Twice Promised by Maggie Brendan ~review

• Paperback: 332 pages
• Publisher: Revell; Original edition (October 1, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0800734637
• ISBN-13: 978-0800734633

This book is also available as an e-book.

Publication Date: October 1, 2012 | Series: The Blue Willow Brides (Book 2)

Seeing how successful her older sister's "mail order marriage" has been and longing to strike out on her own, Greta Olsen answers an ad for a mail order bride in Central City, Colorado. But when she meets Jess Gifford, owner of a thriving mercantile, she begins to harbor doubts. He didn't place the ad to begin with and his business in a busy mining town leaves him little time or energy for love. To compound her troubles, she was not the only bride to answer the ad! Will either bride strike the match she hopes for?

Filled with amusing and awkward situations that will keep the reader interested and guessing, Twice Promised is another sweet romance from Maggie Brendan.

My take on this book:

I love stories about mail order brides, and this one provides a unique twist on that situation, when not one but two mail order brides show up for the same man, and furthermore that man doesn't know anything about it!

Greta Olsen had plans to marry Bryan Gifford, but things didn't turn out as planned when he was killed before it could ever happen. Since her sister had such good luck becoming a mail order bride she decides to answer an ad herself, and has been corresponding with Jess Gifford. She wonders if Jess is somehow related to Bryan, but doesn't know for sure. When she decides to set out to Central City to marry him she meets another mail order bride,Cora Johnson, on the train, and that's when things get really interesting. When they arrive in Central City they realize that they are both supposed to marry the same man, but instead of Jess showing up at the train station, Jess' brother Zach is the one to meet them. They learn that Zach had actually planned the whole thing in order to find his brother a bride, and thinks that Jess can choose between the two. Which one will he choose? 

This story pulled me in from the prolog. We meet Bryan, whose last thoughts are of Greta. Of course I had to know what would ultimately happen with Greta. Truthfully though I liked each of the characters in this story. With the vivid descriptions I had more than one laugh as I read this book, but on the other hand, there were several poignant moments as well. If your a fan of inspirational historical fiction your going to enjoy "Twice Promised."

A complimentary copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review.

"Available October 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group."