What happens when a lie turns into love?Honor was never a high priority for the thieves and charlatans Gemma Spurling was raised with. When she’s finally old enough to break free of her mother’s control, dear ol’ Mum has other ideas. Just one more swindle, she says, but Gemma knows it will never stop. The only way to live the honorable life she truly wants is to escape Ottawa forever. The only … forever. The only trouble is she has no friends, no prospects and no money, so she turns to Mountie matchmaker extraordinaire Miss Hazel Hughes for help.
Some might say Colton Leeds is naive. He prefers to think he’s trusting. Having grown up in a small town where nobody lies — and don’t try to tell him otherwise — Colton believes in absolutes. Right and wrong, good and evil, and nothing in between. As a newly minted Mountie, he can’t wait to arrive at his first posting and bring all wrongdoers to justice. But first he and his fellow Mounties must stop at the home of Miss Hazel to find wives to take with them into the great white Ontario wilderness.
The moment Gemma meets Colton in Miss Hazel’s parlor, she knows she’s found the perfect pigeon. She just needs to fool him into thinking she’s the perfect wife until she can figure out a way to strike out on her own. But it doesn’t take long for Gemma to realize life with Colton was the life she’d dreamed of all along. When an evil man from her past threatens to tear down everything she’s built, Gemma must choose between her life with Colton and her honor.
Mail Order Mounties is a multi-author series set in Canada during the early 1900s. Join authors Kirsten Osbourne, Kay P. Dawson, Cassie Hayes and Amelia Adams as they bring you stories of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police and the mail-order brides who love them.
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LIVING—LEARNING—LOVING—TOGETHER—FOREVER
The stories are the creation of talented multi-authors and each focus on Miss Hazel Hughes, a self-appointed matchmaker and the mail-order brides she locates for single members of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police. Each story in this series will read as a standalone. The story is a clean historical situated in Canada with a great cast of characters and plenty of humor. This story will take the reader on a journey of discovery and will bring the con-artist and law enforcement together in marriage.
Another group of Mounties, preparing to leave for a very remote post in Reindeer Ridge call upon Miss Hazel to assist them in finding a wife to go with them. The ladies have been with her training in the arts of housekeeping and cooking. On this adventure, instead of her and the brides she matches up with the Mounties, they will be coming to her home, and each lady will be in a separate room and have a Round Robin visit from the men to find their brides.
Among the brides is Gemma Spurling, needing to get away from Ottawa and her con-artist mother, Bronwen. Maybe once she is gone, she can start a new life and feels bad about her method of starting over. When the Mounties show up, the first man scares her and she play-acts as a silly young girl to have him leave, but what happens when the second man, Colton Leeds, enters? There is a connection and within moments of talking her offers her marriage.
Colton Leeds has left his family for an adventure and to do something besides the family business of fishing. He believes straight up that it is right or wrong and with absolutely no grey area.
“You should know this about me. I’m a man of conviction. I believe in right and wrong, good and evil. I believe if you break the law, you deserve justice. Everyone has a choice. Sometimes choosing to do good is harder, but it’s the only way.”
A marriage between these two will come with secrets and a shady past from Gemma, not something she chose but was forced on a child by her mother. From the time on the train to their new home is challenging and gives her an idea what life will be like keeping that secret, but she is sure she isn’t the only one of the brides with secrets. From rescuing a widowed mother and her two children, moving them into their home will give Gemma and Colton distance while learning more about each other. Gemma will learn more about compassion and Lilly will teach her about cooking. But when trouble comes calling in the form of evil men, what will happen?
The story takes on many challenges and will be full of lessons of life for both the straightforward Colton and the checkered-past Gemma. Will she be able to keep her secrets or will the past come to haunt her? How far and to what extent will a parent go to protect their children? The harsh winter has her trapped in the area, and with it comes danger. Will Gemma and Colton find love and forgiveness before its too late?
“We can’t do anything about our past. We both have to remember that, as hard as it might be. If we do, maybe we can each find the happiness we’ve been denied for so long.”
Gemma is desperately trying to get away from the crimes her mother has made her partake in. She finds a way to escape her and runs to Miss Hazel just in time to have a choice of one of the four mounties coming to her house.
Colton is a mountie who believe in right and wrong and is a bit naive in his thinking. He doesn’t see gray you are either innocent or guilty. He picks Gemma and she plans to use him to get out of Ottawa.
She doesn’t plan to fall in love or help anyone else. A great read and I think Gemma is one of the best heroine’s in the series. She has grown and helped others despite what she has been through. The characters are great and Colton learns a few things along the way as well.
Each time I read one of the Mail Order Mountie books I feel like it is the best one yet! Colton Leeds and Gemma Spurling have so much to learn about life and love. Gemma a “street smart” girl and Colton a young man from a town that he grew up only knowing good have so much to conquer. Can they do it and remain together? Time will tell. Marrying Colton was supposed to be a short term save for Gemma. I don’t want to spoil the fun but this is a must read and you will truly enjoy this book. Cassie Hayes writes from the heart and You will see that the minute you start to read. I couldn’t put it down.
I received an ARC of this book for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.