The Convenient Mail Order Bride was a pretty "cozy" western mail order bride story that started with a deception and ended up with proper karma for all.
Phoebe answered a mail order bride advertisement when she and her mother was about to be tossed into the street. They arrived only to find that her intended groom, Abe, did not place the ad... It was written by his rival hoping to "distract" Abe from pursuing the disputed land. What's worse, Abe is half-Native American, and he had been looked down upon in town. His prickly exterior was the way he had to deal with life, and the Eastern proper lady and her mom would never understand the harsh realities of frontier life, not when his own mother was raped and his uncle killed in front of him. He was determined to send the little lady and her mom back on the stagecoach back East when it comes back. However, Phoebe turned out to be tougher than expected and had NO reservations about taking a half-breed as a husband and learning the frontier life. But with danger everywhere, can there be love as well?
Both characters are nicely written. Phoebe is both innocent AND tough (but perhaps not as tough as she imagined to be), while Abe... well, Cranky Abe would be accurate, yet there's a soft interior that well hidden, and with Phoebe's persistence, she managed to get inside. This is NOT a Christian romance (i.e. clean) but sex scenes are minimal. All in all, a pretty good variation on mail order bride that started with an oops. The ending seems a little convenient though. Mother didn't play much of a role though.
Category: Western historical, mail order bride, romantic suspense
Primary Plot: Woman and her mother arrived in frontier town only to find her intended groom did not place the ad... it was placed by his rival as a "distraction". Can she still love him? Does he want to be loved?
Tropes: mail order bride, different worlds
Overall Rating: 4/5 (rounded up from 3.5/5)
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