GRR Reviews Roberta: Bride of Wisconsin by Kirsten Osbourne

Roberta was a mail order bride story with a bit of sass and attitude, which was certainly fresh air when most mail order bride stories are about weak women forced by circumstances!

Roberta McDaniel felt responsible after the factory she managed was burned down by the owner to cover up embezzling. With dozens of women out of job, she recommended those with no family to go back to become mail order brides, and she lead the way. She went west to Wisconsin to become new wife of a widower, Jakob, with two kids, but both Jakob and Roberta found neither is what the other expected. Jakob was not ready for a competent and independent woman with a temper, while Bobbie wasn't ready for a hostile kid, Jakob's continue pining for his dead wife, and Jakob's fortune (he's known locally as the lumber baron). Can such a pairing work?

Wow, Roberta was basically super frontier woman, who make bake, cook, make clothes, read / write, manage a business, do figures, and raise kids! Jakob was no slouch to have made his fortune, but how can he NOT fall in love with superwoman? But it's also a bit... over the top? Still, the polish made this worth a read.

Category: Historical Western

Primary Plot: Woman forced by circumstances married herself out west to be widower's new wife and mother to two kids

Tropes: scars, different worlds, mail order bride, widower, super woman, single parent

Overall Rating:  4/5 (rounded up from 3.5/5)