TBR Challenge Review: Mail-Order Bride

Mail-Order Bride
Maureen McKade
Historical Romance/Western
Avon/January 5, 2000

A MATCH

Kate Murphy arrives in the Rocky Mountain mining town as a mail-order bride— just in time to discover she's a widow before she's a wife. Looking to earn the stagecoach fare out of this dangerous town, Kate never expects the true peril to come in the tantalizing form of Trev Trevelyan. 

MADE IN HEAVEN

The handsome mine superintendent desperately needs someone to care for his two young, motherless children, and Kate is delighted to take the job. But first the children capture her heart...and then the leaping attraction between sweet Kate and the smolderingly handsome Trev is too powerful to deny. Although Kate longs for the safety of his arms, will she ever be able to accept the danger of his life?

This month's suggested theme is Westerns and boy do I love a western! I had plenty to choose from and decided to go with one of my favorite tropes - the mail-order bride.  I've read a couple of books from this author so I was curious to see how well she could make me believe in the mail-order bride romance.

A mining town is a dangerous place, not only for miners but for single women. Kate Murphy doesn't plan to stay single long, she just needs to find her fiancé. When Kate learns her intended has just been killed in a mine accident she is desperate to get out of this rough town and to the nearest city, Denver.  Fate places Kate in the path of Trev Trevelyan and she is hired to care for his children.  It's funny because Kate has no experience but Trev doesn't have a lot of options so he trusts Kate. I think her looks helped her get the job if only on a subconscious level since Trev definitely noticed Kate's looks.  I did like Kate's tenacity that was balanced with her ignorance of mining and the culture of the mining town.

Trev Trevelyan is a very busy mining supervisor, putting in long hours with little time for his children.  The time he does spend with them, he cherishes which made me like him.  He did come across as very driven to succeed at all costs.  This was due to him growing up the very poor son of a miner in Cornwall.  If it hadn't been for his relationships with his children he would have felt distant, a character with little warmth.  Eventually that warmth was shown towards Kate but the convenience factor did play a role in their romance.  Kate was there in Trev's home with no other respectable options for earning money.  They did make time to talk and get to know each other but it felt contrived.

The town itself, the mine in particular, play an important role in Kate and Trev's romance.  Trev being the superintendent for a number of mines has his future tied to the wealth and future of the mines.  Kate doesn't like the danger of the mines or the violence that springs up with the miners and talk of unions. The tension between Kate and Trev is fueled by the drama surrounding the mines.  Even with that drama, the plot moved fairly slowly and predictably.  The antagonists were obvious, even the one(s) who were not suppose to be.  The romance too was predictable with Kate determined to leave and Trev wanting Kate to stay and take care of his children and him as well.  Kate was portrayed as an independent woman wanting to make her own way but this was after her fiancé died which didn't fit with a mail-order bride scenario.  

Mail-Order Bride might be suffering from predictability but that won't keep me from trying more western romances from this author. 

Rating: C

Review: A Reason to Believe

A Reason to Believe
Maureen McKade
Historical Western Romance
Texas/1868
Forrester Brothers/Book 2
Berkley/August 7, 2007

From the back cover ~

How do you pick up the pieces of a shattered life?

To escape her angry father, Dulcie McDaniel got pregnant - but lost her husband in a fatal accident. Penniless, she returned home with her little girl - only to have her world shattered once again. Lonely and filled with regrets, Dulcie struggles to provide a decent life for her daughter. Then a handsome stranger arrives...

Dulcie, usually shunned by proper folks, is suspicious of Rye Forrester, a drifter offering to work for his keep. But after he helps harvest the crops, her feelings toward the handsome stranger turn in to a consuming mutual passion. Although Rye wears the brand of an army deserter, Dulcie is thrilled to be with such a good man. But Rye has his own secrets. He can't understand why his late friend cheated on such a beautiful wife - or how he can now ask Dulcie's forgiveness for his part in her husband's death. Love is one thing - acceptance and forgiveness another. When their tragic pasts catch up with them, these two wounded souls must fight for the love that will keep them together for a lifetime...

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, A Reason to Live, and finally got around to reading Rye Forrester's story. Unfortunately, it wasn't as engaging as Creede's story. The writing was still good but the plot moved too slowly and I didn't feel that "click" of connection with the hero and the heroine.

Dulcie McDaniel is a young mother with little prospects for a happy life. Her one ray of hope is her four year old daughter, Madeline. Her father has just been buried and with her husband having been dead for months, all responsibility for the family farm falls to Dulcie. She has so much weight on her shoulders it's a wonder she could stand up. She has to get her crop in if she and her daughter have a chance of surviving the winter. I don't know what she would have done if Rye hadn't shown up and offered to help. Realistically, there was no way she could have done it by herself and there wasn't anyone else offering to help.

Rye Forrester carries a load of guilt. He's on a mission to make amends and hopefully relieve some of that guilt. On the surface he's a decent man but he has his share of ghosts. He hasn't had an easy life, growing up in an orphanage, then joining the army. I didn't get any sense of who he really was. He called himself a drifter and that's pretty much what he was. He didn't look towards the future and much of the time acted like he didn't really care what the future held for him. He was a hard worker and while he did come to care for Dulcie I couldn't help but wonder how much of that lay in the guilt he felt regarding her husband's death.

Together, Dulcie and Rye have many obstacles to overcome. In a town where most of the townfolks shun Dulcie, some thinking she little better than a whore, it's no wonder she keeps to herself. The bright spot in Dulcie's life also becomes a bright spot in Rye's life. I liked how the relationship of Rye and Dulcie also included Madeline. There was no way she could not be included and still have their love story work. Along with Madeline is another child that Rye helps. An orphan boy who was taken in by a local family out of obligation rather than compassion. Seeing how these four develop into a family was one of the better part of the book.

The difficulties continue to mount, life in rural Texas if tough but it felt like Rye and Dulcie would never get a break. Just for a second, when things are going well, BAM, they're hit with another crisis. I wish they would have had more happiness but instead it all came at the end when everything is resolved as best it could be and Rye and Dulcie create a new family. The ending came too quick and too neat after all the turmoil that preceded it.

So, I do have the next book on the tbr pile and I do want to read it, if only to see what happened to the remaining Forrester brother. I just don't think I'll be reading it anytime soon.

Rating: C+

Books in this trilogy ~

A Reason to Live
A Reason to Believe
A Reason to Sin

Numbers and Favorites of 2009...

2009 marks the first year that I actually kept track of what I read. I used a simple Excel spreadsheet, keeping track of basic information. I plan to do the same thing for 2010 with maybe a few more columns of information - like date reviewed and grade. I'm still playing around with it but it's getting there.

Total books read- (includes ebooks and audio books): 156

Out of those 156 there were 5 ebooks (I think I missed a few and this is higher) and 33 audio books. Which leaves 118 print books. What surprised me are the number of audio books. I did get a new mp3 player for a birthday present last month and it is wonderful! I download the books from the library website and then upload to the mp3 player all in under 5 minutes. It's so much better than lugging the CD's around. And I can do it all from home!

My favorites of 2009:

Since I didn't review every book I read I decided to use the spreadsheet. As it turns out, I reviewed all but one on the list. I went through and selected my 10 favorite reads of the year. Why 10? I had to stop somewhere and 10 is a nice round number. Most do a top 10 list so I figured why not me? I decided not to include re-reads since many of those are keepers and would have probably taken up half the list. :)

When choosing, I picked the books that stood out and left the most vivid memories. Not all are A+ books but they all left an impact on me.

Stranger/ Megan Hart

Moon Called/Patricia Briggs

Magic Strikes/Ilona Andrews

Gabriel's Ghost/Linnea Sinclair*

Deathwish/Rob Thurman

Dream a Little Dream/Susan Elizabeth Phillips

A Reason to Live/Maureen McKade

The Hunger Games/Suzanne Collins

How I Live Now/Meg Rosoff

Joe’s Wife/Cheryl St. John

Special Mention ~ Promises in Death/J. D. Robb (audio) - this book was such an emotional read(listen) for me. It's definitely one of my favorites in the series.

*I don't know why I didn't review Gabriel's Ghost. I do remember reading it and getting sucked into the amazing world that Sinclair created. If you haven't read it, you're missing a wonderful story.

And that's it for 2009. Here's to some great reads for 2010!

Review: A Reason to Live

Title: A Reason to Live
Author: Maureen McKade
Genre: Historical Romance/1865/U.S.
Published: September 2006
Series: Forrester Brothers Trilogy/Book 1

From the back cover ~

How could I refuse the wish of a dying man?

May 30, 1865: During the Civil War, I watched over too many young boys in the hospital, comforting them as they cried out for those they loved, as they whispered their final thoughts to me. Keeping a record of their names, families, and last words seemed a small tribute to their sacrifice--until the war ended, and I found a new mission in life.

I would visit the loved ones of those poor soldiers and deliver their messages, so that some comfort could be found even in grief...

But Laurel Covey never expected to find a man like Creede Forrester--an ex-gunslinger who rode all the way from Texas to Virginia in the hope of finding his son, and ended up saving her from a band of ruffians. It pains her deeply to tell him of his boy's death, and she believes that in his heart, Creede blames himself for driving his son away. But there is something more to this rugged, weary man. Something that draws Laurel closer to him...something she cannot resist...

I'm not sure why I picked up Maureen McKade's books from the library. I think it might have been another Kristie influence. :) Whoever suggested McKade ~ thank you! Back in the day when almost all I read were historicals, one of my favorites settings was the American west. I love cowboys, horses, gunslingers (current or reformed) and the women who were just as tough as the men but usually smelled better. :) There's just something about a man who can ride a horse well, it's a thing of beauty. I know I definitely romanticise the great outdoors and just overlook the lack of indoor plumbing but it still has great appeal for me.

This isn't what I would call a typical western. The heroine isn't a young virgin running from a bad guy and the hero isn't the no name bounty hunter that the townsfolk whisper about. The heroine, Laurel Covey, is a war widow in her late twenties. She was a nurse for the Confederacy army but now the war is over. She has no home and her family in Massachusetts disowned her when she married a southerner, choosing to follow his allegiance to the south. What she does have is her journal and the names of the soldiers who died while under her care. In those names are some of the last words that nearly two dozen of those soldiers spoke. Laurel has taken up the quest of delivering those last words to the families of those soldiers. It's all she has to live for.

The widower father of one of those dead soldiers is Creede Forrester. He tries to come across as a simple man but he is so very complex. He's a reformed hired gun who set his gun aside when he fell in love with his wife Anna, becoming a family man. He's older now, mid 30's, and with the losss of his son he's lost his reason to stay on the right side of the law. When he received word that his son Austin was wounded during the war he traveled east to Virginia, hoping to find his son. Creede didn't believe in fighting in the war, living in Texas he didn't feel it was their war to fight. So when Austin left, it was with harsh words and bitter feelings between the father and son. Creede doesn't find his son but finds Laurel instead. He stops two men from stealing from her and worse. When Laurel realizes that Creede's son is in her journal she breaks the news to Creede. Creeded decides to travel with Laurel to Texas, her last stop on her quest.

I really liked both Laurel and Creede but they are not happy-go-lucky characters. There's a dark sadness surrounding both of them. Laurel is suffering from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) but she thinks she's going crazy. Creede is grieving for his son and everything he's lost. They've both nearly given up on life. Laurel really can't see her life beyond finishing her quest and Creede has no real desire to return to his home. Escorting Laurel to Texas gives him a reason to return there. Creede, I think latched on to Laurel not only because he felt the need to protect a woman traveling alone but also because he felt something for her. He may not have recognized his feelings at first but just the fact that he actually felt something other than grief and pain was different. They do have bright and funny moments in their travels and their growing relationship. It's like glimpses of the light at the end of the tunnel. They just have to make it through that tunnel.

The people and places that Laurel and Creede travel to all play a part of their discovering of each other. The people they help along the way and the ones that treat them with caution and distrust. The country is a scary place so soon after the end of the war. People are trying to recover from such horrendous loss and deprivation. The mistrust and anger they feel as a defeated people comes through in McKade's writing. The sorrow, desperation and anger is right there along with the seeds of hope and the need to go on. When Laurel goes to the homes of the deceased soldiers she has no idea what type of reception she'll receive. The reactions vary and the weight of of her guilt is such a burden for Laurel. Creede is there to help shoulder that burden even when Laurel continues to tell him she doesn't need him.

So if you're expecting a funny, light romantic read, this isn't it. A Reason to Live does pull the reader in and makes you care about these two people. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. It's not an easy read with it's flashbacks of what Laurel experienced during the war. And it surprised me by how short is was, just under 300 pages, but still packed in a heck of a lot of story and character development. I really feel like I got to know these two people and needed to find out how they would get their HEA.

A Reason to Live is the first book in a trilogy. The second book, A Reason to Believe, is the story of Creede's brother Rye Forrester. The third book, A Reason to Sin, is the story of Slater Forrester, also Creede's brother. My guess is that they are stand alone but I'm definitely reading the next two and calling it a trilogy. :) Ms. McKade and her books can be found here.

Rating: A-