A Bride in the Bargain by Deeanne GistBook 78 of 100 for the 100+ Reading Challenge
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I really liked the Seattle setting of this historical romance set in the 1860s. It was a time when women were scarce in the West, but plentiful in the East in the aftermath of the Civil War. One enterprising man decided to go to the East to buy brides for the men in the West. Some of the potential brides, however, had no idea the men were expecting to marry. They thought they were joining on to be cooks, nannies, or teachers.
And thus we have the story of Joe Denton and Anna Ivey. He needs a bride, but she needs to escape from her life in Massachusetts. She was firmly decided she would never marry because everyone she got close to died. But if Joe doesn't get a legal bride quickly, he will lose half of the land that supports his life as a lumberjack.
Gist does a good job with the sexual tension between the characters. The book is very clean, although there are less religious elements in this book than her others. But the two main characters came up with the most ridiculous and immature reasons as to why they shouldn't be together. They just started to get on my nerves and I had a hard time finding parts of it believable. It also could have ended about 2/3 of the way through, and I would have been perfectly satisfied.
It was good light and fluffy read, but not great. I would recommend The Measure of a Lady and Deep in the Heart of Trouble before this one.
You can read the first two chapters here.
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4 comments:
I haven't read much historical fiction, but it's a genre I want to explore more, so I don't think this one's for me.
I was hoping this would be better as I have it sitting in my tbr pile.
I would have picked this up because of the title. Thanks for the review and the recommendations of books to read instead!
Sometimes light and fluffy is good! I like your recommendations instead though!
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