For widow Joanna Nelson, life presented constant hardships. Evicted from her home, she and her two children sought refuge, which led them to rancher Aidan McKaslin's property. The kind but embittered cowboy couldn't turn her away, and their agreement benefited them both. He sheltered her family, while she brought faith and a woman's touch back into his world. When outside forces threatened their blossoming friendship, Aidan decided to take action. Could he convince the special woman to bind herself to him permanently or would he drive her away forever?
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.
Gavin McCord returns from war to find out about a son he never knew he had. Bonnie Dunbar is the woman taking care of the young boy since his mother died. Gavin helps out Bonnie at her homestead while getting to know his son, and Gavin and Bonnie find themselves falling in love. A sweet and simple historical romance, if a bit light on plot, that featured two very likable and genuinely caring people.
This is more like what I expect out of Jillian Hart - repetitive, over-dramatized, contrived, and poorly written. Well... this *ISN'T* poorly written, but it's not on par with her other historicals and smacks of her absolutely abysmal contemporary novels.
Johanna's had it rough. Her husband was neglectful to the point of abuse, her father was a louse who used her badly, and when both were dead, she was left with nothing - living as a squatter out of her wagon with her two children. She has hope and joy, in spite of it all.
Aiden didn't have it nearly as rough. He's got a solid, godly family, brothers who help him, a flourishing farm, plenty of food and room and money... but his wife died in childbirth, and he's just decided that his heart is gone and he's too hollow to ever love anyone again. Which he goes on and ON and *ON* about, over and over and over again, the ENTIRETY of the book.
While falling in love with Johanna, who he invited to live in the small shanty on his property, while employing her to be his housekeeper/cook. His brother's wife also hires her to be a housekeeper three days a week. So this whole life of theirs is FAR more ideal than what other people got goin'... except Hart makes it into some overblown 'hollow' problem that doesn't even really exist.
I was disappointed. Because the other books in this series don't smack of Hart's normal style at all (meaning they're REALLY good). But this one? It went the way of her contemporaries more than I like. Not okay. It was still a sound story, but I saw Hart all over it, and hated that about it. It sullied what could've been really sweet.
Ok, 4-stars for the fact that the story was actually well written and cute. I didn't realize when I started to read the book, that it was only 113 pages long.... so with it being that short of a story, it of course has the insta-love that i am not really into. I'm talking like within the first 24 hours of knowing each other and they already adore one another. This story really had no drama or conflict to get thru, it was more just a cute little frontier story that actually was engaging and kept my interest as the hero and heroine both struggled to figure out if they dare believe they are worthy to be loved, etc.
This was a great book written by Jillian Heart and I enjoyed reading it. I am starting to like these short stories. A young injured man, a prisoner during the war between the States, going home, a death, finding out about a son, a friend takes a son to raise, a sad little boy, a blizzard, a man at the door, helping around the farm, falling in love, loving his son, willing to leave his son, she's willing to give up the boy she loves, both indecisive of what to do. Will there ever be a happy ever after? I would recommend this book to everyone. Buy this book and enjoy reading it.
It was heartwrenching! Aiden was living in the past hurts and refusing to love again. Joanna got the short end of the stick with the men in her life. After her no good brother sold the farm out from under her and her kids she starts living out of a wagon. Aiden can't let them stay in the wagon and invites them to his farm. People start nasty rumors about Joanna and Aiden offers a marriage to stop them. Joanna falls for Aiden but Aiden won't let go of the past. I really liked it even though Aiden and me mad.
Gavin comes back home searching for his girlfriend only to find out she died, but also had a son. He plans to see the little boy and give money so he is provided for. Bonnie lost a husband and daughter and doesn't want to risk heartache again . The orphan needs her can she think about a future with a family again ?
Love comes softly to some, other have to be kicked by a wild mustang to break up their frozen hearts. Joanna had so much love for her children and a tender heart for Aiden. She knew what is was like to lose their love and their dreams. It was through her compassion that Aiden found the love he was really looking for in his life.
Literally a love story that truly represented Christian love and marriage. I'm soo happy literally my favorite book. Read it you won't be disappointed.
Not haven't ng a clue that he was a father, Gavin came home to the death of his woman, gone six months to find that he had a son. In searching for that son he stumbled into her caretaker. Bonnie was beautiful and loved that little boy. Happy endings abound......
I’ve been a fan of Jillian Hart’s McKaslin clan books, and this is a historical romance dealing with their ancestors. The opening scene made my blood boil: Joanna Nelson has just buried her father, who was cantankerous and unfeeling. The banker forecloses on her house just hours after the funeral, and Joanna and her two children are left homeless, since her brother sold off everything (as was his legal right). For these two men to behave so heartlessly is, sadly, realistic—I think they probably went on to start Enron.
Joanna and her children stay in a cottage on a ranch owned by widower Aidan McKaslin. However, this arrangement provides fodder for the local gossips, who alienate Joanna. Aidan offers her a marriage of convenience, which she reluctantly accepts. Aidan is embittered by the loss of his wife and, as a result, has lost his faith in God. Joanna yearns to be loved again, but her life has been one of constant hardships.
Joanna and Aidan are hardworking, strong, and smart, which makes them perfect for each other. Highly recommended.
I borrowed His High Country Bride ~ High Country Brides ~ Book 1, by Jillian Hart, author from the Kindle Unlimited Program on Amazon.
Gavin McCord returns from the Civil War after five years to find his girl had died and that he had a son he didn't know about. He set out to find the boy and provide for him. He had a plan to find the woman that took in his boy, make sure the boy was taken care of and leave the money that he had received from selling his late parent's farm.
Fate had another idea for him when he met Bonnie Dunbar, the local school teacher in Surprise, Montana. She love his quiet, serious son, took good care of the boy and was a good mother for the boy. His plan was to just leave the money and move on but a blizzard and a downed tree in the drive had other ideas as he stayed in the barn to help. Sneaky old fate helped heal his heart ache from war and loosing Fletcher's mother as he soon developed true love for Bonnie. Nice story with a happy ending.
This was the first Inspirational I read. The hero and heroine were too perfect, a lot of repetition to the point of boring and I ended up skipping a lot toward the end.
Aidan and Joanna were pretty well perfect, outside of being perfect for each other, but they'd both been through so much crap in their lives that I was happy for them anyway. This was sweet.