Description
She craves excitement. His children need a mother. Can they overcome secrets to let love ride off into the sunset?
Tessa O’Connor’s longing for adventure is unsated by the boring men in her high-society circles. So the bold young woman plots her escape by answering the eloquent courtship letters of a Montana rancher. Fleeing her wealthy family on a midnight train, she’s delighted the man is handsomer than she imagined but perplexed by his dour demeanor.
Dean Samuels doesn’t know where to turn. Raising two kids and running the ranch after his wife’s untimely death has become a mountainous task. Captivated by Tessa, he dreads the day when he must confess his younger brother wrote every word of his heartfelt correspondence.
While wedding bells duly chime, Tessa is devastated when she discovers the betrayal of her most intimate moments and demands they sleep apart. And with his children now firmly attached to her, Dean worries he’s damaged more hearts than just his own.
Will Tessa and Dean find their way back to trust and grow a beautiful future?
Rellim –
This is my first book by Linda Bridey and my first experience with narrator Scott Bennett. Tessa O’Connor is bored with life as a socialite and decides to seek adventure as a mail order bride in the west. Dean Samuels is a widower with two children looking for someone to fill the title of woman of the house. This is a clean romance.
Overall it was barely an OK listen. Bridey’s style of continually changing POV, even mid-paragraph, made it difficult to keep up with who is talking and damaged cohesiveness. As other reviewers mentioned there didn’t seem to be a consistency with what era the book was in. (I’m not sure the text ever specifies). However I might have been endeared by Tessa and Dean’s relationship or Tessa’s relationship with the kids it was overshadowed by an inordinate amount of time spent with Tessa complaining about letters. It was belabored with every character she came in contact with. Almost half the book (more than 2 of the 5 hours) was devoted to her anger over the letters. She came off petulant instead of passionate, especially when what could have been a sweet epilogue was ruined by her again mentioning the letters in a mocking way about Dean. This didn’t feel like an HEA, it felt like he was doomed to life with a harpy.
Scott Bennett has a nice voice for this genre and did a good job giving each character their own individual sound. I look forward to listening to him in the future.
The rest of the series receives much better reviews so I may continue.
I received a free copy of this audiobook and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Sheri MacNutt –
While there are some nice family dynamics and scene there are many historical inconsistencies. The author also has places where she switches speakers after quick sentences so you end up with a lot of he said, she said. It’s aggravating and hard to follow. I will try the next book in the series to see if it improves.
I did like the narrator and will listen to more books he narrates. He does a good job at giving each character a voice and bringing out their personality.