jjares reviewed Mail Order Bride Collection (A Timeless Romance Anthology) (Volume 16) on + 3255 more book reviews
After purchasing this through Kindle, I'm disappointed. The reader cannot jump from one chapter (in a single story) through the Table of Contents. Once you start the story, you must flip every page to find the right place.
Timeless Romance Books are the primary publisher of these stories (another company didn't previously publish them). I picked up this volume because of Sarah M Eden, Annette Lyon, and Heather B Moore; I enjoy their work. I'm not familiar with the other three authors.
WRITTEN IN HER HEART (Stacy Henrie) -- 2 stars
This story drove me crazy; why does an author jump around with a story? The story bounced forward and back in time. Each chapter was at a different time. It destroyed the continuity of the story the author was trying to tell. By chapter eight, I didn't care about Georgie or Clay. Part of the reason I read anthologies is to find new authors. This method of writing was a total turn-off.
WANTED: MIDWIFE BRIDE (Kristin Holt) -- E
Delightful! Naomi has been married for two years to another physician. However, she recently saw that her husband's mistress is pregnant. Although she planned to divorce her husband, he beat her to it. He and the head of the hospital claim that Naomi (also a physician) killed the city mayor, although she neither treated nor saw the patient. She escaped with the clothes she wore and the money in her pocket. Naomi was a wealthy woman before she married, and her husband took over her property and money.
Naomi sent a telegram to a physician looking for a midwife to help him in Wyoming Territory (for about two years). Although claiming to be a midwife, Naomi is a certified physician and surgeon. Instead of being upset that Naomi was more than a midwife, Joe Chambers immediately painted a new sign stating their names and credentials. Then, everything is turned on its ear when news comes from New York City via the newspapers.
THE SOUND OF HOME (Annette Lyon) -- VG
Because Marilyn was threatened if she would not marry a man she despised, she became a mail-order bride to escape New York City. Tom and Harry are brothers who have a hard-scrabble existence in Wyoming Territory. Harry, who fell on his head when younger (and became a permanent nine or ten-year-old), gets the idea to send for a mail-order bride to take care of them. Someone in the town helps Harry complete the process, and when Marilyn arrives, Tom is stunned.
FOR BETTER OR WORSE (Sarah M Eden) -- G+
This was a real disappointment because Ms. Eden writes such engaging stories. The only thing interesting about this tale was the couple's incompatibility at the start. They each refused to marry the other. They knew each other from years before. The minister tells them they must accept and learn to live with their promise (of marriage).
AN INCONVENIENT BRIDE (Heather B Moore) -- 2 stars
This is a worn-out trope with no redeeming characteristics. A young mail-order bride arrives just after her intended dies. What to do, what to do? (This, from Heather B Moore?)
THE PRICE OF SILVER (Sian Ann Bessey) -- G
A mail-order bride arrives just after her intended left to follow a silver strike elsewhere. Thus, Caleb Walker and his mother were left to clean up the mess of a young woman's devastation. Same old; same old.
Timeless Romance Books are the primary publisher of these stories (another company didn't previously publish them). I picked up this volume because of Sarah M Eden, Annette Lyon, and Heather B Moore; I enjoy their work. I'm not familiar with the other three authors.
WRITTEN IN HER HEART (Stacy Henrie) -- 2 stars
This story drove me crazy; why does an author jump around with a story? The story bounced forward and back in time. Each chapter was at a different time. It destroyed the continuity of the story the author was trying to tell. By chapter eight, I didn't care about Georgie or Clay. Part of the reason I read anthologies is to find new authors. This method of writing was a total turn-off.
WANTED: MIDWIFE BRIDE (Kristin Holt) -- E
Delightful! Naomi has been married for two years to another physician. However, she recently saw that her husband's mistress is pregnant. Although she planned to divorce her husband, he beat her to it. He and the head of the hospital claim that Naomi (also a physician) killed the city mayor, although she neither treated nor saw the patient. She escaped with the clothes she wore and the money in her pocket. Naomi was a wealthy woman before she married, and her husband took over her property and money.
Naomi sent a telegram to a physician looking for a midwife to help him in Wyoming Territory (for about two years). Although claiming to be a midwife, Naomi is a certified physician and surgeon. Instead of being upset that Naomi was more than a midwife, Joe Chambers immediately painted a new sign stating their names and credentials. Then, everything is turned on its ear when news comes from New York City via the newspapers.
THE SOUND OF HOME (Annette Lyon) -- VG
Because Marilyn was threatened if she would not marry a man she despised, she became a mail-order bride to escape New York City. Tom and Harry are brothers who have a hard-scrabble existence in Wyoming Territory. Harry, who fell on his head when younger (and became a permanent nine or ten-year-old), gets the idea to send for a mail-order bride to take care of them. Someone in the town helps Harry complete the process, and when Marilyn arrives, Tom is stunned.
FOR BETTER OR WORSE (Sarah M Eden) -- G+
This was a real disappointment because Ms. Eden writes such engaging stories. The only thing interesting about this tale was the couple's incompatibility at the start. They each refused to marry the other. They knew each other from years before. The minister tells them they must accept and learn to live with their promise (of marriage).
AN INCONVENIENT BRIDE (Heather B Moore) -- 2 stars
This is a worn-out trope with no redeeming characteristics. A young mail-order bride arrives just after her intended dies. What to do, what to do? (This, from Heather B Moore?)
THE PRICE OF SILVER (Sian Ann Bessey) -- G
A mail-order bride arrives just after her intended left to follow a silver strike elsewhere. Thus, Caleb Walker and his mother were left to clean up the mess of a young woman's devastation. Same old; same old.
