What do you think?
Rate this book
Born with a prominent birthmark, Eva Van der Heiden knows she will never find a man to love her. Her days are spent caring for her siblings and enjoying the relative calm of spinsterhood. Then her aunt, an unscrupulous matchmaker, tells her of a man wanting a bride of convenience in a small town in Dakota territory. Eva accepts the proposal knowing that at least she will have a husband, even if she's not much to look at.
Luc de Jeu arrives in Evansgrove in Dakota territory along with his friends and business partners. He came to salvage the failing fur trading company his father bought before his untimely death. In order to retain his position as leader of his father’s company, he must wed a 'good Dutch girl' within a year and produce an heir. When a matchmaker tells him of a potential bride who meets his requirements, he agrees to marry her.
When Luc meets Eva, he is fascinated by her unusual appearance. Eva believes she'll be happy with a marriage of convenience. It's not until after they wed Eva discovers this union is not in name only.
Luc knows he only has a limited time to fulfill the stipulations of the will. It would be easy to simply annul their vows and seek another wife. Yet, the more time he spends with Eva, the more he realizes another wife won't do.
Eva knows she's not beautiful enough, despite the strange looks she glimpses in Luc's eyes and the way they make her feel. Yet, she only wanted to be a wife of convenience, and not a mother...doesn't she?
Luc de Jeu arrives in Evansgrove in Dakota territory along with his friends and business partners. He came to salvage the failing fur trading company his father bought before his untimely death. In order to retain his position as leader of his father’s company, he must wed a 'good Dutch girl' within a year and produce an heir. When a matchmaker tells him of a potential bride who meets his requirements, he agrees to marry her.
When Luc meets Eva, he is fascinated by her unusual appearance. Eva believes she'll be happy with a marriage of convenience. It's not until after they wed Eva discovers this union is not in name only.
Luc knows he only has a limited time to fulfill the stipulations of the will. It would be easy to simply annul their vows and seek another wife. Yet, the more time he spends with Eva, the more he realizes another wife won't do.
Eva knows she's not beautiful enough, despite the strange looks she glimpses in Luc's eyes and the way they make her feel. Yet, she only wanted to be a wife of convenience, and not a mother...doesn't she?
- GenresHistorical
120 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 12, 2020
28 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
About the author
Parker J. Cole
77 books215 followersI am an author, speaker, and radio show host with a fanatical obsession with the Lord, Star Trek, K-dramas, anime, romance books, old movies, speculative fiction, and knitting. I’ve finally kicked the off and on addiction to Mountain Dew and marshmallows.
Find out any and everything about me at my website, ParkerJCole.com
Find out any and everything about me at my website, ParkerJCole.com
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
May 24, 2020
Eva Van Der Heiden is a ‘good Dutch girl’. Just the type of wife Luc de Jeu is told to find, the type of wife promised by the matchmaker. Though Eva believes the marriage is to be one of convenience only, Luc is expecting to father an heir through the union. Will these two young people find common ground and a way to make this marriage work?
I especially appreciated the glossary of the Dutch phrases which I found at the beginning before the prologue. (After I finished reading.) Don't miss that if Kindle pops you in at the prologue.
Though it could use a read through to correct technical errors like missing words in a few places, Eva is a delightful romance. It is a fun, quick read with two likable main characters. If you are looking for a good, clean Christian romance or a sweet beach read, you will not go wrong with this book.
I especially appreciated the glossary of the Dutch phrases which I found at the beginning before the prologue. (After I finished reading.) Don't miss that if Kindle pops you in at the prologue.
Though it could use a read through to correct technical errors like missing words in a few places, Eva is a delightful romance. It is a fun, quick read with two likable main characters. If you are looking for a good, clean Christian romance or a sweet beach read, you will not go wrong with this book.
June 1, 2020
Marriage and Perhaps Love for 1800s Dutch-Americans
This book is a slightly different take on the mail-order bride trope. For one thing, though it is a marriage between strangers, it is set up by a matchmaker, the heroine's aunt. What I found most interesting, though, is that this is set in the Dutch communities of 1800s America. We don't often see a romance that has to do with that nationality. The author has certainly done her research as well. She even includes a brief word guide at the beginning of the book, showing the words in Dutch that she will be using and their English equivalents. I do wish, however, that she gave pronunciations for the words. I will admit that I'm a reader who subvocalizes, and I would have loved to have known how to pronounce the words.
But that is no matter. The book pulls you right in with our heroine as a young girl of 12 trying to help her ill mother give birth. No one else is around to help. Eva, our heroine, rounds up her younger sisters and sets them to tasks to help. This is a pivotal event in Eva's young life. The story resumes much later when we meet the hero when he learns the stipulations of his father's will. His father was a businessman with a group of boyhood friends; they ran a business with global influence. These men all had sons who had either taken over their fathers’ parts of the business or were working with the company. His father required that he marry and produce an heir in a very short time or he would have to forfeit his stake in the company.
The aunt matchmaker is a bit of a wily one. As stated several times in the book, she often knows what is best but will also often lie. Eva has a birthmark over her left eye that she has been told all her life makes her ugly, so she just can't believe it when her husband-to-be is not disgusted by it and one of his associates actually calls her beautiful. They have some ups and downs to be sure but do go ahead with the marriage. Neither had a good parental example of what married life should be; neither of them wants to be their parents or want the other to be like them either. The aunt had tricked both of them; Eva thought this was a marriage of convenience only with no intimacy. Over the course of what we would call a honeymoon, but the Dutch have a different name for it, they get to know each other and share some of their vulnerabilities, becoming closer. Of course, time is running out on his father's demands, but our hero has his own ideas anyway about what he wants for his life.
I like that the way they got to know and open up to each other. It seemed very realistic and was sweet to watch. I wasn't sure what I thought about the hero first, as I found him a bit abrasive. But as he learned to see beyond the business and came to appreciate Eva, he mellowed and became the hero she deserved. All in all, I enjoyed this book immensely, especially its immersion in Dutch-American culture. And there's a tease at the end that there will be another book about the next younger sister in Eva’s large family. I hope that will be so. I loved this glimpse into the Dutch-American community.
I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.
My book blog: https://www.reaingfanaticreviews.com
This book is a slightly different take on the mail-order bride trope. For one thing, though it is a marriage between strangers, it is set up by a matchmaker, the heroine's aunt. What I found most interesting, though, is that this is set in the Dutch communities of 1800s America. We don't often see a romance that has to do with that nationality. The author has certainly done her research as well. She even includes a brief word guide at the beginning of the book, showing the words in Dutch that she will be using and their English equivalents. I do wish, however, that she gave pronunciations for the words. I will admit that I'm a reader who subvocalizes, and I would have loved to have known how to pronounce the words.
But that is no matter. The book pulls you right in with our heroine as a young girl of 12 trying to help her ill mother give birth. No one else is around to help. Eva, our heroine, rounds up her younger sisters and sets them to tasks to help. This is a pivotal event in Eva's young life. The story resumes much later when we meet the hero when he learns the stipulations of his father's will. His father was a businessman with a group of boyhood friends; they ran a business with global influence. These men all had sons who had either taken over their fathers’ parts of the business or were working with the company. His father required that he marry and produce an heir in a very short time or he would have to forfeit his stake in the company.
The aunt matchmaker is a bit of a wily one. As stated several times in the book, she often knows what is best but will also often lie. Eva has a birthmark over her left eye that she has been told all her life makes her ugly, so she just can't believe it when her husband-to-be is not disgusted by it and one of his associates actually calls her beautiful. They have some ups and downs to be sure but do go ahead with the marriage. Neither had a good parental example of what married life should be; neither of them wants to be their parents or want the other to be like them either. The aunt had tricked both of them; Eva thought this was a marriage of convenience only with no intimacy. Over the course of what we would call a honeymoon, but the Dutch have a different name for it, they get to know each other and share some of their vulnerabilities, becoming closer. Of course, time is running out on his father's demands, but our hero has his own ideas anyway about what he wants for his life.
I like that the way they got to know and open up to each other. It seemed very realistic and was sweet to watch. I wasn't sure what I thought about the hero first, as I found him a bit abrasive. But as he learned to see beyond the business and came to appreciate Eva, he mellowed and became the hero she deserved. All in all, I enjoyed this book immensely, especially its immersion in Dutch-American culture. And there's a tease at the end that there will be another book about the next younger sister in Eva’s large family. I hope that will be so. I loved this glimpse into the Dutch-American community.
I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.
My book blog: https://www.reaingfanaticreviews.com
May 30, 2020
Eva Van Der Heiden, a ‘good Dutch girl’ with an odd birthmark, is convinced she will never find a man who could love and marry her. But her aunt finds such a man who wants a marriage of convenience, and Eva is willing to accept that to gain a husband in name only.
Luc de Jeu is in immediate need of a wife to produce an heir within the year so that he can meet the requirements of a Will and retain his position as leader of his father’s fur trading company. The matchmaker has found such a woman for him.
When Luc meets Eva, they marry with Eva still believing she is entering a marriage of convenience. Only after the wedding Eva discovers that she is expected to have a child with her husband. Luc only has the year to fulfill the stipulations of the Will, but he is not willing to give Eva up to find another wife. Can he convince Eva that he loves her and wants her to be fully his wife? Can he convince her he wants a family with her, and not just for the purposes of the Will?
Luc de Jeu is in immediate need of a wife to produce an heir within the year so that he can meet the requirements of a Will and retain his position as leader of his father’s fur trading company. The matchmaker has found such a woman for him.
When Luc meets Eva, they marry with Eva still believing she is entering a marriage of convenience. Only after the wedding Eva discovers that she is expected to have a child with her husband. Luc only has the year to fulfill the stipulations of the Will, but he is not willing to give Eva up to find another wife. Can he convince Eva that he loves her and wants her to be fully his wife? Can he convince her he wants a family with her, and not just for the purposes of the Will?
October 23, 2021
4.5 stars for this historical romance. Of romance tropes, my favorite is a marriage of convenience as that puts the commitment first and foremost and makes the romance element easier to swallow than quick romances not based on initial commitment (in my opinion). This was an interesting twist to this trope in that Luc's father stipulated in his will that Luc should marry and produce an heir by a certain time or lose his inheritance. Eva is the oldest of 14 children and has never had space of her own, nor has she ever dreamt of marriage due to a birthmark that has caused her to feel ugly. When this scenario seems to benefit both parties, the matchmaker brings them together. But there's a layer of dishonesty there as she doesn't share all of the details with either Luc or Eva. I appreciated how they worked through and communicated about their expectations and differences. I enjoyed the characters and their development as they grew together. This was a short read, but the story still worked itself out thoroughly. It was a nice brief foray into the historical Dakota territory and a unique scenario. I would recommend this one to fans of historical romance.
May 29, 2020
The romance was clean and done well,but don't expect it to be all sunshine and rainbows as this is quite the dramatic story.Truth is that it made me very emotional.The characters were likable.I really liked Eva's character and sympathized with her struggles.I loved that the author used Dutch words(there is also a glossary for those who do not understand Dutch)as it made the story more engaging and immersive.This was not a long story so it will end fast,especially if you were immersed to the story like I was.It is highly recommended though,especially to people who like dramatic,emotional and clean romances with likable protagonists.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
May 14, 2020
Eva thinks herself ugly with her prominent birthmark. Becoming a wife and mother isn’t in her future she thinks. But then there’s aunt Nethanja the matchmaker. Luc needs a wife and an heir and fast so he asks the matchmaker to find him a wife. When Eva and Luc meet each other there’s confusion. Will the both get what they want or what they need?
These main characters are very unsure of themself and need to find the strength in themselves and each other to become a happy family. The matchmaker has a sweet and a little evil side. I’m really curious what storylines the author has for the sisters and friends. I recommend this book and can’t wait to read the rest of the series.
These main characters are very unsure of themself and need to find the strength in themselves and each other to become a happy family. The matchmaker has a sweet and a little evil side. I’m really curious what storylines the author has for the sisters and friends. I recommend this book and can’t wait to read the rest of the series.
May 27, 2020
A very dramatic read.
This quick read starts with Eva helping her mother in the birth of a child. Next, we meet Luc de Jeu and he has just received some unexpected news. Then out the blue things change for Eva when her aunt tells her use has received a marriage proposal. The relationship is not easy going for Luc and Eva. There is so much pent up emotions for both that it made for a very dramatic read. I found the book very interesting and engaging for such a quick read it had one h--- of a punch. I highly recommend it. I did receive a free copy of this book and voluntarily chose to review it.
This quick read starts with Eva helping her mother in the birth of a child. Next, we meet Luc de Jeu and he has just received some unexpected news. Then out the blue things change for Eva when her aunt tells her use has received a marriage proposal. The relationship is not easy going for Luc and Eva. There is so much pent up emotions for both that it made for a very dramatic read. I found the book very interesting and engaging for such a quick read it had one h--- of a punch. I highly recommend it. I did receive a free copy of this book and voluntarily chose to review it.
June 4, 2020
According to his father’s will to run his business, Luc must marry and have and sire heir within a certain length of time, so he asks a matchmaker to find him a bride. Eva watched her father abandon her mother leaving her many times pregnant. She helps raise her numerous siblings and has no desire for children of her own. She thought she would never marry because of her birthmark and thinks she’s marrying Luc in name only, but then how will he complete the requirements of his father’s will? The Dutch speech was confusing at times and I didn’t always grasp what the characters wanted.
May 14, 2020
What a incredible read! I loved the characters and how they drew me into the story. A beautiful story of finding ones self worth not based on our parents mistakes. I loved everything about this story, especially the beautiful lesson it taught. The romance is sweet and clean, a wonderful journey to be taken on.
Was given a complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.
Was given a complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.
May 16, 2020
Dutch dreams
Luc has an ultimatum from his late father. Eva is oldest of fourteen. Never in her mind would she be anything other than her family's caregiver. But her tante has dreams enough for all. I loved this book, it's strong Dutch characters and it's not to the heritage from Holland. Well written and though out!
Luc has an ultimatum from his late father. Eva is oldest of fourteen. Never in her mind would she be anything other than her family's caregiver. But her tante has dreams enough for all. I loved this book, it's strong Dutch characters and it's not to the heritage from Holland. Well written and though out!
May 28, 2020
This is a sweet romance between Eva and Luc. It's a heartfelt story of finding ones strength and growing love. The author does a great job bringing out the emotions as the romance grows.It's well written,moves quickly and smoothly and is an enjoyable read.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own and freely given.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own and freely given.
May 15, 2020
Very good storyline good strong characters. Telling of a young couple that was raised some what the same but differently. The young man had no sibling and the girl had way to many siblings. Read how the two of them came to be together. Beautiful love story .
May 17, 2020
Excellent
I enjoyed every aspect of this book and would highly recommend it to all readers who loves stories from the 1800’s. I gave it 5 stars because I loved the story line about how we feel less about ourselves when think it makes us more.
I enjoyed every aspect of this book and would highly recommend it to all readers who loves stories from the 1800’s. I gave it 5 stars because I loved the story line about how we feel less about ourselves when think it makes us more.
May 23, 2020
Another page turner by Parker J Cole
This romance set in the late 1800s kept me turning the pages to see what happened to Eva, the homely cursed witch daughter of an always absent father and a long suffering mother of fourteen. Should Eva accept an arranged marriage knowing every man would find her ugly and flawed by the curse? Purchase. Read. And find out.
This romance set in the late 1800s kept me turning the pages to see what happened to Eva, the homely cursed witch daughter of an always absent father and a long suffering mother of fourteen. Should Eva accept an arranged marriage knowing every man would find her ugly and flawed by the curse? Purchase. Read. And find out.
October 20, 2020
Love Needed
I thoroughly enjoyed this romance between Dutch-American characters. Both grew up with challenges that shaped their priorities. I enjoyed how the author developed the characters and led them to discover their true selves and what they wanted. A great read.
I thoroughly enjoyed this romance between Dutch-American characters. Both grew up with challenges that shaped their priorities. I enjoyed how the author developed the characters and led them to discover their true selves and what they wanted. A great read.
May 31, 2022
Afraid to love
Ava and Luc were pushed into marriage through the machinations of Ava’s matchmaker aunt. Both afraid of being hurt due to to memories of their fathers’ mistreatment of their mothers, Ava and Luc must find the courage to make their marriage a true and loving union.
Ava and Luc were pushed into marriage through the machinations of Ava’s matchmaker aunt. Both afraid of being hurt due to to memories of their fathers’ mistreatment of their mothers, Ava and Luc must find the courage to make their marriage a true and loving union.
May 26, 2020
Another great book by Parker J Cole. Eva and Luc's story captivated me from the beginning. These two needed each other and didn't know it and had to overcome their past to figure it out.
June 22, 2020
I would have given it four stars except there was a big unanswered question I wanted to know.
December 19, 2024
I really enjoy this book, thank you
August 11, 2020
I was very intrigued by this story plot and excited to read and review it. I connected well with Eva for a couple of reasons. I have Dutch roots in my family and I loved the actual Dutch words used in the book. I have also struggled with self-esteem and I know how hard that is to work through.
The plot was intriguing and romantic. The main characters both had issues and struggles to work through and they succeeded by the end of the story. Although they both had a rough start in life, they were able to overcome their obstacles with courage, grit, and good steps in a positive direction.
The author did a great job of dealing with hard issues that plague modern day families as well as historical ones: parental abandonment, workaholism, prejudice.
Eva had been mistreated because of her birthmark and Luc showed her that she was still beautiful and unique. Luc had been so consumed with his business and what was expected of him that he had missed out on relationships and even starting a family of his own. Both had been somewhat abandoned by their fathers and suffered consequences because of that.
My takeaway: Eva is a well written inspirational story that is filled with romance and grit. I read it in one afternoon and wished it had been a teeny bit longer. I would’ve enjoyed a bit more depth to their relationship. The thing I did not personally like was the references to their marriage intimacies-just a bit too much heat for me in a CF genre story. I believe good romance can show the chemistry development without getting technical or making readers cringe. I will be reading more of Ms Cole’s books in the future as I know she is an amazing writer.
I was given this copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed here are completely my own.
The plot was intriguing and romantic. The main characters both had issues and struggles to work through and they succeeded by the end of the story. Although they both had a rough start in life, they were able to overcome their obstacles with courage, grit, and good steps in a positive direction.
The author did a great job of dealing with hard issues that plague modern day families as well as historical ones: parental abandonment, workaholism, prejudice.
Eva had been mistreated because of her birthmark and Luc showed her that she was still beautiful and unique. Luc had been so consumed with his business and what was expected of him that he had missed out on relationships and even starting a family of his own. Both had been somewhat abandoned by their fathers and suffered consequences because of that.
My takeaway: Eva is a well written inspirational story that is filled with romance and grit. I read it in one afternoon and wished it had been a teeny bit longer. I would’ve enjoyed a bit more depth to their relationship. The thing I did not personally like was the references to their marriage intimacies-just a bit too much heat for me in a CF genre story. I believe good romance can show the chemistry development without getting technical or making readers cringe. I will be reading more of Ms Cole’s books in the future as I know she is an amazing writer.
I was given this copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed here are completely my own.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews