The Nanny Solution

by Barbara Phinney

From Heiress to Nanny When heiress Victoria Templeton learns her fortune is gone, she has to move to the Colorado frontier to live with her uncle. But with no money to pay for the trip, she must accept a position as a traveling nanny for a widowed rancher. And, much to the chagrin of the man entrusting his children to her care, she soon finds herself in over her head. Mitch MacLeod lives for two his ranch and his children. And pampered Victoria isn't qualified to help with either. But the former socialite has more grit-and determination-than he first thinks. If her uncle has his way, though, Mitch will soon lose his ranch-and any hope of a future with Victoria.

Genres: Romance, Love Inspired Historical, Historical

278 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 1, 2016

Reviews

[Preeti ♥︎ Her Bookshelves · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good plot but too preachy for me

Faith is fine but to go about life, even through the small everyday things, weighing everything on the scale of right and wrong, reward and punishment, sin and virtue is taking things waaaay too seriously.
I am okay with God (any religion/faith) being there in a story as a source of strength and compassion but not to evoke guilt and fear.
The author has characters show one or more textbook sinful/unchristian/unvirtuous qualities and then goes about beating them for it.

**In the beginning, the H hires the h to be his kid's nanny for the train journey, on his lawyer's advice. She doesn't know much about children and certainly nothing about babies. But she's practical and has brains. So, she gets a young nursing mother with milk to spare to feed the baby as well - in exchange for one of her fashionable dresses. The baby thrives as her colic from the milk powder settles. I was impressed but the H refuses to accept the practical solution and keeps berating and shaming her for much of the book - for shirking her duty and offloading it onto others.
If t'was me, I'd run far, far away from such an over-sanctimonious pr*ck!

**The rich to poor Boston elite h is just fine to begin with - spunky and making the best of the hand life deals her and I like her. But then she starts getting hesitant/guilty about her every thought and action. Her mother abandons her to go live with her sister and sends the 20 yo h to her uncle who wants to marry her off to his old partner (a toothless and hairless wonder) and still the h feels guilt when at one time she thinks she'll probably not write (everything) to her mother--
'An unchristian thought popped into Victoria’s head. She could withhold any news from her mother. Keep her fully in the dark. She tightened her jaw. It was a vindictive idea, though it lingered for a mere second. Could she really be that cruel?
Seriously??!!
A little anger is justified and does not nullify love. Conquering negative emotions organically is one thing but squashing them, being made to feel guilty is counterproductive.

** We are told his sin is his 'pride'. To me, the H is just a churlish and pessimistic beta, who is also quick to judge and offend and be offended. And, later he gets stupidly obstinate. I seriously dislike him. Pride is least of his sins but I guess his behavior can count as pride.
And when the h goes out of her way (why, I do ask?) to save his a** and ranch, he only gets more disgruntled and thinks her manipulative. What would she get out of manipulating you, you idiot? So, he's a blind judgmental idiot. But, he's an honest idiot. Honest to a fault.
Then, the author tacks ‘pride’ on the h as well and the book’s tone gets overly-condemnatory. The h's efforts at helping him have her doubting herself as being ‘prideful’. *facepalm* I was in serious pain by this time but I read on so that I don’t misinterpret the book. (Pride is mentioned 48 times in the book.)

Those were simple yet hard times and faith would have helped. But, I am sure folks had much to do without overthinking things sooo much.
Bottomline - I did not like the author’s take on faith and ‘inspired’ story-writing.

[Julie Graves · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Victoria's step-father dies and leaves Victoria and her mother with embarrassing debts and bankruptcy Victoria's mother is determined to leave Boston in secret. She sends Victoria to her uncle in Colorado. Victoria's pride will not allow her to ask her uncle for money for the trip to Colorado so when Mitchell shows up on their doorstep asking for a nanny for his children while travelling to Colorado Victoria jumps at the chance to earn her train fare. Even though Victoria has no idea how to care for children she is determined to learn quickly. When Mitchell learns that Victoria is the niece of the crooked banker that holds the lease on his ranch he is less than happy! Thinking that once they reach Proud Bend they will go their separate ways Mitchell doesn't count on Victoria's tenacity in desiring to care for his children. Victoria has no desire to marry her uncle's business partner, but what is a penniless debutante to do?

I really liked the characters in The Nanny Solution. I loved how determined Victoria was to learn to earn her own way. I liked how she desired to be independent. I liked Mitchell in that he desired to take care of his children no matter what. I was frustrated that even though Victoria and Mitchell were attracted to each other that they kept denying it and pushing each other away. But at the same time I liked the message of pride becoming a person's downfall. The bit of suspense and the dastardly characters of Victoria's uncle and his business partner added a bit of excitement to the story and kept the story line moving along. I thought that it took Mitch and Victoria a bit too long to get to their "a-ha" moment, but they did eventually get there and the ending was sweet.

[Tabitha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet, Inspirational, Western Romance

This is a sweet inspirational story with plenty of action. It also tells about when baby formula was introduced -very interesting.
Victoria and Mitchell fight their circumstances, attraction to each other and their pride. It has a very sweet hea.

[kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

The big M on steroids. But if you like a story where the heroine has to turn herself inside out and grovel to the hero for approval or acceptance this could be your cup of tea. Or if a dumb as rocks hero is your turn on go no further.

[Margaret Connelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exciting

These folks have more trouble than anyone could imagine. The evil people are truly evil. The good people are religious and truly good.

[Denise Troutman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story

This will keep you turning pages. It is a very lovely story with a lot of hard things that happen, but God provides.

[Janice Particka · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a terrific book. I did enjoy it. I feel you will like reading this story. There is a lot happening through out the story.

[Jenn Green · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this wasn't a bad story, there were some serious flaws. The heroine was....weak. I don't think I've ever seen a heroine cry so much at the drop of a hat. She was also *extremely* judgmental. I liked her less and less as she met each new person in her life - even up until the end of the story, when she gets all judgmental about a saloon girl who wants to turn her life to Jesus. It didn't help that the hero was kind of a major jerk for 95% of the story. While there are some definite, serious reasons behind it, I'm just not sure he made enough of a believable turnaround for me to like him.

The non-romance part of the plot was very convoluted. Normally I like a lot of layers in my plot, but there were almost too many. When some new twist (which were actually rather obvious) presented itself, it was more eye-roll inducing than anything else.

Additionally, I just don't think the author did enough research. Some of the speech seemed very out of place for the time period. And I *know* some of it was. For example, the heroine mentions in passing the game of Chutes and Ladders - simple research shows that this game was a morality building game called Snakes and Ladders until Milton Bradley in 1943. This story takes place in the 1800s. It was a side thought, quickly mentioned and forgotten, and didn't have any direct impact on the story at all. Why include something so anachronistic, especially when it does nothing to further your plot?

It's not a bad story, and there are hints that more stories will be coming out of the town of Proud Bend. I can only hope that they'll improve.

[Erica Nicole Pait · Rating 5 out of 5]

I give this book a 5.

1: It was a romance book, but it was sweet and not all ooshy-gooshy! It was the perfect amount without going over any lines!

2:I loved the fact that a few times an element of suspense was thrown into the mix.

3: I loved the children. They added a lot to the story, and to the plot and how everything played out. And also how Mitch and Victoria both just accepted Emily like she was.

4: Rachel may not have had a huge part in every chapter, but she added something to the whole dynamic of the story. She was compassionate to the woman of ill-repute (no bad details given!) and also to her cousin who she seemed to empathize with even after knowing hr for such a short time! It was one of my favorite things.

5: The masterful use of Pride, and the repeated Bible verse, it was beautifully woven into the work. It was really maybe more influencial to the story line than about anything else in the book! Well done!

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Nanny Solution by Barbara Phinney. This Historical book takes place in 1882. Victoria Templeton lived in Boston with her mother after her father died. With bills to be paid and all the family lost all their money. Her mother left town so Victoria left to go live with her uncle in Colorado. A rancher, Mitch MacLeod, was in Boston to get his five kids after his wife died. He hires Victoria to care for the children on the train trip. With Victoria having lots of money and a maid she didn't know how to do anything. She did her best at taking care of the children. Mitch needed to hire someone to care for the children when he got home. Victoria wanted the job but Mitch wouldn't hire her knowing she didn't know how to do anything in the house. Mitch was going to lose his ranch if he didn't make the next mortgage payment. Victoria's uncle is the one after Mitch's ranch for mineral rights. A good historical read.

[Harlequin Books]

"Phinney delivers an entertaining and layered read filled with wonderful, genuine characters and a moving lovestory" (4 stars @ RT Book Reviews).