GRR Reviews Ruby - Book 1 Come By Chance Mail Ord by Juliet James

Ruby is one of those "mail order bride got tricked" stories, but then the trope was flipped and we got a nice surprise. There was one disturbing scene (I wouldn't call it graphic, but it was... explicit) before we finally get to the point where the girl finally gets the good guy. There was a lot of background to set up the town, so the romance itself was a bit lacking, but overall, the book was entertaining enough.

Come-by-Chance is a little town in the middle of nowhere in Montana, and there are a lot of eligible bachelors here... and never enough women. Ruby, who lost her ma and was barely scraping by as a schoolmistress in Pittsburgh, was forced to make other plans by the lecherous Mister Murphy who wanted her as a mistress when Mrs. Murphy is going away for a month. Ruby chose to take a huge chance by accepting an invitation from a Mr. James Drinkwater. However, upon arriving, turns out James is not who he seems to be... James is actually "Slim Jim", the local saloon owner, and he's already married to Lettie! What's worse, Slim Jim wanted Ruby to be one of his... saloon girls! But Lettie has other ideas... and she got Slim Jim to embark on a DIFFERENT venture... a mail order bride business! In the meanwhile, Ruby gets to meet the oldest Wilkinson brother, and it's love at first sight...

For a moment I thought the author was going to just go trope, but then she completely flipped it on us, as Lettie, who was also a mail order bride, has ulterior motives, just as Slim Jim did! (Sorry, no spoilers here) As it is, Lettie and Slim Jim are perfect for each other! The romance between Ruby and the bachelor was a bit of meh, but the twists alone made this version rise above the rest.

Category: Historical romance

Primary Plot: Ruby went to the frontier as mail-order bride; found she was tricked; but still found a good man to marry anyway...

Tropes: mail order bride, woman in peril

Overall Rating:  4/5