Book Review: A Bride for Keeps by Melissa Jagears

Back Cover: Everett Cline will never humiliate himself by seeking a mail-order bride. Not again. He's already been jilted by three mail-order brides and figures a wife just isn't in his future. However, a well-meaning neighbor hasn't given up on seeing him settled, so she goes behind his back to bring yet another woman to town for him.

Julia Lockwood has never been anything more than a pretty pawn for her father or a business acquisition for her former fiance. A mail-order marriage in faraway Kansas is a last resort, but she'll do anything to leave her life in Massachusetts and the heartbreak she's experienced there.

Although Everett doesn't see how a beautiful, cultured woman like Julia could be happy sharing his simple life, he could really use a helpmate on his homestead. Determined to prove she's more than just a pretty face, Julia agrees to a marriage in name only. Faced with the harsh realities of life on the prairie and hesitant to explore the tentative feelings growing between them, can Everett and Julia ever let each other in long enough to fall in love?

My Review: I didn't know much about this book when it came up for review, but based on the back cover blurb, I decided to take a chance on it. I'm glad I did. This is a fun story with a twist on the mail-order bride theme. I enjoyed these characters and the situations that they get involved in. I love the meddling friend and how everything works out in the end, even though the main male character needs to have his head knocked in for being so stubborn. I'm looking forward to seeing what Jagears puts out next.

My Rating:

My Recommendation: I recommend this book to readers who like mail-order bride stories.

Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group.