Loved this one! It’s all about marriage and family and what love really means and it had me in tears at times. Carter and Sierra are, on paper, the most mismatched couple in history. He’s all about being upstanding and proper and doing the right thing while she is a free spirit with tattoos and no career to speak of but these two love each other. The story starts with their fledgling marriage falling apart through lack of trust, lack of communication and an unwillingness on both their parts to let their partner see their weaknesses. With family playing a strong role in the background, carter and Sierra dissect their marriage and their motivation and slowly learn what it means to commit fully to each other. Tissues were definitely an accompaniment to this story, which held me in its thrall throughout.

Nicole Helm's Bride for Keeps is super cute. The problems that Carter and Sierra face are very realistic and help to humanize the story.

I downloaded this book on a whim because I had just finished reading "Sing Unburied Sing" by Jesmyn Ward and it sounded like a fluffy light hearted read which is what I was looking for. I feel like perhaps the description sold me one book and then I found myself reading a different book. I can't say I particularly hated the story but I just didn’t find it to be in any way compelling and I was bored throughout. The characters just never moved me. I didn’t buy their actions much of the time; they did things that didn’t make sense to me. Sierra is like a spoiled child, throwing a tantrum when she doesn't get her own way and Carter is just as bad - barely speaks to her for days and stays at his parents home instead of coming home. Perhaps I was looking for a different type of book, but for me this read is not one I would recommend.

This book is like real life. We take an emotional journey with Carter and Sierra as there short marriage heads for divorce. Carter's family has never been accepting of his wife and he has stuck up for her with his family. When Carter keeps a life changing secret from her and she later finds out it is more than she can take. She files for divorce. Little did they know that there was a bun in the oven. When Sierra decides to continue with the divorce despite the pregnancy, Carter has to prove to her that she is his for keeps bride. Can past heartache be forgotten and can secrets be forgiven or are they destine to divorce? Good, but serious read.

When your "not supposed to be" is the one right thing in your life and you are in danger of losing it forever, it certainly makes you think about many things and reconsider your choices and your values. And if you find that this is the one thing worth fighting for, well, don't give up on it!

Sierra was Carter's "not supposed to be" and even though she is everything that is good in his life, those two have lost their way. When Sierra learns that her husband has hidden some pretty important news from her instead of sharing his fears and his concerns with her, she gives up and runs. His family never accepted her and with Carter becoming more and more distant and withdrawn, it seems that their fairy tale ended. Only Carter will not accept that things are over and when all seems lost, he finally starts to fight for their love and their marriage.

I absolutely didn't like Carter's parents, so I just hoped that they wouldn't win...it took Carter and Sierra long enough to get their act together and to start fighting. I loved to see them find out what love and marriage are about, that it is not just fun and roses but sometimes also hard work and hurt - and the willingness to keep trying.
It was good to see them bond with those around them who supported them and helped them find their way back to each other.

I'm a bit torn though because even though I loved Carter and Sierra and read this book in one sitting, I was sometimes annoyed when Sierra once again stressed that she wasn't worthy of him and that it would be better for their marriage to end and that it would just hurt. When she finally accepted that ....well, read for yourself!

This is the third book in the series and they should be read in order if you enjoyed the first two book then you will want to give this one a try. I have to admit that this one was not my favorite don't get me wrong it was okay but I just did not love it I did not really like either Sierra or Carter so I don't think that helped. Worth a read you may like it more than I did.

I felt a little out of place as I did not read any other books from this series.
However, as I read the story was put together.
It has a real family oriented vibe to it, which is cool.
But with not reading other books in the series its kind of hard to figure out where Sierra and Carter are both coming from.

I hated that Lena, Carter's brother, was always on Sierra's side without giving a chance to her brother. It was like she hated him and I found that very non-sibling like and annoying. The thing that bothered me the most was Siera though. She didn't know what she wanted and for a person who was supposedly trying to fix her marriage, she was too against Carter's efforts to make things right. It was too one-sided for me. Carter wasn't perfect. He should have opened up to Siera about his feelings after the bomb was dropped, but at least he realized his mistake. Siera was drowning in her own insecurities and she never felt like she belonged on Carter's side. I don't even know why she got married to him. Carter should have made her feel more at ease, but she never said anything to him from what I gathered. She ruined the book.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and I am voluntarily reviewing it.

I am going to be really honest here. This book was hard to rate. I didn't like Sierra much at all. I felt for Carter. He went through a really bad time after his family had a "meeting" and things were revealed to the rest of the family. Yes, he made mistakes but I really saw a lot of myself in him. I tend to withdraw into myself to reason things through. I really think that Sierra was a childish person who didn't grow up. She thought marriage would be easy. She would "run away" from the hard issues making her husband come after her. To her, that was her husband's way of showing how much his cared. REALLY?! Communication was a MAJOR issue here. Being a reader and outside of the story situation though it is easy to see what is going on and criticize the people (characters) that are going through something. While reading the story, I suffered from this. What the author was doing was showing the development of the character. It was very painful to read though.

Ms. Helm a great job though if you actually realize the direction and statement the author was trying to make. Again it was just a little painful for the reader at times BUT don't give up on this. The story really has a point that we as a society today need to see. Communication is very important but very hard to do but oh so worth it in the end.

This is a second chance romance story. This book has left me with mixed feelings, I loved the story but the female character is really annoying. This was a hard book to read and I had to keep putting it down. This is a gritty love story, not all hearts and flowers.



I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book

Sierra and Carter had a rough and mistaken view of marriage. I loved the story because it shows the truth on so many relationships and why they deteriorate. Lack of communication and a skewed view of marriage is very common and divorce is just to easy. I loved the way the author went through each characters path to realizing their mistakes and recognizing what really had to change. Once a couple goes through the tough stuff, you learn your path to a strong marriage. This book was a great reminder for all married couples that being married is not easy and always fun., but the hard times strengthen your bond. Thank you. I really needed this message. Wonderful book. Great story, characters and it was filled with a myriad of emotions.

This book was not what I expected and I didn't like the main characters very much. I tried to love it but fell very flat for me.
thank to netgalley for the arc, the review is my own opinion

I never knew I was a fan of the tropish goodness of a marriage-in-trouble romance until I read Nicole Helm’s Bride For Keeps. It’s not that I avoided the trope, it’s just not one that’s done often, or at least favoured by the authors I tend to read. One of my earliest reviews was of Ruthie Knox’s marriage-in-trouble novella, “Making It Last.” There was an edge to Knox, an anger, that made the marriage compromise, no matter how cheerfully I tried to review it at the time, about diminishing the hero and heroine. This is not the case for Helm’s category-length romance.

Bride For Keeps opens with a family bombshell for the hero: the diagnosis of his father’s MS accompanied by the revelation that he is the product of his mother’s affair. Dr. Carter McArthur is floored: he has striven to be the perfect son, to stand in his father’s medical and community footsteps, giant, important, arrogant footsteps. His one rebellion, his one out-of-perfection decision was to marry wild-child Sierra Shuller.

Carter’s identity crisis comes just as his foundling marriage is settling into the danger zone of familiarity if not breeding contempt, definitely sowing doubt about, not love, but the ability of surviving the day-to-day grind. Sierra, on her part, has come down from the headiness of being married to this perfectly educated, perfectly responsible, perfectly controlled man, a bastion of community respect, a pillar that holds up everything staid and honourable. And Sierra is anything but: she rants, pouts, and throws tantrums. The wilder Sierra behaves, the more indulgent and soothing Carter has responded. This the pattern their marriage has settled into. It’s not good. There is a reckoning and Carter’s reeling from his “father’s” truth-telling sets it in motion.

When the novel opens, Sierra is struggling with Carter’s emotional withdrawal. Contending with his own pain, upholding his notion of what his masculine husbandly role is – to shelter Sierra from his struggles – Carter shuts her out. Sierra wants to reach out, to share Carter’s pain, but she’s afraid she won’t measure up to what he needs, won’t be enough, won’t be the exalted image of what his family would’ve wanted Carter to find in a wife. Sierra is immature and Carter is behaving like a cold fish. Balancing humour and angst, Helm’s tells the story of how Carter and Sierra work their way back to a place of understanding and renewed love. Her fulcrum is the key to how romance tears the hero and heroine asunder, only to build them back up again: the betrayal. Carter betrays Sierra by withholding himself; Sierra betrays Carter by leaving him and withholding herself. Helm does a great job of getting her hero and heroine to be brave enough to expose their vulnerabilities to each other in acts of trust, by opening up and speaking honestly … because they realize what is at stake: their love withering; their marriage, ending.

I loved Carter and Sierra, I loved them apart, and even more, together. I thought they were real, angsty and funny, messed up and put together, arguing, open and honest and raw. But Helm’s novel, really more novella, was pretty much done by their reconciliation. Then, as filler, she had not one, but three epilogues, with baby, with other people’s babies, with all manner of stuff. I read the fillers, I nodded at the fillers, I didn’t particularly enjoy the fillers. And that left me with a moue of disappointment and pulled one of the year’s most emotional reads down several notches. With Miss Austen, I would say Helm’s Bride For Keeps offers “real comfort,” Emma.

Nicole Helm’s Bride For Keeps is published by Tule Publishing. It was released on April 16 and may be found at your preferred vendor. I received an e-ARC from Tule Publishing, via Netgalley.

I am not married, I’m clueless about married life. But somehow this is the second book I have read this year about a married couple, both of them not blissful. I don’t expect marriage to be all rainbows and unicorns anyway. Carter and Sierra’s story if full of drama but it’s not similar to a cheesy telenovela.

I’m on Sierra’s side. Even though Carter was going thru something life-changing, his actions were irrational and it damaged his relationship with his wife. Sierra was there for him every step of the way but he left her, every time. She was supporting him with all she can and he took her for granted.

I empathize with her because as we speak, I have a good friend who’s going thru the same thing. As much as I love the guy, I hate it that he makes her feel that way. Why is it that majority of the time, I know more women being in Sierra’s shoes than men? He loves her and means well but, damn, how he hurts her. Not intentionally, of course.

Bride for Keeps (Big Sky Brides Book 2) by Nicole Helm. This is Sierra McArthur and Carter McArthur's story.

Being a McArthur means you have to do everything perfect or follow what his dad and mom expect. Marrying Sierra was the one time that Carter went against his family expectations. Family secrets come out that make Carter question everything he has always known. Now, Carter is not only dealing with the McArthur family secrets but now his pregnant wife, Sierra, is wanting a divorce.

This is an emotional read where two people forget how to communicate with each other and what is really important.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

The plot line was short and sweet but the story kept dragging. The heroine was too week to suit my choice he character development was necessary. Strong female characters are always inspiring for me.

I recommend reading the first book in this series or you may get confused about the characters and their history. It is a story of a marriage on the brink of divorce and trying to give love a second chance. Love and life is not all sunshine and rosy. The author captures real life feelings that a couple may go through.
I love the Montana setting and the characters as I have read most of the books based in Marietta, Montana.

I wanted to love this book but I feel like perhaps the description sold me one book and then I found myself reading a different book. I didn’t hate it by any means but I just didn’t find it to be compelling. The characters just never moved me. I didn’t buy their actions much of the time. They did things that didn’t make sense to me. And I wouldn’t really call this a romance … it’s more of a dissection of a relationship. Yes, there are moments of romance but I don’t think this is what we’d normally refer to as a romance. It is very emotional and what not but I ultimately didn’t buy Carter and Sienna as a couple which is why I’m rating it 2 stars. It’s not a bad book, it just didn’t work for me. Perhaps my opinion would have been different if I’d been expecting a non-romance? I’m not sure.

So this book is actually the third book that follows one family but is part of different series set in Marietta, Montana. This is a book I had difficulty getting into since it felt disjointed at first. However, as the story progressed and I’ve pieced together what the whole backstory for both Sierra and Carter were it was easy tonfollow after that. There were a lot of situations that might feel frustrating to a reader especially when it comes to both Sierra and Carter’s interactions with one another. But this book also had a lot family moments and honest conversations between a couple on the brink of breaking apart. It is recommended for romance readers who likes family oriented storylines.

Bride for Keeps by Nicole Helm
Big Sky Bride #2

It took till the end of the book for Carter and Sierra to find their way to a happily ever after and throughout the book, until they actually realized communication was essential, it was my opinion that they would be better off parting and moving on to someone else. Unless the two were mentioned in book one and part of their story is missing I could not see how the two ended up together in the first place. Sure, they were opposites and it sounds like they had instant attraction with all the zing and sizzle that many do have but they didn’t seem to share much before they married or afterward, either.

Okay, to be honest, I almost gave up and thought about not even bothering to read this book. I thought that Carter was a pompous jerk and Sierra was a spoiled brat. Both were living up to the image they thought others held of them or expected them to fulfill but neither seemed to get what marriage or even love really meant.

Eventually, with a bit of advice from friends and family, the two did make an effort but even then I wondered if it would be too little too late. Since I have liked previous books by this author I persevered but even after Carter and Sierra seemed to have matured and moved into working to make their marriage a success and having been given snippets of their future I wondered why they ended up together in the first place and if there might have been another person that would have made them both happier.

Marriage is work. In my opinion it takes commitment, communication and respect. I kind of felt that one or more of these were missing for this couple most of the first year of their marriage. Unusual romance in that it did not start with happiness and falling in love but instead started in the midst of a marriage floundering. Anyway, I did finish and it did come together and there was a HEA but I have to say it was not my favorite book by this author and yet, I will read more by her when the opportunity occurs.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tule Publishing for the ARC – This is my honest review.

3 Stars