Something More

by Winnie Griggs

Elthia Sinclare travels to Texas to become a governess. She arrives to find six children, not two; a man who had ordered a bride, not a teacher; and a household that needs someone to cook and clean, not read Latin. But worse than marrying Caleb Tanner is returning home in defeat, so the former socialite says I do and goes to work--burning meals, flooding the kitchen -- loving the children. And butting heads with her new spouse. Until Elthia realizes she has learned how to stand on her own two feet and fallen head over heels for her handsome husband. Now, her biggest challenge is to convince the stubborn rancher their arrangement is something more than just a temporary marriage. It is a union of two soul mates.

Genres: Romance, Historical Romance, Marriage Of Convenience

311 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2001

About the author

Winnie Griggs grew up in south Louisiana in an undeveloped area her friends thought of as the very back of beyond. With her two younger siblings and another family of two siblings for playmates, she spent many an hour exploring the overgrown land around her home, cutting jungle trails, building forts and frontier camps, and looking for pirate ships on the nearby bayou.

Once she ‘grew up’ she found other outlets for dealing with all those wonderful, adventurous imaginary friends by filling notebooks with their stories. And somewhere along the way, those scribblings gave way to full length stories.

Eventually she found her own Prince Charming, a rancher whose white steed takes the form of a tractor and whose kingdom is situated in a small rural community that she loves to call home, and together they’ve built their own storybook happily-ever-after. Their lives together expanded to include four now grown children who share Winnie’s vivid imagination and her husband’s steadier influences and are now out in the world pursuing their own adventures.

Winnie shares her stories with readers through her writings for Love Inspired and Love Inspired Historical books. You can learn more about Winnie at www.winniegriggs.com

Reviews

[Misfit · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a run-of-the-mill mail-order bride romance, with the exception that the *bride* is from a very wealthy family. Elthia (what a dumb name) thinks she's signed on to be a governess for a couple of kids with a bed-ridden mother, instead she finds a houseful of kids and a groom waiting for his bride (he needs to marry or the judge is going to split up his nieces and nephews). Lust and twu wuv ensues with little surprises.

Very forgettable, but what do I know from the more *expert* Amazon reviewers?

[wonderfullyweird88 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a different take on the familiar mail order bride premise. Elthia, hoping to prove to her wealthy family that she can be an independent woman believes she is being sent by an agency to be a governess for three months, to two children who live with their father and a bed-ridden mother. Instead she discovers she has signed a contract to be a mail order bride. Caleb needs to marry or the judge is going to split up his six nieces and nephews and so reaches an agreement with Elthia to annul the marriage once the adoption is formalised. As to be expected in a romance novel, love grows and the marriage becomes real.

The prologue immediately grips you, young Caleb’s world was first turned upside down by the death of his father, and then with the separation from his siblings. This is the motivation for Caleb wanting to keep his nieces and nephews together, no matter the personal sacrifice. Elthia’s clumsiness and ineptness at household tasks proves a hurdle in her new responsibilities however her ease with the children more than makes up for this. The story progressed at a good pace, however I felt the drama at the end was unnecessary.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lost one star for the whole angst thing at the end. That got really, really old. Elthia was a lot more interesting and believable than Caleb. Developing his woodworking would have helped; at least he wasn't a farmer, which is certainly overused.