Official Review: The Reluctant Father's Mail Order Bride

[babika1962]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Reluctant Father's Mail Order Bride" by Cecilia Walker.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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The Reluctant Father’s Mail Order Bride is the second installment in the Pinkerton Brides Series by Cecilia Walker. It’s a short historical western that’s reminiscent of the Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder in that it manages to put a romantic spin on the hardscrabble life of living and surviving on the far-reaching plains of a Montana ranch.

Josephine “Josie” Danforth arrives from Toronto at Miss Sally Pinkerton’s Ladies Boarding House and Matchmaking Service hoping to realize her dream of living out west while employed as a governess, much like her previous post. Miss Pinkerton quickly dashes Josie’s dreams when she informs her that there’s not much of a demand for governesses among frontier families out west and suggests that she accept a post as a teacher or as that of a wife to a frontiersman. She tells Josie that she also runs a matchmaking service, setting up young ladies with frontiersman looking for suitable wives and shows her the latest letter she’s received, this one from a Montana rancher by the name of Ebenezer “Eb” Higginbotham. A widower and guardian to his four-year-old nephew, Clem, he’s looking for a wife to tend house and look after the boy. After a brief deliberation, Josie agrees to become his wife and her train ticket to Montana arrives a few weeks later.

Josie arrives in Montana, nervous and questioning her impulsive decision, especially after a less-than-impressive first meeting with her future husband at the train station. Despite her reservations, she nevertheless leaves with Eb for his ranch and, once there, Josie’s somewhat taken aback by the state of the farmhouse and of little Clem, who has an aversion to washing up. She and Eb are married the next day by the preacher, Clem spends the night with Eb’s aunt and uncle so they can have some privacy on their wedding night and the next day Clem is returned, with Josie quickly settling into life as the wife of a rancher and mother to a young child.

Walker’s descriptions of time and place have an authentic ring to them to the point where a reader can close his or her eyes and picture the vastness of the land and imagine the utter isolation Josie must have felt on the ranch, day after endless day. However, aside from the odd mention of the isolation, there is very little actual conflict in the story, which is somewhat disappointing. It’s the conflict that keeps the story grounded and the reader engaged and by all accounts, there should have been plenty of conflict, especially for a young woman of Josie’s fine breeding and ilk contending with the challenges of being a new wife and mother on a homestead in the middle of nowhere. While Josie doesn’t put on any airs and seems to be made of tough stock, it would’ve served the author well to put some challenges her way so that the reader has a better sense about what it must have been like for someone like Josie to leave city life and all its trappings behind her. While the character of Josie’s husband, Eb, is very likeable, the fact that he’s so accommodating to his wife’s needs, both in and out of bed, seems a little out of character for a rancher who physically toils outside from dawn until dusk.

Despite these challenges with the story and its characters, The Reluctant Father’s Mail Order Bride was an enjoyable read, perfect for readers who love a little romance with their historical novels. While not a long read, it nevertheless has some heart-warming moments and doesn’t fail to deliver the sought-after “happily ever after” and for this, I rate The Reluctant Father’s Mail Order Bride a solid 3 out of 4 stars.

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The Reluctant Father's Mail Order Bride
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[bookowlie]

Nice, insightful review! The premise of the book reminds me of a commercial that is on TV about a matchmaking service for farmers.

[babika1962]

Nice, insightful review! The premise of the book reminds me of a commercial that is on TV about a matchmaking service for farmers.

Thanks for the nice comment!

As for the commercial on TV that you mentioned - I remember when I was in high school reading something about farmers in the Dakotas and elsewhere sending away for mail order brides "of good, solid stock" who would be able to rough it as farmers' wives back early in the last century. It's somewhat shocking to see that things haven't changed all that much!