The Bride Blunder (Prairie Promises #3) - Kelly Eileen Hake

This is the third book in the series Prairie Promises.  The first two books are The Bride Bargain and The Bride Backfire.

Gavin has come from Baltimore to set up his mill.  Now that he's settled, he sends a "formal" letter to his sweetheart, hoping that she'll come to Buttonwood and agree to be his bride.  BUT, there's two young ladies with the formal name of Marguerite, and the one that hops off the stage is NOT the one he's expecting.  When he finds out the woman he sent for, Daisy, is engaged, he decides to settle on Marge.  But she's having none of that.  She refuses to be someone's second choice.

Also in this book is the story of Midge.  She's been a constant companion to the women in the first two books, and it's about time she found some romance of her own.  Amos is a face from her past, but she has no desire to let him get close enough to see the real Midge.  But when he persists, she decides that being herself is just the thing to get rid of Amos.

I enjoyed both the stories, but I lean toward Midge's more.  She's the one female lead that I didn't dislike at multiple points in the story.  I've had issues with the heroines in all three of these novels, and Midge was a breath of fresh air.  Marge, just like the heroines before her, refuses to see any worth in herself or take Gavin for what he does instead of guessing at his motives every single time he does something.

There's a few things that'll keep this collection at 4 stars.  First, I didn't like the way I'd sometimes read backward.  By that I mean that a scene would end, and the next one would begin with the same scene but told from another perspective.  This repeated parts of conversations and interrupted the flow.  Another thing that bothered me is the extended breaks in the middle of a conversation.  More than once, I had to go back to remember what the previous person had said.  Last, the typos.  Sometimes it would be the wrong word, a misplaced quotation mark or italics for dialogue instead of inner thought.  And it wasn't just once or twice.  Overall, I really liked the stories, but the execution of them makes me penalize the collection a star.  It still gets a Good Book! review.

The Bride Backfire (Prairie Promises #2) - Kelly Eileen Hake

This is book two of the series.  I liked the first book, The Bride Bargain, pretty well, so I was ready to keep going.

Adam Grogan is doing his best to keep the peace with the Speck family, but his brother seems intent on stirring it up.  While trying to prevent an all-out war, he ends up married to Opal Speck.  She was trying to save his life, and to do that, she felt the need to lie and say he's the father of her unborn child.  Problem is, she's not even pregnant!  She lets Adam believe she is, and he steps forward to say he'll claim the child as his own, but he won't make it a real marriage until she reveals the name of the father.

Opal thinks that once the marriage is consummated, she'll be able to tell Adam the truth and he won't be able to annul the marriage.  She's afraid if he finds out the truth, he'll annul the marriage and trigger a war between the two families.  As Opal tries to fit in on the Grogan farm, she discovers that her new mother-in-law will do anything to prevent her from staying.

I liked this one better than the first one.  I'll still go with 4 stars, maybe 4.5 if I'm getting picky.  Opal wasn't as bad as Clara (book 1), but she had her moments where I would frown and wonder what she was thinking.  For example, I was curious why she was so insistent about not telling Adam the truth about the "baby."  She knows he cares about keeping the peace at all costs (as much as she does), so why the automatic jump that he'd seek the annulment if she revealed the truth?

I read this in two days, so it clearly kept my interest.  I just had to see what happened, and I really liked Adam's character.  Midge was another favorite.

I think it's okay to read these out of order.  Anything you need to know from the first book is restated in this one, and the main characters for the third book are new.  I'm hoping there's more Midge in there - she needs a happy ending!  Good Book!

The Bride Bargain (Prairie Promises #1) - Kelly Eileen Hake

It's been almost 6 years since I picked up this complete series.  It's been sitting on my Kindle so long, not because I was afraid it wasn't any good, but something that long takes a certain amount of dedication to get through.  When I decided to read it, I wanted to make sure I would be able to read the whole thing.  I'm going to review the books separately, because I believe that one long review would be too much.

Clara is on the Oregon Trail with her aunt.  They're on their own, and the trail boss isn't happy with them.  Eventually, he leaves them behind, and the two women end up in Buttonwood.  They won't be able to make it to Oregon as they planned, but a friendly storekeeper has a plan for them.

Josiah's son, Saul, is coming from Baltimore and he wants his son to stay.  Clara wants a home and enters into a bargain to find Saul a wife.  That way she can provide for her aunt, and she's making friends in Buttonwood.

When Saul arrives, Clara parades the eligible ladies in front of him, never considering herself as a contender.  She's seen what can happen when women settle for marriage, and her priority is her aunt.  With Saul's plans to return to Boston and Clara's low opinion of herself, will they be able to find common ground?

I liked this book - I'd rate it at about 4 stars.  I liked Saul a bit better than Clara, she seemed a bit hypocritical at times.  She would accuse Saul of manipulating situations (once he understood what was going on), but she was doing the exact same thing.  There was just something about her that grated on my nerves at times, but I was still able to enjoy the book.  This one gets a Good Book review.

Daughters of the Night Sky - Aimie K. Runyan

The Kindle First program sounds wonderful in theory.  Amazon sends me an email the first of each month with 5 or 6 books to choose from, and I get one for free.  And then, once I get around to reading it, I'm disappointed.  I think there's been one book I've enjoyed.  Recently, I've cut back on choosing a book at all, but this one interested me.  It's the right time period, and I wanted to read about Russian pilots who were women.

I started reading about Katya's struggles to prove herself as a navigator.  Then, just partway in, she has a day out with a pilot who has been nice to her and then proceeds to go straight to a hotel to have sex.  I've come across these kinds of scenes before, and I normally skim them, but this was PAGES of skimming.  And so early on!

Other people won't be bothered by that scene, and I understand this is a personal preference issue.  I made it to less than 20% - that scene was a deal-breaker for me.  This book is off my Kindle and out of my library.  I'm a prude and I'll admit that.  The drawn-out sex scene made me put down the book and immediately delete it.  I think I'm done with the Kindle First program.  I'm just done...

The Innkeeper's Daughter (The Bow Street Runners #2) - Michelle Griep

This is the second part of the trilogy.  The first book is called Brentwood's Ward, and the third is called The Noble Guardian and scheduled to come out June 2019.  Personally, I haven't read the first book, and this is my first read by this author.

Alex is on assignment to find a traitor.  He takes a room at a run-down inn and meets Johanna.  She's trying to keep the place open by any means necessary, and it's going to get her into trouble.

As time passes, Alex's cover is making things difficult for him.  He's in love with one woman while trying to follow orders and court another.  He feels his loyalty should belong to his country, but it's getting harder to lie to Johanna with each day that passes.

I'll put this book in a category I'll call "just okay."  It's hard to point to a specific issue, which is unusual, but I just didn't feel invested with these characters.  I've read a lot of books this length, and I can get through one I really like in about 2 days.  The best way I can think of describing it was that it felt longer than 320 pages.  While I recognized the names of the main character in the other 2 books, I think you'd be okay reading these alone/out of order.

The Warrior Maiden - Melanie Dickerson

I’ll start off by saying it took me a long time to get through this book.  Not all of the fault lies with the book.  I’ve had some medical issues and then everyone was off for the holiday break.  I’ve also been spending a lot of time working on my own story, so I haven’t devoted as much time to reading in general.

This is part of Dickerson’s fairy tale series.  To see the full explanation of connections, you can read my post here.  I keep it updated every time a new book comes out.

Wolfgang and Steffan are on their way to fight against the Teutonic Knights who are terrorizing parts of Poland.  These two brothers have a falling out, and Steffan decides he wants to fight for the other side.  Wolfgang is upset but continues on to join the army of Duke Konrad.  It’s there he meets a skilled warrior in Mulan.

Mulan left home to make sure her mother could stay in their home.  She’s also running away from an arranged marriage to a horrible man.  She’s trying to hide the fact that she’s a man from the rest of the army, but eventually it’s going to become impossible.  At that point, Wolfgang starts to become more than a colleague and friend, but she knows he’s a duke’s son and thinks nothing can happen between them.

I was disappointed in Mulan’s character.  One minute she’s a strong warrior, and the next she’s acting like a teenager.  The thing that pushed me over the edge was when she got upset at Wolfgang because of the way he asked her to marry him (it’s a fairy tale, I don’t think it’s a spoiler to mention that).  He didn’t say it the way she wanted him to, so she gets angry and huffy.  I understand she’s supposed to be wary of men because of her father, but up to that point, she’d been building a trust in Wolfgang and appreciating that he wasn’t anything like her father.  Overall, I felt like both main characters thought about their emotions more than necessary.

I was intrigued by Steffan’s character, and he’s on the lookout for a princess to rescue.  I’ll be watching for that story and hope I like it better than this one.  It wasn’t terrible, but I didn’t like it near as much as some of the others.  I just wish there had been more action, and l didn’t have to read about so many emotions.

*I received a copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Sky Above Us (Sunrise at Normandy #2) - Sarah Sundin

This is the second book in the series.  The first one is called The Sea Before Us, and book 3, The Land Beneath Us, is scheduled to come out in 2020.  The series follows the lives of three brothers who participate in D-Day.  This book is about Adler, the middle brother.

Adler’s been bottling up his pain for three years, since the night he ran away from home in disgrace.  Now, he’s a fighter pilot and determined to do his part in the war.  A chance meeting gives him a new friend in Violet, a worker for the Red Cross.  She thinks she’s on her way to work with children in England, but her role is a lot different than she imagined.

Adler and Violet end up in the same unit, but they resist giving in to their feelings.  Violet plans on becoming a missionary in Africa, and Adler just wants to start up a business.  Violet ends up being good for Adler, but he doesn’t want to let her too close.  In his eyes, when she knows everything, she’ll think very differently about him.

I usually like Sundin’s books, and this was no exception.  Part of it is the history (I’m drawn to the WWII era), and part is the characters.  The main characters were great, but I liked some of the supporting cast as well, namely Nick.  Sometimes the descriptions get a little too technical for me, but you can tell the author does her homework.  I liked the tiny bit of closure at the end, and I’m hoping for a great ending in the third book.  All 3 brothers, all together – preferably after the war!

The hardest part is going to be waiting until the third book comes out.  Poor Clay has reason to be angry with both his brothers, and I can’t wait to read his story.  Good Book!

*I received a copy of this book from Revell through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.