Rocky Mountain Wedding by Jillian HartMelody Pennington fled to Montana for a new start as a mail-order bride. Gabe Brooks, handsome older brother to the man she was supposed to marry, helps her settle in. But what Melody doesn't expect is to fall for the rugged, closed-off lawman who swears he doesn't believe in love!
Married in Missouri by Carolyn DavidsonLucas Harrison needs a mother for his sons. He's not looking for love, but he expects his wife to act like one—in every sense of the word! Elizabeth has always felt tall and awkward, but Lucas towers over her. He's strong as a bull, gentle as a lamb, and Elizabeth's heart soon begins to melt….
Her Alaskan Groom by Kate BridgesNewly trained midwife Sophie Grant had hoped marrying respectable John Colburne would be easy as pie. But he's tough, stubborn and cynical—except in bed with her at night! How can Sophie turn her passionate nighttime lover into a daytime husband who isn't afraid to show he loves his mail-order bride?
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 only read Jillian Hart's story because I was doing that thing where I read all of the stories of a series in succession. So there was no time to read the other stories... I don't even know what the other stories are.
In this installment of the series, I didn't like how the mother played her cards in this story. If I'm ever a jolly, loving, and sneaky mother of 3 adult men, living in an isolated town, and I mail-order me a woman for one of those kids, and I know she is running from violence and my son doesn't want to marry her when she comes because I didn't ask him before I sent for her, -*takes a breath*- then I would say "don't you worry deary, you move in with us and you'll be like the daughter I never had". Right? Because it was written as if this woman was so loving and accepting. But at the end of the day, she is only accepting to blood or those linked through marriage. It bothered me, especially because the heroine dwells on the fact that she's disappointed she didn't get married because she is losing out on a great mother-in-law.
Update: I just read the blurb on the other few books and will be reading those! Yay!
Update #2: They were a little disappointing. Don't get me wrong, they were enjoyable enough, but the blurbs weren't exactly accurate.
Rocky Mountain Wedding It felt like I had read it before, but I suspect that it's because it was such a stereotype. It was also rather corny, with shallow characters and very simple dialogue.
Married in Missouri At times more of a recounting of daily life in a historical setting, than a novel, but it does have a story as well. It's nothing fancy, a bit cliche, but also a nice story with a dash of drama.
Her Alaskan Groom Somewhat uninspired, but an ok story nonetheless.
The first story is clean, and that was the reason I originally picked up this book, because I knew the first author. the second two books may be short but they're spicy! This book was my first step into spicy books. I've read many spicy books since and at the same time I've read this book multiple times. Great stories!
All right guys let's take this one story at a time:
Rocky Mountain Wedding by Jillian Hart This is apparently the conclusion to a trilogy of short stories featuring this family and their meddlesome mother. Having not read the other two I still found myself able to follow along and enjoy the story for itself. Mostly. While Melody believes Gabe to be mostly playing up how unhappy he is with the meddling his mother is doing, Gabe genuinely does not want anything to do with the woman. His little moments of 'well she's pretty and nice' are swiftly tossed away by his irritation.
It was a sweet story though and Melody was at least a spitfire.
Married in Missouri by Carolyn Davidson I can't be sure how purposeful this was, but this story feels almost exactly like the first story (just minus the confusion on who's bride she's meant to be). And unfortunately MARRIED IN MISSOURI suffers for it. Lucas and Elizabeth are just...boring. And rather repeatitive. And dull. The amount of times that Lucas either says or thinks that he got the perfect woman for him is tedious and Elizabeth, for all that she doesn't want to think about her almost fiancee Amos, spends A LOT of time thinking about how glad she is she didn't get stuck with him and how much better Lucas is and how miserable her sister must be.
And the ending is just contrived and ghoulish in so many ways.
Her Alaskan Groom by Kate Bridges
This is also part of an ongoing series. Cute and fluffy, I feel a little bad since by the time I got to this story I was so irritated by the previous one that I didn't give this one quite the chance I should have. John and Sophie were interesting and had fire, but the story just was kind of there. I found it interested that Sophie was a midwife, and that certain provided some good fodder for the supporting story, but as a romance it wasn't anything special to me.
Mail Order Brides is one of my favorite tropes--and one of the only ways I'll read American historical romances. That said this wasn't a keeper collection for me and I don't feel a need to seek out the authors other titles because of it.
I had a hard time rating this book here it goes....
Married in Missouri by Carolyn Davidson 5 Stars This is melt your heart out story. The hero tried so hard not to fall for the heroine because he does not want feel the pain he felt when his wife died. I felt his anguished when he saw the heroine wore his wife's clothes. I felt his heart kicking and screaming in protest as it was drawn closer and closer to the heroine. I felt mad at him as he deliberately hurt the heroine to save himself from future pain and then gush at him in his awkward yet heartfelt attempt to appease the heroine. The heroine isn't a wilting character herself. She is flawed, she has a strong backbone, she does not take crap yet she is vulnerable. I am rooting for her HEA from the get go and I'd like to see/read heroines like her. In Short, great story.
Her Alaskan Groom by Kate Bridges 4 Stars I liked this author's voice. However the characters and pacing are a bit bumpy for me. Other than that I like how independent the heroine is. I liked that she did not compromised herself in exchange for 'safety' or norm. I felt all her emotions, laugh at her and then got mad at her. She's a fully developed character. The hero isn't to be left out. I think he is supposed to be a presented as strong, mysterious, and honorable character. In that attempt, he sometimes sounds/appears hesitant - undecided even - but overall, he is a matched to the heroine. Good story, hot scenes.
Rocky Mountain Wedding by Jillian Hart 0 Stars This is the story that lowered my rating for this whole book. The two main characters begins the story by exchanges hateful words only to have some secondary characters said it's attraction? - not my cup of tea. So if you accept and enjoy cut-my-nose-to-spite-you actions and manipulative characters disguised as caring and love....then this is your book. Then again this is not an author I would willingly pick to begin with. Overall, two good books vs one stinky one.
Well, I have finished reading this book completely. I don't know if I will keep it or not. It is really, really, really good and very well written. But the thing is, I don't like reading books that have risque things in it. Nothing that is wrong, mind you; it just shares several marriage bed scenes in it. So, anyways, other than this; these stories are very well written. I really enjoyed reading it, skipping over the bad parts. And I am very familiar to Jillian Hart, as many of her novels are really good--and her part in this series was great. Also, her novella doesn't have anything risque in it. Carolyn Davidson's novella was pretty great too. Although, hers does have risque parts in it, but the storyline was very interesting and edgy! The novella Kate Bridges wrote was really awesome too, and it had a great solid storyline that really grabbed you when you read the first page! So, if you're into 1800s novellas and are wanting to read something that has romance and slight edginess; then I totally recommend you reading this book.
3 short stories about mail order brides. normally I don't read short stories, there's not enough time to get to know the characters and form relationships with them, but this sounded interesting enough I gave it a try. sadly, it was only "meh" for me. the first story was apparently the last in a series and you had no idea what was going on most of the time. the male main character was a jerk and the female annoying. I did like the second story. it reminded me of Hattie Big Sky (for adults) or a western version of Mrs. Mike. the random murder at the end was odd, and pretty unnecessary though. the third story was even more annoying than the first for me. a mail order bride sent to Alaska changed her mind so the agency sent a replacement. who just conveniently happened to be a midwife that the town desperately needed. I felt like the characters were flat and didn't like any of them very much. I apparently need to stay away from short stories from now on, since they apparently leave me feeling cranky.
Rocky Mountain Wedding by Jillian Hart is very good. Tied to her McKaslin family in a roundabout way.
Married in Missouri by Carolyn Davidson was good but not great. Beta hero which I'm not fond of but a decent story.
My favorite was Her Alaskan Groom by Kate Bridges and I devoured it. Its about a midwife to comes to Alaska as a mail order bride and her new husband who owns a stable.
I don't know why this genre fascinates me so. Maybe its the sense of adventure and the thrill of the unknown. I know not all of these marriages ended up happily matched but reading about ones that do reminds me of the other genre I like so much: friends to lovers.
Three novellas -- two are 5 stars, and one is 3. Rocky Mountain Wedding by Jillian Hart - Truly an enjoyable quick read. ~ 5 stars
Married in Missouri by Carolyn Davidson - Fit nicely with the above story. Very enjoyable and I really liked the two main characters and the children. ~ 5 stars
Her Alaskan Groom by Kate BridgesThe author's story just doesn't flow as well as the other two. It's the last one in the book. The main male character says things that would turn a women off, fairly permanently. He overcomes those words just too quickly in a novella. Also this is set in the era of the Alaska Gold Rush.
I doubt that ANYONE used the word "uptight" in that era. While it conveys the situation, the author should have searched for a word fitting that era that conveyed the same. ~ 3 stars
Melody Pennington finds that her groom, is now engaged to marry someone else. And the man that she is drawn to, is the brother of the man she expected to marry, but Gabe is not one for love and marriage. Well, until Melody worms her way in to his heart.
Lucas Harrison finds that a mail-order bride just might fill the need for him and his two young sons. Elizabeth is a fine figure of a woman. Going from volunteering at an orphanage to having her own little family is more than she thought she would have. Now she just needs to win over Luc's heart and her life would be perfect.
Sophie Grant has found her way to Alaska to become a midwife, and hopefully the wife of John Colburne. Well, once he gets over finding out the first mail-order bride was a no-show.
I usually like short story or anthology collections, as it gives not only an introduction to (usually) a series/universe, but also to unknown (to me) authors.
This collection, however, fell flat. The first story felt like an ending to something else I hadn't read (apparently part of a trilogy of shorts). The second story was the stand-out of the collection for me, with characters that were (somewhat) more than cardboard cut-outs. The third (despite Kate Bridges having been on my radar for awhile, since she's Canadian) was alright, but it read like a contemporary, instead of a historical.
Three mail-order brides. I have no idea why on Earth I continue to read these short story collections. It's not like I've ever, ever, ever, ever found them to be good. The first story had good bones... and that's the only complimentary thing I can say about it. The second story was pretty bad, until I realized it was about a robot couple. The third story had no redeeming qualities nor alternative explanations. The dialogue in all three was beyond atrocious, although I have to give the robots a pass. The moral of the story is: serves me right.
I really needed some pioneer stories in my life today.
First story - DNF. I normally love Jillian Hart, but the lead guy was such crap, I knew I couldn't like him by the end of the novella.
Second story - felt modern in places, but overall, okay. It was the perfect Western story until the bizarre murder plot came into play, and I half think the epilogue was written as a joke. It was every OBHWF story that Harry Potter fandom loathed so much.
Third story - I love Kate Bridges, but this wasn't her finest. Still, Alaska, midwives, nice people to root for. Yay.
The first story was written so poorly that I skipped it after a few pages. It was full of awkward and stilted dialog. Characters need to use contractions when they speak or it sounds false.
The second story was blah. I'm not really sure that we needed that much detail on what she cooked every day. Also, if he had called her a fine figure of a woman one more time I was going to smack him with a cast iron skillet.
The third story was kind of pointless. Oh look, they aren't in love. And then they are For a romance novel, it sure lacked anything resembling romance.
There were three novellas in this book. Each had it's own theme and they were all a breath of fresh air in between vampire love. Although I enjoyed them all immensely, they all felt pretty rushed once the hero and heroine finally admitted their feelings for each other. Sweet stories with a few spicy sex scenes in them. I would recommend if you need something to refreshen your palette in between series books.TTFN.
I did not care for this book of three stories. I liked the one by Jillian Hart, but the others I did not like at all. Okay, the second one was the worse of the three and the 3rd one was in between the first and 2nd one. So since I liked the first one I give the entire book 3 stars. The 2nd one was way too explicit and so was the 3rd one. If you want a clean story, the first one is the only one worth reading.
I absolutely loved the story by Carolyn Davidson titled "Married in Missouri". This was a wonderful story of love. It shows good people brought together by a simple ad, and finding a life full of love and happiness. I really liked this story and it is one that will stay with me for a very long time.
"Rocky Mountain Wedding" was the best of the three (despite the fact that I felt the ending was a bit rushed - but it is a short story, after all), followed closely by "Her Alaskan Groom", which was nice and light. "Married in Missouri" was slow but had a realism I found somewhat interesting... up until Amos walked onto the scene and things went downhill... It was bad.
The first story is one of my favorite authors, and it's Christian based, so it's an adorable story. The other two stories are very cute as well, they are just not Christian based, so they have a little bit of an adult theme to them. Definitely a harleqin style book, but all three very good stories. (I just wasn't expecting wedding night details)
This was a very good historical anthology about mail order brides. Dealt with pretty much things that probably happened on a semi-regular basis. The three stories were sweet and I really enjoyed reading them. Well worth the time.
I thought this was a pretty good read. It contains 3 novellas. The stories were sweet & fairly short. I read through them pretty quick & who knows I might decide to pick it up again one day & re-read the stories.
The first two stories were mediocre at best; I was too bored to even start the last one. Writing was very cardboard with uninspiring characters. Too bad because mail order bride themes are my favorite. 2 stars.
For the type I found myself enjoying the books, they are simple quick reads but I left each story satisfied. This was my first kindle purchase on my nexus 7 so I wanted to see if the app worked before I invested in a higher cost book. All was well and I enjoyed the stories to boot.
Three very sweet, short stories that I enjoyed reading while my three year old son was sick with a fever. I can not imagine what it would be like to be a mail-order bride.