GRR Reviews Mail Order Bride: Christy (Orphan Brides) by Vivi Holt

"Mail Order Bride: Christy" by Vivi Holt has a good setup, but the rest of the book is just mail order bride trope, about two wounded people coming together by circumstance. It's clean and spiritual, and not much more.

Christy and her parents were on their way to California when the train was robbed, and her parents were caught in the crossfire and killed. When her relatives back in Ireland contested her father's will and the money that had been left, she's stuck in Kansas, with no money, no family, and no friends (they're all on the East Coast) and nowhere to go. A kind-hearted family took her in temporarily, but she knew she can't stay. She agreed to be a mail order bride to a rancher to the south... Brent lost his love when a horse bucked her off. He had suffered years alone. He did not expect Christy to be so beautiful... and so vivacious... And Christy found Brent very... handsome. But can two total strangers love each other, under such tragic circumstances? And when misunderstanding threaten their trust? Will they work through it, or is she leaving?

Eh... somehow it's just change of heart for the ending. It's clean, it's Christian (not too much Bible talk, but enough) But it's kinda... Meh. Too much setup, not enough struggle.

Category: Historical Western

Primary Plot: Young woman lost her parents and had no money; chose to mail order bride herself to widower rancher; can they find love?

Tropes: mail order bride, orphan, family pressure, different worlds, fish out of water, widower

NOTE: We're using "widower" label on the MMC even though he wasn't actually married.

Overall Rating:  3/5