Finally a Bride by Vickie McDonough

Vickie McDonough is one of those authors who can do it all. She made me laugh, she moved me with sympathy, and she had me totally engrossed in this story of three romances-in-one. Jack is the headstrong daughter of Rachel from the first book in the Boardinghouse Brides series. She falls head over heals for the new preacher in town, except that the new preacher isn't really all that new to town. . . Noah has a secret. He not only used to live in Lookout, Texas, but he was the town's former schoolyard bully. If folks--especially Jack--discover his secret, he will lose everything, including his job and his hopes for love.

Rand Kessler is the wealthy bachelor from the first two books who I longed to see hitched, since he was so patient and understanding after being scorned twice. I wouldn't have minded him having a bigger role, but the center stage was rightfully occupied with Jack, Noah and also Garrett and Carly, two other returning characters.

Carly struggles to feel accepted after serving time in prison. She longs for a chance at love and family, but the constant glares from townspeople make her dreams look impossible, until Garrett Corbett comes a courtin'. He was the prankster from the first romance, who ordered three mail order brides for his cousin Luke. The trickster has mellowed with age, but retains an endearing cantankerousness that puts him and Carly at opposites. And we all know that opposites attract like north and south magnetic poles.

Finally A Bride was the best of the series, in my opinion. Historical romance has a rising star in Vickie McDonough. You won't want to miss this book!

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Christmas Mail-Order Brides

Just in time for the Holiday season, Barbour's collection of Christmas novellas made an enchanting romantic escape. Three mail-order brides head west to seek new lives and hope for love as they meet their matches through Mrs. Mayberry's Matrimonial Society for Christians of Moral Character. As a delightful conclusion, the fourth novella involves Mrs. Mayberry herself.

Carrie Turansky tugged on my heartstrings with Annika Bergstrom's story, a Swedish immigrant who must leave her newly married sister to seek a place and a husband of her own. When the man whom she believed to send for her rejects her, she faces the fear of abandonment, until an unexpected love blossoms right where God planted her. Tender, real and touching, this story kicks off the four-part novella collection with a gentle hero that stole my heart.

Next, Vickie McDonough brings an action-packed tale of a young emancipated orphan escaping the odious clutches of her new employer. Jolie Addams is bound for Nevada to set up house with a shop-owner, but when a gunman holds up the stage on which she rides and shoots her traveling companion, her plans take a detour. Can she find love in a hostile land where her very reputation is on the line? The chemistry between the hero and heroine in this novella had me up past midnight to find a great happily ever after.

Therese Stenzel writes a story of suspense and secrets between a woman scorned by her former fiance and a widower seeking a new start for himself and his daughters. Elisabeth Lariby is thrust into a contract of marriage with Zane Michaels, a gentle, philanthropic soul who longs to win her reticent heart. Their unsettled past seeks to drive a wedge between them, and they each must lay it to rest before accepting God's future for them.

Finally, I had the pleasure of reading my first Susan Page Davis story, and from the first lines, Mrs. Amelia Mayberry won me over. It takes a writer of refinement and grace to depict a character with those attributes, and Amelia was all of that and full of warm genuineness, too. Facing retirement from her matchmaking business, Amelia has one last loose string to tie--her late husband's best friend Lennox Bailey. She had failed in her prior attempt to find Lennox a suitable wife, but with God's help, she is determined to succeed this time. Will the matchmaker find the love she has sown out to so many other happy couples?

These engaging stories are sure to brighten many Christmas seasons with hope, love and a happily ever after.

The Anonymous Bride by Vickie McDonough

Vickie McDonough has released the first installment in her Texas Boardinghouse Brides series in this light-hearted romance that kept my eyes fixed and my heart racing until the very last page. Lookout, Texas gets its handsome homegrown Marshall Luke Davis back, but doesn't offer enough pretty single women of marrying age to suit Luke's cousin's ambitions for him. Garrett and Mark Corbett want to see Luke happily married to his former sweetheart Rachel, but the couples' past keeps getting in the way.

Luke feels he can never forgive her for marrying his ex-best friend, wealthy James Hamilton, but after he'd fled his hometown and joined the cavalry for eleven years God leads him back to Lookout. Rachel has become a widow in this time, and manages the Hamilton estate as a boarding house, while badly managing the upbringing of her young daughter Jacqueline. As town Marshall, Luke cannot escape Rachel's presence as his cook, laundress and maid, though he can't drop his guard enough to let her into his heart again.

When his cousins can't convince him to court Rachel, they help him along by ordering him a mail order bride. Or two. Or more.

Between the amusing and endearing antics of young Jacqueline, the ornery Corbett cousins and a whole Texas town of interesting characters, Luke and Rachel have no peace, especially when one of the potential brides brings a twist of intrigue and danger to thicken the plot.

A satisfying tale of forgiveness, trust, and second chances, The Anonymous Bride will entertain, inspire and warm the most stoic heart.

Review for A Blue and Gray Christmas

Four novellas, one seriously cool book. Okay, I admit I am a Civil War buff, BIG TIME, but that can actually play against a CW book if the research is sketchy or the characters not authentic or the plots, implausible. I was thrilled to see none of these pitfalls stuck me in this collection. In fact, I learned a few things, and enjoyed every moment of class.

In Lauralee Bliss’s Till Death Do Us Part, Seth Madison and Leah Woods must survive the invasion and ensuing battle of Fredericksburg before they can pursue their plans to wed on the New Year. Bliss does a superb job of showing a first-hand look at the disruption and chaos of civilian life under enemy assault. Her descriptions were rich and three-dimensional. Her characters’ emotions put me there, hiding from the Yankees, or complying with them under duress. She kept me reading to find out how this couple overcomes. Great kick-off to the collection.

Courage of the Heart, by Tamela Hancock Murray, switched sides of the war, with a Union-sympathizing West Virginia couple, Arabella Lambert and Barry Birch. Their betrothal is curtailed by her father, since Barry refuses to fight the Confederates for the cause. Arabella’s loyalty in faith in him resonated with me. Barry’s pacifist principles set him apart as a truly unique character. Sweet romance prevails.

Nestled like a gem in the middle of the collection was my personal favorite, Shelter in the Storm by Carrie Turansky. I am a sucker for wounded-soldier-meets-nurse plots. I wrote one myself. But this had several qualities that set it apart from the average Florence Nightingale tale. James Galloway hails from Bristol, England, a sketch artist for Harper’s Weekly. The refined heroine, Rachel Thornton, has this wonderfully real relationship with her vivacious and impulsive younger sister who thinks nothing of blurting questions of the wounded stranger. Turansky’s prose is lovely, her characters are of real flesh and blood, and her setting captivated me--Nashville 1864. A great little love story.

Finally, Vickie McDonough brings the collection to a wonderful finale with Beloved Enemy. It is hard to decide favorites, since this was as powerful in story and prose as the previous selection. In many ways, this hero was my favorite for his complexity and conflicted emotions. This novella offers a big story in a little package—Chris Haley’s recovery from the physical and spiritual wounds of war kept me turning pages. A tender man at heart, shown with interactions with the heroine’s baby boy, he must learn forgiveness before his budding romance can bloom with sweet and faithful southern-born Hannah McIntosh. Delicious internal conflict and chemistry, from start to finish.

A Blue and Gray Christmas has more vibrant color than its title suggests. This collection is sure to add a swag of red romance and golden ambiance to your holiday reading.

Wild West Christmas

Lena Nelson Dooley starts off this collection of Christmas romances with the story of Charlsey, the youngest daughter of Frank Ames , Texas rancher. This little blonde cattle-roping bombshell resists the appeal of Harold Miller whom she disparagingly refers to as “Boston” for his cold Northern upbringing. Can Harold warm up to ranching and Texas ways to sweep her off her feet in time for a Christmas wedding?

Next, Darlene Franklin brings us the tale of older sister Lucy, gifted with a keen sight with a rifle. Lucy finds more gifts than she thought she possessed as she tours in a Wild West show. Can her unique talents win the heart of the show proprietor’s son, Gordon? Will Gordon’s calling from God whisk him from the arms of this humble beauty? A special gift awaits them on Christmas.

Vickie McDonough ropes heartstrings with her yarn about Sarah Ames, the daughter who believes she should have been born a son. Sarah finds more ease among the horses than she does in the kitchen. When her father hires a new hand with her beloved horses, will her rivalry and suspicion of him prevent her from yielding to attraction to this gentle horse trainer? Will Carson Romero put his brand on her heart under the mistletoe?

Finally, the oldest Ames girl, Bess, emerges in the voice of story weaver Kathleen Y’Barbo. Bess struggles with a self-image hurt by an unflattering childhood rhyme that Joe Mueller made up about her. “Bessie Mae, plain as day.” Will her grudge against this man, now a handsome Texas ranger, harden her stubborn heart? Her father courts a neighbor widow, and she fears she will intrude upon their newlywed home if she stays an old maid forever. Can Joe win her confidence and rescue her from a fearful fate? Christmas holds the biggest surprise of all for Bess, with a new rhyme and a new life.

Wild West Christmas provides an authentic flavor of Texas ranching life at the end of the 19th Century. Each character captured the rugged independence of the lone star state, and each tale depicted a unique romance sure to capture the heart. I especially enjoyed the three dimensional characters, like Lucy’s humility despite rising to acclaim, and Sarah’s conflicting desire to make her father proud when he demands that she give up the one thing that stirs her passion—horses. Each story weaves a redemptive thread through to a satisfying conclusion.