Once Upon a Mail Order Bride

September 28, 2020
Broday concludes her Outlaw Mail Order Bride series with this thrilling historical romance set in 1882 Texas (following The Mail Order Bride’s Secret). Adeline Jancy, unable to speak following three years of solitary confinement in prison, travels to the outlaw town of Hope’s Crossing to marry Ridge Steele, a former preacher on the run from bogus rape and murder charges. Ridge introduces Addie to the town’s inhabitants while she finds a way to communicate with him in writing. As the pair grow closer, she reveals that her religiously fanatical father connived to lock her up after she helped rescue the son he fathered with an underage girl from growing up under his thumb. Now that she’s free, her father is after her again. Both still wary about being hunted, Ridge and Addie develop their relationship, survive a tornado, and contend with bounty hunters—and during a tense altercation, Addie regains her voice in the nick of time. Supporting characters, including a female banker who receives a glamorous makeover, a hardworking teenage boy who moves in with Addie and Ridge, and the town’s gruff female doctor, add spark and depth to the environs. Daring escapades and well-developed characters make for a jam-packed finale that’s sure to please. Agent: Gail Fortune, the Talbot Fortune Agency.

November 1, 2020
After years of prison and a lifetime coping with a violently abusive father, Addie Jancy knows her only chance for freedom is agreeing to be Ridge Steele's mail order bride. Ridge is an outlaw with a hefty bounty on his head, but his compassion leads him to perceive that there is more to his mute yet fiery bride than her silence and staggering beauty. Desiring a marriage of equality with his new wife, Ridge gently woos Addie into his heart and home with patience and passion. But Addie knows that their anguished pasts and the secret she still hides will return to threaten their happily-ever-after. Broday concludes the Outlaw Mail Order Bride series with a sizzling finale that features a tantalizingly slow build to intimate trust that catapults into adrenaline-packed ardor. This novel's theme of vulnerability and healing rises from the traumas of abuse and manipulation. The band of outlaws that blossoms into a community in Hope's Crossing, Texas, generates an irresistible 1882 outlaw fairy-tale romance.

COPYRIGHT(2020) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.