The Timber Valley Brides series is a sensual historical trilogy. Book #1, High Mountain Bride has sensual content.
Charlotte arrives in Timber Valley as a mail-order bride expecting to marry a man who's sworn to love her. After losing her family, she's hoping to find those loving ties again—but her hopes are dashed. She's left standing alone on the train platform with the shattered pieces of her broken dreams.
Gil McBride is done with women. He's through with love. And he doesn't want anything to do with the bride his younger brother disappointed. All he wants is to send her on her way—except for one slight problem. He's attracted to her, and it's more than passion he feels. He isn't losing his heart to her—is he?
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.
I’ve read 21 books by Ms. Hart and I can honestly say I did not enjoy this one. The conversations were just so silly it was hard to read them, especially the one in the hotel restaurant. And Gil’s thoughts on love and marriage became so annoying, same thoughts over and over again. It’s hard to believe a novella can be repetitive. One minute Gil was thinking how sweet and lovable Charlotte was and the next he was thinking he had to stay away from her then in the next second he was thinking how nice and kind she was then he was back to thinking he had to find a husband for her but he didn’t want to see her married to anyone else. At 60% I was ready to stop reading it. I’ve read angsty books before but 113 pages of nothing but angst is hard to take. But I soldiered on and at 80%, after they had sex, his whole attitude changed. NOW he thinks she’s too good for him and if he marries her she’ll realize it one day and leave him. Geez! Anyway, that lasted until about 4 pages ‘til the end.
I’ve already bought the other 2 books in this series and I have every intention of reading them. Having read so many of Ms. Hart’s books I wouldn’t think of judging the other 2 by this one.
I did liked Gil’s personality but he did become too much, after a while. I also liked Charlotte, her strength as well as her kindness toward others, no matter how dire her own circumstances. I liked Wally, George, and Ma and Pa. Michael was somewhat of a jerk, and Alma was simply a slut.
There were a few thoughts of what Gil wanted to do to Charlotte and a few feelings of desire from her as well. Nothing of any graphic description but it was a nice kind of quiet desire, then some fairly vanilla sex, but it was nice. If you’re looking for hot and steamy this is not it. And there were no swearwords that I recall.
Certainly not one of Ms. Hart’s best stories but I’m not giving up on her.
A mail order bride never knows what she will find when looking for a husband. Charlotte had lost her father and sold everything to pay off debts. With the promise of a man wanting a wife and family she took a train. A great story of risks and finding love.
I had a pretty stressful week with two custody hearings, so I was looking for something easy to read with a guaranteed happily ever after. This book fit the bill, but that was pretty much it. The characters were sweet, the hero was a little dense, and the dialogue was painfully stunted. It was sort of like a "Dick and Jane" book, but romance. Here's my quick summary, somewhat in the style of "Dick and Jane":
Charlotte is a mail order bride but she's been abandoned by her fiancee. Charlotte is sad. Gil finds Charlotte abandoned on the train platform and decides to help her. Gil and Charlotte immediately develop feelings for one another. Charlotte's not ready to trust Gil because she was duped by her fiancee a few minutes ago. Gil's not ready to trust Charlotte because his girlfriend dumped him for a rich dude. Charlotte and Gil decide to be friends and Gil gives Charlotte a job at his store. Charlotte is grateful but keeps telling herself she won't fall in love with Gil. Gil's heart tries to come back to life but he tries to hold it back. Gil's heart is sad. Charlotte is a pretty girl and all the single men in town want to marry her. Gil tries not to murder every single man in town. The single men in town remain single.
Fast forward one week.
Charlotte is in love with Gil. Gil has many conversations with his heart and tries to tell it to stop getting excited about Charlotte. Charlotte and Gil become good friends. Charlotte and Gil get stuck in a snowstorm. Charlotte has to spend the night at Gil's house because of the snow storm. Charlotte and Gil end up "falling asleep" together in Gil's bed.
The next morning...(still the same week)
Gil tells Charlotte they must marry because they "fell asleep" together in Gil's bed. Gil tells Charlotte that he will never love her, because he can't love anyone. Charlotte runs away and cries. Gil sees his ex girlfriend cheating on her husband. Gil decides he didn't love his ex girlfriend. Gil figures out he loves Charlotte. Charlotte waits for the train and tries to leave town. Gil stops Charlotte from leaving town and tells her he loves her. Gil and Charlotte live happily ever after.
The end.
That was the basic gist of the book, and the dialogue and writing wasn't much more developed than that (OK I exaggerate...but if you read the book, you'll see what I mean). I still gave it 3 stars though, because it was the exact type of "no thinking required" book that I needed to read for stress relief this week.
I loved reading High Mountain Bride (Timber Valley Brides Book 1), all about Charlotte Clark a young women who is a mail order bride who has taken the train from Philadelphia, PA to marry Michael McBride a local farmer in Iidaho. However when she arrives by train, the only person to greet her is Gil McBride the second oldest boy and he's only looking for a crate from the train conductor. He's definitely put off with everything Charlotte is saying, especially since Michael ran off yesterday to the Boise territory to get married! She however has every single letter Michael ever wrote her, and it is his handwriting but what he told her was lies, nothing,about himself, but everything about his, older brother Gil and all his life experiences. Including,how he lost the love of his life, when she left him for a much richer man, and he still see's her everyday in this small town they live in! Not only has Charlotte been duped, but he also took extra money to build a house, he never intended to build. The only thing she has to show is a bunch of letters and a few coins in the bottom of her satchel & the trunk filled with books from her dad she could not part with. She is destitute with no money, but insists that she is not and will stand on her own two feet, no she does not need money from Gil, she will make it on her own. However Gil insists on buying her dinner at the hotel, for the trouble his brother has caused. The author wrote a very nice story about an amazing young women who is determined to make it on her own, with no help from anybody, especially nobody in the McBride family. Read this book and find out if Charlotte can make it on her own!
High Mountain Bride by Jillian Hart Timber Valley Brides Book One Charlotte Clark was finally going to have family again. And love. After losing her father and selling everything to pay his debts, she couldn't wait to have somewhere to call home once again. And from the letters she received, she already loved her future husband and his family. Arriving in her new town...her dreams washed away with the rain that fell.
Gilbert McBride had loved and lost once. He was a wise enough man never to walk that path again. Ever. When another hifalutin woman, just like the one who hurt him, was standing on the train platform, he wanted to ignore her. Soon enough, he knew he should have.
Whenever I read a mail-order bride story, I think how those real-life women truly took a chance when answering an ad. They never truly knew what would be waiting at the end of their trip. Great story. **Sensual content http://justjudysjumbles.blogspot.com/...
Jillian Hart writes nice, relaxing stories of romance and adventure. I enjoyed High Mountain Bride. The McBride brothers were fun characters. First there is Michael, who orders a mail-order bride, takes her money and then disappears the day before she gets to town, supposedly to marry another. Then Gil shows up at the train and finds Charlotte waiting for her groom. Another brother, George is just trying to stay out of the romance radar but has fun harassing Gil about it and Wally is sadly too young to take her off everyone's hands.
Gil is convinced he can never love another woman, but there is just something about Charlotte that calls to his soul. And he feels responsible for her since Michael has ditched her. There is some humor in the story which is always important to a good story. And eventually, everyone gets their heads and hearts in the right places.
Charlotte - High Mountain Bride by Jillian Hart Sweet Classics Series Book Two Charlotte Clark was finally going to have family again. And love. After losing her father and selling everything to pay his debts, she couldn't wait to have somewhere to call home once again. And from the letters she received, she already loved her future husband and his family. Arriving in her new town...her dreams washed away with the rain that fell.
Gilbert McBride had loved and lost once. He was a wise enough man never to walk that path again. Ever. When another hifalutin woman, just like the one who hurt him, was standing on the train platform, he wanted to ignore her. Soon enough, he knew he should have.
Whenever I read a mail-order bride story, I think how those real-life women truly took a chance when answering an ad. They never truly knew what would be waiting at the end of their trip. Great story. http://justjudysjumbles.blogspot.com/...
I am very excited that Jillian Hart is releasing "clean" versions of some of her historical fiction novels. This one is very short, but the story is a good one. Good brother vs. bad brother, in a way. Charlotte is a very likeable character, and the sweet romance that develops is nice. The author's delightful sense of humor shines through in some of the antics and remarks of her characters. A quick, but delightful read. I only wish it had been longer and more developed. I wanted to live in this world she created a little bit longer.
I want to thank Jillian Hart for the "clean" version of her great stories. I have read her books for years and hope to continue doing so. I enjoyed " Charlotte: High Mountain Bride " and hope you will too!!!!!
This was an awesome book. How this woman wrote this man. When she got there he got married the day before. His brother is the man that he tells her about.