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Black Hills Brides #1

Her Secret Past

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Samantha's life is in danger.

After her husband's suspicious death, her father and uncle arrange for her to head West as a mail order bride to secure her safety. Once she arrives she is married to a local dirt farmer with big dreams and an even bigger heart.

Samantha has no intentions of falling in love with her handsome new husband or making friends in the small town that is so different from the vast city she came from. She is just going to pass the time until she gets word that she can return home.

Seth Jenkins wanted a real marriage, so he placed an ad in a nationwide paper advertising to mail order brides. He never expected to receive a letter from an attorney offering his niece in marriage, along with a hefty sum in exchange for Seth ensuring her safety.

When danger follows Samantha from the East, can Seth keep his promise to keep her safe? Can Samantha overcome her past and embrace the love standing right in front of her?

306 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 13, 2018

133 people are currently reading
84 people want to read

About the author

Christine Sterling

117 books269 followers
USA TODAY bestselling author Christine Sterling loves immersing her readers in the small towns she’s created. Her inspirational stories feature humor, redemption, and romance, with themes of friendship, forgiveness, and fighting for the love you want.

She’s the author of over eighty romances, including the reader favorites, First Families of Flat River, and The Flat River Matchmaker series. She loves to create tight-knit families with strong family values, and you’ll often find that her characters cross over in many of her stories. Her readers describe her characters as old friends and her settings as places they would love to visit.

An empty nester, she lives with her husband and a menagerie of animals on a Pennsylvania farm. When she’s not writing, she can be found drinking tea, being judged by her cat, eating snacks, or napping.

Sign up for her newsletter and get a free book at www. flatrivernebraska. com

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5 stars
72 (50%)
4 stars
43 (30%)
3 stars
24 (16%)
2 stars
2 (1%)
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2 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
Profile Image for Roberta Sallee.
654 reviews
August 30, 2021
This was a pleasant story, albeit a bit unrealistic...easy reading and predictable.
A young woman for some reason coerced into marrying a rich business man she didn't love by her dad and his friend, is also pushed into becoming a mail order bride for her safety after her husband is murdered) by the same duo.
The underlying source of danger is the killer...the deceased husband's brother who did it for money and now wants to marry his sister-in-law widow to get his hands on the estate.
Meanwhile, she goes West and falls in love with her husband, the handsome farmer.
Of course, the killer comes after her, but all's well that ends well. :-) See....pleasant though predictable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
2,619 reviews16 followers
October 8, 2018
Samantha and Seth

Samantha 's wealthy husband had just been murdered. Her father was worried she was in danger,so he and his friend an attorney arranged for her to be a mail order bride in order to secure her safety. Her father is murdered by the same man that murdered her husband and located Samantha. Will she find a loving match with her mail order husband? Will she find safety in her new home. You will enjoy finding reading this enjoyable story.
72 reviews7 followers
January 3, 2019
Mail Order Bride love and suspense

Her Secret Past, the first book in the Black Hills Brides series, is a great introduction to this Mail Order Bride Series. Christine Sterling’s story immediately grabbed my attention and kept it from beginning to end. Her Secret Past was difficult to put down. A story with strong relatable characters, intrigue and suspense. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.
Profile Image for Cindy Edwards.
324 reviews1 follower
January 4, 2019
Her secret pasf

I found this author through a multi author series I was reading. I saw her book list at the end and thought this series sounded interesting because of the word secret. It was a twist on how the heroine became a mail order bride. This book is not his plain romance. It has some suspense and mystery in it also. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
Profile Image for Nethanja.
843 reviews9 followers
June 20, 2018
Samantha’s husband got killed and her life is in danger, now she needs to leave. Can she find happiness with Seth who had an disappointing experience with love? Will she be safe?
Enjoyable story but some funny moments. It’s the start of a series and I’m looking forward to read Tom’s story.
Profile Image for Lynda.
1,224 reviews34 followers
June 22, 2018
Errors ruined the story

The story was good but stupid, silly errors that could EASILY been caught by even ONE read through ruined the book.

My first and last by this author and yes, this book will be deleted. On my Kindle and from the cloud.
116 reviews3 followers
October 27, 2018
Her secret past

Seth and Samantha started there marriage and name only
Samantha had the good life Seth had the farm together they made it worked.Samantha was willing to learn how to work and both fell in love over time loved the story
Profile Image for Colin Bell.
1,067 reviews13 followers
January 7, 2019
A wealthy heiress has to move west to keep her safe, marrying a farmer at the behest of her father. A slow burner that involved me more as the story went along I will be looking for more stories by this new to me author who is involved in the type of multi author series that I enjoy
Profile Image for Dawn Baffa.
371 reviews1 follower
January 31, 2019
Quite interesting

Read. The Mail order bride books I've read previously never had the in depth violence and drama. No it wasn't a bad thing, I enjoyed this story very much and have purchased the remained of the books in the series. I enjoyed the heroine being so feisty.
68 reviews
November 4, 2019
I have loved the series. I see that there are two more books that were supposed to follow in August and October but I can not find them. Can anyone lead me to where they might be found? Nothing worse than being left hanging when you know there is more adventures to follow.
541 reviews1 follower
May 7, 2019
Lovely!

Seth and Sam's love story is blended beautifully with intrigue and learning how to survive while growing in love with each other.
454 reviews1 follower
May 29, 2019
Her Father wanted her to remarry for her own safety

Her Father died instead of telling where he had sent her to be a mail order bride for her protection.
356 reviews
April 14, 2020
Good!

Somehow I missed this series when it came out. Can hardly wait to read about the people in Black Hills in the rest of the series!
Profile Image for Tracy Sylvester.
1,021 reviews9 followers
June 29, 2018
I really enjoyed this first story in the Black Hills Brides book. The story had plenty of romance and intrigue to keep interest. Samantha is tired of being told what to do by people in her life. When danger lurks in her life, her father sends her away to Seth Jenkins through a mail order bride ad. Both must learn to love and heal from things in their past.A short, wonderful mail order bride story.
7,766 reviews50 followers
January 29, 2019
What are they thinking with the advertisement “bride wanted for a dirt farmer”.Thinking they had nothing to lose, they answered. Problem in convincing his stubborn daughter. A brother of her husband now was a problem. The offer of that much money after marriage is unheard of in those days, Her father is insisting, and then another time of being accosted. by Dirk, her late husband brother. Now willing to go, a lot of changes and adventure awaits, will love come, nice story
Profile Image for Tammy Rolle.
360 reviews6 followers
August 17, 2017
Mail Order Bride Dilemma

Samantha's husband was killed under mysterious circumstances. Seth's intended deserted him for a wealthier man. Could they find splice in each other's arms? Enjoyable read. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
Profile Image for Anita Rohn.
1,964 reviews9 followers
August 20, 2017
Good

Good reading some tense interactions and moments of wondering what will develop. A little surprising yet the marriage of convenience to protect someone becomes a unity of two people who needed a mate.
Profile Image for Shonda.
Author 10 books47 followers
January 6, 2019
What a great story! Remarkable characters from Samantha and Seth to uncle Colin and Pat. This story made me smile with the relationship between Samantha and Seth, never a dull moment there. The story will keep you glued to its pages with a plot built on romance and danger. A great read!
2,619 reviews16 followers
June 4, 2018
Her Secret Past

Seth and his mail order bride did not seem to like and especially want a loving relationship at the beginning of their meeting, but it all ends well.
Profile Image for Catherine.
218 reviews
June 18, 2018
Wonderful

This was a great story! I really enjoyed the characters. Looking forward to more from this author! Thank you !
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews

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