The Promise Bride

Love Christian western romance novels? What about Christian murder mysteries? What if you could find both in the same novel? You might just want to pick up The Promise Bride by Gina Welborn and Becca Whitman. I really LOVED this first novel in the Montana Bride series, and features Emilia Stanek who wants a better life for herself, her two siblings and her father, working for Spiegel as a Customer Service Manager. Living in a run down tenement in Chicago in the late 1800's, she struggles with the filthy living conditions and what the outcome will be if they don't find a way to live. So she answers an ad for a mail order bride in Montana. A new life out west, clean air to breathe, and a man willing to take her entire family into his ranch home in the Montana Territory.

After spending the last ten months working, she finally has almost enough money for all of them to travel to Montana, until their landlord demands $30 to pay for the cost of the repairs he is charging all of his tenants. Her father, tells her to take her two siblings and he will follow them in three months. She agrees as only a last resort and hopes she can convince Phineas Collins to help her bring her father to Montana as soon as possible. Her marriage was by proxy and she can't wait to get to Montana to file the paperwork to make her legally his wife. Only the one thing she didn't plan for was to learn upon arriving by train that Finn, or Phineas was found murdered. The Sheriff tries to convince Emilia to take herself and get back on the train headed home since there is nothing for her in Montana.

Emilia knows she can't go back to living like she was, and this time she has to think of her family first. So she becomes determined to file her paperwork and try to work the ranch in hopes she can raise enough money to bring her father to Montana. Her siblings Luci and Roch just want to head home, but she knows they need to try to find a fresh start. What she is completely unaware of is that the person or persons who murdered Finn, might just try to kill her unless they find out why he was murdered, and that she will also inherit all of Finn's debts as well. Her first impression of the ranch is a far stretch from what she expected and to top if all of Sheriff McCall refuses to let her go about unprotected until he can bring the killer to justice.

I received The Promise Bride by Gina Welborn and Becca Whitman compliments of Zebra Books, a division of the Kensington Publishing Corporation and NetGalley. I really love the raw determination that Emilia has. To walk away from everything she knows and to take care of her siblings with a future she had hoped for is far from what she gets. Armed only with her willingness to rise above the tragic circumstances facing her, she will prove everyone wrong who ever thought she would need protection and that she would run back home when faced with adversity. Doesn't hurt to have a man standing by ready to lend a hand whether she wants it or not. I give this novel a 5 out of 5 stars and can't wait for the next book in the series but don't forget to check out the novella Come Fly With Me which proceeds this one.

For more information about The Promise Bride, Gina Welborn, Becca Whitman or where you can pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

The Promise Bride by Gina Welborn and Becca Whitman

You can find Gina Welborn on Facebook to stay up to date with all her latest novels.

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To read more reviews on The Promise Bride, please visit Zebra Book's website.