Why I Read It: Because it’s part of the Montgomery-Taggert series, and I want to read all of them.
From the Back Cover: Carrie Montgomery had grown up with seven adoring older brothers, and she was used to getting her way rather easily. Joshua Greene was only looking for a hardworking, practical mail-order bride to help with the farm and feed and clothe his children. Yet from the moment Carrie saw his photograph, saw his devastatingly handsome, sorrowful smile, the petite and pampered beauty knew she was the perfect wife for him.
Josh didn't see it that way. Wed by proxy, he refused to be charmed by his new bride's blond curls and effervescent laughter, or impressed by her trappings of wealth...even if his son and daughter believed she was a fairy princess come to life. He was furious -- and ready to send her packing, until a near tragedy convinced him that her beauty was more than skin-deep. But even after he had yielded to the wild desire that surged between them, Josh could not admit how much he truly needed her. Then an old scandal threatened to re-emerge, and he realized that he could lose her forever....
My Thoughts: I think I may have officially read more books in September than I have all year long. Anyway, I digress.
Well, I liked it ~ it’s not great by any means, but it was okay. The book didn’t immediately grab me and it took me a few days just to get through the first few chapters. Honestly. But, I got through the little slump and then I pretty much read it nonstop.
Carrie is the spoiled youngest sister of the Montgomery clan. She’s gotten everything she’s always wanted, so when she “falls in love at first sight” with the photo of a man advertising for a wife, she jumps at the chance to marry him. She quickly manipulates a marriage by proxy and soon is headed on a long carriage ride to Eternity, CO.
Joshua Greene (Templeton) is the man Carrie marries. He’s a struggling farmer, trying to raise two children on his own. Finally realizing he needs help, he advertises for a wife ~ one who knows about farming who can help him with chores, cooking, cleaning, etc. What he gets instead is Carrie Montgomery.
The attraction between Carrie and Josh is immediate, from the moment he helps her from carriage when she arrives in Eternity. But Josh has secrets from his past that he’s ashamed of ~ secrets that he attempts to hide by keeping Carrie away (This “huge” secret comes to light towards the end of the book and has a very quick esolution). So he pushes her every chance he gets, so much so that “they” decide it would be best if Carrie returned home to Maine.
Carrie is likeable, feisty, and beautiful (but isn’t this a prerequisite for our historical novel heroines, for the most part?) She has a mind of her own, and uses it in creative ways in order to take care of the people she loves.
I also thought Josh was likeable ~ but my problem was I couldn’t quite get a visual on him, if you know what I mean. I don’t know about you, but when I read, the characters become alive in my mind and the story plays out almost like watching a movie. But I couldn’t get a picture of him in my head.
Josh’s kids are both precocious and gave me several laugh-out-loud moments. Tem, the son, and Dallas, the daughter, quickly became attached to Carrie and it was great fun reading about Carrie becoming so beloved to the kids and vice versa.
Anyway, this was Okay. It was sweet, but I doubt it would be something I’d read again.
FWIW~~ quick Montgomery family history: Carrie is the youngest sister of ‘Ring, the hero in Mountain Laurel; Ring also happens to be the father of Jace, the hero in Wishes.
Labels: Historical Romance, Jude Deveraux, Okay
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Rosie ~ I'm debating on whether my next book will be a JD, or if I want to tackle something else in my stacks for a change. I have Devil May Cry that I've been wanting to get to.
Nath ~ FWIW, For What It's Worth. I found this at the library. My library has almost all of JD's books ~ the majority of them are in storage, but all I had to do was ask for it. -
At 6:20 PM,
Kristie (J)I'm glad to see you're reading is coming back!! It's a horrible thing to do without - that reading mojo. I used to read Jude Devereaux but she lost it somewhere along the line for me and I haven't read her for years. I think her widest read book is A Knight in Shinning Armor. Readers are often split on that one as it doesn't have your usual HEA. I loved it when I first read it, but it didn't hold up that well for me since I read it early in my romance reading days.
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I have only read one JD (AKISA) and it was OK but very unusual like Kristie says. I have The Black Lyon in my TBR (for the past 5 years) and just never got around to reading it. I like the mail order bride plot so this one sounds interesting but this sounds like a huge series and I'm not sure I'm in the mood to tackle it since I like to read series in order.
Now this one sounds familiar. You know all those Montgomerys and Taggerts get tangled in your memory after a while. It seemed like she wrote so many books before they started putting a family tree in them so you could follow who everyone was. That and similar story lines I think is what did me in.