Tina’s review of A Bride for Keeps by Melissa Jagears

A Tender Tale of Love on the Prairie Perfect for CBA Readers

Although Everett Cline can hardly keep up with the demands of his homestead, he won’t humiliate himself by looking for a helpmate ever again–not after being jilted by three mail-order brides. When a well-meaning neighbor goes behind his back to bring yet another mail-order bride to town, he has good reason to doubt it will work, especially after getting a glimpse at the woman in question. She’s the prettiest woman he’s ever seen, and it’s just not possible she’s there to marry a simple homesteader like him.

Julia Lockwood has never been anything more than a pretty pawn for her father or a business acquisition for her former fiance. Having finally worked up the courage to leave her life in Massachusetts, she’s determined to find a place where people will value her for more than her looks. Having run out of all other options, Julia resorts to a mail-order marriage in far-away Kansas.

Everett is skeptical a cultured woman like Julia could be happy in a life on the plains, while Julia, deeply wounded by a past relationship, is skittish at the idea of marriage at all. When, despite their hesitations, they agree to a marriage in name only, neither one is prepared for the feelings that soon arise to complicate their arrangement. Can two people accustomed to keeping their distance let the barricades around their hearts down long enough to fall in love?

Everett Cline has given up on the idea of marriage. After 3 of the mail-order brides left him for other men and 1 died shortly after her arrival, he has made up his mind that a wife was just not in the cards for him.

Now I have to say that I am slightly prejudiced about mail-order bride stories. Although I don’t usually read many of them much anymore, there was a time when that was mostly what my bookshelves were full of. I have a special place in my heart for this time of read – lonely man struggling alone, often with children and needing help to maintain a farm and family. The men are usually closed off to any emotion due to the pain of lost love, or hardened by their past and consumed with loneliness. Then, you have the brides, usually educated women trying to escape their pampered lives and strict up-bringing, or running from loveless arranged marriages. These women are usually not well-prepared for the hard life they are suddenly faced with, but end up being the type of partner the man has been searching for the whole time by the time the story ends.

While I can’t say that this book is not typical of your usual mail-order bride story, I can say that it is a sweet historical Christian romance that was easy and fun to read, and I enjoyed the story from the very beginning. It is reminiscent of many of my favorite mail-order bride books that I have read in the past.

The book takes place in the 1870’s in the small prairie town of Salt Flats, Kansas. Everett Cline has invested a lot of time and energy into acquiring a bride to be his partner and helpmate on his struggling farm, only to be jilted not once but four times. Julia Lockwood is a pen-pal to Everett’s friend Rachel. Rachel’s sister was one of the brides that left Everett to marry another man, and Rachel, trying to make amends for this, encourages Julia to come to Salt Flats to be a mail-order bride to Everett. Everett is totally unaware of this until Rachel steps off the train.

When Everett see Julia, he is struck by her beauty and wonders how this gently-bred woman could possibly want to be his bride. Julia, who is tired of being a pawn of her beauty, desires to be loved for who she is, not just for her appearance. A Bride For Keeps is the story of Everett and Julia’s journey to work through their troubled pasts and be able to open their hearts to learn to trust and find love again.

I really enjoyed this book, which is the first book in the Unexpected Brides series. Melissa Jagears quickly proves that she is a gifted story-teller with her descriptive narrative and colorful characters. The story flowed along quite nicely, and was charming and quick to read.

I am looking forward to reading the author’s next offering entitled Love By the Letter, which is a Unexepected Brides novella that is supposed to revolve around Rachel. I enjoyed this meddlesome character quite a lot and am happy to see that she gets her own story. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of mail-order bride stories.

I received this book through the Librarything Early Reviewers program in return for my honest review.

Rating: 4 out of 5

 

This title is available from Bethany House Publishing.  You can buy it here or here in e-format.