Mail Order Mystery
Brides of Seattle Book 1
Historical Western Romance
Firehouse Publishing
December 5, 2017
293
Reviewed by: Linda Tonis
Member of the Paranormal Romance Review Team
Jason Talbot and his brothers own and run a logging company but their men and some of the men in town are beginning to feel that they will never get a wife since Seattle is a small town and women are not plentiful. Jason has decided that he will get help from his sister in New Bedford, Massachusetts and advertise for mail-order brides. He intends to bring back one hundred prespective brides and hopefully not lose his men to other places. Since the Civil War there has been a shortage of men and he is successful in his attempt.
Rachel Sawyer and her friend Lucy Davison see the advertisement and immediately agree to sign up. At a meeting of the future brides Rachel is taken with Jason and it appears he feels the same. A three month trip by boat puts them in close proximity to one another and before long they are meeting at night and kissing, unfortunately Jason lets her know that it could go no further since he promised his wife on her death bed he would never marry again. Ten years ago he lost his wife in child birth and now he and his brothers have been raising his son Billy, there is no room for anyone else in his life.
Rachel can’t help the fact that she has fallen in love with Jason and in spite of the fact that he always seeks her out he is still unwilling to make a commitment. Rachel is fighting a ghost and soon realizes that she has to let go. When the women arrive in Seattle they discover that some of their jewelry is missing and always wanting to be a detective Rachel decides to find the guilty party. Now she has something to take up her time since she sees no future with Jason.
I don’t want to give anything away but I will say that I love reading about the eighteen hundreds and am so grateful that I wasn’t living in that time period. It is fun to read about it but living it is a whole other story. Imagine having to travel by boat for three months from Massachusetts to Washington. The story has a mystery, great characters and two people, one a woman in love and the other a man who believes he can never love again. I highly recommend reading this book to find out what happens with Rachel and Jason.
I can’t wait for more in this series or for that matter any of Ms. Woolf’s series.