Abby: Mail Order Bride (Unconventional) Paperback – June 10, 2012

A wonderful story of love and hope in the face of life’s heartaches.Thank you for this uplifting story of love.

For its length, this was a pretty successful romance. Novella length stories of this kind don’t always succeed, but for the most part, this one does.I liked that the author chose to play around with her leads and their circumstances, making them different than your usual farmer and his mail-order bride. Their ages are significantly different than the usual, and I liked that Abby was a normal sized woman, not a pixie-thin gal. For being a former teacher from a somewhat privileged background, Abby shows a lot of grit and bravery to go into such an unknown situation and try to build a better life. I loved that Brant was willing to look beyond the obvious with Abby to see the sweet, loyal individual she really was.I liked that the author was also willing to go to some distressing areas with the overall story and fate of characters. Historical romances can veer off into the smoopy sweet territory, making many areas unbelievable and so removing my enjoyable from the story. Yet, Clay played around with some tragedy and tears to give her romance depth in contrast to all the pain. For a novella, that’s a bold step I liked.Where this book suffered a smidge was a common fault I’ve run across in novellas. The author seemed to be trying to fit too much into one storyline. Situations and conflicts were solved very quickly as the story progressed, never really giving the reader a chance to sink teeth into any one thing. Prime example of this is how quickly Brant’s kids got on with Abby and how quickly they seemed to accept her as a mother figure, Luke especially. He starts out as a typical teen who misses his mother so lashes out, but it only takes a few gestures on Abby’s part to win him over.For a historical romance novella, this work actually stands up pretty well. I loved the leads and their relationship. The author chose to incorporate unusual aspects into the story that gave it extra depth and stand-out power. It fell short in the usual area that novellas do with me; yet overall, I enjoyed the book more than I didn’t. I’d recommend it to lovers of short historical romances as it’s a nice diversion and won’t take long to devour.

I love stories of the West, including romance but I have to say they tend to represent the world of the 19th century pioneers as pretty much like our 21st century with a few modifications. I deeply appreciate that Ms Clay did not choose to create such a world for Abby. Instead, she accurately represented the hazards inherent in a world without vaccines and antibiotics. She has written a very accurate depiction of quite human people trying to triumph despite adversity and has brought out the absolute necessity of the support and love of family and community to prevail. That the primaries are the requisite male hunk and female beauty is really not essential, but does help the reader identify it as a romance.It is a relief to read such an amazing, enjoyable, yet still relatable story.

Other reviewers have given away the sad plotline of this book, but I'll go ahead and put a****SPOILER ALERT****This was really sad. :( I truly wasn't expecting Ty to die midway through the book. I'd gotten to know him and thought he seemed like such a sweet little guy. Then he dies? That's not at all what I was expecting in a romance novel like this.****END SPOILER****This author was easy to read, and I was enjoying the story. It was a fairly simple plot - actually, it reminded me a lot of "Love Comes Softly" - much of the story was exactly that plot - including the child who wasn't keen on having a new mother come into the home.There were the occasional spelling and grammatical errors that did distract from the story; there were a few times in which I had to reread the sentence multiple times to figure out what it was trying to convey. But I was willing to forgive those errors, because I was curious to know what happened next in the story.This wasn't a completely "squeaky clean" story - meaning there was a bit of language and some intimacy within marriage. So, if someone is looking for that kind of book, you might be a little cautious. However, the amount of those things isn't overwhelming, and I don't think it would be a drawback to reading it, if you're willing to accept the little bit that's there.Another reviewer said, though, "The book is well written and easy to read but I will not read another by this author. I don't like to feel cheated and reading about a dead toddler isn't my idea of escapism. If I want sad and depressing I will just watch the news." And I'm afraid I have to agree with this assessment of the book. If this is indicative of the kind of stories this series is about, I think I need to pass. Coming across that in the book was a shock last night and not what I was wanting in a romance. True life romance may not always be happy, but a romance novel should be. A romance novel should leave you happy after reading it. This one didn't. :(

At first I thought man meets and marries girl and live happily ever after, but this book was much much more than that. The twists and turns that came and went were so so good, I couldn't put the book down, but I was so tired because I hadn't put it down since I started to read it and read 85% of the book in one sitting, that is how good it was. I recommend this book for anyone who is a sucker for a love story and has sad moments too. This book was free, but I would have paid for it, if I had known it was going to be good, but you don't know until you have read them. I recommend you get this book it's free too.

What an emotional ride this book gave me .Answering a mail order bride ad for a wife and mother to three children, Abby sets off to an unknown new beginning. I was pulled into this story from the very start, a city woman who has never even been on a ranch, doesn't have any experience with children.l laughed at some of the misfortunes that happened to her and cryed at the unexpected part near the end.Beautifully told that made me feel every emotion that Abby went through. Well worth a read. Five stars from me.

Really nice story. A pity it wasn’t longer so that the characters could have been more developed.Recommended for a short uplifting read.

I am not sure when the period of the story supposed to be. As far as I am aware it was in 19th century America when mail-order brides came from well-developed areas in the East to marry men in Western frontier landsConsidering the period, the language used is very modern. The word "Okay" is used frequently even by Ty, the babyIn the beginning Abby is very level-headed and composed, but at the end she becomes wet and despondent.The family shed too much unnecessary tears for my liking.Apart from the above, the rest was a nice, light read

good read