It’s time for another Rec League, where we gather the power of the Bitchery to help fulfill recommendation requests. This request comes from Jess:
Sarah: Bev Jenkins’ 2018 book should fit.I have a serious problem though, and I hoping you and the fellow website readers can help me out. I love historical mail-order bride. I’m not exactly sure why, but I love it as a plot device. However recently the trope has been taken over by Christian fiction which is not my thing (it maybe someone else’s and that is great, but it isn’t mine), so I was wondering if you or any of the readers can help me find the good stuff. I’m looking for historical mail order bride romances that aren’t inspirational and contain sex scenes.
Amanda: I think Tempest is the name of that one?
Sarah: Did Lorraine Heath write a few?
Redheadedgirl: Oh, there’s that one that might be Heath…hold on.
A Rogue in Texas ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) isn’t exactly mail order bride, but the whole series is mail order dudes.
Amanda: All I know of is a scifi series with alien mail order brides, which doesn’t exactly meet the request requirements.
Does anyone else have a suggestion that fits Jess’ request?
“The Admiral’s Penniless Bride” by Carla Kelly is all the awesome. The hero is awaiting a no-show mail order bride at a hotel tea room when he meets the heroine. She has no money, he needs a wife. I loved it.
Joan Johnston did a mail order bride series that starts with “Texas Bride”.
Carolyn Brown has “The Cowboy’s Mail-Order Bride”.
In Want of A Wife by Jo Goodman. It’s the second or third in the Bitter Springs series but I don’t think you have to read them in order (although when I did finally read The Last Renegade some of the references in the other books made more sense)
LaVyrle Spencer’s The Endearment is an oldie but goodie. It’s what happens when you send off for a mail-order bride expecting one thing from her letters, but find out that she’s been misrepresenting herself when she shows up…with her little brother in tow. Love. It.
There’s another mail-order bride novel by Lorraine Heath: Texas Destiny. Definitely not inspirational! 😉
The Warfield Bride by Bronwyn Williams, a South Carolinian coast historical, where a pregnant widow needs an escape in a hot hurry and offers herself as a mail-order bride.
I believe Williams wrote other novels on this theme, but I haven’t seen them. I can confirm that this one is not inspirational, though! (And that I must remember to track down some of her other novels…)
You might try Holly Bush and her Crawford series. I know some of these are Mail Order bride stories. https://www.amazon.com/Holly-Bush/e/B006ZDTQ1A
Argh, I feel like there’s two or three I’ve read in the last few years but can’t remember what they are…OHHHH Linda Lael Miller’s McKettricks has one or two.
I also remember one where the brother had to go pick her at the train, which was several days ride from where they lived, and of course he fell in love with her on the way back.
Also isn’t there one where the “groom” is dying and wants a mother for his kids, so he sends for one, and she ends up falling in love with the brother or best friend? (who had maybe left for a while cause he couldn’t stand being around her and not have her??…or that might be a third one, where she marries an older rancher, and his ranch manager falls in love with her and decides to leave and comes back when he gets word the husband had an accident and his gravely injured.)
One of those might be “Innocent Fire” by Brenda Joyce?
There’s also “Summer Moon” by Jill Marie Landis (I think this was my first non-inspirational, not Robin Lee Hatcher or Lori Copeland, mail order bride books). She has another one called “Come Spring” that involves mistaken identity.
I love historical westerns.
No book, but mazy I recommend Mark Knopfler’s song “Prairie Wedding” on that topic?
@Olivia—those sound like Kaki Warner’s books!
I know she’s got at least one mail-order bride book. Some of her books are fade to black and some have sex scenes. They’re not Christian romance. Jess, these might work really well for you.
There is a series on AMZ/KU just released called “Twelve Brides for Christmas” with each book written by a different author. I can’t tell if there’s an inspirational bent…
The closest I can recommend is Duncan’s Bride by Linda Howard. He posts a personal ad in a local paper, and the heroine’s best friend gets a copy of that local paper delivered to her in NY. Heroine sees the ad, gets intrigued, meets up with the hero, gets under his skin, and they fall in love. I adore the heroine in this book, and the hero has a nice grovel.
@Olivia, the one story you mentioned reminds me a little of “Parting Gifts” by Lorraine Heath. I haven’t read it, but I remember it sitting on my mom’s bookshelf for years and loving the quilt style cover.
Mail-Order Bride by Maureen McKade
Brides of Prairie Gold by Maggie Osborne
A Chance at Love by Beverly Jenkins
The Surgeon by Kate Bridges
Winter Fire by Elizabeth Lowell
Montana Bride by Jillian Hart
Smoke River Bride by Lynna Banning
Mail Order Marriages (anthology) by Jillian Hart, Carolyn Davidson and Kate Bridges
Check Linda Lael Miller’s backlist. Also, check out westerns from the Harlequin Historical line (some titles included on my list). Mail order brides show up fairly consistently in HH. HH can sometime run towards closed door or PG-rated sex, but it’s not an inspirational line.
Eternity by Jude Deveraux
I won’t say it’s my favorite of her books, but it fits the bill. I love the heroes interaction with his children in the book.
In Parting Gifts the heroine isn’t a mail order bride. The hero’s brother buys her when her virginity is being auctioned off at a brothel
Another recommendation for The Warfield Bride by Bronwyn Williams, a permanent resident on my keeper shelf. The rest of the series is full of little known history from the 19th century Outer Banks.
I have a movie rec – Westward the Women 1951. Script by Frank Capra, directed by William Wellman. Starring Robert Taylor, Denise Darcel, Hope Emerson (voice of the Borden Cow, standing 6 feet 2 and steals the entire movie), and Henry Nakamura. It’s about a wagon train of women going to be mail order brides in California, but so much more than that. It’s astonishing the race, class, immigrant and sex worker stuff this thing touches on for a movie made in 1951. There’s some fail in it, but so much non-fail. I wish someone would remake it.
@Olivia, the one where the hero goes to pick up his brother’s mail order bride from the train and they fall in love on the several days long journey home is the Lorraine Heath novel I mentioned earlier, Texas Destiny.
Speaking of Harlequin Historicals: one I loved back in the day was Beloved Wife by Lynda Trent. It has been a LONG time since I read it so I don’t know how it holds up.
I remember hearing about “The American Mail-Order Bride” series at a reader convention back in 2015. 50 mail-order bride stories, 1 for each state.
“45 authors put together 50 books about the plights of the women whose garment factory in Lawrence, Mass., had burned down, putting them out of their jobs. The head of these women, Roberta, presents the idea that all of the ladies should leave Massachusetts and become mail-order brides.” (Quote pulled from http://happyeverafter.usatoday.com/2015/12/10/becky-lower-american-mail-order-brides-series-kirsten-osbourne/)
I haven’t read any of them, but they don’t sound like Inspies to me. I found the series website for anyone interested: http://www.newwesternromance.com/
Sarah, Plain and Tall?
(Sorry.)
I was referring to this series in my comment: https://www.amazon.com/Days-Christmas-Mail-Order-Brides-Book/dp/B0785GQBQS
Short Straw Bride by Dallas Shulze is an American Western, not exactly mail-order, but MOC. “Heaven in His Arms” has an early Canadian frontier setting, perfect for fans of Sara Donati and Pamela Clare’s Western historicals.
“Wanted: Mail Order Mistress” by Deborah Hale
“Crystal Flame”, a VERY old sci-fi romance by Jayne Ann Krentz
“Come Back To Me” by Josie Litton (Viking romance!)
A couple of Elizabeth Lowell’s very old school medievals, “Untamed” and “Enchanted”
Not exactly mail order, but marriage arranged between strangers: “The Spy’s Bride”-Regency setting, Jewish protagonists; “When You Wish Upon A Duke” by Isabella Bradford; “His Bride” by Gayle Callen; “How To Deceive a Duke” by Lecia Cornwall; “The American Heiress” by Dorothy Eden; “By Arrangement” by Madeline Hunter; and “Golden Girl” by Joan Wolf.
As you can tell, this is my catnip!
A Chance at Love by Beverly Jenkins is also great. The heroine comes in with a group of mail-order brides and ends up agreeing to marry the hero for a year. It’s one of my favorite Beverly Jenkins books, so I definitely recommend it!
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Chance-at-Love-Beverly-Jenkins-ebook/dp/B000OYEWI8/ref=la_B000APIFDO_1_14?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1513295437&sr=1-14&refinements=p_82%3AB000APIFDO%2Cp_n_feature_browse-bin%3A618073011"
Speaking or Mail-Order-Brides, when I was young (less than 10) I used to sneak out to the living room, sit behind a chair and peek around to watch “Here Comes the Brides” because it was too risque for me! but not for my older sisters (and also past my bedtime). I thought it was sooooo romantic. Probably wouldn’t hold up to my older sensibilities but probably couldn’t watch it now anyway. Anyone else out there old enough to remember this show? BTW we only had a black and white TV so I was watching this in black and white but I think it was actually in color.
Beverly Jenkins’ “Destiny’s Embrace” also fits the bill.
Husband for Holly by Jodi Thomas flips the script- it is a mail-order husband. Perfect time of year to read it as it is a holiday novella.
“Mail order alien brides?” That sounds too good to be true! Do you remember the title, Amanda?
@Rosered: The series is called Stargazer Alien Mail Order Brides and the first book is Bond by Tasha Black. It’s also free, so do with that what you will.
Depending on how broad your reading tastes are, D. Jordan Redhawk’s Alaskan Bride takes the mail-order bride motif into f/f territory. (The intended husband dies before the bride shows up, leaving his sister to figure out what to do with her.) I haven’t read it myself, but I’ve heard good things about it.
Johanna Lindsey’s “Tender Is The Storm” has a mail order bride, secret identity, twins switching places and sexy times on horseback…something for everyone!
@Patricia, “Here Come the Brides” was also a favorite of my sister and mom. I wasn’t really supposed to watch it, either, but I did — particularly when it showed up later on reruns.
My mom had a crush on the oldest brother (Robert Brown) and my sister on the middle (David Soul), so that left Bobby Sherman all for meeeeeeeee!
It isn’t a book but a movie – Sweet Land (2005) but it definitely fits the bill. Very much a romance. It’s based on a short story “A Gravestone Made of Wheat” by Will Weaver.
And let’s not forget … Georgette Heyer’s The Reluctant Widow (the one that was made into an unspeakably mediocre movie) may not technically be a mail-order bride, but the plot sure plays out that way.
Mail order temptress by jane kidder. The bride is a terrible housekeeper, there is a town bitch, and the big misunderstandings are so ridiculous. It’s old school zebra historical at it’s finest