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librarydanielle's review against another edition
2.0
3 short stories about mail order brides. normally I don't read short stories, there's not enough time to get to know the characters and form relationships with them, but this sounded interesting enough I gave it a try. sadly, it was only "meh" for me. the first story was apparently the last in a series and you had no idea what was going on most of the time. the male main character was a jerk and the female annoying. I did like the second story. it reminded me of Hattie Big Sky (for adults) or a western version of Mrs. Mike. the random murder at the end was odd, and pretty unnecessary though. the third story was even more annoying than the first for me. a mail order bride sent to Alaska changed her mind so the agency sent a replacement. who just conveniently happened to be a midwife that the town desperately needed. I felt like the characters were flat and didn't like any of them very much.
I apparently need to stay away from short stories from now on, since they apparently leave me feeling cranky.
I apparently need to stay away from short stories from now on, since they apparently leave me feeling cranky.
prationality's review
2.0
All right guys let's take this one story at a time:
Rocky Mountain Wedding by Jillian Hart
This is apparently the conclusion to a trilogy of short stories featuring this family and their meddlesome mother. Having not read the other two I still found myself able to follow along and enjoy the story for itself. Mostly. While Melody believes Gabe to be mostly playing up how unhappy he is with the meddling his mother is doing, Gabe genuinely does not want anything to do with the woman. His little moments of 'well she's pretty and nice' are swiftly tossed away by his irritation.
It was a sweet story though and Melody was at least a spitfire.
Married in Missouri by Carolyn Davidson
I can't be sure how purposeful this was, but this story feels almost exactly like the first story (just minus the confusion on who's bride she's meant to be). And unfortunately MARRIED IN MISSOURI suffers for it. Lucas and Elizabeth are just...boring. And rather repeatitive. And dull. The amount of times that Lucas either says or thinks that he got the perfect woman for him is tedious and Elizabeth, for all that she doesn't want to think about her almost fiancee Amos, spends A LOT of time thinking about how glad she is she didn't get stuck with him and how much better Lucas is and how miserable her sister must be.
And the ending is just contrived and ghoulish in so many ways.
Her Alaskan Groom by Kate Bridges
This is also part of an ongoing series. Cute and fluffy, I feel a little bad since by the time I got to this story I was so irritated by the previous one that I didn't give this one quite the chance I should have. John and Sophie were interesting and had fire, but the story just was kind of there. I found it interested that Sophie was a midwife, and that certain provided some good fodder for the supporting story, but as a romance it wasn't anything special to me.
Mail Order Brides is one of my favorite tropes--and one of the only ways I'll read American historical romances. That said this wasn't a keeper collection for me and I don't feel a need to seek out the authors other titles because of it.
Rocky Mountain Wedding by Jillian Hart
This is apparently the conclusion to a trilogy of short stories featuring this family and their meddlesome mother. Having not read the other two I still found myself able to follow along and enjoy the story for itself. Mostly. While Melody believes Gabe to be mostly playing up how unhappy he is with the meddling his mother is doing, Gabe genuinely does not want anything to do with the woman. His little moments of 'well she's pretty and nice' are swiftly tossed away by his irritation.
It was a sweet story though and Melody was at least a spitfire.
Married in Missouri by Carolyn Davidson
I can't be sure how purposeful this was, but this story feels almost exactly like the first story (just minus the confusion on who's bride she's meant to be). And unfortunately MARRIED IN MISSOURI suffers for it. Lucas and Elizabeth are just...boring. And rather repeatitive. And dull. The amount of times that Lucas either says or thinks that he got the perfect woman for him is tedious and Elizabeth, for all that she doesn't want to think about her almost fiancee Amos, spends A LOT of time thinking about how glad she is she didn't get stuck with him and how much better Lucas is and how miserable her sister must be.
And the ending is just contrived and ghoulish in so many ways.
Her Alaskan Groom by Kate Bridges
This is also part of an ongoing series. Cute and fluffy, I feel a little bad since by the time I got to this story I was so irritated by the previous one that I didn't give this one quite the chance I should have. John and Sophie were interesting and had fire, but the story just was kind of there. I found it interested that Sophie was a midwife, and that certain provided some good fodder for the supporting story, but as a romance it wasn't anything special to me.
Mail Order Brides is one of my favorite tropes--and one of the only ways I'll read American historical romances. That said this wasn't a keeper collection for me and I don't feel a need to seek out the authors other titles because of it.
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