Sunday, December 18, 2022

A Reluctant Bride by Jodie Hedlund

Mercy Jenkins takes care of her many siblings while her mom works picking rags and her dad works in a factory.  Then her mom loses her job, and Mercy knows they won't be able to feed all the children anymore.  Mercy hears of opportunity for women who are willing to immigrate to Oregon Territory.  Even though Mercy had long since decided to never get married and become a baby factory like her mother, she hopes she might be able to get a job and send money back home.  It is only when she is on the ship that she realizes the women are intended to be brides for single men in Oregon.  On the ship she starts helping a young ship's doctor as a nurse and assistant.  He is a nobleman running away from an unhappy past.  Both know that they should not get romantically involved, but when has that ever stopped anyone?

Here is a new historical Christian romance writer I hadn't tried.  The book is pretty good.  The pacing is a bit slow, and Hedlund doesn't really explain how the couple are going to overcome the obvious obstacles that they face, but the characters are well drawn and there are enough interesting side plots to keep a reader engaged.  The Christian element isn't too heavy handed and probably appropriate to the time period. The audiobook reader handles Mercy's cockney accent well. I will probably try reading either more in this series or something else written by Hedlund again. (352 p. 2019)

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