Wednesday, October 16, 2013

CFBA: A Bride for Keeps by Melissa Jagears

Song Stuck on the Brain: All These Things That I've Done Lyrics - The Killers (I'm singing the refrain over and over "I got soul but I'm not a soldier....")

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing:
 
A Bride for Keeps
Bethany House Publishers (October 1, 2013)
by
 
Melissa Jagears



MY TAKE: 

Everett Cline has quite the track record with mail order brides, it's no wonder he's bride shy now. But his best friends wife has other plans and she's been quite sneaky about it! She knows Julia is right for Everett, but needs to give him the chance to see that himself.

Melissa Jagears does a fantastic job with Everett and Julia's stories. They each have such a strong back story that adds so much to present events. The humor, drama, tension...Two strong souls and personalities that learn to love again despite their pasts. More importantly there's a beautiful message of faith and learning to open up to God for His healing. It was a great read that was fun and touching.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

A Tender Tale of Love on the Prairie Perfect for CBA Readers!

Although Everett Cline can hardly keep up with the demands of his homestead, he won't humiliate himself by looking for a helpmate ever again--not after being jilted by three mail-order brides. When a well-meaning neighbor goes behind his back to bring yet another mail-order bride to town, he has good reason to doubt it will work, especially after getting a glimpse at the woman in question. She's the prettiest woman he's ever seen, and it's just not possible she's there to marry a simple homesteader like him.

Julia Lockwood has never been anything more than a pretty pawn for her father or a business acquisition for her former fiance. Having finally worked up the courage to leave her life in Massachusetts, she's determined to find a place where people will value her for more than her looks. Having run out of all other options, Julia resorts to a mail-order marriage in far-away Kansas.

Everett is skeptical a cultured woman like Julia could be happy in a life on the plains, while Julia, deeply wounded by a past relationship, is skittish at the idea of marriage at all. When, despite their hesitations, they agree to a marriage in name only, neither one is prepared for the feelings that soon arise to complicate their arrangement. Can two people accustomed to keeping their distance let the barricades around their hearts down long enough to fall in love?

If you would like to read the first chapter of A Bride for Keeps, go HERE.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A Word From The Author:

I am a stay at home mother on a tiny little farm with a fixer-upper house. As much as I love writing and reading about homesteaders, I am so glad I’m a homesteader during an era with modern grocery stores to take up for my slack. I am an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher by trade, and I still work occasionally in that field along with being my church’s financial secretary and writing novels.

My husband and I have been married since 2001 and have a daughter and two little boys. My husband shares my fascination with traditional living except for being more hands on. He loves blacksmithing, knife smithing, traditional archery, hunting, etc. Generally whatever a mountain man does, he does it or has or wants to attempt it. He comes in handy for research! And of course, the rest of the family gets involved. I have my own blackpowder rifle, named Calvin, that my husband made for me. And I’m pretty sure my daughter is probably one of very few her age who can instruct adults how to shoot a longbow properly. The boy digs random holes in my yard to make “cement” with dirt and water making our yard a tripping hazard. The baby does what babies do.

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