GRR Reviews The Accidental Mail Order Bride by Ruth Ann Nordin

The Accidental Mail-Order Bride pushed the "reluctant bride and groom" trope to the breaking point, and barely managed to complete a story. The setup was way overboard.

Allie Jones arrived at the Colorado town late, after having to testify at a murder trial on the train. She expected to be married, only to find that her groom had married someone else came off the train that day by accident! Now Allie has NO groom, and the only other job available... is at the saloon. Fortunately, her former groom, who's also the sheriff, had a candidate in mind... Travis Martin is an outcast in town. He is heavily scarred in the face from a bad bout of chicken pox when he was young, and that turned him into an extremely shy young man who became legendary in town as the boogeyman to scare children with, with all sorts of crazy rumors. When his friend the sheriff and his wife arrived to marry her off to him, he can't accept, but he can't let her work in the saloon either. He reluctantly accepted her as his wife... But living in separate buildings, and even then he felt unworthy. But Allie is intrigued... Is he really a monster, or just a misunderstood young man?

The setup is way overboard to the point of ridiculousness, that basically push the trope to the point I am almost unable to take it seriously. It was WAY beyond awkward. It wasn't until they finally met face to face that the story managed to veer back to average, and just barely, rounded up.

Category: Historical Western

Primary Plot: Mail order bride arrived to find her groom had married someone else; can she marry the town's outcast instead?

Tropes: rescluse, mail order bride, fish out fo water, different worlds

Overall Rating:  3/5