilize them and help them through problems. This book dealt with the issues of redemption and forgiveness. It also content of dealing with the past and moving forward. To find healing.
This book is a Christian romance. I enjoyed that the characters used faith, or rediscovered faith to help in their decisions.
Ella has a history that she wants to keep in the past. Her life has been altered by emotional and physical abuse by her caregivers as a child. It is hard for her to open her heart and mind to others. She doesn't feel worthy of love and friendship.
Nate came into the small town as a sidekick to a man selling a miracle elixir, sure to fix all ills. He does it to earn money and passage San Francisco. His plans are interrupted when the business goes bad and he is left to atone for the sins of his employer.
I enjoyed this story of two people who have had problems growing up. They both need someone to stabilize them and help them through problems. This book dealt with the issues of redemption and forgiveness. It also content of dealing with the past and moving forward. To find healing.
This book is a Christian romance. I enjoyed that the characters used faith, or rediscovered faith to help in their decisions.
September 28, 2022
An unusual book premise, this one really delivers.
Nate Bohannon was headed west when his horse broke a leg and had to be put down. He was stranded, until a snake-oil salesman came along and struck a very uneven (and shady) deal with him - he would be the assistant to the charlatan until he got to the train in Iowa. Swindling people out of their money wasn't what he *wanted* to do... he just didn't want to be a jack-of-all-trades handyman like his father had been as he grifted across the country. No, Nate has a sweet deal involving money and prestige set up in California for him.
Until the Medicine Show lands in Ella's town. He likes Ella. He likes the people. And he's had enough of being the servant of slimy eel. But just as he's going to part ways, Salali the Great knocks him out, heads to the bar, gets drunk, and destroys both the town saloon and Ella's cafe... and then the eel takes off for parts unknown, leaving Nate to take the blame.
He knows how to fix and build, so he offers to stay and repair the damages. But Ella's been hurt badly before (in a mixed-age asylum as a child), and she didn't trust him to begin with. How can she open up to a shady character who seems to be so wily as to be able to do just about anything, including win over everyone he encounters?
VERY cute story. The only problem I had was that Kingery is SOOOOO chrischun, she can't let the bad guy hang for murder or the evil woman face punishment for her deeds. No, they both experience 'mercy' deaths, instead, because God wouldn't make nobody face nuthin' unpleasant, apparently. I took a star for it - I get sick of the saccharine storyline arcs at the end of these. If there's bad, let it be punished. God *did* make Hell, and he *does* let people reap what they sow, hello.
I also didn't like the love declaration. It was 99.7% "You saved my life!! I love you!!" and 0.3% "No, really - I can't imagine living my life without you. You're beautiful and brave and everything I could want in a woman." It *L.A.C.K.E.D*. But then, this is 'Love, inspired'. There aren't passionate, actual LOVE scenes. Just hints of them, because it might be sinful to use love words, apparently...?
But otherwise, the premise, the characters, the town, the fact that Nate can play both the banjo and the piano... all of it is a lot of fun.
Now I want a bride for George Detwiler. Which, of course, Kingery won't do - because he (((gasp!))) runs a saloon with harlots and gambling and such. What a shame...
Nate Bohannon was headed west when his horse broke a leg and had to be put down. He was stranded, until a snake-oil salesman came along and struck a very uneven (and shady) deal with him - he would be the assistant to the charlatan until he got to the train in Iowa. Swindling people out of their money wasn't what he *wanted* to do... he just didn't want to be a jack-of-all-trades handyman like his father had been as he grifted across the country. No, Nate has a sweet deal involving money and prestige set up in California for him.
Until the Medicine Show lands in Ella's town. He likes Ella. He likes the people. And he's had enough of being the servant of slimy eel. But just as he's going to part ways, Salali the Great knocks him out, heads to the bar, gets drunk, and destroys both the town saloon and Ella's cafe... and then the eel takes off for parts unknown, leaving Nate to take the blame.
He knows how to fix and build, so he offers to stay and repair the damages. But Ella's been hurt badly before (in a mixed-age asylum as a child), and she didn't trust him to begin with. How can she open up to a shady character who seems to be so wily as to be able to do just about anything, including win over everyone he encounters?
VERY cute story. The only problem I had was that Kingery is SOOOOO chrischun, she can't let the bad guy hang for murder or the evil woman face punishment for her deeds. No, they both experience 'mercy' deaths, instead, because God wouldn't make nobody face nuthin' unpleasant, apparently. I took a star for it - I get sick of the saccharine storyline arcs at the end of these. If there's bad, let it be punished. God *did* make Hell, and he *does* let people reap what they sow, hello.
I also didn't like the love declaration. It was 99.7% "You saved my life!! I love you!!" and 0.3% "No, really - I can't imagine living my life without you. You're beautiful and brave and everything I could want in a woman." It *L.A.C.K.E.D*. But then, this is 'Love, inspired'. There aren't passionate, actual LOVE scenes. Just hints of them, because it might be sinful to use love words, apparently...?
But otherwise, the premise, the characters, the town, the fact that Nate can play both the banjo and the piano... all of it is a lot of fun.
Now I want a bride for George Detwiler. Which, of course, Kingery won't do - because he (((gasp!))) runs a saloon with harlots and gambling and such. What a shame...
September 25, 2014
Ella is trying to make her own way. She operates a café in the back room of the local saloon. One evening a stranger saved her from an unruly man. Soon after her café and the saloon are trashed and the stranger stays to help repair the damage when it’s figured out it was his boss who did the damage. As much as Ella wants to trust Nate her past keeps her from embracing a future with him.
What I liked: Nate and Ella were very likeable and the towns people made this book interesting. I have not read the books preceding this one but the author did a good job of telling enough of the previous characters that I did not feel like I need to go read any of the other books. Both Nate and Ella had issues from their past they needed to work through which gave the book depth.
What I did not like: This book felt short. Time seemed to jump around and I felt like there could have been more to the story. I know that these books are shorter in general but I really felt it with this book. The climate of the plot felt rushed.
Overall the book was okay but not as good as it could have been.
http://abbiesreadingcorner.com/2014/0...
What I liked: Nate and Ella were very likeable and the towns people made this book interesting. I have not read the books preceding this one but the author did a good job of telling enough of the previous characters that I did not feel like I need to go read any of the other books. Both Nate and Ella had issues from their past they needed to work through which gave the book depth.
What I did not like: This book felt short. Time seemed to jump around and I felt like there could have been more to the story. I know that these books are shorter in general but I really felt it with this book. The climate of the plot felt rushed.
Overall the book was okay but not as good as it could have been.
http://abbiesreadingcorner.com/2014/0...
July 19, 2014
I love historical westerns and this one has a number of unique twists that make it stand out. I love that Nate really is a hero in the making. He has a noble heart but that doesn't always translate into noble actions. He has a somewhat dubious job when we first meet him. He knows it, but justifies away his misgivings until it's nearly too late. His journey toward becoming a true hero makes for a satisfying read. Mind you -- he's never perfect and makes plenty of mistakes but his brash, cheerful personality win over most of the townspeople.
Except Ella. At first. Ella's distrust runs deep and lasts longer than it should. By slow degrees, the author reveals just why that is. A painful past haunts Ella. Nate can see that and his tenderness and care even when Ella is at her prickliest makes him a true hero in my books.
Plenty of plot twists and enough emotional angst makes A Hero in the Making an excellent read.
My thanks to Harlequin and Net Galley for a review copy of this book.
Except Ella. At first. Ella's distrust runs deep and lasts longer than it should. By slow degrees, the author reveals just why that is. A painful past haunts Ella. Nate can see that and his tenderness and care even when Ella is at her prickliest makes him a true hero in my books.
Plenty of plot twists and enough emotional angst makes A Hero in the Making an excellent read.
My thanks to Harlequin and Net Galley for a review copy of this book.
Read
January 12, 2016"This addition to the Brides of Simpson Creek series is a wonderful look at how the love of God and the caring of others can redeem a soul. The hero and heroine are well matched and their developing romance is a joy to observe" (RT Book Reviews). 4 1/2 stars
Miniseries: Brides of Simpson Creek
Miniseries: Brides of Simpson Creek
September 5, 2014
I love this town, so I am always happy to go back for a visit! I really enjoyed this story. It flowed just beautifully, loved the pace and the character development. It was a great one to tide me over until the next time I can come back to Simpson Creek! :)
February 18, 2017
Really enjoying this series.
March 13, 2016
Very good, I enjoyed reading it. Will try to get my hands on other books from this series looking forward to reading more books by this author.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 11 reviews