Audiobook Review: Mail Order Brides of the West: Trudy by Debra Holland

Mail Order Brides of the West: Trudy by Debra Holland

Book 1 of Mail Order Brides of the West Series and Book 0.75 of the Montana Sky Series

Unabridged, 6 hr. 11 min.

Debra Holland

Lara Asmundson (Narrator)

June 27, 2015

★★★★☆

 

Heat Rating:

 

Genre: Historical Romance, Western

Source: Received Audible download code from author for review

MAIL-ORDER BRIDES OF THE WEST is a new series created in collaboration by USA Today Bestselling Authors Debra Holland and Caroline Fyffe.

Well-bred socialite and bride-to-be Trudy Bauer arrives at the St. Louis based Mail-Order Brides of the West agency full of excitement for an adventure of a lifetime. She befriends the agency’s maid, Evie Davenport, and the two form a strong and lasting friendship. They vow to stay in contact through letters when Evie takes hold of her destiny and arranges a marriage on the sly. Each brave young woman is ready to face whatever an unknown groom and life in Montana can throw her way.

In Holland’s book, bride-to-be Trudy Bauer rides the train to Sweetwater Springs, in a Montana Sky Novel. In Fyffe’s Novel, house servant Evie Davenport travels by stagecoach to Y Knot, Montana in a McCutcheon Family Novel. Through their correspondence, the friends keep each other abreast of their hardships, trials and tribulations—some of heartbreak, some of love

This mail-order bride series is a different type of series in that it is being written by two different authors instead of just one author for the whole series. Each author has written their own books in the series, but their characters are interconnected. This is seeming to become more of a common occurrence these days with authors writing in each other’s series. The characters written about by Debra Holland will also appear in her Montana Sky series while the characters in Caroline Fyffe’s novels will appear in her McCutcheon series. So, it will be kinda cool to see how all of these characters interact, but I love the idea that they are loosely tied to one another. Trudy connects with the second book Evie as they write back and forth to each other throughout this story and I’m assuming Evie too. It was even cute how at the end of the book, Trudy is holding a conversation with her new husband about trying to find husbands for her friends at the bride agency – which we will see in coming books!

Trudy is the first woman to sign up for a mail-order bride service that wasn’t in some sort of trouble, whether it be being left at the altar, finding themselves pregnant and alone, or running from some bad relationship. Trudy signs up because she wants adventure out west, more than her boring life can give her – and she certainly does find that, daily life is an adventure! It was also cool to see the vetting process that the bride agency went through before pairing up couples; I’m sure that some took their agency seriously while others just randomly paired up people with less than a thought. Seth is looking for a mail-order bride after losing the woman that he intends to marry. Getting used to this new woman in his life is exciting and he wants to embrace it fully, but he is still struggling to get over his previous woman. This sets the stage for certain problems to arise between Seth and Trudy who are desperately trying to understand each other. Nevermind the fact that Trudy is trying to get used to living the life in the west.

I immediately liked both Seth and Trudy. I had encountered them as a married couple in another one of Holland’s books, Grace, Bride of Montana, and loved them as the seasoned mail-order bride couple, so it was fun getting to see that develop and how they got to that point. They are both trying hard to make the relationship work, but there were really a couple times that I wasn’t so sure they were going to make it. Trudy is really not well suited to life in the west, but she has all the earnestness to learn the ropes. The only struggle that I had with Trudy was her reaction upon finding out that Seth had previously intended to marry someone else before turning to the mail-order bride service. I imagine that if a man is resorting to a mail-order bride service, there could be any number of reasons behind why he is doing so, but I thought her reaction was a little bit over the top.

The romance here is very mild. The two spend the majority of the novel just trying to get to know one another, so this is a sweet, clean read.

★★★★☆

I don’t know if it is just that I am getting used to this narrator, this being the third time I have listened to her, but I felt that she did a pretty good job with this story. She did a great job enhancing the sweetness of Trudy. She does have some slight changes of voice for the different characters, but it is not so obvious that it is distracting (which was a problem that I had with a prior narration from her). Her reading pace is unhurried and made a 200 page novel feel longer (in a good way).

Check out this audio excerpt for a taste of the book:

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• I Am A Reader
• Reviews by Martha’s Bookshelf

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

 
Also by Debra Holland:

Debra Holland has written the following novels within the Wild Montana Sky series:

Beneath Montana’s Sky (Wild Montana Sky #0.5)
[My Review]

Wild Montana Sky (Wild Montana Sky #1)

Starry Montana Sky (Wild Montana Sky #2)

Stormy Montana Sky (Wild Montana Sky #3)

Montana Sky Christmas (Wild Montana Sky #3.1)

A Valentine's Choice (Wild Montana Sky #3.2)

Painted Montana Sky (Wild Montana Sky #3.5)

Glorious Montana Sky (Wild Montana Sky #4)

Sweetwater Springs Scrooge (Wild Montana Sky #4.1)

Sweetwater Springs Christmas (Wild Montana Sky #4.2)

Healing Montana Sky (Wild Montana Sky #5)

Mystic Montana Sky (Wild Montana Sky #6)

Grace: Bride of Montana (Wild Montana Sky/American Mail-Order Brides)
[My Review]
 
Also in the Mail-Order Brides of the West series:

Evie by Caroline Fyffe (Mail-Order Brides #2)

Heather by Caroline Fyffe (Mail-Order Brides #3)

Lina by Debra Holland (Mail-Order Brides #4)

Darcy by Debra Holland (Mail-Order Brides #5)

Kathryn by Caroline Fyffe (Mail-Order Brides #6)

 
Find Debra Holland: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Find Lara Asmundson: Website |
 
 


Copyright © 2016 by The Maiden’s Court

Audiobook Review: Beneath Montana's Sky by Debra Holland

Beneath Montana’s Sky by Debra Holland
Book .5 (Prologue) of Wild Montana Sky Series

Unabridged, 4 hr. 40 min.

Debra Holland

Lara Asmudson (Narrator)

April 14, 2015

★★★★☆

Heat Rating:

 

Genre: Historical Romance, Western

Source: Received Free Download from Author via Audible for Review

BEFORE THE MAIL-ORDER BRIDES OF THE WEST SERIES, BEFORE WILD MONTANA SKY, COMES THE PREQUEL TO THE MONTANA SKY SERIES, sweet historical western romance by NY Times and USA Today Bestselling author Debra Holland set in 1882.

Plain and timid, debutante Pamela Burke-Smythe is a wallflower at the high society Boston balls she attends, overlooked by possible suitors. One-by-one, her friends become engaged, and Pamela resigns herself as to life as a spinster.

When rancher John Carter becomes guardian to his orphaned godson, Nick, nothing he does seems to help the grieving, angry boy. At his wit’s end, he believes that a wife might help draw Nick out, and lonely himself, John’s been thinking along the matrimonial lines for a while anyway. But small Sweetwater Springs, Montana, has no suitable candidates. He decides to visit his great-aunt Hester in Boston and bring back a wife who is kind and compassionate, can be a mother figure to Nick, and who can adapt to the hard life on the ranch.

Hester plays matchmaker for John, introducing him to Pamela. John responds to Pamela’s kind heart and believes he’s found the ideal woman. But Pamela never thought to marry a stranger and leave Boston, and her family and friends are against the idea. She musters all her meager courage to defy her loved ones and seize her only chance at marriage.

After a whirlwind courtship, the couple marries and travels west. Pamela discovers a run-down ranch house, a bunch of unruly cowboys, a sullen boy, and a different way of life. Can their new marriage survive the challenge?

This novella sets the stage for Debra Holland’s entire Wild Montana Sky and Mail Order Brides of the West series; it is chronologically the earliest. This however wasn’t my first introduction to the Sweetwater Springs world (that was with Grace: Bride of Montana).

The novella starts out in two different settings that occur simultaneously: Montana, on the ranch that John Carter owns, and Boston, where Pamela lives. We are introduced to John and he is a solid, upstanding rancher who has just taken in his godson and really has no idea how to raise a teenage boy dealing with the grief of losing his family. He knows that a wife would make his life easier and possibly bring Nick out of his grief, but he has to look far afield for one as there are not many in the wilds of Montana. John’s whole approach is in looking at it in not quite the strictly business arrangement manner, but he’s not looking for a love-at-first-sight match either. I found him earnest and interested in doing what he can for everyone. Pamela lives in a world that is very, very different from John; she lives in the urban environment of Boston complete with all the amenities that a city life brings. She has settled on being an old maid for the rest of her life, so she makes a huge mess of things in ultimately getting to the altar with John. Her reaction to essentially being swept up in a pseudo-arranged/quick marriage is very much like my own would be: cautious, but optimistic. He is a hard worker who tries to improve life for herself and those around her on the new ranch she will call home. I think I most enjoyed watching her put these men in line (there is one scene where all I can envision is Snow White sending the dwarves out to bathe!). There were quite a few chuckles to be had here.

The romance in this novel is slow building, which I found believable and appropriate for the time period and nature of the relationship. They agree to marry without really knowing too much about each other and over time grow to trust one another. Most women who moved west had to be industrious and figure out creative ways to solve the myriad of problems they would encounter, and Pamela does just that, even though she is from a more posh background. She is able to blend herself into John’s life and build a family from those that welcome her into their world.

I found this novella to be sweet and intriguing as I came to know more about these characters and this setting of Sweetwater Springs. It was a quick read and I look forward to reading more in this series.

★★★★☆

The issue that I had with the last audiobook narrated by Lara Asmudson (Grace, Bride of Montana) I also encountered here. Overall, her narration was very good, however there seems to always be one character whose voice bothers me tremendously and can pull me out of the story; this time it was Pamela’s Boston friend Elizabeth Hamilton. Her British accent did nothing for me, and every time she called her “dear Pam” the sound of it pulled me right out of the story. The good thing here is that Elizabeth is not one of the main characters, she is just present in the Boston section of the story, which isn’t long), so it didn’t affect my overall enjoyment to a great extent. The narrator’s pacing of the reading is well done while still moving the story along.

You can listen to a sample of the book to get a taste for both the story and narration:

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• I Am a Reader

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Audible

**At the time of this review – the book is free on all these platforms!!**


Also by Debra Holland:

Wild Montana Sky (Wild Montana Sky #1)

Starry Montana Sky (Wild Montana Sky #2)

Stormy Montana Sky (Wild Montana Sky #3)

Montana Sky Christmas (Wild Montana Sky #3.1)

A Valentine's Choice (Wild Montana Sky #3.2)

Painted Montana Sky (Wild Montana Sky #3.5)

Glorious Montana Sky (Wild Montana Sky #4)

Sweetwater Springs Scrooge (Wild Montana Sky #4.1)

Sweetwater Springs Christmas (Wild Montana Sky #4.2)

Healing Montana Sky (Wild Montana Sky #5)

Mystic Montana Sky (Wild Montana Sky #6)

Trudy (Mail-Order Brides of the West #1)

Lina (Mail-Order Brides of the West #4)

Darcy (Mail-Order Brides of the West #5)



Find Debra Holland: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Find Lara Asmundson: Website



Copyright © 2016 by The Maiden’s Court

Book Review: Grace: Bride of Montana by Debra Holland

Grace: Bride of Montana by Debra Holland
Book 41 in the American Mail Order Brides series
Unabridged, 3 hr. 45 min.
Lara Asmudson (Narrator)
March 30, 2016
★★★★☆

Heat Rating:

Genre: Historical Romance, Western

Source: Received audio download from author for review

Grace: Bride of Montana by NY Times and USA Today best-selling author Debra Holland is number 41 in the unprecedented 50-Book American Mail-Order Brides series.

Practical Grace Dickinson thought she had her life all planned, including picking out the perfect husband. But she couldn't have predicted the disaster that changed everything, leaving her no choice but to become a mail-order bride to a most imperfect man.

Grace’s story is technically book number 41 in the 50 books series American Mail-Order Brides; but don’t be fooled by this statement, you do not need to read them in any order. Each bride is simply from a different state in the United States. Grace is the bride of Montana – although her story starts in Massachusetts and with a sort of tragic story.

Grace sets her mind on becoming a mail-order bride because the company she works for burns down and her romantic prospects take a huge flop. She is desperate to get as far away from where everything has turned toward the worst and can’t perceive anywhere being further away than Montana. When she arrives in Montana she is met not only by her future spouse, Frey, but also Trudy and Seth Flanagan. It was interesting to see Grace interact with Trudy as Trudy arrived in Montana as a mail-order bride herself (she even has her own book!) and she could offer experience and someone for Grace to relate to in the new world. The scenes between Grace and Frey are sweet and develop from a friendship and into love. They both give each other time to get acquainted with their situation and don’t try to force something that isn’t necessarily there…yet. Grace is still reeling from the failed relationship at home and is both trying to deal with that as well as this new romantic relationship – so she is a rocky boat but trying to make the best of it.

This is a low drama novel; its strength is in its character building. I appreciated that the author allowed the characters to get to know each other and not have them fall in love at first sight. All of the characters are very likable and I found their conversations to be downright funny at times. There is one dramatic scene toward the end that really cements this new relationship, a pivotal moment that caught me off guard as I was used to the low key nature of the plot.

The heat rating is very low on this one – as I said, they are really just trying to figure things out and Grace is still mourning her last relationship. There are sweet thoughts, some hand holding, and a chaste kiss or two – it all made sense with how their relationship was forming.

I enjoyed this novella and would love to read more set in this world of Sweetwater Springs – which is excellent as there are not only many written by this author but a few written by other authors as well!

★★★½☆☆

I had some issues with the narrator, most notably the voice that she used when reading the lines and thoughts of Frey, the male protagonist. It sounds like she was trying hard to pull over a low pitched voice, which didn’t quite come off natural, but felt a little forced. It would shake me from the story every time Frey would come back into the story, which was a little unfortunate as he was very often there. I didn’t have any issues with her other voices, even for the other male character, Seth Flanagan. I think it would have been markedly improved if she did not try for so low a voice for Frey. Ms. Asmundson narrates many of the novels in the Montana Sky series, particularly the Mail-Order Brides of the West segment, so I’m hoping that this doesn’t continue to be a repeated issue for me, since I would like to enjoy more of these on audio format. I enjoyed her pacing of the story, it felt natural and even overall.

Buy the Book: Amazon

 
Also by Debra Holland:

Beneath Montana's Sky (Wild Montana Sky #.5)
[My Review]

Wild Montana Sky (Wild Montana Sky #1)

Starry Montana Sky (Wild Montana Sky #2)

Stormy Montana Sky (Wild Montana Sky #3)

Montana Sky Christmas (Wild Montana Sky #3.1)

A Valentine's Choice (Wild Montana Sky #3.2)

Painted Montana Sky (Wild Montana Sky #3.5)

Glorious Montana Sky (Wild Montana Sky #4)

Sweetwater Springs Scrooge (Wild Montana Sky #4.1)

Sweetwater Springs Christmas (Wild Montana Sky #4.2)

Healing Montana Sky (Wild Montana Sky #5)

Mystic Montana Sky (Wild Montana Sky #6)

Trudy (Mail-Order Brides of the West #1)

Lina (Mail-Order Brides of the West #4)

Darcy (Mail-Order Brides of the West #5)

Find Debra Holland: Website | Facebook | Twitter

 
 


Copyright © 2016 by The Maiden’s Court