I was hooked from the first page... "June 1849 somewhere between San Jose and San Francisco" I've lived around San Jose, CA most of my life! I think what I've enjoyed most about this series is the truth shared... and the faith stories passed down generation to generation.

I was also fascinated by the history there are more links included at the back of the book.



I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley on behalf of the Publisher and was under no obligation to post a favorable review.

As I’ve noted in previous reviews, this series, The Daughter’s of the Mayflower, published by Barbour Publishing has become one of my top favorite series. In book 8, author Kimberly Woodhouse, The Golden Bride is set in the mid-1800’s San Francisco.

If the reader knows history, then they will soon realize that this skillfully written story provides a glimpse of the early days of San Fransisco, California. A place full of rough, unclean men determined to discover a wealth of gold no matter what they need do or who they need killed to do it. Very few women consider living in San Fransisco, and the majority of them are “in service” to the many men of the city.

After the tragic deaths of her parents, Olivia Brighton sells the farm to pay off debt, marries a man who turns out to be a ne’er do well, both set off across the country, he to gain his fortune in gold, and she to find her brother. Unfortunately, hubby dies along the way and Olivia continues on to find her brother. His restaurant was not hard to find, though the trip was quite difficult, Olivia just wants a place of quiet and rest. She soon discovers that is not to be as she becomes a much needed waitress in the restaurant. With the level of debauchery making it unsafe for a woman to venture out alone, Olivia soon finds herself, exhausted, in one of two places, the restaurant dining room or her brother’s apartment on the second floor. Not quite what she was hoping for.

When she’s discovers a young boy being severely beaten by a rather large and threatening man. Stepping in, the man threatens Olivia too but she’s rescued by her brother’s partner. With the young boy near death, Olivia and Joseph Sawyer transports him to the doctor where following a few days of recovery, a stranger shows up claiming the boy as “his”. Olivia, her brother and Joseph soon discover there is an undercurrent of something more evil than any of them had ever heard. Children were bought and sold as slaves. The Chinese were being lured, brought over by ship where they were enslaved in terrible conditions.

There seems to be one person behind it all and the three put their own lives on the line to save hundreds of others. Question is will they be able to stop the destruction of so many lives and the city of San Fransisco before this person succeeds?

I highly recommend The Golden Bride by Kimberly Woodhouse, an author who is a skilled storyteller with attention to history, writing novels that teach history more effectively than any grade school history book.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and am under no obligation to write a positive review. All thoughts and opinions therein are solely my own.

It was somewhat interesting and sometimes it felt a little long, but i liked Olivia, Daniel and Joseph very much. Espesially the bond as siblings between Olivia and Daniel and Olivia and Joseph's relationship as it grew.

The Golden Bride (2019) by Kimberly Woodhouse is the eighth novel in the Daughters of the Mayflower series published by Barbour Publishing. This novel comes in all forms including eBook and is 256 pages in length. With a full-time job and a very lively seven-year-old, this book took me three days to read. I received a review copy of this novel in eBook form from the publisher, Barbour Publishing, via NetGalley. In no way has this influenced my review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own. I give The Golden Bride 2 STARS. This novel is a Historical Christian Romance.

I have enjoyed every novel in The Daughters of the Mayflower series so far. They have all been excellent adventures full of interesting historical detail. While I enjoyed aspects of The Golden Bride, I do have to admit it is not my favorite book in the series. I personally struggled to connect to any of the characters, and I feel the Christian elements in this book were heavy-handed. Rather than flowing naturally from the characters as the plot moves forward, the Christian themes and discussions often feel like “We now interrupt this regularly scheduled program to bring you this important message” soundbites where Christian truths are lobbed at the reader. To me, this makes the characters appear extremely superficial (hence why I could not relate), and the interruptions often took me out of the storyline, which meant I could easily put this book down.

WARNING: Spoilers are about to happen. If you plan to read this book, scroll down to my final paragraph.

I also took great issue with the villain. I mean GREAT issue! For 99% of the novel, the villain is an unknown, unnamed man. The reader is given moments where we see this unnamed, unknown man interacting with a minion of his, and we do get small, superficial glimpses into his current psyche, but these are meaningless details because he is a nothing character. As the reader, I made ZERO connection to the antagonist. He never ever interacts with a single main character in our story except for his minion. I have no reason to really hate this character because he’s not really there. I can get mad at the idea that bad guys exist in this world and do bad things to good people. Yes, that stinks. But this abstract concept (bad things happening somewhere) has ZERO bearings in my everyday life. When I’m invested in a protagonist and I see how the villain is working against him, then I am excited when the bad guy loses. But, when a bad guy is not part of the main character’s actual story, when the bad guy is so far removed from actual life, when he goes down it’s rather anticlimactic. When evil loses in The Golden Bride, I could have cared less. I have to admit that this is THE most frustrating part of this story. It feels like I wasted three days to read a book.

Overall, I am not a fan of this storyline. I do appreciate some of the thematic topics discussed in general in this novel, but I do not feel the delivery is well done. And, my issues with the superficial nature of the characters and the way the villain is used in this story left me greatly unsatisfied.

The Golden Bride
The Gold Rush Of 1849 in San Francisco is brought alive by the author,
Kimberley Woodhouse, she used some actual events and people to show what happened during that time, police’s first office, General Riley, John Geary. Just a few actual events that will bring the reader into the story and won’t stop reading because the story seems so real as if you are actually experiencing the heartaches, adventures, crimes and romance. Olivia left her home to find her brother, Daniel. His best friend, Joseph fell in love with Olivia and adventure began. If you like historical Christian fiction I highly recommend this book.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour through Netgalley. Thank you to Kimberly Woodhouse for such a wonderful series.

This was your typical historical Christian romance with not much to set it apart from others in the genre. Olivia is a newly widowed and orphaned young woman who relocates to San Francisco to live with her much older brother. Her actual journey there is uneventful until she arrives, where she has the expected rude awakening to the rough surroundings of the gold mining town. From the beginning, we're told she dislikes miners, though we know this attitude will change since her obvious love interest, Joseph Sawyer, is involved in the occupation.
While the book itself is a quick read, it was all fairly predictable and the characters lacked any nuance. The "good" characters were almost too good, while the long unnamed villain is over the top in his nefarious thoughts and behavior. However, if a quick read with the expected happy romantic ending is what you're looking for, then this is a good choice.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy. This did not affect my review.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher Barbour Books through NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

The Daughters of the Mayflower series continues in Kimberley Woodhouse’s “The Golden Bride”, the eighth book in the adventure series featuring brave women forging their own way in early America. Olivia Brighton finds herself widowed and working her brother’s restaurant in San Francisco during the height of the Gold Rush in 1849. Her brother’s friend Joseph Sawyer is a gold minor with high ideals. Together they make it their mission to rid San Francisco of the crime that’s taken over the city and in the process fall in love.

The Golden Bride was well written and full of historical detail. Kimberley Woodhouse has a talent for drawing the reader in and entertains with adventure, romance and rich history.

Review posted on Goodreads and Amazon.com

This is the newest addition to The Daughter’s of the Mayflower series. I have read them all. Each is unique, yet has the common thread of the family lineage. But you can read each individually.

I enjoyed the journey into the gold rush and San Francisco. It wasn’t a nice place, that’s for sure. But Olivia’s brother and Joseph have a heart to see change.

I did struggle a bit with the believability of the story. Olivia blaming herself for her husbands death just didn’t really make sense to me.

It was interesting but not my favorite in this series.

A copy of this book was given to me through Netgalley.com. All opinions are my own.

There was gold in California and everyone wanted to find it. Olivia had lost her parents and married a man in a very short time. They were on their way to make their fortune.

After misfortune strikes again Olivia decides to keep going to California and try to find her brother.

This is a very good story. I really enjoyed learning about the beginnings of San Francisco and the early Gold Rush. The characters were very interesting..

My emotions were greatly moved by The Golden Bride by Kimberly Woodhouse! A clear picture of the smutty town of San Francisco during the gold rush emerges from the pages of The Golden Bride, # 8 The Daughters of the Mayflower, crafted by Kimberly Woodhouse. This is Ms. Woodhouse’s finest offering to the series yet. While each book stands alone, Ms. Woodhouse ties the other two books of the series she authored to this by some special objects that change Olivia’s attitude towards her life. Also, I was very impressed by the way I was drawn into the narrative while consuming history. This time, the time period presented seamlessly melded with the beauty of the romantic, yet tragic story being revealed.
How many times have we repeated about someone, “He’ll never change”? Yet, The Golden Bride is a great example of less-than-wonderful people who decide to follow God, and who then find themselves walking a different path.
I loved the way Olivia refused to be forced into society’s mold but instead chose to see people through God’s eyes. So often we as Christians are afraid to be different from the world, then we wonder why the world doesn’t want our God.
A reminder we should be careful not to judge each other, but instead be encouragers:
“We’re all sinners, Olivia. All of us. We all struggle. But your brother told me when I first came to town to exhort one another. We’re all going to feel beaten down at some point and we’re all going to lose our confidence. It’s our job to help each other through the muck and mire.”
Evil in San Francisco was like an iceberg; while a great deal was visible, yet a huge, majority of it lay unseen beneath the surface.
A quote as true today as it was in 1849:
“People are afraid to stick their noses where they don’t belong, and so evil facts face no resistance.”
A great book crafted by Kimberley Woodhouse, I received a complimentary copy from the publisher through NetGalley. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.

Widowed after a short and somewhat disastrous marriage, Olivia is determined to start a new life with her brother in San Francisco. The only problem is that San Francisco in the middle of the 1840s gold rush is a dirty, lawless shanty town and no place at all for a good and Godly woman.

It should be noted going in that Barbour Press is a specifically Christian publisher, and the degree of evangelical fervor does vary between books. I'd put this one at the more fervent end of the spectrum, with the heroine starting a Bible study group and lots of quotes from Scripture, so if that's not your thing you may want to give this one a miss.

If you do decide to read on, though, you'll discover a strongly written and well researched story which will immerse you deep in San Francisco's boom town origins. The author doesn’t shy away from the ill treatment many, particularly children and Chinese immigrants, received at the hands of the unscrupulous, and real facts about the city's founding figures are nicely interwoven with fictional characters to make this a history lesson you'll thoroughly enjoy.

The romance between Olivia and Joseph, her love interest, is very slow burn, which fits nicely within the context of the story as Olivia comes to terms with her past and chooses direction for her new life. I really enjoyed the way Olivia had plenty of agency despite her movements being necessarily curtailed for her own safety. She acted with common sense in accepting reasonable restrictions, something too many too-stupid-to-live heroines don't do.

I'm happy to give this five stars for the quality of research and the believable romance. The only caveat I have is that evangelizing isn't to your taste, you might want to give this one a miss.

I have enjoyed all the books I have read in The Daughters of the Mayflower series but I LOVED The Golden Bride. The characters immediately made me want to ‘know them more’. Interesting look into the California gold rush period. The story highlighted how difficult it would have been to be a woman living in such a place but it was not heavy or dark. If you like historical fiction I think you’ll love this one.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour and was under no obligation to post a review.

This is a great book for when you're just looking for a nice enjoyable read. The story was very sweet. I loved the setting of Gold Rush San Fransisco during the 19th century. While I love fiction, I love history too, so I loved reading an enjoyable story while also learning about a time I didn't know much about. I also love that characters from previous books were referenced- I love when authors do that. All in all a good read!

I've enjoyed each of the stories in this series! I love how each one highlights something in history that we might not otherwise have imagined or thought of. This book is well-written and the characters come alive.

The Golden Bride #8 Daughters of the Mayflower by Kimberly Woodhouse

Olivia Brighton ends her long journey to her brother, Daniel, and finds herself in the mist of 1849 San Francisco’s gold rush. I love the way Daniel welcomes her with open arms and love and provides a home for her. Olivia works in Daniel’s restaurant, but not all customers are polite or courteous. They quickly learn that Olivia can stand up for herself. . .there’s the pie episode that had me laughing and the men watching their “p’s and q’s”. Joseph Sawyer, Daniel’s friend, is a man of integrity and the kind of man Olivia needs in her life. Will she allow her heart to find love?

San Francisco is overflowing with people and chaos: gold seekers on every corner, drunks and unsavory characters, tents and shanties fill every space available, corruption and lawlessness, new beginnings, enduring faith and love and historical elements woven into this heartwarming story.

~I received a copy of this book from the author/publisher via NetGalley (no monetary gain were exchanged), this is my honest review~

I was given this book through NetGalley. My opinions as listed here are my own.
I really enjoy the research this author has put in to write this book. Good book! I will recommend it to our patrons.

This was a good book but I felt like it was missing something. Everything felt kind of predictable in terms of the romance and the bad guys. I did like that this book gave us a glimpse of the gold rush, so that was nice. I think that this is a very godly, inspirational historical fiction novel, but I guess I just wanted more plot or action to be going on. The whole spy mission seemed very rushed, and we barely saw the true villain. Overall, it was a decent read, not amazing, but not bad.

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. This was a historical fiction set at the time of the California gold Rush in San Francisco. This book was had Christian themes throughout; so if you don't like that don't read this book. The romance was very clean. Overall a good read in the Mayflower brides series.

Olivia, a young widow, comes to San Francisco to find her brother’s restaurant, hoping that he will take her in and give her a home. She meets Joseph, her brother’s best friend, and the two soon fall in love. But Olivia’s past plagues her and she’s not sure she can pursue the relationship. Can she overcome her past and step into the love that God has for her?

Joseph is a man who wants improve his town and see it thrive. However, early San Francisco is fraught with dastardly characters who care nothing for human misery as they enslave many who come to the fledgling city for a new start. Joseph is thrown into the middle of this fight, and he will stop at nothing until the men who are responsible are brought to justice. He just hopes that Olivia isn’t hurt in the process.

The Golden Bride is a book full of rich history and the settings came alive as I read this story. As someone who enjoys learning about the history of places, San Francisco’s early gold rush history was fascinating. The characters and their motivations were a bit flat, but I still rooted for them to succeed in their goals and I enjoyed going along with them as they fought for the good of friends, family, and their city.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I’ve read most of the books in the Daughters of the Mayflower series and have enjoyed them all. I’ve especially liked learning more about the different historical time periods in our country’s history. I’ve heard a lot about the California gold rush but haven’t really delved into the sordid things that went on during that time, so The Golden Bride was quite an eye-opener for me. The relationship between Olivia and her brother Daniel was sweet, and Daniel’s friend Joseph made a wonderful hero—kind, patient, and caring about others and proactive in trying to improve the situations in San Francisco.

This is a Christian fiction story, so it’s expected that there will be spiritual elements to it. I felt it was a little heavy on the spiritual side, however, which pulled me out of the story a bit. All in all, it was a satisfying read, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy from the publisher/NetGalley. All opinions are my own.