A MOTHER FOR CHRISTMAS Widower Luke Jeffries needs a mother for his three young children, whether or not they agree. When he meets Nellie McClain at the mail-order-bride agency, Luke thinks his problems are solved, but they’ve only just begun. Though the beautiful widow awakens his grieving heart, Luke won’t betray his cherished wife’s memory. A marriage of convenience is exactly what Nellie … exactly what Nellie wants, since she’s been wounded by love before and doesn’t plan to risk her heart again. But despite her chilly reception at Luke’s family’s simple Colorado cabin, her feelings for Luke and the children grow deeper every day. Can Nellie and Luke heal the pain in each other and finally make their family whole again?
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This was a beautiful love story! Not the usual one, when there’s instant attraction, but a different one that faces many challenges along the way, as grief of loss, overcoming abuse and lack of love, rejection… But all the struggles made the characters grow, and in the end it made the love deeper and so much worth it!
Luke Jeffries is in need of a wife, but in a practical way, not a real one. He needs a mother to his children while he works, because he realizes that he can’t take proper care of his children, and it may be affecting them.
Nellie McClain needs to escape from an abusive life. His late husband sold her to pay his debts, and she was forced to work in a brothel. After she escapes and seeks her sister for help, she is found and her sister is threatened, so she has no choice but to escape to a place when she’ll never be found. That’s how she arrives to Leadville, directly to a Mail Order Bride Agency where she finds Luke in a dire spot, arguing with the woman who runs the agency, not agreeing when she finds out he seeks a marriage in name only and not of love. But that is perfect for Nellie, also a widow, who never wants to risk her heart again after what she suffered because of her marriage. So that’s how the end marrying the same day with a kind of friendship arrangement that seem enough for both.
But life isn’t easy, and Nellie finds immediate rejection by Luke’s older daughter Ruby, and it stings, even when Amos and Maeve, the youngest, are more open to her. Luke’s cabin is minimal, doesn’t even have a stove, and Nellie finds that everything is done the way his late wife did it. As time passes, Nellie grows deep affection for Luke and the children, even Ruby, who is grieving her mother’s loss in her own way. She devotes herself to helping and caring for the family in a selfless way, but Luke seems trapped in his late wife’s memory and unable to live and rejoice again. He has a big resentment against the Church, who unintentionally had something to do in Diana’s accident, and with God too, who didn’t do anything to prevent his wife’s death… Can he overcome his grief and find a place in his heart for Nellie, and give her a second chance? She sure is warming his heart with her love and care, but still…
Nellie feels as if she will never be able to fill Luke’s late wife shoes and that he’ll never love her as a wife. Will it be enough for her, to be content with the children’s love? Can she win Ruby’s love too? Her neighbors and Church family are so supportive, and she feels finally at a safe place. But will she find happiness in such an arrangement? And what if her persecutor finds her? Is she putting her new family at risk?
You’ll have to read to find out! I’ll just say the story was beautiful and there was so much to learn from it. A faithful inspiring message about trusting God with your life, trusting His ways, learning to forgive (others and oneself) and to open your heart always to love, never close it.
The characters were relatable. At some point I got a bit impatient with Luke, but then I thought about how hard it must be losing a loving spouse when young.. And I admired his desire to care in the best way for his family, and his kindness to Nellie, even if he wasn’t always focused because of his grief. Nellie was amazing. So strong, reliable, so loving and caring, while expecting nothing for her. She was really selfless and I think that is what won Luke’s heart. The other characters were endearing too: the Fitzgeralds… the kids: sweet Maeve and Amos, and even Ruby in her grief and jealousy.
A beautiful love story, where love is won not by attraction, but by sacrifice. And that love conquers all, even the heart most closed.
I definitely recommend this story! Sweet and inspiring!
I received a copy of the book on a giveaway from the author but wasn’t required to review. This is my honest and unbiased opinion.