GRR Reviews The Montana Bride (The Marvells) by Jeannie Watt

The Montana Bride sets up an interesting reunion, runaway bride, different worlds, AND secret baby romance and managed to juggle all the tropes without too many cliches.

Jacie Rose ran away from her hometown of Cherry Lake years ago. A drunken party got her pregnant, and her stepfather beat her for besmirching his name and his reputation. She was about to ask her best male friend Brett to marry her just to save her when she realized she'd be saddling him with her for life, so she ran. Ten years later, she is a certified building engineer and is happily raising her daughter... And just took a job back in Cherry Lake to rebuild the historical hotel. She never imagined she'd be next door neighbors to Brett, after all these years. // Brett was sad that Jacie had jilted him that day ten years ago, but he can understand why. Now that she's back, he's not letting her go... But Jacie refuses to take a lover, as she refuses to choose between her daughter and her love, as her daughter always comes first. But as pressure mounts on the project and her step-father as slimy as ever, will Jacie want to lean on Brett for support?

The knee in the balls for the end was okay, but somehow, the "big evil" was built up to be some boogeyman, and if that's all that's needed it didn't quite come across as satisfying. Brett just comes across a bit too passive, IMHO.

Category: Contemporary / Western

Primary Plot: Single mom went back to her hometown, now with a career and daughter, found the man she left behind 10 years ago still waiting

Overall Rating: 4/5

NOTE: Tropes are now in the "Labels" below.