Widower Caleb Jefferson is the blacksmith in Cutter’s Creek with no desire to fall in love again. But after an incident at church, he finally sees his daughter needs a mother—and a mail order bride might be his best option. Audrey Norris has just learned her late husband had many secrets—including a house note she can’t pay. With her daughter and mother depending on her for support, her options … her options are few and mostly undesirable. After Audrey answers Caleb’s ad and they agree to marriage terms, it seems all her worries will be a thing of the past.
When Audrey arrives in Montana, Caleb tries to make it work, but can’t seem to move past his guilt over his wife’s death. Audrey prays every day for help and guidance. God is taking His time. Meanwhile, the new family grows closer while Caleb drifts further away.
Then one simple misunderstanding severs the fragile balance they’ve created. Will this be the end of Audrey and Caleb or the beginning of a lifetime of love?
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Okay, I either expect WAY too much from the books that I read or the work I’m doing for my Master’s in United States History is taking all the fun out of reading historical fiction. I hated every second of this book. Hated it.
The characters were poorly developed and the dialogue was stilted and unauthentic (especially the children’s). The ultimate crime? Boon did absolutely no research in the etiquette and world of late 19th century America, or if she did, it went in one ear and out the other. That’s harsh, I know, but you can’t write a book set in the 19th century and have the woman punch her soon to be husband in the arm as she makes a joke, you can’t call your cook by her last name only but call her husband who takes care of the grounds ‘Mister’, you can’t have a woman travel to Montana to marry a widower and have her pick a satin dress she will only wear once, and in a pastel color to boot, and you definitely can’t have immigrants landing at Ellis Island before Ellis Island was built.
The only way I will read more in the Cutters Creek series is if Annie Boon isn’t the author.
Love the whole Cutter’s Creek series. Wonderful characters and great stories.
The story itself was a good one but the writing did not flow. There was also too much repetition. I only got to 52% before I moved on to another book. My apologies to Annie Boone because I am sure she worked hard on writing this book but it was the writing itself that caused me to quit midway. It was clunky? I don’t know how to describe it. Mundane? I may eventually go back and finish it because I did not delete it from my device.
I like this book very much.
I liked this book It seemed that this is the way back in this the way it was at that time. Liked the story
I felt that this story was good until the climax at the river.
Then the whole story felt rushed to an ending.
This was also a short book.
Characters learning to trust in building new relationships!
If you a looking for a great quick read I recommend this story. Enjoyed the characters in this read. Liked the historical component of the book,
It starts real slow, the story continues slow, but it ends too quickly, in half a page. All in all, easy and cute read.
I liked this book
Greatly written
Good read.
What might seem to be just another “Eastern girl’ moving out west as a mail-order bride is all that and a lot more …. Annie Boone gives uniqueness to what could be a ho-hum story line to make it into a delightful read.
The main character, recently widowed, packs up her three generations in accepting an invitation of a hard-working blacksmith widower from Montana who has a very young daughter.
The two young girls meld quickly … the adults struggle … turning this into a delightful adaptation of how things really were in the old west.
I totally enjoyed this …. it’s really quite hard to dislike.
This is a good mail order bride book. It is the first one where her mother comes along! Both Audrey and Caleb have been married before and lost their spouse. This was to be a marriage of convenience. Caleb can’t seem to get over the guilt he feels about his first wife’s death or caring about another woman.
I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others.
The thing I like best about this author is all the stories I’ve read are clean. This story was good, but I think sometimes novellas can cheat the author and the reader out of satisfaction. The story has to be told in a quick fashion and doesn’t allow for authentic character development. I like that in this story of a mail order bride the groom has made arrangements for the two families to become familiar with each other instead of “get off the train and go to the preacher” story line. Again I felt there was more to tell with their situation than a novella allows. It felt rushed and forced. I think there is ignored potential with the rushed format. Too bad, I felt the characters and their stories held a lot of promise.
Enjoyed the book, kept me interested to the end
A clean, good read!
A fun read
I really enjoyed it
Sweet love story. It kept me entertained and I read it through in two days…