book review The Captive Brides Collection

Release date 1 October 2017

Barbour Publishing

Love Brings Freedom in 9 Historical Romances

Journey along as nine historical women are about to make their escape from some of life’s greatest challenges. Can their captive hearts be freed to dream, to dare, to love?

Love’s Labour’s Found by Jennifer AlLee - Montserrat, West Indies, 1655
Temperance Simms only wanted a better life. Instead, she finds herself labeled a criminal and sold as an indentured servant. After a kind man saves her life, can Temperance trust that God will turn her sorrow into something beautiful?

His Indentured Bride by Angela Breidenbach - Pennsylvania, 1770-1775 
Leaving Scotland for a short indenture with her betrothed, Maire Gree’s contract is sold when disaster strikes her kindly owner, and then extended through cruel circumstances. Can Kirk Lachlan’s service in the American Revolution save her or will she lose love and freedom forever?

The Suspect Bride by Susan Page Davis - Oregon, 1890s
Verity Ames cooks at the restaurant where shy lawyer Jack Whitwell eats lunch daily. As Jack works up courage to ask her for a date, the sheriff walks into the restaurant and arrests her for murder.

His Golden Treasure by Darlene Franklin - Barbary Coast, San Francisco, CA, 1873
Goldie Hatfield grows up on in the Barbary Coast until her guardian demands she pay the cost of her upbringing—or work at her brothel. How far will Pastor Joshua Kerr go to set Goldie free?

Through Stormy Waters by Patty Smith Hall - Atlantic Ocean, 1755
Deported to the British colonies for her father’s crimes, Charlotte Singleton helps Captain Andrew Randell when an epidemic breaks out on the ship. Can two battered hearts find love in the midst of a storm?

Moira’s Quest by Cynthia Hickey - New York, 1869
A quest for revenge ends in a marriage of convenience and a feisty Irish lass discovers that not everything is as it seems as family secrets are revealed. An Irish cop, bent on saving the fallen women of Five Points, New York, finds himself thrust into the role of husband with a woman determined to break down a notorious crime boss. Can these two pull together and find a love bigger than they are?

Love’s Escape by Carrie Fancett Pagels - Virginia, 1850
With her life in peril, Lettie seeks escape from slavery. When Nathan offers to “conduct” her North via an unusual segment on the Underground Railroad, will his efforts help or do them both harm?

Waltzing Matilda by Lucy Thompson - Sydney, Australia, 1821
Henry didn’t plan on a runaway convict masquerading as a shepherd. Or on the woman’s baby. Keeping them safe will cost him his freedom—or will it?

A Score to Settle by Gina Welborn - On the Missouri River, 1870
For JoJo the kiss was a means to an end—she wanted his wallet. For Cyrus her kiss changed everything. He vows to help her escape the snake oil salesman she works for, but exposing the man’s lies may mean settling a score at a cost neither JoJo nor Cyrus can pay.

My Review:

Firstly thanks to Netgalley for my review copy.

This book has 9 novellas in it. Each story has a heroine who is a captive in some way. From indentured servant, convict, slave, wrongly convicted, plus a few other scenarios. We also have different locations from the West Indies, Australia to America. Each story is different and most have some danger and tension in the stories. 

While I am not going to review all the stories cos it would make the review to long I will feature a couple.

Through Stormy Waters by Patty Smith Hall - Atlantic Ocean, 1755

I found this story really good, it was different and I loved how even when Charlotte was deported for crimes her father committed she still was able to help in a crisis and held her head up high. The hero Andrew is the captain and has a reputation for being hard on the convicts but has had a change of heart due to circumstances you will read about early in the story. I loved the story and how it plays out.

His Golden Treasure by Darlene Franklin - Barbary Coast, San Francisco, CA, 1873

The story is also interesting and at times the premise of the story is quite sad. Goldie has grown up in a brothel and is being groomed by the madam after her mother passed away. She accidentally bumps into Joshua who is a pastor who has a heart for soiled doves and helping them get out of the business. We see how Goldie really wants a life of her own free of the life her mother had. 

Love’s Escape by Carrie Fancett Pagels - Virginia, 1850

Now this is a story that I love because you don't read as many books involving slaves escaping through the underground railway. Lettie really wants to get away as things have suddenly changed and she is in even more danger. Although if Lettie runs away and is caught she could be in even more danger. Nathan is part of the underground railway and has a plan to get her to safety. I loved how this was planned and how it all worked out. 

The Suspect Bride by Susan Page Davis - Oregon, 1890s

This story was one of my favourites. I was actually in hospital and every time the nurse came to do my ops I was saying I just want this story finished because I want to know what happens. We see Verity arrested for murder and Jack is a lawyer who will represent her. The story takes us through the arrest and why her. I love how Susan keeps the suspense of what will happen next. 

This whole book is a really good read and I would highly recommend it.

Book Review A Cowboy's Dare by Lucy Thompson

A Cowboy's Dare

By

Lucy Thompson

Forget Me Not Romances, a division of Winged Publications (December 30, 2016)

Book Description:

Tyrone woke up with a headache—and a wife. And he’s never been so scared in his life. 

Mayor’s daughter Jane Montgomery has always wanted to be more than a social ornament, and now that her father has given her a three-month deadline to find a suitable husband, she’s desperate. Desperate enough to run away from her pampered life of ribbons and bows to pursue her dream of becoming a mechanical engineer. 

But right before her planned escape, she’s the victim of a matchmaking prank involving spiked punch and a certain local rancher. 

Ever since he failed to stop his mother from going mad, Tyrone Harding — local daredevil rancher who runs hunting expeditions under the banner of “Female-Free Adventures” — has shied away from females, feelings, and anything inhibiting his freedom. Wanting to avoid his family’s questions and his own feelings for Jane, he proposes they fake being in love until she leaves for college, thereby freeing them both. 

Their playacting doesn’t fool Tyrone’s brother who challenges him to prove he truly loves Jane. Never one to back down, he accepts the dare: do something loving for her every day — and to record it in a special Cowboy’s Dare book. 

The dare has unexpected consequences, and as the sparks fly between them, Tyrone and Jane begin to wonder if they’ll lose more than they gain when Jane departs for school. 

My Review

Firstly thanks to Lucy Thompson for my copy of this book.

I enjoyed the first book in this series and was looking forward to book 2. I wasn't disappointed. I think this book was even better than the first one. It was different in that Tyrone winds up with a wife at the beginning of the book. The last think both Tyrone and Jane want is to be married. Tyrone has a lot of baggage thinking he is not good enough to have a wife and Jane wants so desperately to go to college to by a mechanical engineer.

I enjoyed finding out more about how they ended up married and the different things that happened. Tyrone's Little sister had something to do with it. I also enjoyed seeing how the story would unfold and would they stayed married, would Jane go to college etc. If you enjoy Western Fiction I am sure you will enjoy this book. I look forward to the next book in this series.

ACRBA Blog tour Mail Order Bride by Lucy Thompson

5 - 9 September 2016

Australian Christian Readers Blog Alliance

is Introducing 

Mail Order Surprise

( Forget Me Not Romances, a division of Winged Publications (April 19, 2016)

By Lucy Thompson

About the Book:

Colorado, 1881. Lydia Walsh is on the run. The quiet rancher she marries and expected to find safety and protection with turns out to have three siblings, next to nothing to live on, and is a crack shot who may or may not be one of the states best cattle rustlers.

Beau Harding wants to keep his family together and do the right thing by them. His mail order bride comes with her own set of baggage: two more mouths to feed and empty hearts begging him to fill. The job he took for some quick money gets him thrown in jail for rustling, and then to clear his name he takes on another job--and learns that his wife may have been the one plotting his family’s downfall all along.

About the Author:

Hi! My name is Lucy Thompson. I’m a stay-at-home mum to five precocious children and wife to the ultra-handy Dave by day and a snoop by night, stalking interesting characters through historical settings, and writing about their exploits.

I enjoy meeting new people from all over the world and learning about the craft of writing. When I can be separated from my laptop, I’m a professional time waster on facebook (really!), a slave to the towering stack of books on my bedside table, and a bottler, preserving fruit the old fashioned way so I can swap recipes and tips with my characters. 

My home is in central Queensland, Australia where I do not ride a kangaroo to the shops, mainly because my children won’t fit.

Represented by the fabulous Chip MacGregor of MacGregor Literary, I’m a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, and Romance Writers of America.

You can find my review here

Book Review Mail Order Surprise by Lucy Thompson

Forget Me Not Romances, a division of Winged Publications (April 19, 2016)

 

Blurb

Colorado, 1881. Lydia Walsh is on the run. The quiet rancher she marries and expected to find safety and protection with turns out to have three siblings, next to nothing to live on, and is a crack shot who may or may not be one of the states best cattle rustlers.

Beau Harding wants to keep his family together and do the right thing by them. His mail order bride comes with her own set of baggage: two more mouths to feed and empty hearts begging him to fill. The job he took for some quick money gets him thrown in jail for rustling, and then to clear his name he takes on another job--and learns that his wife may have been the one plotting his family’s downfall all along.

Review

Firstly thanks to Lucy for my copy for an honest review.

I have to say wow what a great debut novel by Australian writer Lucy Thompson. I was hooked from the beginning. We start with Lydia and her two children running for a train trying to avoid someone following her. She is off to become a mail order bride in the hopes of safety and a new life. What happens when she arrives is interesting. She finds Beau has left a few things out of the letters he wrote her like siblings.

I love the different twist and turns in the book. I really felt for Lydia I could feel her pain and wanted to know what was going to happen as I was reading. There were times I just needed to keep reading to find out what was going to happen next. Lucy had me on the edge of my seat several times. This is an excellent debut noveI and if you like Mary Coneally's books you will enjoy this story. I eagerly await the next book in the series.