13 July 2017

Book Review: The Wayward Heart by Nerys Leigh

Fun Mail Order Bride Romance


Lizzy Cotton signs up as a mail order bride to marry a handsome cowboy and fall in love. The adventure starts well, when she arrives at her destination with four other mail order briders. Her husband, Richard Shand, is even more handsome in person than in his photograph. But he doesn’t seem at all interested in being a real husband. Instead, he leaves her alone on the ranch all day, with only one of the cowboys for company.


Lizzy was a likeable heroine, if a little naïve (delusional?) at the beginning. She was almost annoying in her Pollyanna-like cheerfulness and optimism, and her overly romantic ideas about living in the West, marrying a cowboy, and falling in love. She’s got it all planned out, but you know what they say about plans …

Richard was not nearly so likeable. In fact, he was downright unlikeable in the way he advertised for a mail order bride, married her, then ignored her. And I don't know what else to say about him that wouldn't be a spoiler. Let's just say there was a big twist, and while I knew something was coming, my guess was about 90% wrong.

There was plenty of romance—but the course of true love definitely doesn't run smooth.


There's conflict (plenty of conflict), but also a lot of laughs as Richard and the other cowboys underestimate Lizzy in many ways. Yes, she's way more than a Pollyanna.

The Wayward Heart is the third book in Nerys Leigh’s Escape to the West series, but the books can be read in any order. They all take place in the same town over the same timescale, with each book focusing on one of the mail order brides.

Overall, The Wayward Heart is a Christian Western historical romance that's got everything: intelligent and likeable heroine, intelligent and gentlemanly hero, conflict, laughs, and a thought-provoking Christian theme.

Recommended.


Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Nerys Leigh at her website, and you can read the introduction to The Wayward Heart below:






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