Nellie

The Brides of San Francisco #1

by Cynthia Woolf

Nellie Wallace is a young widow with two children. In post civil-war New York, the men are scarce and none want the burden of a wife with children. Her dead husband's family is wealthy, and cruel. Desperate to escape their influence, and eager for a home, a husband, and a stable life for her children, Nellie decides to make a new life in San Francisco as a mail order bride.

Saloon owner Blake Malone is a bachelor and likes it that way. He worked hard for everything he has, but the San Francisco City Council won’t approve his plans to build a family emporium unless he is a family man himself. The solution? A mail order bride from New York who will bring him a ready-made family, stability, and the council's approval.

Blake expects his future wife to care for his home and, other than helping him impress the city council, to stay out of his business. He expects life as usual. What he gets is an unexpected desire to win Nellie's heart, a dangerous threat to his new bride, and a rich benefactor determined to steal his new family out from under him. Blake believed his battle for success a hard one. But he will discover that the battle to win Nellie's heart and keep his family safe is going to take everything he's got.

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

361 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 4, 2014

About the author

Cynthia Woolf is the USA Today Bestselling and award-winning author of eighty-five works of romance fiction. Comprising sixty-six historical western romances, ten contemporary romance novels, two contemporary romance novellas, one historical western romance novella, and six sci-fi space opera romances, which she calls westerns in space. Along with these books, she has also published twelve boxed sets of her books and two short stories.

Cynthia loves writing and reading romance. Her first western romance, Tame A Wild Heart, was inspired by the story her mother told her of meeting Cynthia's father on a ranch in Creede, Colorado. Although Tame A Wild Heart takes place in Creede, that is the only similarity between the stories. Her father was a cowboy, not a bounty hunter, and her mother was a nursemaid (called a nanny now), not the ranch owner.

Cynthia credits her wonderfully supportive husband, Jim, and her great critique partners for saving her sanity and allowing her to explore her creativity.



WEBSITE – http://cynthiawoolf.com

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TITLES AVAILABLE (English unless otherwise stated)

COLORADO BILLIONAIRES (sweet contemporary novels)
THE CEO
THE RANCHER
THE MAVERICK
THE TYCOON
THE ARTIST (coming soon)
THE QUARTERBACK (coming soon)


MONTANA BILLIONAIRES SERIES (contemporary sweet western novels)
Her Secret Cowboy Billionaire (Available in German)
Her Mysterious Cowboy Billionaire (Available in German)
Her Royal Cowboy Billionaire (Available in German)
Her Christmas Cowboy Billionaire (Available in German)
Her Bachelor Cowboy Billionaire (Available in German)
Her Wild Cowboy Billionaire (Available in German)
Her Elusive Cowboy Billionaire
Her Disguised Cowboy Billionaire


CHRISTMAS AT THE MISTLETOE INN (contemporary novella)
Cooking Up Christmas


THE BRIDES OF THE KLONDIKE
The Gold Rush Bride (Available in German)
The Gold Mountain Bride


THE PRESCOTT BRIDES (Available in German)
A Bride for Ross
A Bride for Frank
A Bride for Tucker
A Bride for Clay
A Bride for Brodie



THE HEART WISH MAIL-ORDER BRIDES SERIES
Heart of Stone
Heart of Shadow


MARSHALS MAIL ORDER BRIDES
The Carson City Bride (Available in German)
The Virginia City Bride (Available in German)
The Silver City Bride
The Eureka City Bride


ANGEL CREEK CHRISTMAS BRIDES
Adele


BRIDES OF GOLDEN CITY
A Husband for Victoria
A Husband for Cordelia
A Husband for Adeline


BRIDES OF THE OREGON TRAIL (Available in German)
Hannah
Lydia
Bella
Eliza
Rebecca
Charlotte
Amanda
Emma Rose
Nora
Opal


BACHELORS & BABIES
Carter (Book 3)


BRIDES OF SEATTLE (Available in German)
Mail Order Mystery
Mail Order Mayhem
Mail Order Mix-Up
Mail Order Moonlight
Mail Order Melody


CENTRAL CITY BRIDES (Available in German)
The Dancing Bride
The Sapphire Bride
The Irish Bride
The Pretender Bride


HOMESTEAD CANYON SERIES
Thorpe’s Mail-Order Bride
Kissed by a Stranger
A Family for Christmas


HOPE’S CROSSING
The Hunter Bride
The Replacement Bride
The Stolen Bride
The Unexpected Bride


AMERICAN MAIL-ORDER BRIDES
Genevieve, Bride of Nevada


THE SURPRISE BRIDES
Gideon


THE BRIDES OF SAN FRANCISCO
Nellie (Available in German)
Annie (Available in German)
Cora (Available in German)
Sophia (Available in German)
Amelia (Available in German)
Violet


THE BRIDES OF TOMBSTONE (Available in German)
Mail Order Outlaw
Mail Order Doctor
Mail Order Baron


DESTINY IN DEADWOOD (Available in German)
Jake
Liam
Zach


MATCHMAK

Reviews

[Jessica's Totally Over The Top Book Obsession · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 my cheese fix Stars



I don't know what it is about Mrs Cynthia Woolf's books but they are like a drug to me. She has a general plot formula that she follows in every book of hers that I have read. Still I can't help myself, I just gotta get my hands on her books. I know that the hero will be really sweet and great in bed. He will treat heroine well, but will tell her that he can't love her. I know that towards the end he will realize he is in love with her but was too scared to tell her. He almost always figures it out or tells her after she is almost killed. I also know that someone is always coming after the heroine 99% of the time to try and kill her. I also know there will be a pregnancy. I know they will be on the cheesy side but the second I am craving a mushy mail order bride book I go to Cynthia Woolf. She is my fluffy cheese fix.



Now I will say I have a fair number of friends that don't care for her books, and the common thing they tell me they don't like is the errors. Grammar, typos, wrong name, etc so if errors are a pet peeve for you don't read these books. Errors don't bug me so I'm good. I guess to me I know what I am getting with CW's book and I like what I get almost every time. They are my safe, easy going fluff read. If you would like to try some of her books and see if they are addictive to you too she has free ones on Amazon all the time. This one was free! So you can try her out without losing any money if you don't like. :)

[♥ℳelody · Rating 1 out of 5]

REVIEW UP

"The worst crime you can commit is telling the audience something they already know." -Aaron Sorkin

Sorry for the dramatic quote. But the man ain't lying. And this book is perfect example of why.

I was initially going to give this 2 stars but the poor editing & weak writing made it nearly impossible for me to overlook. Overall this lacked depth of any kind. I mean if you are looking for an easy read with not much thought put into it then sure. But actual development and common sense? Completely thrown out the window here.

The editing is so poor with typos, grammar mistakes and repeated lines. And the characters are so underdeveloped and wooden that it came off like a very rough 1st draft that nobody bothered to clean up or develop more. Which is a bummer since the idea behind the story had potential. I usually enjoy mail-order bride stories but things immediately went all helter skelter when the author decided to go the meddling 3rd party route. But more on that in a bit.

The writing is flat out terrible. This story read more like a script because of it. Dialogue and actions just bounce between characters like a ping pong with strange disjointed/flat reactions or inconsistent stilted dialogue. The scene where it's revealed that the heroine is pregnant for instance was so comically bad and robotically awkward:

Heroine vomits.
Nellie: "Congratulations you're gonna be a daddy! Come let's tell the kids"

-____-



Everything is so static and one-dimensional that it's almost hilarious. There is no gradual build up in any part of this story. The contradictions also made for a jumbled confusing hot mess. You have the characters embarrassingly contradicting themselves all the time or stating things readers already know about like it's brand new information. The hero explicitly telling his mistress to wait for him after bringing his new bride home, then later on throughout the story insisting (over and over and over again) that he never promised his mistress anything and she misunderstood. *crickets* Uh....ok. Mistake or not, it just managed to make him come off looking like a lying ass. You told your wife that you "changed your mind" after bringing her home, but that's the same time your mistress confronted you, AFTER YOU BROUGHT YOUR WIFE HOME.

The heroine confesses ILY to the hero first but later on is all nervous saying she was scared to tell him how she felt and didn't say anything because she was waiting until he confessed his feelings first. WTF? So on and so on....the story is riddled with glaring inconsistencies that are so distracting.

I also felt the author took a lot of stupid liberties with her characters to push a thin transparent plot along. The insufferable scorned ex out to get the heroine was deployed here but in a very sloppy obvious as shit way. It was so obvious that it was laughable, like ‘I killed someone and I will definitely kill you too’ verbal threat and then proceeding to push the heroine in front of a carriage. But ohmergawd gasp! Whoever could have pushed her???! 😱

Naturally the heroine tries to tell the hero her suspicions that someone pushed her and she knows it’s his stanky ass crushed-velvet-wearing former paramour. But of course he needs to deploy the Patronizing Moron™ card, acting like it’s all in her head and his obsessive ex would never do that cause he "knows her better than that".

And why it took her eons to tell her husband that his poor innocent ex verbally threatened to kill her I still don't understand. I seriously questioned the whole point of this story at this point. I just mentally checked out and filed this book under 'oh fuck no' category when the hero kept insisting and defending his mistress's innocence over his own wife.

Yeah....no thanks. The author tried to create angst and tension out of thin air over something so stupid. When you have your characters distrusting their partners for 90% of the story over obvious foiled characters, then you may as well not even bother.

Why Cynthia Wolf thought writing her leading man questioning his heroine at every turn for some dusty side chick and thinking it’s passable as ‘romantic angst’ is beyond me. There is literally nothing romantic about this scenario. It’s insulting and just mind numbing. And in the end made the hero unredeemable and unlikable.

[✨ Gramy ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

…
The concept of the book was somewhat interesting but poorly executed. More specifically, it was poorly written, there was little to no character growth, the verbiage was too modern, the editing lacked presence, and I personally didn't appreciate the sexual denotations.

There was no connection between the adults and myself. The children brought a charming touch and their antics were often humorous. They, alone, are not enough to compel the reader to devour the book in any hurry. Yet, it does entertain in its own way.

I would have to agree with another reviewer who stated: Overall it was an okay book. Not the best I've read, but definitely not the worst"

[Vintage · Rating 1 out of 5]

N is Nellie.

D is for Dreadful.

Clunky writing, ridiculous situations, and poor writing.

[Anna Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this book it is a light-reading novel. Nellie is a widow with two adorable children that goes to a mail-order bride match maker and finds a husband in San Francisco. The story has one or two plot twists and a bit of suspense. In the whole it was nice historical romance which I enjoyed.

[Brenda Roberson · Rating 2 out of 5]

THE COVER IS VERY MISLEADING
In New York after the end of the Civil War, the men are scarce and none of them want the burden of a wife with children. But Nellie Wallace is a young widow with two children. Her dead husband's family is wealthy, but cruel. She is desperate and wants to escape their influence. She is eager for a home, husband and a stable life for her children. So Nellie decides to make a new life in San Francisco as a mail order bride.

Blake Malone is a saloon owner, a bachelor and he likes it that way. He has worked hard for everything he has yet the San Francisco City Council will not approve of his plans to build an amusement emporium for families unless he is a family man himself. What can he do but get himself a wife. A mail order bride from New York that will bring him a ready-made family and the council's approval.

Blake expects his future wife to care for his home and help him to impress the city council. But she must stay out of his business otherwise. What he gets is a desire to win Nellie's heart. But there is a dangerous threat to his new bride and someone who is determined to steal his new family out from under him. Blake will discover that the battle to win Nellie's heart and keep his family safe is going to take all that he has.

It was a pretty good story until all of a sudden it felt like I was reading an erotic novel. I am not a prude but descriptions that I read are not necessarily what makes a book a "good" read. It really did nothing to enhance the story for me. In fact I felt embarrassed by it. I realize these things happen but being so descriptive doesn't make a book. Others may enjoy this type of reading but for me, not so much. Sad to say that I may not read any more novels by this author.

[Vikki Vaught · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vikki’s Musings

I found Nellie by Cynthia Woolf, quite by accident when browsing Amazon for books that offered the audio narration for $1.99. The book description intrigued me since I usually enjoy mail-order bride stories. I'm very glad I found this book.

Nellie is a war widow, living on the charity from her late husband's parents. Tired of their controlling ways, she answers an ad for mail-order brides, willing to travel to San Francisco. When she is presented with a candidate looking for a bride, she gratefully accepts.

When she arrives in San Francisco and meets Blake Malone, a saloon owner, she is immediately smitten and agrees to marry him the next morning, deciding there was no reason to wait. While she soon finds out Blake is not only kind and considerate, he loves her children and accepts them as his own. Her heart aches for her husband's love, but he lets her know that he will never love her, even though he likes and respects her.

Can Nellie accept this loveless marriage? Will Blake realize that whether he wants it or not, his heart belongs to his wife?

Nellie's character is easy to like. Ms. Woolf made sure I connected with her from the very beginning. She is a fiercely protective mother and willing to sacrifice everything for her children. She has a kind and generous heart, which comes out over and over again in this story.

I fell in love with Blake's character quickly. He is so caring and loving toward Nellie and especially her daughter Violet. He shows a great deal of patience with her son as well. While he may make his money running a saloon and turns a blind eye to what the dance hall girls do on the side, he is still honest in all his business dealings. The fear he has of loving tore at my heart. I could feel his confusion and pain.

I listened to the audio and loved the narration. Lia Frederick does an incredible job with the male characters. She is able to make them sound very masculine, which is rare. She also gives each character a distinct voice, making it easy to become enmeshed in the story. I will definitely look for other books with her as the narrator!

If you are looking for a story that has a great romance, with a good deal of action and suspense, then you will want to read Nellie. This is the first in a series, and I can't wait to read the next book. Happy Reading!

[Rhomy · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 super stars


The first book I've read from Cynthia Woolf was "Fiery Bride", also about a mail order bride. After that, I read 3 more, also historical, which I enjoyed greatly but to be honest, I believe mail order brides is what this author does best. I simply loved this book.

One thing you need to know before jumping into one of Cynthia's books is that they share something in common: they are simple (forget those hard to understand plots) and also they are sexy but nonetheless classy. We have some hot scenes but nothing too graphic.

In this book we meet Nellie a sad widow that needs to go on with her life because she is tired of enduring her awful in-laws for the sake of her children.
On the other hand, we meet Mr Blake Malone: sexy, galant and mysterious. Also with no wish to fall in love. Ow! and he owns a saloon...

They meet due to an arrangenment that is extremely clear. He will provide the money, she will provide the family he needs in order to fulfill a business deal.
None of them is expecting to feel so attracted to each other.

I loved the way Blake was able to reach Nellie's heart and go past her fears. She unravels when they are together and to see how the love grows is mesmerizing.

We also have some other interesting characters, such as Maddie (crazy as a cow but I loved every time she showed up because she spiced up the story) and little Violet (so sweet).

The plot, as I said, is simple but entertaining and the book just flows. I kept turning the pages and read it all in a few hours.


The writing was nice and yes, I will totally recommend it.

[Bridget · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got this for free through Bookbub.com and I thought why not, it's free. But the dialogue was stilted. Sometimes I wasn't even sure which character was speaking. The descriptions (when there were any) were flat, boring, juvenile. Then the sex scenes that just seem thrown in for decoration. And the sex descriptions were bad. Things like "man rods" and "love nubs", really? Just made me laugh. Not a great book. Although I will say this, it's a good first draft of a book. The story line is interesting: widow becomes a mail order bride to support her two children and moves to San Francisco to marry a dashingly handsome saloon owner who is trying to class up his business. That part is good. Rewrite and edit the book, and you may have a pretty decent romance novel.

[Black Lion Book Tours]

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[Kylara Jensen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. It was ok.

I don't really like the way Blake treats Nellie. Instead of just seducing her or saying ok we're married, let's have sex he (kind of rapily) tries to convince her.

The whole story is just meh.

[Dawndela · Rating 1 out of 5]

The writing is super clunky. Definitely a case where we were told, never shown. Bad editing. Wooden characters that never really developed. It was a quick and easy read, which was great because if it was longer or harder to read, I never would have finished it. The "hero" is a dick, which, fine, I like that in a story as much as the next woman, but he never really redeems himself. And I'm not sure how he could fall for such a dim bulb as Nellie. The whole thing was a serious mess. I only recommend it if you like seriously, and I do mean seriously, transparent plots that are resolved with a quick sentence where the author has a character blurt out the point.

[BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I put off reading it for quite a while because the title didn’t appeal to me and I’m not into mail-order brides either (it was a freebie); I prefer my historical romance novels to be set in the UK. It’s a bit ... ‘soppy’ at times but it turned out to be a good novel nevertheless 😉

[Mary McFarlane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy, cheesy, short and breezy. I couldn’t get over all the 1800’s talk it just made me giggle half of the time. But of course I want to read the next book

[Evie Durant · Rating 1 out of 5]

The. Worst.

[Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly written and needs editing.

[Stacey M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. I have not read many books set in the this time period so I was excited to step out of my comfort zone and try something new. I loved the characters and you could really feel for their struggles and see them grow through the story. I actually wished the book was a bit longer so I could read more about these charming characters. She creates a fantastic world for her characters. I am hoping to get more of a feel for the setting of San Francisco and the atmosphere these characters reside in in the next installments of this series. This is the first in a series of books, which I love when I can look forward to more books in a series. I enjoyed this author's way of story telling and writing. It was very easy to picture the events and feel for the characters. I thought this was a wonderfully romantic story and had a good plot. The plot moved quickly and was interesting from the very beginning. I can't wait for the next book in this series to see if we get glimpses of Nellie and her family and had to the rich world she is creating.

[Patsy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nellie is a mail order bride from the east she goes to the west to San Francisco in 1860's. Nellie had two children and lost her husband, after living with her in-law's for two years in the east she decided it was time to move out. She contacted a Mail Order Agent who found the perfect husband for her in the west. She goes to San Francisco to marry not knowing anything about the man or his family. To her surprise: she married the day she arrived. She found out very soon upon her arrival he was very handsome, charming, with money, a house with servants, good to the children, and he owns a bar with working girls as a side business. Was this the perfect husband for her??

This would have been an excellent book except for all the detailed sex scenes, I really like to read about mail order brides because this is part of our western history. But the detailed sex scenes is not my cup of tea, a small amount of sex is okay because that's life. So I will not read any more of her books even though the story lines was excellent and well written.

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed how original the mail-order bride "bought" in the United States story was! I was on the edge of my seat with wanting Nellie and her children to find a much better life across the country than what they had with her in-laws in New York. The quick attraction between Nellie and Blake was exciting and I appreciated how the label "love at first site" wasn't used but definitely explained. There was a large section of the book that seemed like it hadn't been edited at all and that unpolished part was distracting. And although I did want Nellie and Blake to find love with each other, it got to the point of ridiculousness how much Nellie couldn't think about Blake loving her or not loving her when they had only been together for a matter of months and he treated her and the children with nothing but care. Overall though, I enjoyed the unique historical romance story and look forward to reading the others.

[Haley Whitehall · Rating 3 out of 5]

This mail order bride story is an erotic western historical romance. I enjoyed the character development and interplay between Nellie, her two children, and Blake. I thought they were all very likeable. Blake is a saloon owner and he sends for a mail order bride who is widowed with children because he wants to gain some respectability. At first he sees this as a business arrangement. Both Nellie or Blake struggle with admitting they have fallen in love with each other, and I did find this frustrating.

There was a lot I liked about this story. While predictable the mystery element was still well done. Some of the dialogue seemed too modern and it pulled me out of the story. Also, it could use another round of proofreading as there were numerous typos throughout. Still, I am looking forward to reading more stories by this author.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the premise of this book, and it was a free download on kindle, so I gave it a shot. Was I ever disappointed. The overall storyline was fairly predictable, and that's okay--but there were some truly bizarre elements like the abusive (but only during sex) first husband, the controlling in-laws, and the new husband's possessive ex-lover. The dialogue was extremely stilted and awkward to read, and the point of view shifts often and without warning. Entire sections used only the pronoun "she" but never explained which "she" they were about. Also, apparently no editing was done before publishing this book. I find it VERY hard to believe that a "bestselling author" has no idea how to use a comma or write a cohesive sentence. This book could have been much better with some tweaking and rewriting. I won't be reading this author again.

[Delta]

Free 06-16-15 (Mail Order Bride)

http://www.amazon.com/Nellie-The-Brid...

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautiful cover but white bread substance. Emotionally detached.

[Madhulika Liddle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nellie is a widow with two little children. When she applies to be a mail order bride, and receives a proposal from a saloon-owner, Blake Malone, who is happy to marry a widow and be father to her children, she sets out on a new life.

That was the reason I began reading Nellie: because it held out a promise of being somewhat different from the run-of-the-mill romance. A second love, another chance at being married. How would Nellie get over her first husband, Robert, the father of her children?

But no. Of course it had to be that it turns out that Robert was a lout who beat Nellie before and after sex (never mind that in one place it’s mentioned that he was very nice to her when he wanted sex, which implies before sex). Robert only brought her pain and abused her, just as she fears that her father-in-law abused her mother-in-law, which is why, now that he’s old and feeble, she’s having her revenge. Or no; she’s dead. No, wait, she’s having her revenge. No… flip-flop, flip-flop.

This book was tiresome. I’ve stopped even expecting a semblance of real love in most romance novels; except for a few, all seem to equate lots of sex with true love. This is no different. They ‘go at it like bunnies’ (exactly the term used) and he does things to her ‘love bud’. Okay, that made me laugh, so probably that’s one good thing about this book.

What’s more, there is some laughable third-wheel stuff happening with Blake’s jealous ex, Maddie. Maddie’s craziness is over the top, and why this woman hasn’t been put in the loony bin yet escapes me.

And, why didn’t someone edit this? There are typos, anachronisms (especially in the dialogues: ‘graphic stuff’ isn’t, I think, a term someone would use in the 1860s), and just generally a lack of attention to detail.

Nope, not for me. In fact, this one, I think, is the last straw for me. From now on, the only romance novels I’m going to read are from the tried and trusted romance writers I’ve already read. No more stepping into uncharted waters for me.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly formulaic

Has some interesting conflicts of various sorts, between various characters. A Civil War widow is allowed to stay with her inlaws but must meet all her own expenses. 2 years into widowhood she realizes the money won't last them a year. With no desire to subject herself further to her inlaws, she contracts to become a mail order bride.
Therr are some graphic sex scenes but within the context of marriage, and with an unusual angle.
Her mother in law dies, and her father in law demands that she send his older grandson back to attend prestigious schools and learn the family business. When she refuses, the FIL threatens her and her new husband. This has an interesting resolution.
Also, the reason the man asks for a ready made family is to expand his business options to a more family oriented type of business. Some occupational hazards of the current business end up getting in the way.

[Donise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nellie is thankful when she learns that her husband is a war casualty even though he left her with two children and at the mercy of his parents. After being forced to mourn him for three years, Nellie decides to become a mail-order bride through Matchmaker & Co. and accepts a saloon owner as her next husband. When she and her children along with two other brides finally arrive in San Francisco and she meets Blake, they decide to not wait and just go ahead and get married. Blake tells her that he will never love her but he will always care for her. I love stories with children in them. This story also has a jealous ex-mistress to add some excitement. I so enjoyed reading this first story in The Brides of San Francisco series and I read it as part of the boxed set The San Francisco Brides which included the stories of the other two brides that travelled with Nellie and her children.

[Terric853 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book! Nellie Wallace is widowed when her husband of 10 years dies at Appomattox. Two years later, after living off her in-laws' charity, Nellie goes to a mail-order bride match maker and finds a husband in San Francisco who wants a widow with children to make him look respectable (he owns a saloon and wants to start a "family" business).

Blake Malone, Nellie's intended husband, has had a long-term affair with one of his employees, Maddie Singer. In addition to Nellie and Blake learning about each other and trying to love and trust each other, they have to deal with Maddie's jealousy and the disruption it causes.

I enjoyed this book enough that I will read the next one on the series.

[Julia David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the story and the characters. Nellie is a widow with cruel in laws. So, the only thing she can think to do to escape is become a mail order bride. She finds a man who will accept her and her children and he lives across the country from her in laws. Blake is a good man and immediately falls in love with her children. It seems to take longer for him to love Nellie. He is willing to take care of her and her children, but he vows never to love anyone. But, Nellie gets under his skin and he can't help but love her. They would have a good life if it wasn't for an old lover who doesn't want to let him go. It puts Nellie's life in danger and Blake will do anything to keep her safe.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book. Nellie needs to do something soon, she is a widow with 2 small children getting by with the help of her in laws, in New York. She needs to get out and becoming a mail order bride is her way out. Fortunately for her, Blake his looking for a ready made family to secure his new business in San Francisco. So she accepts and it takes them 2 months by sea to get there. Nellie knows that he owns a saloon, but he accepts her, the children and her friend and nanny, Bertha, with no problem. The problem is a jealous ex girlfriend and the fear Nellie has of the marriage bed. Can see conquer both and find true love? Interesting storyline and location of San Francisco in 1867.

[Dawn Dorsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

With a slight variation on the usual, this mail-order bride is a Civil War widow with children from New York, whose groom requested just such a family for business needs in San Francisco. Both bride and groom, therefore, bring awkward histories into the marriage, which they must resolve before they can develop more than a business arrangement.

The result is a fun, light-reading novel, with adorable children, one or two plot twists, a bit of suspense over unexpected threats to the bride, and several scenes of day-to-day life in 1867 San Francisco.