A Highwayman's Mail Order Bride
Author: Blythe Carver Series: Westward Hearts #1
Release date: June 14th 2018
Genres: Adult, Historical, Romance
Pages: 196
Format: eBook
Source: Amazon
Add to TBR: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon UK | Amazon US | The Book Depository | Kobo
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Star rating:Heat rating:
The last thing a mail order bride needs is a highwayman’s intervention in the form of a stagecoach robbery. Especially when time is of the essence and she needs a father for her baby. Preferably before she begins to show.
When Melissa married John Carter because her family couldn’t afford to feed her, she had no idea of the cruelty of the man. John Carter beats her mercilessly and makes her life a living hell.
After seeing an ad in the paper for paid passage westward, she answers the ad in the hopes to use the ticket to escape John Carter.
She gets on a coach from Boston, heading west, with no money, and needing a roof over her head. Not just for herself, but for the baby she’s carrying, a baby she has to save from John Carter’s cruelty. Expecting a baby has changed the stakes for Melissa. She must provide a safe and loving home for the child. Time if of the essence if she is to marry in time to convince her new husband that the baby she’ll give birth to is his.A stagecoach robbery is a deterrent she did not count on, nor need. When the robbers learn her husband is a wealthy rancher, she’s taken hostage, costing her precious time in a plan that hinges on timeliness. She hates the leader of the highwaymen. Hates him with a passion and is beyond angry that the time is ticking while he negotiates her ransom.
Jed Cunningham’s a highwayman, certainly, but one with honor. And a heart, it seems. He can’t stand the idea of sending the stunning feisty Melissa Carter to marry a rich rancher. She’s precisely the kind of woman who needs to be loved. But she doesn’t seem to see that.
The Faerie Queen’s review
Have you ever read a book and disliked it right from the start, but then kept reading anyway? Usually, I’ll DNF things if I’m not enjoying them. But I also sort of wanted to see where this one went? Plus, I started reading this while going through a significant depression wave, and my brain could only handle the equivalent of plain oats or something.
I can tell you a few things about A Highwayman’s Mail Order Bride.
1) Lots of men die.
2) There’s a lot of domestic abuse mentioned, so beware.
3) The book could do with another round of proofreading (typos, missing words, etc.).
4) There is no sex. Hell, there’s barely any kissing. Some of y’all are looking for romances like this, but I at least want to Grade A makeout scenes. Plural. The next romance I read has to be sexy AF or I’ll be mad.
5) For that matter, there isn’t a lot of chemistry, more just the reader being told that the hero and heroine have suddenly developed feelings for each other. I didn’t actually feel anything myself, none of that fizziness in my chest. The two of them go from hating each other to loving each other with no real in-between state. We skip through the whole bonding stage while they’re travelling together and come out the other side with a lot of pining. Missed opportunity! (Although then the book would have been longer, which means I’d have wasted more time.)
6) I would like a map. The route makes no sense to me. Why’d they swing down through North Texas? (This could very well just be because I don’t know my historical American transport routes.)
7) And how much time actually passes between the heroine getting pregnant and her arrival at her destination??? Over a month, surely????? The timeline seems kinda unbelievable.
Number 4 though. I mean, I stuck it out through this book and all I got was one measly makeout scene that didn’t even give me a warm glow, let alone spice things up. This whole book was meh with no reward. Hell if I’m reading any more in the series. Good thing this book was (is?) free.
I would recommend this book to…
people who enjoy eating plain toast.
What are your thoughts?