Verna Clay

For its length, this was a pretty successful romance. Novella length stories of this kind don’t always succeed, but for the most part, this one does.

I liked that the author chose to play around with her leads and their circumstances, making them different than your usual farmer and his mail-order bride. Their ages are significantly different than the usual, and I liked that Abby was a normal sized woman, not a pixie-thin gal. For being a former teacher from a somewhat privileged show more background, Abby shows a lot of grit and bravery to go into such an unknown situation and try to build a better life. I loved that Brant was willing to look beyond the obvious with Abby to see the sweet, loyal individual she really was.

I liked that the author was also willing to go to some distressing areas with the overall story and fate of characters. Historical romances can veer off into the smoopy sweet territory, making many areas unbelievable and so removing my enjoyable from the story. Yet, Clay played around with some tragedy and tears to give her romance depth in contrast to all the pain. For a novella, that’s a bold step I liked.

Where this book suffered a smidge was a common fault I’ve run across in novellas. The author seemed to be trying to fit too much into one storyline. Situations and conflicts were solved very quickly as the story progressed, never really giving the reader a chance to sink teeth into any one thing. Prime example of this is how quickly Brant’s kids got on with Abby and how quickly they seemed to accept her as a mother figure, Luke especially. He starts out as a typical teen who misses his mother so lashes out, but it only takes a few gestures on Abby’s part to win him over.

For a historical romance novella, this work actually stands up pretty well. I loved the leads and their relationship. The author chose to incorporate unusual aspects into the story that gave it extra depth and stand-out power. It fell short in the usual area that novellas do with me; yet overall, I enjoyed the book more than I didn’t. I’d recommend it to lovers of short historical romances as it’s a nice diversion and won’t take long to devour. show less

Loses a full star for not having even the tiniest bit of sex in it. Otherwise, I loved the insecure, chubby heroine and all her ensuing angst. If only there were orgasms... (2.5 stars)

Abby: Mail Order Bride is about a spinster, Abby, who answers an ad for a widower who is looking for a woman to be the mother of his children. Abby feels that after taking care of her aging parents that she is past marriages age but yet longs for a family and decides a ready-made family is better than a chance of a family down the road.

The story is well written with good background information about Abby and the widower, Brant. The physical attraction between the couple has just enough heat show more to make it believable but not enough to distract from the story which is really about family and coping with loss. I though the ending was a little rushed but otherwise a good read. show less

Loses a full star for not having even the tiniest bit of sex in it. Otherwise, I loved the insecure, chubby heroine and all her ensuing angst. If only there were orgasms... (2.5 stars)