Un mariage tant désiré

by Jillian Hart

Le cœur battant à tout rompre, Willa descend sur le quai de la gare. Après un premier mariage désastreux, elle a tellement peur d’être de nouveau déçue, humiliée par un homme ! Mais dans sa condition, sans ressources et enceinte, elle ne peut envisager de rester seule. Prête à tout pour que son enfant ne grandisse pas sans père, elle s’est résolue à publier une annonce matrimoniale. Et la voilà, aujourd’hui, sur le point de confier son destin à un homme dont elle ignore presque tout. Là-bas, sur le quai, elle aperçoit enfin celui qui va devenir son mari : des yeux clairs, une carrure imposante, des mains de travailleur... Un trouble immense s’empare d’elle. Cette nuit, elle partagera de nouveau le lit d’un homme...

Genres: Romance, Westerns, Historical Romance, Historical, Marriage Of Convenience, Fiction, Historical Fiction

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Jillian Hart grew up on her family's homestead in Washington state, where she raised cattle, rode horses and scribbled stories in her spare time.
After earning her English degree from Whitman College, she worked in travel and advertising before selling her first novel.
When Jillian isn't working on her next story, she can be found puttering around her rose garden, curled up with a good book and spending quiet evenings at home with her family.

Reviews

[Layla · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the age of 18, Willa is mentally, physical and emotionally broken. Never wanted as a child she entered into a mail order marriage at 16 only to find that her initially charming husband was a violent bully and a miserly drunk. All of her dreams and hopes have been shattered and she is left penniless, entirely alone and pregnant when widowed. As an act of sheer desperation she places an advert with her last few coins and hopes (and dreads) that someone will take her as a wife.

Austin is a hard-working, kind and generous man, part of a large family in a small town. He longs for a family of his own. His childhood sweetheart moved to New York wanting more excitement than a small town and her beau could provide. Something about the small, honest ad catches his eye and haunts him. He sends for Willa and hopes that his future will be less lonely.

If you are looking for a romance focused on the two main characters, exploring their inner hopes and fears, this will not disappoint. Willa has to overcome her anxiety, never having known kindness she is unable to believe in selfless actions. All of her hopes have been suffocated and she does not believe that she can ever feel again. She is grateful to Austin and wants to be a dutiful wife, but sees herself as deeply unworthy. Austin sees her pain and patiently reaches out in any way that he can, hoping against the odds to find a way to be the happy family of his dreams.

Austin's family and the people in the town are great additions to the story. The romance between Willa and Austin has its twists and turns and plenty of development. A truly satisfying read, totally focused on emotion.

[June · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great work by Jillian Hart. I really enjoyed this Mail-Order-Bride story because Austin was such an amazing person. The love that he showed for both human and animals. I loved how he was best friends with his horse and talked to it and it would respond to him. All of the concerns Willa had about her first relationship caused problems for her with Austin, but only in her head because he wasn't anything like her first husband. My experience with Mail-order-bride books is that it's usually the lady that falls for the guy and then she has to convince him all is good. So this was refreshing to read because this time it was the guy who fell for the lady and had to convince her to stick around.

My favorite sentence in the book: "She had been prepared for anything - unfortunately none of it good."

Read it. I think you'll enjoy it!!

[Melody · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book and so many things I could relate to.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick, heartfelt read. A story about a young woman who was terribly abused... and with time, was able to love again.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. I loved Austin. He was such a kind and gentle man who was looking to find a love of his own. Since there weren't too many single women in Moose, he went for a mail-order bride. Willa had reached the point of desperation. Her first husband had been an abusive drunk, and when he died she lost everything. She was pregnant and broke, but Austin's letter was the answer to her prayers. She didn't know what to expect, but she knew she couldn't trust a man. I really loved the way that Austin started out so very kind to Willa, and intent on taking care of her. He was hoping that love would come quickly to both of them, since he wanted the same things his siblings had. Willa had never experienced love of any kind and didn't believe it existed. She kept waiting for bad things to happen to her. I thought Austin's patience with Willa and her fears was wonderful. He was sure that if he just kept at it, his dream of a happy marriage would come true. I loved the way that Willa slowly came to trust Austin. I could see that she was falling in love, but that she just didn't recognize it. I thought the final scene when she finally opened her heart was so great.

[Karine Darnessy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ce livre fut une agréable surprise. Tout en douceur et émotions. Le passé des deux personnages m'a beaucoup touché. La vie n'a pas été très tendre avec eux. Willa et Austin s'accorde bien même si au début et un peu sur la fin Willa m'a énervé a penser qu'elle ne méritait pas Austin, qu'elle ne pourrait plus jamais aimer. Quant à Austin, ne vous attendez pas a un mâle alpha comme on en trouve partout, il est tout le contraire: doux , attentionné, protecteur, prévenant... bref un homme comme on en voit peu dans ce genre de roman et j'ai trouvé ça très agréable.
L'auteur dépeint avec simplicité et réalisme une pratique de l'époque assez méconnue je trouve: les mariages arrangés par annonce dans les journaux.
De plus l'histoire se déroule dans le montana, une région que je n'ai pas beaucoup vu dans les livre non plus.
J'ai lu ce livre en moins de deux jours, incapable de le lâcher. Le style de l'auteure est simple et ne s'attarde pas en blabla inutile. Ce n'est pas un coup de coeur mais j'ai beaucoup aimé ma lecture. Et si l'occasion se représente , je lirais volontiers une autre histoire de cette auteure.

[Richard Skorupski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written Historical Fiction.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. This was okay but kind of forgettable unfortunately.

PG: two instances of swearing, kisses and thoughts of wanting more, memories from a previous abusive marriage

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Montana Bride by Jillian Hart
Willa Conner would never willingly marry again but after finding herself widowed, penniless, pregnant and homeless she had no choice but to advertise for a husband. From her lonely years of having a mother and grandmother that resented her to the past two years married to Jed, who was a mean drunk, she no longer trusted nor did she believe in the fairy tales that real love existed in this world.

Austin Dermot finally had a bride of his own. She was a beauty as well. All his dreams were coming true after his long wait for a woman to love and be loved. His dreams were quickly shattered when he found his Willa was as skittish as the abused mare in his barn and she didn’t believe in love. His bright future suddenly looked pretty gloomy.

Jillian really brings out Austin’s character and emotions. Teardrops fell early on as Austin’s heart was shown in his thoughts and dreams and seeing how much he wanted to be loved. It’s easy to understand Willa as well, eighteen years of being treated like she was nobody wasn’t going to change overnight. There is a lovable bovine, an extremely spoiled gelding and a shy mare who’s life reflects Willa’s as far as needing to be gently loved to gain trust. Another excellent book by Jillian Hart.
http://justjudysjumbles.blogspot.com/...#

[Nenya · Rating 3 out of 5]

h, H are both so so sweet... almost make my teeth hurt. he's unbelievably nice and very good looking. she's unbelievably... downtrodden but socially adept and... very good looking! she's very young (barely 18), had an abusive hubby for 2 years, is currently pregnant, is the child of a rape, is not quite loved by her mother (who may or may not be dead. cos the first ref to her says both mother and grandmother have passed away. second says mother still works where she used to work. o.O)

absolutely perfect and boisterous family. absolutely perfect mcs, absolutely perfect everything.
not giving it an absolutely perfect star rating. but it was a decent read (i'm still at about 40%, but i'm guessing.)
--------------------------
that perfect family and lovely childhood... we get tons of childhood memories. of younger brothers teasing H, and them fighting (which is fine), and sister turning over a coffee table to make it look like they were fighting (uh... encouraging sociopathic behavior in children. lovely. kids like this may or may not grow up to be loving adults, but it's really not a good idea to encourage such behavior. or accept it as harmless fun. esp since teh boys then had to go without supper. another practice i don't really approve of.)

[Sydnee Walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great story. I loved how Austin was the picture perfect husband. That is just what Willa needed after her devil of a first husband. It was a slow and steady recovery process for Austin to take. But he is the perfect gentle giant of a man for the job. He may be the oldest but he has the right way about him to approach Willa. Being a blacksmith to animals helped him with his bride in so many ways. I absolutely love his family too. His sister and sister-in-laws make great friends to Willa. They are all open, loving and welcoming.
I’m so happy with their story

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute mail order bride story. Love, love loved Austin. Perfect hero who finally got his story and his chance at love. A little more serious topics than usual for a Hart story and I was sad often while reading it. I loved being inside the hero's head and feeling his frustration with Willa.

[Ti · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this one twice .. .it grew on me. The story is good, its on the unbelievably sweet side. My main critique is that to move the story forward, there were huge segments that felt as if they were missing, so it became a bit disjointed. Not hard to regrab the thread, but flow suffered.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would have been 5* but I felt the ending was a bit rushed.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great! A tear-jerker.

[Shanna_redwind · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like nice guys, and Austin is so nice.

[Ash M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Emotional
Heartwarming

Fantastic storyline!
Wish there was a part two!
This book should seriously be made into a Hallmark movie!

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Sweet sweet story.

[Jeanie Harper · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story very true to the evidence of battery to a woman can do and trying to resolve it's issues.
Love is hard to believe and come by after that.

[Hopefulpuffin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A clean western historical. Some drama and angst that all gets resolved very quickly

A super fast read.