Home In The Mountains: Clean Western Historical Irish Mail Order Brides

by Rachel Wesson

When survival demands courage, love offers hope.

New York, 1865. With her brother dead and creditors closing in, Ivy Gallagher faces a stark stay in Five Points and risk everything—or board a train west to marry a man she's never met.

Colorado Territory. Cormac Burke isn’t looking for love. What he needs is a partner—someone willing to share the burden of a remote ranch and the brutal winter ahead. His letter to the matchmaker is no promises beyond respect, shelter, and honest work.

What begins as a practical arrangement slowly transforms. Amid the snow-capped peaks and harsh beauty of the frontier, Ivy finds not just purpose, but belonging. Yet shadows from her past aren’t finished with her. When a violent man comes calling—claiming Ivy as payment for her brother’s betrayal—she and Cormac must stand together or risk losing everything.

In a land where survival depends on trust, can two wounded hearts build a future from the ashes of the past?

A sweeping tale of resilience, redemption, and the healing power of chosen family—set against the untamed beauty of post-Civil War Colorado.

Perfect for readers who

Strong, courageous women who defy the odds

Authentic historical detail and rugged Western settings

Clean romance with a slow-burn emotional connection

Found family and frontier community

Mail-order bride romances with emotional depth

“What began as a practical arrangement has become something far more precious.”

Genres: Amazon

264 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 20, 2025

About the author

Rachel Wesson was born in Kilkenny, Ireland but considers herself to be from the capital, Dublin as that's where she spent most of her life. Her dad brought Rachel and her two sisters out every Saturday to give their mother a break. He took them to the library and for ice-cream after. It took a long time for her sisters to forgive her for the hours she spent choosing her books!
She grew up driving everyone nuts asking them questions about what they did during the War or what side they were on in the 1916 rising etc. Finally her Granny told her to write her stories down so people would get the pleasure of reading them. In fact what Granny meant was everyone would get some peace while Rachel was busy writing!
When not writing, or annoying relatives, Rachel was reading. Her report cards from school commented on her love of reading especially when she should have been learning. Seems you can't read Great Expectations in Maths. After a doomed love affair and an unpleasant bank raid during which she defended herself with a tea tray, she headed to London for a couple of years. (There is a reason she doesn't write romance!). She never intended staying but a chance meeting with the man of her dreams put paid to any return to Ireland. Having spent most of her career in the City, she decided something was missing. Working in the City is great but it's a young person's dream. Having three children you never see isn't good for anyone. So she packed in the job and started writing. Thanks to her amazing readers, that writing turned into a career far more exciting and rewarding than any other.
Rachel lives in Surrey with her husband and three children, two boys and a girl. When not reading, writing or watching films for "research" purposes, Rachel likes to hang out with her family. She also travels regularly back home - in fact she should have shares in BA and Aerlingus.

Reviews

[Finding Faith in Fiction (Chrissy)]

This was a super cute Mail Order Bride story! Is it slightly predictable? Yes. Was it still extremely sweet and so cozy? Also, yes. This was a great early fall book to read.

Ivy and Cormac's relationship developed in such an adorably sweet way. Despite Cormac looking for a partner to share the work load around the ranch, the attraction between them is instant. While they both try hard to honor the agreement, they can't fight the sparks between them. Their relationship is truly a slow burn, but since they were strangers (besides a few letters) when Ivy arrived out west, it makes sense things would build slowly.

There is good deal of conflict that they face throughout the story, with multiple layers going on simultaneously. There is some serious racism going on, despite the story taking place after the Civil War. Some of the neighbors and townsfolk aren't happy that Cormac hired two former slaves as to help out with the ranch. Ivy also has a man that is intent on having her pay back her deceased brother's debts, and follows her across the country to settle up. Despite the characters often being on high alert in defense of violence from two fronts, there still pockets of happiness and sweet moments sitting around the dinner table, or a stolen kiss by the stairs at bedtime.

The faith in the story is light. There are mentions of church, rosaries, and Bibles, but there aren't strong faith themes. I would call this a clean historical with Christian lifestyle.

What I enjoyed:
🍀 The setting & ranch
🍀 Homesteading aspects (gardening, cooking from scratch, homemaking)
🍀 The slowwwww burn romance ❤️‍🔥
🍀 Irish immigrant story
🍀 Mail order bride storyline

⚠️Content Warnings:
-Stalking/harassment
-Racism
-Arson
-Gun violence

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨ 4.25 Stars
Writing: 4.5
Characters & Plot: 5.0
Faith & Content: 3.0
Enjoyability: 4.5

Overall, I did enjoy this sweet romance, and recommend it for anyone who enjoys the mail order bride trope, and doesn't mind light faith!

[Marty Moore]

Cormac and Ivy

This is a sweet story of two people finding themselves after finding each other. Cormac, knew he needed help. A help mate. He wasn't sure that would work out for him. Ivy, alone in the world now, was confronted by someone her brother wronged. Seeing this, she was quickly moved to a safe place and given the name of a young man she should consider as a potential husband.
They both had a lot in their past that needed to be shared and worked through, but things got pretty tough when someone was out to get them.

[Marlene]

This wonderful story is about changing lives, new chances and making the most of opportunities. Ivy was having an extremely difficult time as an Irish immigrant in New York, no work, no food and literally starving. Cormac, a farmer in Colorado, alone five miles to the nearest town and lonely. How these two managed to meet after writing letters of friendship; how they changed lives; and how they made a new home, is the storyline of the book. The interactions made me smile and the problems solved made me think of the good times after the Civil War as people saw through difficulty and prejudice. Thanks for a great read!

[Debbie Crotts]

What an amazing book. I loved the story …. To see how they can pull together and and create good from such hard times. I can’t imagine it being easy to be a mail order bride or the man requesting one. I couldn’t hardly put it down , and was not ready for it to end …. Shows how love can pull together and how hate can destroy…. And love good clean historical romance ..
I loved it

[Nethanja]

She needs to leave New York because someone wants her to pay for her deceased brother’s depth, he needs help to build up his place. None of them are looking for love but could it grow when they learn to trust each other specially when danger comes their way?
Great mail order bride story. Family are the people you want around you.

[Dearbhla McCrory]

When I first read this book i wasn’t expecting much but I became pleasantly surprised. Ivy and Cormac are such a lovely couple and are very easy to root for. I just wish certain aspects of the book were expanded upon, especially the parts with Cormacs sisters and the turmoil between Cormac and the townspeople.

[KathyB]

Home in the Mountains

I enjoyed this story so much. Lots of tangled mystery to be worked out, and a charming love story. I like this author's style of writing. I already have the second book and will start it asap.

[Sarah Hansel]

Really enjoyed the love story that evolved and took its time, but the rest of the story was wrapped up too easily and so quickly, I was disappointed there wasn’t more.

[Donna]

great book

This was absolutely a great book and by a great author. I highly recommend this book and author. I can’t wait to read the next book by this wonderful author.

[Moreen]

What I consider a perfect read. Good clean historical christian fiction. On to book two in this series.

[Margaret J. Lindberg]

Loved this book!

I couldn,t wait to get back to this book,loved the characters,the
setting and would love to read more !!!! Thank you

[Jaime K]

Ivy's neighbor (and family friend from Ireland), Annie Walsh realizes the young woman is in trouble after a Mr. Wilson finds her to get payment for what her brother did to him.
Out west, Annie's friend, Nora, is neighbors with a young man named Cormac. Cormac's family is dead or far from town, and Cormac's been suffering gossip from others in Shamrock Ridge since his brothers went to war but he stayed home to care for his family.

Nora and Annie discuss options to help the future of both youths, and set up a mail-order-bride/arranged marriage situation. As winter comes, Ivy and Cormac write to each other and Ivy makes the final decision to move to Colorado.

Except Wilson follows her.
And there are some men in town who aren't fond of Cormac's Black hired hands nor the fact that he seems happily married when Ivy comes, and want revenge on him.

While Ivy and Cormac don't discuss everything with each other at first, as information comes to light they also don't lie to each other. They understand what fear does to people, and the need to forgive, for redemption.
Others forgive. Others offer forgiveness. Others seek repentance.
Others...don't hold back, unfortunately.

The story is quite predictable, but I enjoyed the journey to the end, the twists and turns the new couple navigates, and the fact that they actually talk to each other rather than assume the other should or shouldn't know something. They also don't let anger fester, once someone asks forgiveness and/or tells their side of a story.