Book Review: 12 Brides of Summer Novella Collection 2 by Mary Connealy, Amanda Cabot, and Maureen Lang

A Bride Rides Herd by Mary Connealy
The Fourth of July Bride by Amanda Cabot
The Summer Harvest Bride by Maureen Lang
In Novella Collection 2 of the 12 Brides of Summer series

ARC, E-Book, 149 pages
Shiloh Run Studios
July 1, 2015
★★★★ ½☆

Heat Rating:

Genre: Christian Historical Romance, Western, Short Stories

Source: Received for review via Netgalley request

Love Is Buzzing in the Good Old Summertime!  Spend the sunny days of summer relaxing with an ice cold glass of lemonade and revel in the dreams of twelve brides who are a bit surprised by how the men of their dreams come into their lives.  Journey to the Old West, stay on the prairie, and visit quaint small towns. . .without leaving the comfort of your own front porch! 

Fireworks start to fly as love finds its way into open hearts in Novella Collection #2:

A Bride Rides Herd by Mary Connealy
Matt Reeves arrives at his brother’s ranch to find Betsy Harden alone with the little girls during a cattle drive. Will the ladies be too much to handle when Matt steps in for the missing ranch hand? 

The Fourth of July Bride by Amanda Cabot
Cattle baron Gideon Carlisle offers to pay for surgery that Naomi Towson’s mother needs, if Naomi will enter a faux courtship with him while his mother is visiting over the fourth of July. It’s a business arrangement, nothing more. 

The Summer Harvest Bride by Maureen Lang
Sally Hobson is practically engaged to the mayor’s son when Lukas Daughton and his family come to town to build a gristmill. She can’t deny an unusual feeling growing for Lukas, but is he trustworthy?

These novella/short story collections are prefect for me when I’m not ready for a long-term commitment with a new book. We all have those days, for me, it especially after finishing a lengthy book. Here you get three complete little romances, about a 3 hour commitment of your time for the whole book, and they are complete with great characters, simple love, and some fun plot twists.

A Bride Rides Herd by Mary Connealy was the perfect way to kick off this collection. From the first lines there is non-stop action until the very end. It grabs you and sucks you in. The male lead, Matt, stumbles upon Betsey who is caring for his brother’s children. Neither of them know too much about taking care of kids and quite the adventure unfolds. The way it is written it would be the perfect western rom-com movie! Mary Connealy is known for her incorporation of humor in her works and that is on display here to great effect. I loved all the characters and it was well paced – I didn’t want this one to end!

The Fourth of July Bride by Amanda Cabot is your classic tale of two people who need each other to solve a problem that they have; their relationship is a business deal and nothing more. Until they start to fall for each other. It felt something like an old school She’s All That, which I loved (minus the bet). Something always gets in the way and in this novel that is religion. It is a tried and true trope but I found the religious angle to be believable for the time period. It was fun to read that a few of the secondary characters in this story were featured in their own works, The Christmas Star Bride (from the 12 Brides of Christmas novella series) and Waiting for Spring.

The Summer Harvest Bride by Maureen Lang is a tale of unexpected love. Sally is comfortable with her life and there is an expectation from everyone in town that she will be marrying the mayor’s son, it’s just a matter of when. When these new visitors show up with a startling plan to build a mill in the town, which throws a wall up between Sally and her intended as they end up on opposite sides of this debate. And that leave some room for Lukas to try to wiggle his way into Sally’s heart. But what does she want, the life that is expected or something that she can’t see yet what the future will bring? I thought all of the characters were very full for a short story and I appreciated that they received the same treatment as those in a novel. The choices the characters made felt true to their core. I also enjoyed the details included about the building and operations of a grist mill. I have had some experience with these during my MANY trips to Old Sturbridge Village so I can attest to it simulating the real experience. This novella included the least of the inspirational/Christian elements.

Overall, this was another wonderful collection; none of the stories were a letdown at all. I have one collection left in this series and I can’t wait to have the chance to read it!


Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• D.L. Kamstra
• Bookworm Mama

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

 
Also Part of the 12 Brides of Summer Series:

12 Brides of Summer Novella Collection #1
[My Review]

12 Brides of Summer Novella Collection #3

12 Brides of Summer Novella Collection #4
[My Review]

 









Find the 12 Brides Series (Including the Christmas Series): Website | Facebook

Find Mary Connealy: Website | Blog

Find Amanda Cabot: Website | Facebook | Blog | Twitter

Find Maureen Lang: Website | Facebook | Pinterest | Blog

 
 


Copyright © 2016 by The Maiden’s Court

Book Review: 12 Brides of Summer Novella Collection 1 by Susan Page Davis, Michelle Ule, and Amy Lillard

The Blue Moon Bride by Susan Page Davis
The Sunbonnet Bride by Michelle Ule
The Wildflower Bride by Amy Lillard
In Novella Collection 1 of the 12 Brides of Summer series

ARC, E-Book, 84 pages
Shiloh Run Studios
June 1, 2015
★★★★ ½☆

Genre: Christian Historical Romance, Western, Short Stories

Source: Received for review via Netgalley request

Love Is Buzzing in the Good Old Summertime!  Spend the sunny days of summer relaxing with an ice cold glass of lemonade and revel in the dreams of twelve brides who are a bit surprised by how the men of their dreams come into their lives. Journey to the Old West, stay on the prairie, and visit quaint small town. . .without leaving the comfort of your own front porch!

Summer has started and so has new chances for love in Novella Collection #1:

The Blue Moon Bride by Susan Page Davis
Ava Neal hopes moving west will be a new start, then she meets handsome Joe Logan who helps her hide her valuables when the train is robbed. Might their paths cross again?

The Sunbonnet Bride by Michelle Ule
After a tornado ravishes her family's farm, seamstress Sally Martin has to decide which man's courtship to accept: a banker who wants to loan money to ruined farmers or a teamster who uses his skills, strength and time to help rebuild.

The Wildflower Bride by Amy Lillard
Grace Sinclair would never dream of leaving her Ozarks, so when Ian McGruer visits for a wedding, she ignores her sudden romantic thoughts. Can Ian make her see the way of love?

As soon as I finished reading 12 Brides of Summer Novella Collection #4, I knew I wanted to read the rest of the collection. There is something about the quick nature of these stories that pulls me in and keeps me wanting to read more of them. So I figured that it would make sense to go back to the beginning and start with Collection #1 (although, they don’t really go in any sort of order, so you can read whichever you want).

Blue Moon Bride by Susan Page Davis left me with mixed feelings. The first few scenes start out with Ava’s sister and her impending marriage. This felt a little out of place for me as a first scene in the way it was written. While this sort of event could lead very well into a romance, it fell a little flat for me. But don’t be down for too long, shortly thereafter Ava is whisking away on a train ride west to visit friends where she encounters quite the dramatic turn (for one of these types of stories) in a train robbery. There is a good deal of action and adventure here for sure on the part of Joe Logan. I enjoyed the action scenes, but somehow didn’t love this story. I think the fact that I had a hard time getting into the story had something to do with it. I think I would have led with the train sequences and then introduced the sister’s wedding in some type of flashback or work it into a conversation.

The Sunbonnet Bride by Michelle Ule was different from many of the other stories in these collections that I have read so far in that you aren’t 100% sure who Sally will end up with. There are two VERY different men at play here and she struggles with the choice. I wasn’t in love with either of the men as leading men, but there was a favorite to be sure. I really liked the choice of the tornado aftermath as a storytelling devise. I have lived through the destruction of a tornado to my apartment complex and surrounding community, so I could truly buy into the response of the neighbors and towns to the destruction and the families (and I’m from the North East where you are not all the friendly with neighbors in apartments!). I found the story very sweet and endearing, and appreciated that she did not obviously have her mind made up from the beginning regarding who to choose (if anyone!).

However, just like last time, the final story was my favorite, and that was The Wildflower Bride by Amy Lillard. While these stories always end happily (the nature of the genre), there was a lot of soul searching regarding the decision that Grace would make at the end here. One of the character types that I have come to enjoy from these romance novellas is the secretly intervening parent. It is true that sometimes your parents know you better than you know yourself and that at times you just need help getting out of your own way to see more clearly. The father here was really cute and I think he stole the show! Super sweet, and in a few places sad, story that I loved.

As a whole, this collection was strong and left me craving more (the only reason why I did not immediately jump into Collection #2 was due to some downloading issues). I would probably place this book more in the solid 4-4.5 star category, just because I didn’t fall in love with the lead off story, which could potentially turn some pickier readers off. Good thing is, they are short stories, so you can finish one story that you may not particularly love in quick time so it will not feel like a time waste or anything of that nature. The Christian aspect I thought was well integrated and again natural to the characters and their circumstances without hitting you over the head with it.

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Bookworlder

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Christian Book

 

Also Part of the 12 Brides Series:

12 Brides of Summer Novella Collection #2

12 Brides of Summer Novella Collection #3

12 Brides of Summer Novella Collection #4

[My Review]

Find the 12 Brides Series (including the Christmas series): Website | Facebook

Find Susan Page Davis: Website | Newsletter

Find Michelle Ule: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Find Amy Lillard: Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest

 

Copyright © 2015 by The Maiden’s Court

Book Review: 12 Brides of Summer Novella Collection 4 by Vickie McDonough, Diana Lesire Brandmeyer, and Davalynn Spencer

The County Fair Bride by Vickie McDonough
The Honey Bride by Diana Brandmeyer
The Columbine Bride by Davalynn Spencer
In Novella Collection 4 of the 12 Brides of Summer series

ARC, E-Book, 154 pages
Shiloh Run Studios
September 1, 2014
★★★★ ½☆

Genre: Christian Historical Romance, Western, Short Stories

Source: Received for review via Netgalley request

Love Is Buzzing in the Good Old Summertime!  Spend the sunny days of summer relaxing with an ice cold glass of lemonade and revel in the dreams of twelve brides who are a bit surprised by how the men of their dreams come into their lives.  Journey to the Old West, stay on the prairie, and visit quaint small towns. . .without leaving the comfort of your own front porch!

Summer's winding down and the nights are getting cooler, but love still warms the heart in Novella Collection #4:

The County Fair Bride by Vickie McDonough
Having spent a year in St. Louis, Prudy Willard returns to Advent, Texas, and fills the new mayor’s desk with her ideas for improving the town. The only thing they can agree on is initiating the county’s first fair.

The Honey Bride by Diana Brandmeyer
Katie Tucker must overcome her fear of the bees her father left as her inheritance to run the family farm and her fear of those like Pete Dent who offer to help her. He’ll rebuild her barn, but is his friendship genuine?

The Columbine Bride by Davalynn Spencer
Lucy Powell is widowed with two children, but she is reluctant to accept Buck Reiter’s help on her neglected farm. Can the old cowboy convince her his interest is more than charity?

I had the chance to read a few of the 12 Brides of Christmas novella collection this past winter and I loved reading these little, short, sweet stories; so when I saw that there was a 12 Brides of Summer novella collection that was being released this summer by the same authors as the Christmas collection I was excited to give them a go. This time, instead of being released as individual stories, they have been bundled into 4 novella collections, each containing 3 short stories of about 50-60 pages in length. I’m going to speak to each short story as well as the collection as a whole.

My favorite story of the three was The Columbine Bride by Davalynn Spencer. The storytelling here felt much longer than the 50ish page count that it actually was. Sometimes these romances can feel rushed to at least give you some result in the short page count, but this one did not feel that way at all. There was a very natural progression of gratitude becoming friendship, and then friendship turning into caring, and then without realizing that it has become something a little more. The four main characters, Lucy, Buck, and Lucy’s two young children, all had very defined personalities and I knew what made them tick pretty quickly. Buck is very much the horseman and uses a lot of horse terms to describe his family and Lucy’s family – the word choices of his thoughts provided even more definition to his character. The chapters alternate between being from Lucy’s and Buck’s perspectives and they flowed together seamlessly. I could certainly see this story becoming a full novel of the relationship and I would eat it up.

My next favorite was The County Fair Bride by Vickie McDonough. The story arc here covers the time period of developing, planning, and carrying out of a county fair in a small town of Texas – pretty much the length of a summer. While the story covers more time period that The Columbine Bride, the narrative felt a little more like a compressed timeline. I think the author felt the need to provide more backstory to tell of Prudy’s evolution from former mean-girl to reformed “nice” girl, which took up a little more of the space and maybe contributed to the feeling of a compressed story. That being said, I did find the evolution of the romance to be believable. There was action throughout, right from the first scene that made the story pop.

Finally, The Honey Bride by Diana Brandmeyer. While all three of these stories focus on women trying to find their way out of a hardship, Katie seems to be the one that had the most difficulty due to the nature of her personality as well as the event that takes place at the beginning. I think this is why I struggled to get to know her as well as the other two heroines. There was also a side focus on this periphery character, W.D., and I felt like it took away from Katie’s story some. I think that W.D. would possibly have an interesting spin-off story though.

In terms of the collection as a whole, I thought it was quite enjoyable. All three stories are quick reads – took me about an hour a piece. It was a nice break in between some lengthier reads and was still satisfying. There is nothing that ties the three stories together in any way besides that they take place in the summertime – but I was ok with that. In terms of the amount of religion incorporated in each story, I felt like it was well balanced and integrated naturally into the characters. As in life, some are more tied to their faith convictions that others, but it never roamed into the preachy territory. I was very happy with this collection and look forward to reading the others. You do not need to read these collections in any certain order as each story is a standalone story.

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Bookworlder

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Christian Book

 

Also Part of the 12 Brides of Summer Series:

12 Brides of Summer Novella Collection #1

12 Brides of Summer Novella Collection #2

12 Brides of Summer Novella Collection #3

 

Find the 12 Brides Series (including the Christmas series): Website | Facebook

Find Vickie McDonough: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Find Diana Brandmeyer: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

Find Davalynn Spencer: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Copyright © 2015 by The Maiden’s Court