Joan Johnston

As far as romance novels go, this one rates a C in my book, but in the category of writing and novels in general, this one gets an F. Let me explain:

Why the C grade?
1. Minus one letter grade for boring sex: Descriptions of sexual encounters are filled with laughable, trite lines like "His tongue plunged into her mouth, mimicking what he wanted to do to her body." (p262) and "He responded with a deep kiss that mimicked the ultimate act that all this foreplay was leading up to." (p306). Epic show more fail.
2. Minus half a letter grade for the awful caricature of a Chinese character: The character of Bao Lin is frequently referred to as "the Chinaman" (as opposed to, say, "the man from China," a phrase which references his culture and national origin rather than essentializing him by "race"). His dialogue consists almost exclusively of fortune-cookie one liners that begin "Confucius say…" The author has replaced the usual "noble savage" depiction of Native Americans in westerns with a new "noble savage." Shame on you.
3. Minus half a letter grade for incomplete research: For the most part, the time period and setting are well-researched, which is why this is only a half-letter-grade deduction. My advice to the author: study up on Mendelian genetics before you make this the crux of a plot point.

Why the F grade?
1. Minus one letter grade for "information dumps": It's tolerated in romance writing, but it's unacceptable in any other genre. More than half of this 400+ page book is taken up by info dumps. Instead of labeling the chapters by number (chapter one, chapter two, etc.), they should have been called "This is the chapter where I tell you all about the heroine's life up until now and why you should like her" or "This is the chapter where I show you how much research I did into logging." Snooze.
2. Minus one letter grade for poor character development: Our hero and heroine end up the same after 400 pages of story (including reams of backstory) as they were at the beginning. No growth, no change, no point in the story and a waste of time for the reader.
3. Minus a full letter grade for dull plotting: There's a flat, two-dimensional antagonist, but far more excitement comes out of the suspense built from the 10 year-old boy's trek into the snowstorm than out of any man vs. man type of conflict. More snoozing.
4. Minus a full letter grade for the awful caricature of a Chinese character: see #2 above. When grading this as a novel, not comparing it strictly to other romance novels, I find the insulting caricature less forgivable.
5. Minus half a letter grade for poor writing: The many hackneyed turns of phrase and uninspired writing should never have survived a writer's critique group or an editor's red pen.

The advance reader's copy which I got through LibraryThing had only a half-dozen grammatical/punctuation errors in about 400 pages. I blame the editor for those errors, not the author.

~bint show less

I’m glad I gave this series another chance. The first book of the series I read, Book 3, I abandoned as I hated the lead heroine and I felt the untruths went on for far too long. This one, Book 1, is far better in my estimation. It hits the spot perfectly for a western historical romance.

The whole mail-order bride/marriage of convenience thing has become a real weakness for me since starting to read historical romances more often. I loved it in this work as well. Both Miranda and Jacob show more come from hard-lived, tragic pasts that come with a ton of baggage. Their journey as a couple while dealing with those painful pasts made the book for me.

I liked that the author kept the secrets and misunderstandings to a minimum. Those aspects of historical romance drive me up the proverbial wall, and they seem to crop up in so many titles. The secrets of Miranda’s brothers and Jacob’s daughter come out real quick. Miranda’s sisters stay secret for a bit longer but their existence is learned only about half way through. So that’s not held over the story’s head until the very end, either. I liked that refreshing departure.

As unique individuals, Jacob and Miranda are strong and carry the story well. I liked their combinations of strength, heart, and vulnerability. They dealt with the issues and problems that came their way in realistic ways and developed as individuals as a result of those obstacles. The only chink in the books armor, occurred in this area, though. There were times where Miranda read as too perfect: beautiful, strong, courageous, a bit vulnerable, willing to sacrifice her life for others, hard-working, and sweet. While those aren’t bad in and of themselves, they do stand out starkly if not balanced with a few sins.

I loved the chemistry between Jacob and Miranda as well. There’s definitely a ton of tension of the sexual variety present. Yet, due to Jacob’s no pregnancy rule, the amounts of sexual encounters are lower than one would imagine for a western historical romance. I actually liked that; it left lots of room for the development of their emotional connection. I loved seeing that develop, even if it did over such a short time period that the book takes place during. They seemed to balance each other out so well, filling holes in their souls with each other’s love.

Like I mentioned, I’m glad as heck I gave this author and series another chance. Her characters and romance make the story shine. Even though there are a few romantic clichés and too-perfect characterizations, overall they are not as present as they could have been. I’d definitely recommend this title to lovers of historical romance, especially of the Western variety. I look forward to reading more books by this author. show less

Ms. Johnson continues her Mail-Order Brides series with Hetty's story, Hannah's sister, the one that I was on a war path with in Hannah's story. Holy Crap! She might have driven me to murder were I her sister! If there was trouble to be had, she was in it to her eyeballs!

She drove me crazy in the beginning of this story but then I slowly warmed up to her, as her character grew, I liked her more and more.


As I mentioned before in my earlier reviews of this series, Ms. Johnson is good when it show more comes to characterization. Hetty is the proof of that. She created a whiny, shallow and bratty girl and then turned her into a compelling, affectionate and determined woman I couldn't help but care for.


As for Karl, he was a perfect Beta Hero. As smart, patient and kind man who is plain looking, he thought he hit a jackpot with his beautiful mail-order bride. Hetty on the other hand wasn't of a similar opinion when it came to her opinion of her groom.


I've read all the books in this series and I've loved them all equally. I'm chomping at the bit to read Josie's story in 'Blackthorne's Bride'!


If you like western romance then this author and her books, this series included, should be on your list.


Melanie for b2b
Complimentary copy provided by the publisher show less

Shameless by Joan Johnston is a 2015 Dell publication. I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked the first book in this arc, which is a part of the long running Bitter Creek series. I knew Pippa’s story was next in line, and I was curious about her, so I’ve been looking forward to reading this one.

I was a tiny bit concerned about reading a book centered around a girl Pippa’s age, since, with only one or two show more exceptions, I have long since jumped off the New Adult bandwagon. So, I was counting on the adult characters to even things out a little, if things got too angsty.

As it turns out, Pippa was exasperating at times, but to be fair, she was very isolated and sheltered while growing up and didn’t have a mother figure in her life. She has a lot on her plate, and no support system. What about her father, Matt, you ask? Well, I had a very difficult time with him. He was more worried about how Pippa’s pregnancy would reflect on him when people learned she was not married and the baby’s father abandoned her because he was already married.

He was controlling and ill tempered, was quick to resort to physical violence, and then he dropped a bombshell that sealed the deal for me. I couldn’t wrap my brain around the logic behind his decisions, and thought he was the ultimate hypocrite. So, no, I felt like Pippa was left floundering with hormones and a house filled with hate, and her father’s disapproval and attempts to manipulate her.

Thankfully, she meets Devon, who turns out be just the stable, patient sort of person she needs right now. But, the odds are against them from the get go, because Devon is one of the dreaded Flynn brothers and of course Pippa is a Grayhawk. (For those just tuning in, the Flynn’s and Grayhawk’s have a long running, bitter family feud, that would give the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s a run for their money) Not only that, Devon discovers a dark family secret of his own, and Pippa is withholding vital information from him, and insisting they keep their relationship platonic.

If you like a good sudsy drama with lots of plot twists and dark family secrets, you will love this one. Every once in a while, this type of book is just what I’m in the mood for. But, I had a few problems with some areas in the book, most of which had nothing to do with the writing or plot, but with my personal feelings about the characters. Matt for one, and then the way Pippa was treated like a high school teen, when she is nearly twenty. She’s old enough to make her own decisions, but she squirmed under her father’s thumb entirely too long. She didn’t appear to be making any plans for how she was going to support herself or her child, but did manage to get herself to a doctor, finally. The concern over her feelings for the baby’s father was absurd, in my opinion. Women love their babies no matter what the situation is with the father. (In most cases)

The guys in this story were just terrible. They were so busy nursing their own wounded pride and hurt feelings to give much thought to what was going on with Pippa. I mean, she is alone, about to have baby, and had just learned some pretty shocking information about her family, and was trying to cope with the feelings she had for Devon. Did she do the right thing at all times? No, and I did wonder what the big deal was, and why she couldn’t tell Devon the whole truth. But, then again, after the way Matt treated her, I could kind of understand her reluctance.

For some reason, the attitudes and actions in this story seem outdated. Many women have children without benefit of marriage and aren’t scorned by the community. Pippa didn’t intentionally begin an affair with a married man, she was just naïve, not to mention the “raising another man’s child’ thing, and the pressure to put the baby up for adoption. This is 2016, and yes, being a single parent is hard work, but it also has its rewards, and it certainly won’t prevent someone from going to school, having a full time career, getting married to the right man, or living a full, happy, contented life. Pippa’s life may have been sidetracked, but she didn’t seem like the college bound, career driven, “I’ve got big plans” type of girl to start off with.

As for some critical plot issues, there are a few open ended threads that were left hanging. Those circumstances were pretty dire and to have Pippa and Devon enjoying a HEA under that cloud didn’t seem right. It was almost too flippant, but, the author did assure us those issues will be addressed in the next book. Hopefully, Matt will get a story of his own, someday, so he can redeem himself. That will be an interesting story, for sure, since he as dug himself quite a hole. But, for now, the cliffhanger parts of this story will have to be addressed first.

Judging by my previous statements it would seem I didn’t care for this installment, and no, it wasn’t as good as the first book, in my opinion, but it was also strangely absorbing and I found myself invested in the characters and going through periods of empathy and righteous indignation, so despite some of my reservations I didn’t completely dislike the book, and I am still interested in seeing how things play out in the next book. Devon did eventually come around, got over his wounded pride and hurt feelings and stepped up for Pippa in a big way, redeeming himself nicely. So, despite their unconventional and rocky road to romance, I ended up liking this couple and am pulling for them all the way.

Naturally, I struggled with how to rate this one, so I’ll go with a nice, safe, middle of the road 3. It was okay, and does have a solid enough entertainment value. show less