A Bride for Keeps by Melissa Jagears

Melissa Jagears is an author to be watching to appear on the bestsellers list, in my opinion.  I'm won over already by her writing and can't wait to read more by her.  Having not heard of her name, I was a little worried that she may be just an okay writer with a good storyline.  I was incredibly wrong.  I was hooked from the beginning and found myself laughing and cringing throughout the book (at different moments, of course).  I wanted to smack one man who couldn't take his eyes of Julia and I wanted Everett and Julia to talk it all out and get their problems to the front.  I liked the humorous (well, not quite so humorous if you're Everett) of his mail-order bride situations he kept finding himself in.

Everett has lost 3 other mail-order brides to different men and believes he isn't good enough to be a husband since they keep leaving him.  He has vowed to never ever sign up for a mail-order bride again.  However, his friend's wife, Rachel, didn't get that memo and she sets him up with one.  She has been corresponding with Julia for a while and really likes Julia.  When Rachel finds out that Julia has run away, she tells her about Everett and Julia agrees to come to town to marry him.  The hitch in the plan is that Rachel doesn't tell Everett about Julia, and has failed to mention the fact that he's to marry her. 

Julia has a past and has been incredibly hurt by a man.  She has a difficult time letting her walls down and opening up about her pain.  This means that Everett has to guess at what has happened to her and he has to try to win not only her trust, but her love.  Julia has set certain limitations on their marriage that Everett finds quite difficult to oblige by.  Since he has given her his word to do so when they first agreed to marry, he spends much of his days outdoors and away from temptation!  Julia just thinks that he doesn't want to be near her!  Julia has a few more issues that she has to deal with along her journey to overcome her past and to move forward.

Since this is the first book in the Unexpected Brides series, I can't wait for release of book #2.  Please tell me I don't have to wait too long.  I'm already attached to these characters and I'm curious if we'll see more of them!

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This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing A Bride for Keeps Bethany House Publishers (October 1, 2013) by Melissa Jagears

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A Word From The Author:

I am a stay at home mother on a tiny little farm with a fixer-upper house. As much as I love writing and reading about homesteaders, I am so glad I’m a homesteader during an era with modern grocery stores to take up for my slack. I am an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher by trade, and I still work occasionally in that field along with being my church’s financial secretary and writing novels.

My husband and I have been married since 2001 and have a daughter and two little boys. My husband shares my fascination with traditional living except for being more hands on. He loves blacksmithing, knife smithing, traditional archery, hunting, etc. Generally whatever a mountain man does, he does it or has or wants to attempt it. He comes in handy for research! And of course, the rest of the family gets involved. I have my own blackpowder rifle, named Calvin, that my husband made for me. And I’m pretty sure my daughter is probably one of very few her age who can instruct adults how to shoot a longbow properly. The boy digs random holes in my yard to make “cement” with dirt and water making our yard a tripping hazard. The baby does what babies do.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A Tender Tale of Love on the Prairie Perfect for CBA Readers!

Although Everett Cline can hardly keep up with the demands of his homestead, he won't humiliate himself by looking for a helpmate ever again--not after being jilted by three mail-order brides. When a well-meaning neighbor goes behind his back to bring yet another mail-order bride to town, he has good reason to doubt it will work, especially after getting a glimpse at the woman in question. She's the prettiest woman he's ever seen, and it's just not possible she's there to marry a simple homesteader like him.

Julia Lockwood has never been anything more than a pretty pawn for her father or a business acquisition for her former fiance. Having finally worked up the courage to leave her life in Massachusetts, she's determined to find a place where people will value her for more than her looks. Having run out of all other options, Julia resorts to a mail-order marriage in far-away Kansas.

Everett is skeptical a cultured woman like Julia could be happy in a life on the plains, while Julia, deeply wounded by a past relationship, is skittish at the idea of marriage at all. When, despite their hesitations, they agree to a marriage in name only, neither one is prepared for the feelings that soon arise to complicate their arrangement. Can two people accustomed to keeping their distance let the barricades around their hearts down long enough to fall in love?

If you would like to read the first chapter of A Bride for Keeps, go HERE.
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I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers and CFBA in exchange for my honest opinion of this book.