Mail Order Bride

I really liked this book. A modern mail order bride story between Julianne and Blake. There is also another love story between Shell, Blake's son, and Loni. I thought the author did a great job with both of these and how their stories and lives intertwined - a lot of authors can't pull this off. Such a sweet romance that starts off as a marriage of convenience but turns to friendship and then love. So glad they actually communicated. This one leaves you with a good feeling and hated to see it end.

IT ALL STARTED WITH A CRAZY AD IN WESTERN RANCHERS The story is a twenty-first-century mail-order bride tale that includes an emotional roller coaster ride and involves multiple people. It isn’t just a story of a man and woman who chose to marry from an ad placed in Western Ranchers magazine, but also other people that are affected. A bitter woman will give most of her fortune away to artist and groups, and leave the family ranch hanging in the balance with a codicil that will require her only grandson to marry and produce an heir before two years passes. Blake Reynolds has worked hard trying to keep the rundown ranch running since the death of his bitter paternal grandmother, who died months after her only son. While she was a renown artist, she was bitter when it came to her own family, shunning her son for the woman he married, rejected her grandson, and then placing dire stipulations on him to be able to inherit the ranch that she has allowed to run down. “Crazy reason for marriage—a necessary change of lifestyle and the discharge of a debt.” “If nothing else, this marriage should prove to be an interesting merger.” Julianne Dawson never knew her father, was raised by a single mother who died when Julianne is turning nineteen and was in college. The only family she remembers is her Uncle in Texas at the Bar-XT ranch that she would visit for a few weeks in the summer. There was one ranch hand, Blake Reynolds, that she had a crush on. What a shock to learn he was seeking a mail-order bride, and she was answering the ad. Due to a health scare, warning she must change her lifestyle, and rejection from the man she had been involved with for several years, the ad is her new lifeline for happiness. The plot will have Julianne driving to Wyoming after giving up the high-profile life she had in Manhatten with the intention of marrying Blake. At least they knew each other and weren’t total strangers. What a shock to arrive and see how run down the ranch actually was. Then to learn that he doesn’t have time to wait, he needs to marry and produce an heir, and he is on borrowed time. The situation adds plenty of angst, a little bit of anger, not enough trust, and a pending deadline to produce an heir. While Blake has a son, even if he didn’t learn of him until the boy was a teenager, the will states “legitimate heir,” and he wasn’t married to Shell’s mother who is now deceased. Blake has trust issues with women, and it will affect the relationship between him and Julianne. The story has a secondary story of Shell, and Loni, who dated and when she became pregnant, she blamed Shell and is bitter. Shell has asked her repeatedly to marry him, and she refuses because she is determined to leave Sweetwater, Wyoming, and head to a big city and become a famous painter. But what about the baby she is carrying? Julianne feels like an outsider with the way that Blake and Shell treat her, they are bitter that she has answered Loni’s questions about New York, and there is so much tension in the household. Blake insisted on a prenup and refused to allow Julianne to help with any of the finances, even though she has her own money. “I’m not trying to take away your home. I’m only trying to make it mine, too.” What happens when someone from New York shows up and tries and to get Julianne to return with him? Blake is blasé about it all and encourages her to meet Steven for dinner, but that leads to a life and death situation. Will nearly losing the one thing he thought he wanted more than anything be the wake-up call to what is important? Will Loni give up her baby and Shell to pursue her dream to be a famous artist or will she learn that other things are more important?

This is a sweet contemporary western romance, with quite a bit of angst. It’s a story not only about two very opposite strangers joining forces each with their own goal, but also about families created out of necessity and in the end hoping to find happiness. Julianne , a single woman living in NYC and working in an ad agency, has had a health scare and leaves that life when she answers an ad from a rancher seeking a wife. Blake, a cowboy to the core, needs a wife and an heir in order to inherit the family ranch. Needless to say, the move has not been smooth. One is taciturn, the other one is filled with hope of a home and a new life. Secrets are kept and doubts make them wonder what the future holds for them. Feelings not expressed , causes a riff . Will they ever get their HEA? Add to this the sub-plot involving Blake’s son, Shell, and his ex-girlfriend Loni, and you have an entertaining book filled with complex characters. A reminder that sometimes what we embrace in life and makes us happy, isn’t always what we wish for. I was gifted a copy of this book. The opinions expressed are solely my own.