Twice Promised: A Novel (The Blue Willow Brides)

Only very slightly better than the first book. It's exactly the same in terms of everyone behaving unnaturally, in an attempt to keep the book going. Ugh.

But the period discrepancies were SO MUCH WORSE, particularly with money. The language was all wrong. Caleb. Don't even get me started on Caleb.

The concept (brother writes and sends for two mail order brides for his lonely older brother) could have been an interesting, new twist. But this was just as empty and insipid as those before it.

Did anyone else find the way they just swapped partners disturbing? It's like, well I let my passions dissolve my integrity, honor and virtue. repeatedly. But it's okay, because my fiance and I were in lust not love. Um, CONTROL YOURSELVES PEOPLE. Have show more the decency to not CHEAT and dismiss it. You end things BEFORE you start things with someone new! So disappointing that the "I got what I wanted, so it's all good" attitude is so frequently portrayed in Christian themed novels. Yuck. show less

This is a sweet and delightful read! Can you imagine getting up enough nerve to be a Mail-order Bride, and then finding out that the intended is not who you thought? Also you are not alone...the letter writer, Zach, has invited two wives! You would feel like turning around and going back the way you came.
Zach wants a wife for his brother Jess Gifford, the reason? So he can be free of working in their families Mercantile!
When Greta Olsen arrives to find Cora Johnson their also, it is remarkable how they become best friends...of course they are both put in a precarious position. In the end neither wants to hurt her best friend. We go along meeting the boy's Grannie...loved her, she says it like it is.
Will these woman follow their hearts, show more or marry Jess so that no one will feel hurt? With this story being set in the late 1880's, we discover quite a bit how life was back in Colorado.
There are funny and scary incidents...a bear at the outhouse? Oh dear! Also so many touching moments happen. Be sure to curl up with this wonderful book...you won't be able to put it down!

I received this book through Revell's Reviewers Program, and was not required to give a positive review. show less

Maggie Brendan never leaves a reader without a good story that is hard to put down. In this story of mail-order brides there is competition, disapointment and ultimate love.

Greta Olsen had long looked at the success of her sister's marriage after answering an ad for a mail-order bride. Longing to start a life of her own she too answers an add. After months of tender and sweet letters Greta boards a train and sets off to meet the kind man that she has been corresponding with all this time. However, she is in for a shock as she steps of the train. Her dreams, hopes, expectations are shattered when she is met at the station by another mail order bride who answered the same add and a man other than the one the add was for.

To top it off she show more soon learns Jess, the man she thought she had been writing all the this time had no knowledge of any ad. In fact he had no intention of marriage. His life was filled with his business and his heart else where. Now she was faced with the facts that not only was she not expected by the groom she had competition for his heart - his work and another woman.

Very delicately Brendan unfolds a story of unlikely love in places where we least expect it. A turning of hearts toward one another when the one surrenders to God and allows His hands to shape the situation.

Pick up a copy at your local bookstore.

Thanks to Revel for this review copy. show less

The story was okay, I guess, but the anachronisms were quite distracting. I doubt anyone had a living room until TV was invented and a crate built for shipping merchandise would not have had a door you could use to shut a pet dog in. (and would they have had a pet dog in the house back then?) She also got the vegetation wrong for Colorado.

And to prove I am a sucker for punishment, in the first book she kept calling her sister a "free spirit" which I suspect came around in the 1960s. Now flibertygibbit I could have accepted...

These books were a gift from someone who heard me say that I had nothing fluffy to read in the house...and he fixed that for me!

TWICE PROMISED by Maggie Brendan is a wonderful inspirational historical romance set in 1888 Colorado. It is book #2 in “The Blue Willow Brides” series,but can be read as a stand alone. See,”Deeply Devoted”. I enjoy this author’s stories with her engaging characters and her vivid descriptions of the Colorado country and the people who reside there. “Twice Promised” is the story of two mail order brides,Greta Olsen,and Cora Johnson, vying for the same man’s affection,Jess Gifford. While Greta has lost her beloved fiancee to war she knows she must move forward. This is a wonderful tender love story full of surprises, misunderstandings,faith,love,romance,and blessings. A not to miss for anyone who enjoys tender show more romances,second chances,and a few twists and turns. Received for an honest review from the publisher. Details can be found at the author’s website,Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group and My Book Addiction and More.

“Available October 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”



RATING:4.5

HEAT RATING: SWEET

REVIEWED BY: AprilR, My Book Addiction and More/My Book Addiction Reviews show less