Mary Peters despairs that she will never marry. At nineteen, she has no prospects of finding a husband, so she takes matters into her own hands and becomes a mail-order bride. When she arrives to Omaha, Nebraska to meet the man she’s due to marry, he takes one look at her homely appearance and rejects her.
But fate has other plans for Mary. Dave Larson happens to be nearby and thinks she will … thinks she will make a good wife. Though she is stunned that someone as handsome and as kind as Dave would ask her to marry him, she accepts. She knows that this marriage will not bear the fruits of love. Love, after all, is for beautiful women. Isn’t it?
Books in the Nebraska Historical Romance Series
Book 1: Her Heart’s Desire
Book 2: A Bride for Tom (novella)
Book 3: A Husband for Margaret (novella)
Book 4: Eye of the Beholder
Book 5: The Wrong Husband
Book 6: The Shotgun Groom
Book 7: To Have and To Hold
Book 8: His Redeeming Bride
Book 9: Isaac’s Decision
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One of Ruth Nordin’s most engaging books. I loved each one of the characters. Mary struggles through most of the book with the belief that she isn’t attractive and therefore should be content with the smallest smatterings of happiness. Her husband Dave sees her true beauty and eventually everyone else is left wondering why they every thought Mary was “plain”. This one leaves you feeling wonderful. There are a few intimate scenes that make this an adult read.
I didn’t know it was what is called a Christian romance, I was my first read in this category, I do not know if I would have read it if I had known, but the blurb did it for me.
And I loved this story, it is completely different from I would have expected, there are few reference to God, except what looked as usual for the time period, plus there are sex scenes, not erotica but with enough details to not be a clean read.
I do loved all the protagonists, there is no real bad guys even some can be mean and are rather flawed.
Mary and Dave should never have met if not for her groom-to-be rejection because she didn’t fulfilled his wish for a beautiful bride, hopefully Dave was close, ready to warn her her prospected husband was not the best of choices for her, and upon seing her being rejected, he realized she was just the answer to what he had longed for sometime.
Dave is a dream comes true for any woman, he is caring, respectful and dedicated to her happiness.
« Dave found this particular woman to be intriguing. She maintained a quiet dignity in the midst of adversity. Such a woman should not be overlooked. He stepped around the stand and got his first good look at her. She didn’t possess the classic beauty most men sought, but she wasn’t ugly like Neil claimed. »
Mary has all her life be compared to her sisters, so much it is ingrained in her that she is ugly. Why she thought becoming a mail bride is her last resort to get married and have a family of her own.
Neil did her a favor when refusing her, it gave her the opportunity to meet Dave, who is such a nice and sweet man, he is the kind of person who is able to see beyond the facade, he from the beginning does not see her as ugly nor plain, he does not focus on one detail, he sees the whole package and Mary is right for him, to him to prove to her how she is pretty for him.
« He’s not one to settle for anything out of pity. He does have a gift for detecting beauty where others don’t.” »
Mary might be stubborn in agreeing with him but when all your life you were said to be unattractive, it is difficult to let go of past habits.
« she closed her eyes and enjoyed the realization that he really did think she was pretty, and it didn’t matter if he was the only one who would ever find her pleasing to look at because his opinion was the only one that mattered. »
This book is their journey to find love with and in the other. And the more they loved another, the more Mary becomes pretty in his eyes and others are also able to see her differently as she radiates from happiness.