In pursuit of the counterfeiter who murdered her father, schoolteacher Abigail Bracey and her former beau, Secret Service agent Dashiell Lassiter, are undercover in the small town of Wells, Nebraska. As Abby works to identify the son and sister-in-law of the elusive "Artist," she grows closer to the local families than she had planned - and to Dash as well.

With multiple possibilities, and the complication of the devastating Children's Blizzard of 1888, this is a well plotted and well told tale that blends true history, mystery, danger, and a second chance at love romance.

In a series that boasts a line-up of fantastic authors, Susanne Dietze's The Blizzard Bride is among the best.

This review refers to a digital galley read via NetGalley, courtesy of the publisher. All opinions expressed are my own.

The Blizzard Bride #11 The Daughters of the Mayflower by Susanne Dietze

Nebraska 1888-- Abigail Bracey and Agent Dashiell Lassiter share a past that did not end well. Now they find themselves working together to uncover a murderous counterfeiter before he murders again. As they follow clues that may lead them to the man they are looking for they face many challenges, dangers, forgiveness, faith and love. In the midst of this a horrendous blizzard brings tragic to the community. The details of the blizzard, called the Children's Blizzard, are evident in the detailed descriptions woven within the story-line. A heartwarming story.

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

Abigail Bracy is undercover as a school teacher with the hopes of discovering the child of a notorious counterfeiter to use as bait to track him down. Agent Dashiell Lassiter is assigned to this case, but the problem is that Abigail is his childhood sweetheart he never stopped loving. Dietze adds in a blizzard to the backdrop to create a cozy mystery to curl up with a cup of hot chocolate, a blanket, and a roaring fire.

"It had been six years since he left. Six years since his heart - that part of him that felt things, not the organ of the same name - had stopped beating."

"The Blizzard Bride" (2020, Barbour), eleventh in the "Daughters of the Mayflower" series by [author: Susanne Dietze, is a standalone Christian historical romance set in 1887 and 1888. It opens in Chicago and then quickly moves to Nebraska. I've been enjoying this series for the last two years and wanted to read the last two! Unfortunately, I missed three of them due to a six-month house renovation project.

Rating: 5 stars

The heroine: Abigail Bracey's life was upended four years ago when her banker father was murdered in front of the bank he managed. Abby, who is 23 or 24, has been asked by the Secret Service to indirectly help apprehend the murderer Fletcher Pitch, who is also wanted for counterfeiting money. Her mission: to become a schoolteacher at Pitch's son's school. And to keep her ears open.

"She faced forward, toward Nebraska. Toward her future. Toward justice. She didn't look to see if Dash watched her go."

The hero: Dashiell Lassiter is the Secret Service agent in charge of the Fletcher Pitch case. He also happens to be Abigail Bracey's lost love of six years ago. Ms. Dietze does a good job of playing up this trope, which is a favorite of mine. Abigail most emphatically does not want to interact with Dash at all, and agrees to step in and help with the case on the understanding that he will not be in the same town.

"He stood and reached to pull out her chair. She shoved it back before he could assist her. This would be a long thirty minutes, indeed."

Historical background from Wikipedia: "...the agency [the United States Secret Service] was founded in 1865 to combat the then-widespread counterfeiting of U.S. currency." Who knew?

More historical background from the appendix of the book: "The terrible blizzard of January 12, 1888 struck with sudden, violent force over the plains, states, and territories on a day so mild, people worked outdoors in their shirtsleeves and children left their coats at home when they went to school."

Christian elements: Abigail definitely has had a Christian upbringing and knowledge of the "Good Book." Dash does as well. However, Abby has been ignoring God since her father's death. "... thank the Lord - if she did that sort of thing anymore." I'm putting the following quotes in spoiler tags because they occur later in the book. As another plus, the salvation message is included in this book in a very organic way, which I really liked. Well done, Ms. Dietze.

SPOILER

"Not that she wasn't certain of God's existence, but she didn't like how He did things. How He ignored things. How he allowed the innocent to struggle and flounder. Back in Chicago, she and Mother hadn't participated in Father's crimes, but they'd suffered as a result of them."

"After all this time, she was starting to miss talking to God. Or maybe she always had, but was just now admitting it."

"But in truth, when she turned her back on God, she'd allowed hate inside her heart."
END SPOILER

Is it clean/chaste? Yes!

What I liked:

*I liked that one of the main characters has word blindness, or dyslexia. It was interesting to see how it affects a person's life.

*I liked the inclusion of historically accurate references, namely "word blindness," the blizzard, and the role of the United States Secret Service.

What I didn’t like: I don't remember anything I disliked, not even after checking the highlights on my Kindle copy. It has been a little while, but I definitely remember enjoying this book.

***********

Some of the previous books in the series.

Book 1: "The Mayflower Bride"
Book 2: "The Pirate Bride"
Book 3: "The Captured Bride"
Book 4: "The Patriot Bride"
Book 5: "The Cumberland Bride"
Book 6: "The Liberty Bride"
Book 7: "The Alamo Bride"

Other Recommendation(s): I recommend any of the other books in the series. For a good lost love or second chance love story, read Jane Austen's "Persuasion."

The bottom line: This was a great romance with a bit of mystery. I look forward to reading more by this author. I read a novella of hers in Barbour's "The Regency Brides Collection" and rated it 4.5 stars, so I'm feeling optimistic about trying more of her books in the future. For now, I look forward to reading book twelve, the final one of this series!

Eleventh in the series called The Daughters of the Mayflower, this book by Susanne Dietz highlights the blizzard of 1888. The books in this series can be read as stand-alone fiction, but you may want to start at the beginning and get a good sense of history that you weren't taught in school!









This historical event occurred in January 1888. The author shares her research on the back of the novel and tells you what are the facts in the story and what she has taken some liberties with. Because of the way the author chooses to start the story, the first couple of chapters are slow, but that quickly gives way when the action of the book gets started.



This book explores the role of the secret service and how the operation worked in the 1880s. That was an interesting part for me. The romance of the book is between two characters that have a past together. When an author does that, I think he/she takes a risk. It is hard to write about all that the two have shared, and sometimes the reader feels a little lost or left out.


The plot is about finding counterfeiters who are in the town that the main character has moved to be a teacher. The story really moves along, especially when the blizzard becomes a part of the action. I truly believe that the story will be a page-turner for you as it was for me!
Author's biography: Susanne Dietze began writing love stories in high school, casting her friends in the starring roles. Today, she's an award-winning, RWA RITA®-nominated author who's seen her work on the ECPA, Amazon, and Publisher's Weekly Bestseller Lists for Inspirational Fiction. Married to a pastor and the mom of two, Susanne lives in California and enjoys fancy-schmancy tea parties, genealogy, the beach, and curling up on the couch with a costume drama. To learn more, visit her website, www.susannedietze.com, and sign up for her newsletter: http://eepurl.com/bRldfv

This book is part of a larger Daughters of the Mayflower series but can be read as a stand alone.

When Abigail's father is killed, she learns that he was not who everyone thought him to be and that knowledge lead to Abigail's mother's death and Abigail being ostracized from Chicago's society. When a gentleman approaches Abigail about a plan that will catch her father's killer, she's all in until she learns that the person she would be working with was someone she was supposed to marry 6 years before. But her need to catch her father's killer overtakes her need to be away from Dash.

Abby struggles with the choices that the people around her made that impacted her life and she blames God for that and becomes cold and distant but a chance encounter with someone else who had been dealt a similar hand taught her that she needed to return to her faith in God.

I enjoyed this story! It had the correct amount of twists and turns and depth for most of the characters. I had figured out who they were looking for pretty early on but there were just a few things to make me wonder if I was correct. Overall, well done!

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book for my honest opinion and review.

I really enjoyed this book! Not only was it about something in history that I know virtually nothing about; it had a fun plot with lots of my favorite elements including spies, counterfeiters, children, and forgiveness. I loved how the author revealed the main characters' backstory, how they chose to work together anyway, and how both of them experienced a good deal of growth throughout the events of this story. I loved the little town and how they came together in hardship, but I also loved that the town was not portrayed as idyllic. It felt quite realistic. This is officially my favorite book in this series, and I'm thankful that I was able to read it.

Inspirational historical romance, second chance at love. Published by Barbour Books, 256 pages. Release February 1, 2020. This was book # 11 of Daughter of the Mayflower, and be read as a stand-alone.
This was my first book of the series and it was very hard to get into. It was slow-going and quite redundant. I found myself wanting to skim through the pages. The mystery/crime scenario was weak. I also felt like the second chance romance could of been resolved much faster. It was tiring watching these two constantly not work through there past.
I did enjoy the town people, the children, and the realization that God does guides ours steps and helps us forgive those who’ve wrong us.

This was a NETGALLEY gift from the publisher and all opinions are my own. I’ve given my honest review.

The Blizzard Bride is the first book I read in the Daughter's of the Mayflower series. It is a standalone book and it is not necessary to read the previous books in the series in order to enjoy or understand The Blizzard Bride. The book was well written and had a good flow to it. The story and action started right away from page one and grabbed my attention. I thought that the plot was interesting and highlighted the time period and true events very well. I personally enjoy learning about history and think that adding fictional characters to true events is a great way to access and tell about the past in both an educational and entertaining way. It can also be hard to learn, though, about true events and to realize that these events, such as the blizzard in this story, happened to real people and had a real impact on their lives. I felt like the description of the book was a little off from the story. Yes, the blizzard happened, but I don't think it was the most important part of the story and did not take up that much of the story. There was much more discussion and character growth relating to forgiveness, finding your faith, being charitable (kind) and learning to trust again. The characters were enjoyable to read and the town sounds like a good group of people. Overall the story was entertaining with a positive and inspiring message that I feel would leave the reader better off for having read it.

#netgalley #theblizzardbride

I think this is one of my favorite books in the Daughters of the Mayflower series. I love when sweethearts are able to reunite. Add in a little mystery and it's the perfect read!

I am a big fan of the Mayflower Bride series. Each book works as a standalone. But it is a continuation of a family throughout USA history. And all books have been enjoyable- well worth reading. The Blizzard Bride has got to be one of my favorites of the series. Susanne Dietz took an interesting piece of history and combined it with mystery, romance, suspense. The Blizzard Bride captured my attention from page 1 and it was impossible to put the book down until I finished reading.
I appreciate that at the end of the book the author provided the actual historical facts and separated facts from fiction. And I think she did a great job in combining both without distorting history. I had only a vague knowledge of the schoolhouse blizzard of 1888. I recommend both this book and the entire series. I received a complimentary copy. However, all opinions are my own.

The Blizzard Bride by Susanne Dietze is a wonderful story of past love that comes around again. There is a child who needs protection and the female lead chooses to go in to a town as a teacher to help this child out. I loved reading how this unfolded right down to the man, Dash, coming around and wanting to protect her as she puts herself in this position. This book is one of many of the books in the series by Barbour Publishing called The Daughters of the Mayflower. Each book can be read independently from one other.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing and was under no obligation to post a review.


***Also posted on Amazon, CBD, B&N

Barbour Publishing provided a free digital copy of The Blizzard Bride, by Susanne Dietze , in exchange for an honest review. It is the eleventh book in the Daughters of the Mayflower series. As all the books I’ve read in the series, this one is historically accurate with only a tiny bit of “poetic license”.

Though the story is set in 1888, mostly in Texas, I suspect the author is British or has lived in the U.K. because of the use of the words “dustbin” and “flatmates”. While there is nothing inherently wrong with those words, they do not reflect the language of the characters or the location chosen for the setting of the book.

Against her better judgment, Abigail “Abby” Bracey agrees to accept a teaching assignment in the town of Wells, Nebraska. Her “second job” is to learn all she can about her students to figure out which one is the son of Fletcher Pitch, a notorious counterfeiter; and no one knows what he looks like.

The boy and his aunt need protection, and are being sought by Secret Service agent Dashiell “Dash” Lassiter, who also happens to be Abby’s former fiancé. Abby loathes the idea of working with the man who broke her heart, but she also wants a chance to help capture the man who killed her father – Fletcher Pitch.

The story is set against the horrible blizzard of January 12, 1888, that struck the plains states and territories unexpectedly when the weather of a mild day suddenly turned violent. In the actual blizzard, 235 people were killed, but in this book, the small town of Wells had far fewer people, and few deaths.

When Abby learns it was her father who sent Dash away, and that he still loves her, will she forgive him? Will they survive the blizzard? How will they recognize Pitch, and will they be able to capture him?

As I’ve said before, each book in this series seems to be better than the ones before it. I think this one may be my favorite, so far. It is Christian fiction at its best, and many of the passages really stuck with me. Do you love a good romance, a good mystery, a good adventure? Then you’ll definitely love The Blizzard Bride.

What made The Grumpy Book Reviewer grumpy?

The most important thing is the incorrect use of the phrase, “begs the question”. This is one of the most frequently misused idiomatic expressions of our time. “Begs the question” refers to a fallacy in logic where one of the premises of an argument assumes the conclusion is true. It is not interchangeable with “raises the question”.

Aside from that, here is some of what I found:
• incorrect verb usage: brought vs. took, loaned vs. lent;
• beginning a sentence with a conjunction: turning a pause in a thought into two separate sentences.

The cover art captured my attention....however, the first page of this beautifully written novel by Suzanne Dietze captured by heart. Give yourself the gift of savoring this novel. You will not be disappointed. Five stars.

Another Daughters of the Mayflower book to read and review. The Blizzard Bride by Suzanne Dietze recently published earlier in 2020 by the time I requested to read and review it and I already had several books I needed to complete before getting to it, but I made sure I did and I’m pleased I did get through it!

Abigail Bracey signs up with the Secret Swrvice to help find the son of a counterfeiter, who she believes murdered her father. The 10 year old child is with his aunt, Katherine Hoover, after his mother died and her last wish was to take care of her boy and keep him away from his lawbreaking father.

Six years ago, Abby’s boyfriend disappeared without a grace in the day they were going to tell her father they were going to wed. Dashiell Lassiter works for the Secret Service and meets with Abby before she goes on this mission to become a schoolmarm in Nebraska. She vows to help Dash find this child.

Never expecting him to show up at her schoolhouse, Abby is startled to find that Dash found a job and a place to live in the same small town she’s working as a teacher. This rattles her nerves and builds up anger and resentment all while her old feelings seem to rekindle.

Abby finds herself at school with a classroom full of students of various ages on an unusually warmer winter day. Many didn’t bother to being their heavy coats or warmer attire on this school day that turns into a very windy and blizzard day. The roof collapses while Abby and the children are in school. She has to think fast and have the courage to get all the children to somewhere warmer before they all freeze to death.

Will Abby and the children survive this unexpected blizzard? Will she and Dash find the courage to share their thoughts and feelings toward one another? Will they find the child and protect him from his father?

The Blizzard Bride by Suzanne Dietze is a very descriptive book that tells the reader so much about Abby and Dash as well as the community they are in. The pictures painted on the readers kind are so vivid and realistic that I felt like I was part of the community, too!

This book was provided complimentary in exchange for an honest review. I give it five out of five tiaras because it kept my attention, made me feel like Abby was a good friend, and I couldn’t put the book down until I learned who the child was and how they would take down his dangerous father.

#bookslattesandtiaras

I think this is one of my favorite books in the Daughters of the Mayflower series. I always live a good reunion between childhood sweethearts; and with a little mystery solving sprinkled in its the perfect snow day read.

The Blizzard Bride was such an amazing, beautiful book! I loved that this was a clean, historical fiction romance.
This is the first book I have read from this series, and I fully intend to read the others now!

The story is set during the 1888 Blizzard and I felt like I learned so much! I didn't know much about this event, and it was obviously so well-researched. The writing provided a beautiful, detailed account, creating a world I just dropped right into.

The characters were easy to connect to, and I was rooting for this couple to get together through the entire book.

I would recommend The Blizzard Bride to any reader looking for a clean romance in a historical fiction novel.

I was provided an advanced reader's copy of this book for free. I am leaving my review voluntarily.

If you love When Calls the Heart or Little House on the Prairie, you’re going to love The Blizzard Bride. The most recent addition of The Daughters of the Mayflower series takes you on an adventure to the prairies of Nebraska. I’ve read almost every book in this series, and I’ve been impressed with each one. This was my first read by author Susanne Dietze and I enjoyed it immensely. The story went a little differently than I was expecting it might, the blizzard in of itself is a much smaller part of the book than I thought it would be.
I loved the whole undercover spies meets prairie romance element to the book. I thought the author did a wonderful job hiding the villain in plain sight, and though I figured it out early in the book, I couldn’t wait for the characters to figure it out, too. The story is full of love and forgiveness, and a renewal of faith in God. The Blizzard Bride is a wonderful addition to this series, and I can’t believe it’s almost finished.
Note: Each book in The Daughters of the Mayflower series is easily read as a stand-alone, so don’t think you have to go back and read all 10 previous books before enjoying this one. I hope you dive right in.
I recommend this book for lovers of historical romance and those who love prairie romances like Janette Oke’s.

I was a little bit worried about trying to read this book because I knew it was set during the historic Children's Blizzard that hit Nebraska in January 1888. I tried reading another book about this time in history and actually abandoned the book because I couldn't stomach reading about over 200 children being killed in a blizzard that caught them unprepared. I needn't have worried. Despite the book having the word "Blizzard" in its title, there's really only a small chunk of the story that actually has the blizzard in it which was a relief. I don't want to spoil anything for others, but let's just say that most of the residents of the fictional town of Wells, NE fair much better than what happened during the real blizzard of 1888.

The Blizzard Bride opens with the main character, Abigail Bracey, being asked to take on an unusual task. The Secret Service is seeking her help in finding a hidden son of a dangerous counterfeiter (Fletcher Pitch), so the child can be safeguarded and Pitch can be brought to justice. Sources suggest that the boy could be one of three possible children in a small town in Nebraska. Abby is willing to take on the risks of this mission because Fletcher Pitch involved her own father in his illegal activities and murdered him as well. The association of being her father's daugther has left her feeling ostracized by Chicago Society. Luckily, Abby is able to enter the town of Wells with some real credibility - she is taking on a one year contract as the town's school teacher. As she takes on the task of getting to know the children in her class, she realizes there will be another burden to her job. Dashiell Lassiter, her childhood sweetheart, has come to town and Abby is not happy about this arrangement. Dash left her unexpectantly six years ago and she still hasn't forgiven him.

This book is now my favorite book of the Daughters of the Mayflower series. It had the perfect blend of romance, suspense, and mystery. I could really picture the small town of Wells, NE in my mind, especially the one room school house. (I wish my classroom had a little woodstove in the corner to heat up apple cider while the children learn.) On the other hand, I'm pretty grateful that I've never had to help a classroom of students escape to safety in the middle of a blizzard! It's always a pleasure to read books in this series and learn a little bit more about America's history. Thanks to Barbour Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. All thoughts expressed are my honest opinions of the book.

Loved the beginning of this book. It drew me in.
Afterwards, however it was just an okay book. Predictable. So three stars for me.