Hazelanne Pitts dreams of more in life than the responsibilities of raising her five younger siblings to assist a sickly mother. Secretly, she corresponds with a rancher in Wildcat Ridge, Utah Territory, who wants a mail-order bride. When the money for the stagecoach ticket arrives, she sets off to be married. But a week later, a mine explosion claims the life of her new groom. Struggling to tend … tend the ranch chores on her own, she becomes injured and doesn’t know if she can ride to town for help.A pretty sweet-natured passenger, Hazelanne, caught stagecoach shotgun rider Brice MacAndrew’s eye when she traveled to Wildcat Ridge. Hearing she was the mail-order bride of Clay Oliphant, a known drunkard, didn’t sit well. After the mine disaster, Brice goes out to the Oliphant ranch and finds an injured Hazelanne who is on the edge of collapse. The only way he can help is to offer a marriage of convenience. Can the ranch become the haven both are looking for?
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Hazelanne is a nice story of a women caring for a sick mother and 5 siblings. She wants more and applies for a mail order bride. What she got in a husband is not what she expected. A nice story with good characters.
The Perils of Pauline
I think authors need to consider when drafting a book if they’re laying on a hero’s or heroine’s difficulties a bit too thick. That certainly happened in this case. As the book opens, not only does the heroine have to mind her younger children and take care of an ailing mother who has a chronic stomach complaint, she also has to deal with her mother’s absolute lack of appreciation for all that she does. Hoping that becoming a mail-order bride will improve her life, she winds up married to a cruel drunk who is soon killed in a mining disaster. Then she works herself to the bone and near-death trying to keep the ranch going. Seriously, I feel like I was just shaking my head the whole time, wondering what calamity would befall her next. This heroine had enough troubles for several books… and too many for one!
I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.
What a good look we got when it came to the life Hazelanne had before she sent to be a mail-order bride. She had a huge weight of responsibility on her shoulders. But I’ve got to admit that when I read the response from her soon to-be-husband, it didn’t look any better. Sounded like he just wanted a housekeeper that he could work hard. One that he could sleep with. Yuck right? It didn’t take long to see she was jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.
Brice also had a hard life striking out on his own to survive at a young age. And despite that he was still an honorable man. An honorable man who was running from anything that smacked of permanence. Not wanting anything to tie him down. Too bad that he had all those unwelcome yearnings towards Hazelanne. They had one strange marriage until things hit the fan and he finally has to face some things.
I did enjoy the fact that the author included the information about a certain homemade dumpling noodle that Hazelanne was making. It was called, “Spätzle” and it made me smile. Why? Because ran across that recipe that I’ve used for several years now. Of course, I think the one I have is a simplified version that adds butter and doesn’t have the nutmeg and has a slightly different spelling…Spaetzle.
This book had fewer chapters than some books but they were chock full of emotions that kept the story going forward. It didn’t end up feeling too small at all.
By the way, what a sweet eBook cover, I really liked it.
“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”