Rach's Reading Club

So happy you brought back this challenge, Rachel!

This is a historical romance novel.

Amazon description:
“A sweet Christmas story of how love can make even the worst situations perfect.

She marries the wrong man...

His lies could ruin everything...

When a fire kills Pearl Jameson’s parents, her grief takes over until she cannot function. Unable to continue living in the same town, Pearl decides to leave everything behind and start a new life. She responds to an ad placed by a rancher in Montana in hopes of finding happiness again.

Luke Reynolds has had it with his drunken brother, Owen. Not only is Luke running the ranch on his own but also does most of the parenting for his nephew. Just after his brother takes off, leaving everything behind, including his son, a mail order bride arrives for an ad placed by Owen.

Justifying that his nephew needs a mother, Luke marries the woman without telling her it was not him who placed the ad.”


I didn’t realize when I picked this up that it was the 12th in a series. The story was indeed sweet. I enjoyed the quick, heartwarming read with mostly wholesome characters (except the one providing the bulk of the drama), and there was plenty of action to keep my interest. There were, however, quite a few distracting errors of varying kinds. It was like no editor was used at all. She’s an engaging storyteller though. I almost cried at one point in the story, I was so engaged.

The Amazon description is misleading because Luke had decided to be honest with her and did try multiple times before and after the wedding to explain. He’s a better guy than the description makes it out to be.

I’m not sure if I’d read more from this series? Sometimes I want a quick, sweet, heartwarming read. Generally for those I prefer Christian books though. This one had a few Christian elements but I found myself wanting to add a lot more (stopping reading to rewrite scenes in my head did take me out of the story a few times, but no more than all the typos and errors).

My favorite characters were Pearl, Luke, Pearl’s cousin, Charlie, and all the good ladies of Angel Creek. Even Butch the ranch hand was a nice character. I expect he’ll find a bride later in the series.

My biggest problem with this book, worse than the lack of editing, was that Pearl held Luke’s deception (which I don’t really think was his fault, because he tried multiple times) against him so strongly, yet she lied to her Aunt and Uncle about her reason for joining her cousin in going to Montana (telling them she was going to be a governess, like her cousin, vs being the mail-order bride that she was). Especially since by the time she realized the truth about having married the "wrong" guy, she also knew the truth about the man she would have been stuck with (the alcohol addicted, child abusing, fire starter!). I'd be thanking God that I hadn't married the original guy. Ad at this point in the story she'd had ample evidence that Luke was indeed a good man who would do right by her and his nephew, who he was raising as his son.

So, overall, it was a nice, sweet, heartwarming read. And Christmas books always remind me of my mom, who celebrated Christmas all year long.