Review: Abby: Mail Order Bride (Unconventional #1) by Verna Clay

Print Length: 129 pages

Publisher: M.O.I Publishing (June 9, 2012)

From Goodreads.com: 

"2014 Historical Romance Gold Medal Winner Readers' Favorite Book Contest"

Brant Samson has fallen on hard times with the death of his beloved wife a year earlier from lung fever. Left with three children, he's desperate to find a mother for them. Ten year old Jenny does her best to care for two year old Ty, and fourteen year old Luke works the ranch with his father, losing himself in dime novels to ease the pain of his mother's passing. Brant's options are limited since eligible women seldom pass through Two Rivers, much less settle in the small Texas town. In desperation, he places a classified advertisement for a mail order bride. Marrying a woman he'll come to know through a newspaper advertisement scares the bejesus out of him, but at this point, he's out of options.

Abigail Mary Vaughn always dreamed of having her own family, but caring for her elderly parents, as well as working as a teacher to help with finances, ended that dream. Her parents are now dead and she's faced with the reality of her lonely existence. After reading Mr. Samson's advertisement in the Philadelphia Inquirer, she garners enough courage to respond. Since she is considered an old maid at the age of thirty-eight, she'll more than likely spend the rest of her life wondering "what if" unless she does something unconventional.

Sensual love scenes.

                              

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My Rating: 3 stars out of 5

This was one of those stories that while I didn't love it... I didn't completely hate it either. Usually, I don't like to include spoilers in my reviews. However, this particular story includes an event that could be a "trigger" for some readers. Without going into the details of who, what, where and why, I will say that a very young child does die during the course of the story, so anyone who is touched by that particular event may want to look elsewhere for their entertainment.

In fact, sadness and loss was the reoccurring theme of this story, and instead of feeling like I was being transported into a place I wanted to be in, the last half of this book honestly took me awhile to read because it was so darn sad and depressing that I had to keep putting it down and coming back to it. 

The author did have an easy-flowing style and the book was engaging enough (if you can look past all of the sadness). The characters were likable enough, and the plot-line mostly realistic. There was just enough drama (not including what I mentioned above) that the first part of the book flew by. It wasn't until near the end that things just took a turn for the more depressing. 

All of that being said, I'm sure there are a great many people that this book will appeal to, however I won't be reading it again, nor do I think will I read anymore by this author. 

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 Abby: Mail Order Bride (Unconventional #1) is available (for free at the time of posting) from Amazon.com