Troubled Bride: Historical Western Romance Matchmaker & Co. Book 5
American Historical Romance
Firehouse Publishing
March 20, 2021
186
Olivia Hayes wasn't born a liar or a cheat, but circumstances have forced her to play a role she never wanted or imagined for herself. The letters she sends to a well-to-do rancher in Colorado promising to be his mail-order bride are lies, all the same. Desperate for money to care for her ill mother, Olivia had no intention of following through with the contract she signed with Matchmaker & Company. That is, until her mother passes away unexpectedly, she's left penniless and homeless and the owner of the matchmaking company gives her a choice; go to Colorado and be the bride she promised she would be, or go to jail.
Determined to embrace her fate with an open mind, Olivia sets off to meet her new husband, the handsome rancher, Tyler Wainwright. However, life for Olivia is never easy and she is the lone witness to a brutal murder along the way. Forced to flee her new, powerful enemy, she runs straight into Tyler's arms.
Will the killer sent to silence her forever complete his mission? Will Olivia's lies lead to her death or will love and truth be enough to give Olivia and Tyler a happily-ever-after?
Reviewed by Linda Tonis
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
Olivia Hayes works for Matchmaker & Co. In New York and with her mother sick and needing money for her care she pretends to be a mail-order bride in order to take the money her intended Tyler Wainwright would be sending her. She has every intention of replaying him in time and finding another mail order bride for him but her mother’s needs come before a man and his newborn baby.
Unfortunately, she never counted on destiny playing a major role in her decisions because when she arrived home it was to find her mother dead and the money she received used to bury her. When she confesses what she did to Maggie Black the owner of Matchmaker and Co. She is faced with going to Golden, Colorado or jail and of course she chooses to board a train and marry her intended but, on her way, she witnesses the Mayor of New York killing a man and when she is seen he orders his man Edgar to find her and kill her.
Tyler lost his wife in childbirth after many miscarriages and now he has a two-month-old little girl, Josie, the love of his life who desperately needs a mother to care for her. Olivia falls head over heels for Josie and is finally realizing her lifelong dream of being a mother. She knows that to make the marriage legal she and Tyler have to consummate the marriage but he is willing to do it only once for fear of pregnancy and loss but he never counted on Olivia’s determination.
After escaping New York, she is confident that Edgar will not find her; he is as determined to see her dead as Olivia is determined to have a child. While Olivia learns about being a wife and mother and how to help around the ranch, she is totally unaware of the fact that Edgar is in town and following them to learn their schedule and when the perfect time is to kill Olivia without having to face any of the men.
Another wonderful addition to a wonderful series that makes me temporarily forget all the craziness going on in the world and brings me to another time and place. Olivia was a wonderful character who loved her new little daughter and her new husband and learned very fast how to get what she wants from him. He may be determined not to have any more children but when alone in the bedroom she knows just what to do to entice him and he is easily enticed.
A killer is on the loose, a new bride is trying to have a baby and a new husband is learning his wife is exactly what he wanted.