Kate Bridges
Author of The Surgeon
Series
Works by Kate Bridges
Wild West Kiss 1 copy
Her Alaskan Groom 1 copy
Associated Works
A Season of the Heart (Rocky Mountain Christmas / The Christmas Gifts / The Christmas Charm) (2005) — Contributor — 42 copies, 1 review
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Other names
- Maddison, Kate
- Birthdate
- 1959
- Short biography
- Kate Bridges was born on 1959, growing up in the pretty farmland of Ontario, Canada, then later the Alberta prairies, she developed a love for wide-open spaces, country sunshine and the Rocky Mountains.
Prior to being a full-time writer of historical romance novels—Canadian and American Westerns—Kate worked for years as a pediatric intensive-care nurse; she often includes medical adventure in her stories. Later she studied architecture and interior design, landing a job as a researcher for a television design program. Booking guests from around the world and coming up with topics of interest to viewers, Kate now uses those research skills to pen her own novels.
An award-winning and USA Today bestselling author, Kate Bridges has been published since 2002. Her first Mountie novel, The Surgeon, was nominated for Best Western of the Year by Romantic Times magazine, and The Engagement was short-listed for Best Hero of the Year. Several of her novels received the magazine’s Best Hero of the Month honor, and others were chosen as Top Picks! and Buried Treasure of the Year on reader Web sites. Frontier Christmas hit the USA Today bestseller list. Her books have been translated into nine languages and are sold worldwide. In Canada, her novels are being studied in over a dozen colleges in commercial-fiction writing courses.
Married, Kate had a child. In her spare time, she enjoys going to movies, studying comedy, recreational flying with her husband and exploring the great Canadian wild. She’s currently writing a series set during the Klondike Gold Rush, and visited the Yukon and Alaska for research. She had fun panning for gold. - Nationality
- Canada
- Places of residence
- Ontario, Canada
Alberta, Canada - Associated Place (for map)
- Canada
Members
Reviews
Mail-Order Marriages: Rocky Mountain WeddingMarried in MissouriHer Alaskan Groom (Harlequin Historical) by Jillian Hart
The mail-order marriages aspect immediately appealed to me and was the reason why I bought this book. I wanted to see how the various authors would handle the subject. I was a little surprised at how repetitious the stories felt, considering there were only three of them. The first two stories both include a "heroine inherits a lot of money and a man from her past chases after her" subplot, and both of them handle it in pretty much the same way.
“Rocky Mountain Wedding” by Jillian Hart
show more Synopsis:
Melody traveled to Montana with the intention of marrying the man whose mail-order bride ad she'd answered. However, when she got there she learned that the man she thought she'd be marrying had fallen in love with someone else. It's not really his fault – he had no idea his mother had been corresponding with a mail-order bride for him – but now Melody is stuck with no place to stay, very little money, and no job.
Gabe, the older brother of the man she was supposed to marry, reluctantly helps her. He's sure that his mother will try to set him and Melody up next. Melody doesn't seem like the kind of practical woman he's interested in marrying, and Melody isn't happy about the way he keeps insulting her. That doesn't stop them from being attracted to each other, and Gabe's protective instincts kick in when he learns that Melody is possibly being pursued by an abusive man from her past.
Review:
It's a good thing that the man Melody was supposed to marry was in love with someone else when she got there, or I predict that her marriage to him would soon have soured due to her and Gabe's instantaneous attraction to each other. I couldn't really understand why she was so attracted to him, considering how often he insulted her. He made it clear that he viewed her as some kind of gold digger and, even after he revealed that he was trying to push her away in order to avoid his mother's match-making efforts, I never really warmed to him.
This story didn't really work for me. I didn't hate it, but so much about it had me rolling my eyes. Although Gabe spent the beginning of the book mulishly determined to avoid being matched up with Melody, the instant he found out she might be in danger, he changed his mind and decided that they should get married. And Melody went right along with it, despite having previously been abused by a man she'd thought of as a family friend. How does any of that make sense?
Hart's writing was a little overwrought: lots of infernos of feeling, rising tides of need, Gabe's voice booming and thundering, etc. Also, there was some head-hopping - there were a few times when the story switched, without warning, from Gabe's POV to Melody's or vice versa.
“Married in Missouri” by Carolyn Davidson
Synopsis:
It's been several years since Lucas's wife died, and he has decided his home needs a woman's touch again. He puts out an ad for a mail-order bride and chooses Elizabeth – she is almost 30 and therefore more mature, and her volunteer work at an orphanage has given her plenty of experience with children.
Elizabeth, for her part, wants to get away from Amos, the man she thought she'd end up marrying but who chose her prettier sister instead. Life with Lucas and his sons suits her just fine. The boys like her, she's good at housework and enjoys having a home she can arrange as she wishes, and Lucas finds her attractive, even though she's tall and a little on the hefty side. Unfortunately for Elizabeth, trouble is brewing back at her old home in Boston.
Review:
This story suffered from too little conflict. Elizabeth was the perfect housewife who, at least in the eyes of her new family, had no failings (I, on the other hand, was bugged by the number of times she thought about how much better her marriage to Lucas was than her sister's marriage to Amos – she had a right to be bitter, but still). Although the boys didn't instantly consider her to be their new mother, they liked her right away and grew to love her. Lucas and Elizabeth's first time in bed went pretty smoothly, and, outside the bedroom, they lived together so well that it was almost liked they'd been together for years.
When trouble finally entered the picture, it was trouble of the wrong sort. This was a relatively sedate story – lots of what, to me, were very interesting paragraphs on the nitty gritty details of maintaining a rural home during this time period. After a while, though, it became a little boring because, like I said, there were almost no snags in Lucas and Elizabeth's new marriage. Absolutely everything went perfectly. It would have been nice to see a few things go really wrong and then see how the two of them handled it. Unfortunately, even the slightest snags were easily dealt with.
The arrival of Amos, the man Elizabeth had once thought she would marry, was the one thing that livened this story up, but his appearance and the danger her added was all wrong for this story, which practically cried out for quieter, more domestic complications. It didn't help that Hart's story went in that exact same direction.
One thing that was a little unusual: there were more mentions of religion than one usually finds in stories that aren't published in Harlequin's Love Inspired line. I'm a very secular reader, but I didn't think the mentions of religion in this story were too much, and they fit in well with the time period.
“Her Alaskan Groom” by Kate Bridges
Synopsis:
John is the successful owner of three livery stables. He thinks it's time for him to get married, but single women are few and far between in Alaska, so he finally takes the plunge and puts out an ad for a mail-order bride. He corresponds with Paulette, likes her, and believes they would suit. Unfortunately, the woman who arrives is not the woman he expects. Paulette has backed out, and the agency has sent Sophie as her replacement.
John's pride is hurt, and he unthinkingly insults Sophie, who is so upset that she walks off. It's not long before Sophie realizes that she could make a decent life for herself in Alaska, with or without John – there are plenty of potential husbands around, and she'd finally get to fulfill her dream of being a practicing midwife.
Review:
I loved the beginning of this story, but overall this was just too rushed to work as a romance.
The spark was definitely there. I liked that Sophie, despite being attracted to John, walked off after he said that marrying her would be like settling for a ham sandwich after expecting roast beef. I became more excited when Sophie realized that life in Alaska gave her options, that she didn't have to settle either. I wanted to see her make John work hard to win her back, but, unfortunately, she didn't.
I ended up feeling kind of “meh” about this story. They married and enjoyed having sex, but Sophie was worried because there didn't seem to be much more to their relationship, especially when she found herself really tied up in a patient's difficult pregnancy. I never became very emotionally invested in John and Sophie's relationship, and so I didn't fret when things were a bit rocky between them, and I didn't breathe a sigh of relief when they smoothed things over.
Overall:
I didn't hate this collection, but I didn't like it either. As with a lot of anthologies, there were some things I enjoyed and some things I didn't. Out of the three, “Rocky Mountain Wedding” worked best as a story. I liked the feel of “Married in Missouri” better, but the lack of decent conflict meant it rapidly became boring. “Her Alaskan Groom” started off really strong but needed a lot more fleshing out to be effective as a romance.
(Original review, with read-alikes, posted at A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less
“Rocky Mountain Wedding” by Jillian Hart
show more Synopsis:
Melody traveled to Montana with the intention of marrying the man whose mail-order bride ad she'd answered. However, when she got there she learned that the man she thought she'd be marrying had fallen in love with someone else. It's not really his fault – he had no idea his mother had been corresponding with a mail-order bride for him – but now Melody is stuck with no place to stay, very little money, and no job.
Gabe, the older brother of the man she was supposed to marry, reluctantly helps her. He's sure that his mother will try to set him and Melody up next. Melody doesn't seem like the kind of practical woman he's interested in marrying, and Melody isn't happy about the way he keeps insulting her. That doesn't stop them from being attracted to each other, and Gabe's protective instincts kick in when he learns that Melody is possibly being pursued by an abusive man from her past.
Review:
It's a good thing that the man Melody was supposed to marry was in love with someone else when she got there, or I predict that her marriage to him would soon have soured due to her and Gabe's instantaneous attraction to each other. I couldn't really understand why she was so attracted to him, considering how often he insulted her. He made it clear that he viewed her as some kind of gold digger and, even after he revealed that he was trying to push her away in order to avoid his mother's match-making efforts, I never really warmed to him.
This story didn't really work for me. I didn't hate it, but so much about it had me rolling my eyes. Although Gabe spent the beginning of the book mulishly determined to avoid being matched up with Melody, the instant he found out she might be in danger, he changed his mind and decided that they should get married. And Melody went right along with it, despite having previously been abused by a man she'd thought of as a family friend. How does any of that make sense?
Hart's writing was a little overwrought: lots of infernos of feeling, rising tides of need, Gabe's voice booming and thundering, etc. Also, there was some head-hopping - there were a few times when the story switched, without warning, from Gabe's POV to Melody's or vice versa.
“Married in Missouri” by Carolyn Davidson
Synopsis:
It's been several years since Lucas's wife died, and he has decided his home needs a woman's touch again. He puts out an ad for a mail-order bride and chooses Elizabeth – she is almost 30 and therefore more mature, and her volunteer work at an orphanage has given her plenty of experience with children.
Elizabeth, for her part, wants to get away from Amos, the man she thought she'd end up marrying but who chose her prettier sister instead. Life with Lucas and his sons suits her just fine. The boys like her, she's good at housework and enjoys having a home she can arrange as she wishes, and Lucas finds her attractive, even though she's tall and a little on the hefty side. Unfortunately for Elizabeth, trouble is brewing back at her old home in Boston.
Review:
This story suffered from too little conflict. Elizabeth was the perfect housewife who, at least in the eyes of her new family, had no failings (I, on the other hand, was bugged by the number of times she thought about how much better her marriage to Lucas was than her sister's marriage to Amos – she had a right to be bitter, but still). Although the boys didn't instantly consider her to be their new mother, they liked her right away and grew to love her. Lucas and Elizabeth's first time in bed went pretty smoothly, and, outside the bedroom, they lived together so well that it was almost liked they'd been together for years.
When trouble finally entered the picture, it was trouble of the wrong sort. This was a relatively sedate story – lots of what, to me, were very interesting paragraphs on the nitty gritty details of maintaining a rural home during this time period. After a while, though, it became a little boring because, like I said, there were almost no snags in Lucas and Elizabeth's new marriage. Absolutely everything went perfectly. It would have been nice to see a few things go really wrong and then see how the two of them handled it. Unfortunately, even the slightest snags were easily dealt with.
The arrival of Amos, the man Elizabeth had once thought she would marry, was the one thing that livened this story up, but his appearance and the danger her added was all wrong for this story, which practically cried out for quieter, more domestic complications. It didn't help that Hart's story went in that exact same direction.
One thing that was a little unusual: there were more mentions of religion than one usually finds in stories that aren't published in Harlequin's Love Inspired line. I'm a very secular reader, but I didn't think the mentions of religion in this story were too much, and they fit in well with the time period.
“Her Alaskan Groom” by Kate Bridges
Synopsis:
John is the successful owner of three livery stables. He thinks it's time for him to get married, but single women are few and far between in Alaska, so he finally takes the plunge and puts out an ad for a mail-order bride. He corresponds with Paulette, likes her, and believes they would suit. Unfortunately, the woman who arrives is not the woman he expects. Paulette has backed out, and the agency has sent Sophie as her replacement.
John's pride is hurt, and he unthinkingly insults Sophie, who is so upset that she walks off. It's not long before Sophie realizes that she could make a decent life for herself in Alaska, with or without John – there are plenty of potential husbands around, and she'd finally get to fulfill her dream of being a practicing midwife.
Review:
I loved the beginning of this story, but overall this was just too rushed to work as a romance.
The spark was definitely there. I liked that Sophie, despite being attracted to John, walked off after he said that marrying her would be like settling for a ham sandwich after expecting roast beef. I became more excited when Sophie realized that life in Alaska gave her options, that she didn't have to settle either. I wanted to see her make John work hard to win her back, but, unfortunately, she didn't.
I ended up feeling kind of “meh” about this story. They married and enjoyed having sex, but Sophie was worried because there didn't seem to be much more to their relationship, especially when she found herself really tied up in a patient's difficult pregnancy. I never became very emotionally invested in John and Sophie's relationship, and so I didn't fret when things were a bit rocky between them, and I didn't breathe a sigh of relief when they smoothed things over.
Overall:
I didn't hate this collection, but I didn't like it either. As with a lot of anthologies, there were some things I enjoyed and some things I didn't. Out of the three, “Rocky Mountain Wedding” worked best as a story. I liked the feel of “Married in Missouri” better, but the lack of decent conflict meant it rapidly became boring. “Her Alaskan Groom” started off really strong but needed a lot more fleshing out to be effective as a romance.
(Original review, with read-alikes, posted at A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less
There are three novellas in this collection of Christmas stories set in the latter part of the 19th century: Ana Leigh’s The Mackenzies: Lily, A Time for Angels by Carolyn Davidson, and Kate Bridges’ The Long Journey Home.
Leigh’s story focuses on a young woman who has been trying to succeed far from her Texas home as a Harvey Girl in New Mexico. She’s taken to two waif-like children whose mother died and whose father, the sheriff, seems to neglect. But not everything is as it seems. show more
In “A Time for Angels” Davidson gives us Honey Morris, a young woman barely out of her teens who is struggling to keep the family farm and provide for her younger sister after the tragic accidental death of their parents. When a near-frozen stranger appears at their door one wintry December night, Honey takes him in, leading to significant changes.
Kate Bridges begins a new series on Canadian Mounties with “The Long Journey Home.” Logan Sutcliffe has been missing (and presumed dead) for two years, and when he arrives back in town he discovers his wife is now engaged to another man. Can he win her back?
They are all predictable historical holiday romances, and suitably entertaining. show less
Leigh’s story focuses on a young woman who has been trying to succeed far from her Texas home as a Harvey Girl in New Mexico. She’s taken to two waif-like children whose mother died and whose father, the sheriff, seems to neglect. But not everything is as it seems. show more
In “A Time for Angels” Davidson gives us Honey Morris, a young woman barely out of her teens who is struggling to keep the family farm and provide for her younger sister after the tragic accidental death of their parents. When a near-frozen stranger appears at their door one wintry December night, Honey takes him in, leading to significant changes.
Kate Bridges begins a new series on Canadian Mounties with “The Long Journey Home.” Logan Sutcliffe has been missing (and presumed dead) for two years, and when he arrives back in town he discovers his wife is now engaged to another man. Can he win her back?
They are all predictable historical holiday romances, and suitably entertaining. show less
An historical romance, that was very well done. Elizabeth and Colt had feelings for each other, but were of differing social stations. On the journey Colt starting seeing her for the woman she really was and supported her. I liked that Elizabeth chose to roll up her sleeves and muck in with the rest of them. It was much more balanced than a lot of books of this genre. I think her being a doctor meant she'd been exposed to a bit more of life that a woman of her social would otherwise have show more been.
The champagne bath scene was nonsense. But I'll let it pass, because I enjoyed the rest of the book. show less
The champagne bath scene was nonsense. But I'll let it pass, because I enjoyed the rest of the book. show less
Simon is working undercover as a jewel thief as he tries to find out where the man hid the loot from his last heist. Things are going great until he discovers that Jerrod had sent away for a mail-order bride. He can't blow his cover, so he has to go along with it until he can figure out what to do. Natasha is a victim of the Great Chicago Fire and has become a mail-order bride to start a new life. She liked everything she found out about Jerrod in the letters that they exchanged. But when show more she arrived in Wyoming he is different than what she expected.
Simon is a loner. His father walked out when he was six, his mother had drunk herself to death by the time he was eight. He survived on his own from that point on. He doesn't get involved in relationships, believing that he brings nothing but trouble to those around him. He feels that he is responsible for the deaths of his two friends and is determined to find the missing loot. Simon is not happy to find out about the expected bride, and initially plans to simply send her back where she came from. Being a less than trusting man, he worries that she might be involved in the robberies and decides to keep her around until he can find out. He runs into a problem right away in that he is drawn to her in a way he's never felt before. He wants to believe that she is innocent, but some things she says make him think that she is involved. He has enough of a conscience that he doesn't want to marry Natasha under false pretenses, but it soon becomes obvious that he won't have a choice. In spite of his belief in her guilt, he doesn't want her hurt so he does what he can to protect her. Simon spends a lot of time going back and forth about her guilt. He starts to not trust himself because his head and his heart believe different things. Simon also senses the same sort of loneliness in Natasha that he feels himself which just adds to his confusion. In the end, he realizes the depth of his feelings, but he isn't sure that Natasha will forgive him for his deceptions.
Natasha had lost almost everything in the Great Fire. Desperate for a new start she advertised as a mail-order bride. She picked Jerrod because, like her, he was in the jewelry business. She had spent years working for her grandfather and is very knowledgeable about many facets of the business. After months of correspondence she feels that Jerrod is the one she can have the best relationship with. She heads to Wyoming with a heart full of hope for her future. When she meets him, he seems to be far more distant emotionally than he was in his letters. He is also dragging his feet on having the actual wedding. She is attracted to him, and uses some of the things she learned from other women in Chicago to try to show him how she feels. She also frequently gets the feeling that he is judging her for something she knows nothing about. Natasha is determined to settle in to her new life in Wyoming and tries to pin him down on his feelings about her helping in his jewelry business. She shows him her abilities when she assists a couple and prevents them from buying fake jewels. As the days go on she falls more for him and is thrilled when they finally marry, only to be hurt and furious when she discovers his deception. She has to decide if she can forgive him enough to let her love for him win out.
I enjoyed the mystery part of the story as Simon uses his undercover persona to try to find the missing loot. It was interesting to see the way that he had to adjust his plans when Natasha arrived. While his trust issues had a lot to do with his suspicions about her, it was also easy to see why he was concerned. I liked seeing the way that he used misdirection to keep from giving away the fact that he wasn't Jerrod. I really liked the way that he was able to get Natasha to help him, even though he knew he had really screwed up with her. The final showdown was very good. show less
Simon is a loner. His father walked out when he was six, his mother had drunk herself to death by the time he was eight. He survived on his own from that point on. He doesn't get involved in relationships, believing that he brings nothing but trouble to those around him. He feels that he is responsible for the deaths of his two friends and is determined to find the missing loot. Simon is not happy to find out about the expected bride, and initially plans to simply send her back where she came from. Being a less than trusting man, he worries that she might be involved in the robberies and decides to keep her around until he can find out. He runs into a problem right away in that he is drawn to her in a way he's never felt before. He wants to believe that she is innocent, but some things she says make him think that she is involved. He has enough of a conscience that he doesn't want to marry Natasha under false pretenses, but it soon becomes obvious that he won't have a choice. In spite of his belief in her guilt, he doesn't want her hurt so he does what he can to protect her. Simon spends a lot of time going back and forth about her guilt. He starts to not trust himself because his head and his heart believe different things. Simon also senses the same sort of loneliness in Natasha that he feels himself which just adds to his confusion. In the end, he realizes the depth of his feelings, but he isn't sure that Natasha will forgive him for his deceptions.
Natasha had lost almost everything in the Great Fire. Desperate for a new start she advertised as a mail-order bride. She picked Jerrod because, like her, he was in the jewelry business. She had spent years working for her grandfather and is very knowledgeable about many facets of the business. After months of correspondence she feels that Jerrod is the one she can have the best relationship with. She heads to Wyoming with a heart full of hope for her future. When she meets him, he seems to be far more distant emotionally than he was in his letters. He is also dragging his feet on having the actual wedding. She is attracted to him, and uses some of the things she learned from other women in Chicago to try to show him how she feels. She also frequently gets the feeling that he is judging her for something she knows nothing about. Natasha is determined to settle in to her new life in Wyoming and tries to pin him down on his feelings about her helping in his jewelry business. She shows him her abilities when she assists a couple and prevents them from buying fake jewels. As the days go on she falls more for him and is thrilled when they finally marry, only to be hurt and furious when she discovers his deception. She has to decide if she can forgive him enough to let her love for him win out.
I enjoyed the mystery part of the story as Simon uses his undercover persona to try to find the missing loot. It was interesting to see the way that he had to adjust his plans when Natasha arrived. While his trust issues had a lot to do with his suspicions about her, it was also easy to see why he was concerned. I liked seeing the way that he used misdirection to keep from giving away the fact that he wasn't Jerrod. I really liked the way that he was able to get Natasha to help him, even though he knew he had really screwed up with her. The final showdown was very good. show less
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