This book was received as an ARC from Barbour Publishing, Inc. - Barbour Books in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I was in such a rush after finishing The Rebel Bride that I could not wait to delve into The Blizzard Bride. I really had high expectations for this book since every book in the Mayflower Daughters series I have loved so far and I must say...this one did not disappoint. The Blizzard Bride focused on Abigail who moves to Nebraska to teach underprivileged children. She finds out later that one of the students she teaches is the son of the man that killed her father. Knowing this information, enter her past love Agent Dashiell Lassiter, who jumps at the chance to help Abigail since regretting not marrying her and this is the time to patch things up. Dashiell stops at nothing to help Abigail but is very protective and concerned of the danger Abigail is in through her student. All this drama goes on during a big blizzard and Dash and Abby must come together and put the pain aside and protect the son and Dash will tell her the real reason why he left her. I can't wait to see what happens next and I am falling in love with this series and I can't wait to see the reactions of our readers.

We will consider adding this title to our Christian Fiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

This was a fantastic book. I got pulled in and couldn't put it down. This book was so well written I felt like I needed to cuddle up with a blanket and hot cocoa to read it. Abigail was a strong independent woman that had let her faith go when it seemed God had let her down. She was forced to work with her childhood love, who had left her without notice. The mystery of trying to find Abigail's father's murderer added a depth to the book that was very engaging. Seeing the sparks fly between Abigail and her childhood love, Dashiell, was a fun diversion. I enjoyed surviving the blizzard with Abigail and her students. Dashiell was reminded of his love for Abigail when they met up after several years. Both Abigail and Dashiell were able to strengthen each other throughout the book. I highly recommend this book to anyone that loves inspirational historical romance with a big mystery.
I received a copy of this book from Barbour books and Netgalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Good book, but misrepresented.

Abby Bracey is a schoolteacher who is approached with an amazing opportunity to be apart of the team that brings down her fathers murderer. Little does she know, the other half of the team is her ex fiancé who left her six years earlier without a word.
Dash Lassiter works for the secret service trying to bring down the country’s most elusive counterfeiter, but can he do his job when he is faced with seeing the woman he loves again?

I thought the book was good. It dragged a bit in some parts for me, but the history was extremely interesting. The blizzard in particular was very well written.
This book was very misrepresented. It is filed under “romance” but I would consider it more of a “young adult, Christian, historical, romance”. The relationship between Dash and Abby seemed immature to me and not entirely developed. I will say though, had I read this book 10 years ago, I probably would have enjoyed it more.

The Blizzard Bride's story line is full of surprises. At times, it felt like the plot moved a little slowly, but overall, the story kept my attention and I wanted to read to the end to find answers.
A less known event, the blizzard of 1888 has been called the Children's Blizzard or the Schoolchildren's Blizzard. An unseasonably warm day suddenly turn into such a ferocious blizzard, that many children's lives were lost. The story line follows a school teacher faced with life and death decisions. Since this isn't a well known event in history, I would have preferred to understand more about this event before I started reading the story.
I really enjoyed the way the author wove the chase of a notorious counterfeiter throughout the book. Sought by the Secret Service at the time, the wanted man eludes justice for years.
Follow Abby and Dash, former romantically involved friends as they seek to bring justice to a man who has affected both their lives. You will enjoy their tale.

This book was AMAZING! I have read almost all of the books in this series and have definitely enjoyed them. But as soon as I saw the title of this book show up, I knew it was a must read. I live in NE and the Blizzard of 1888 is a legend. While I was reading this story, I could FEEL the blizzard raging! Kudos to the author for researching the topic thoroughly and being able to paint a vivid picture of it with her words.
I also fell in love with the characters. Dash and Abby were childhood sweethearts who were pulled away from each other 6 years prior, only to reunite with the purpose of catching a counterfeiter and protecting his biological son.
This story was a journey of faith, and perseverance through a historical natural disaster. There was mystery, suspense, and love woven throughout the pages too.
I would 100% recommend this book to anyone who loves a clean historical love story.
I received a copy of this book from Barbour Publishing through NetGalley. All opinions in this review are my own.

The Blizzard Bride by Susanne Dietze is another installment in the Daughters of the Mayflower series, but it exceeded my expectations. Full of intrigue, this historical read is well paced, well written, and well worth it.

I liked how Dietze wove the romance with Abby’s experiences in the schoolhouse. Dietze created many charming characters, especially the children, and made them come alive. Abby bonds with them fairly quickly, but I couldn’t help but become attached to them, either. This made the blizzard that much more harrowing. Although, the blizzard itself seemed hard to believe, at least for me, but Dietze includes a historical note at the end of the novel that shares about her research. And from reading that, I gathered that she described it pretty well. Also, I’ve never experienced a blizzard, so I wouldn’t know anyway.

The counterfeit and spy angle made this novel even more interesting and suspenseful, especially the search for the son of Fletcher Price. I’d have my suspicions and be almost certain when Dietze would throw me yet another curveball, making me doubt myself. (I ended up being right, by the way. I just wanted to brag about it for a second.) The intrigue kept me riveted, and I had trouble putting it down.

The Blizzard Bride explores some important themes such as forgiveness, bitterness, and reconciliation. Both Dash and Abby are sympathetic characters, but even though you understand what’s holding them back, you can’t help but root for them to overcome their issues.

Overall, this is a wonderful book for any fan of historical fiction.

(Review goes live on the blog on Jan. 31 at 5:00 PM)

When Abigail Bracey’s father tries to get out of his involvement with a counterfeiter ring, he gets killed, and the world as Abby and her mother knows it falls apart.. She reluctantly has to work with ex boyfriend and Secret Service Agent Dashiell Lassiter.

Four years after the scandal Secret Service makes contact. She is asked to help them in their search for the criminal counterfeiter known as “The Artist” – Fletcher Pitch who killed her father. He keeps moving from place to place disguising himself and making sure nobody knows what he looks like, making it difficult to apprehend him.

Abby agrees to go to Wells Nebraska to work undercover to bring her father’s killer to justice. Pitch is searching for his son, who is in hiding from his criminal father, so Abby needs to uncover both father and son’s identities. Agent Dashiell Lassiter of Secret Service is assigned to keep her safe. He is Abby’s ex boyfriend and she finds it very hard to be around him again. She is angry and feels he abandoned her six years ago when he left town without a word.

I find it touching how Abby finds her way back to her faith and manages to forgive and let go of the hurt she has been carrying around for years. She stopped praying as she feels God doesn’t hear her after her father’s death. When leaving for Nebraska, she purposely leaves her Bible behind. After a time she realizes she misses her relationship with God. Throughout the story she is in a process of reigniting and strengthening her faith, which I felt ended up being a great value to the plot.

I felt this story gave me Little house on the Prairie feel with descriptions of small town environment where everybody knows everybody else and Abby soon becomes a respected part of the community. The need for constant considerations of propriety within school hours I found entertaining and funny. In small town rural Nebraska there would have been countless events that could get tongues wagging, which Abby needed to take seriously to keep her job.

The plot of this story moved gradually in the first half, tension increasing in the second half and ending with a dramatic conclusion. The real historic event of the blizzard of 1888 in Nebraska added an intense and drama to the story, really putting Abbey’s faith and perseverance to the test.

This is book #11 in the Daughters of Mayflower Series, and the first one I have read in this series. I would recommend it for fans of Susanne Dietze and for readers of historical fiction.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in return for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

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The Blizzard Bride by Susanne Dietze is the next book in the Daughters of the Mayflower series. Abigail Bracey’s father was killed four years ago and it was revealed that he was involved in money laundering for a counterfeit operation. All of her friends and acquaintances began to snub her and her mother who died some time later of illness. She has now been asked to travel to Nebraska to teach as an uncover Secret Service operative. She quickly agrees but soon learns her contact person is her former beau, Dash Lassiter. Will she be able to work with him? The goal is to determine which child in her class, there are three the right age with single mothers, is the son of the counterfeiter who informants say is coming to get his son. Will they figure it out before he succeeds?
I loved this book and found it difficult to put down. There is plenty of excitement and surprises along the way to the ending. The characters mostly rely on God when their faith is tested. Abigail is angry with God and has left her Bible with a friend when she moved. Will she learn to trust and depend on God for her future? I give this book 5 of 5 stars.
I received an advance copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I did it! I finished at 11:58 - just in time for the new year. Growing up in NW Iowa blizzards were common when I was growing up. When I was in about 5th grade we got out of school early morning because a storm was coming; however, the storm hit a lot faster than expected. Being a country rider (only the country kids rode the bus, town kids had to walk) I can remember sitting at a corner on the route for what seemed like forever, which it was, because you literally could not see where you were. Finally sometime in the afternoon it had cleared enough to go on, but sitting for all that time in the snow and wind, I was glad it had some heat and time to read.

This is the story of the blizzard of 1888 in Nebraska and the lifesaving thinking of teacher, Abby Bracey. Abby is recruited by the Secret Service to become the teacher at a school in Wells, Nebraska, to help catch the counterfitter, Fletcher Pitch, who also happened to kill her father. But little does she know, the lead investigator is her former beau, Dashiell Lassiter. She is sent to teach and find the son of Mr. Pitch, as he is on his way to Wells to take him back. But can she figure out which boy is his, and can Dash protect her before he loses her again?

This was a good book, and I am loving this series more and more. The banter and attraction between Abby and Dash was amusing at times, you could really feel her ire for him. But even that couldn't keep them apart, even the townspeople could see that.

I received a free copy of this from Netgalley and Barbour Publishing.

'She'd tended the plant of bitterness too. Nourished it with years of resentment. Hatred.'

The Blizzard Bride is the eleventh in the Daughters of the Mayflower series and truly wonderful. I did not know that this blizzard was a real event and Dietze describes it in such detail, it inspired me to do research myself! She weaves the actual event into the story so well and the characters are so fascinating, that I was pulled in from the very beginning and read the book in one day. Very well done.

*My thanks to Barbour Publishing and the author for a copy of this book. No review was expected and the opinions here are my own.

Another wonderful addition to one of my favorite series! Even though this was the 11th book in the series, it was Susanne Dietze's debut addition. This was also my first time reading anything by her and I'm now looking forward to reading more in the future.

Personally I'm a fan when the romance has some type of backstory. Unless a great deal of time passes in a novel, the romance feels too rushed if the characters are newly introduced. I felt that Abby and Dash's history was well developed and it made the tension and desire of their relationship believable and realistic. They were an easy couple for me to get behind and root for. Even though they each had their flaws, it was easy to see that they really did love each other if only they could work through their past. 

I don't think I've ever heard of the Blizzard depicted in this novel from 1888, but the circumstances around it are shocking. I appreciated that the author shared some specific details about it in her author's note at the end. I also liked that she included some real people's experiences in her narrative.  I always like learning more about lesser-known history even when it's difficult to hear. That's one of the reasons I love this series so much, because it stretches me to read about different historical events in American history. 

I sincerely hope that Barbour continues to add to this series because I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in each of the installments so far. I honestly cannot recommend it enough.

*I received a copy of this book through NetGalley. Thoughts and opinions expressed are mine alone.

What I Loved: Everything! The Blizzard Bride was a highlight of the series for me. The romance was spot on with a steady cup of tension. Dietze has a smooth and enjoyable writing style. I love getting lost in one of her stories.
The setting and era came to life. And I especially appreciated the authentic details concerning the blizzard. There was a town's worth of endearing characters here.
I love a good mystery, especially when the author can keep me guessing which isn't easy to do. While I did have an idea as to who the guilty party was, I wasn't also so sure of myself until closer to the end.

Rating and Recommendation: I give it 5 stars and recommend it to those who enjoy Christian historical fiction.

~ I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley. All thoughts are my own. I was not compensated for this review or required to give a favorable one.

This was my first book by this author and also the first one I’ve read in this series. I loved it so much I plan to read others by her and the rest of the Daughters of the Mayflower series. I loved how Abby and Dash find each other after years apart. It takes a while for complete reconciliation but forgiveness needs to take place plus there’s some suspense happening in the middle of that. It was also great to learn more about the children’s blizzard that really took place back then in Nebraska. All in all this was a wonderful Christian romance that I definitely recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley for the chance to read and review this book!

I was captivated with the story of this book from the start till finish. It was steady and interesting.
Abby and Dash were so relatable. They are going through struggles everyone at on time have gone through.
The story unfolds as Abby is still reeling from events that happened years ago and she had to work with Dash who she rather not be in the same town with.
I loved how the both of them put aside their grievances with one another and worked for the common good of others. One shinning virtue about the both of them was their selflessness.
I loved how the story emulated that even in our sin and anger God stills pursues us.
Love always finds a way and this book brought that to life wonderfully.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and this is my honest opinion.

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

The theme is forgiveness as well as the effects of hatred on your soul. Abby couldn’t forgive Dash for leaving her. She couldn’t forgive her father for his criminal activities—and the effect it had on her own life. When she meets Mr. Yates she sees herself and decides she doesn’t want her life to end up like his. Abby is looking for a counterfeiter’s son and the woman who took him, while Dash hopes to catch the man himself. A bit of suspense as the author drops a few clues along the way. The book is based on the Children’s Blizzard of 1888. Highly recommend!

Susanne Dietze's "The Blizzard Bride", is the 11th novel of the Daughters of the Mayflower series, It depicts events in a small Nebraska town, culminating in the actual Schoolhouse Blizzard, which occurred on January 12, 1888. This harrowing event, which was hitherto unknown to me, is accurately portrayed.

Abigail Bracey agrees to help apprehend her disgraced father's murderer, and becomes the schoolteacher in Wells, Nebraska. She must work with her former suitor, who deserted her for reasons known only to him. Dashiell Lassiter - what a great name! - has dyslexia, called "word blindness" then, a totally misunderstood affliction at the time.

Fletcher Pitch is a murderous counterfeiter, and while I figured out his identity early on, events transpired in unusual ways. The theme of forgiveness is prevalent without being preachy. The bond between Abby and Maynard Yates is both touching and bittersweet.

Dietze is a new author to me, and her prose is lovely. This is a great addition to the historically accurate Daughters of the Mayflower series. I've read them all, and this one's tied with another for my favorite volume. I look forward to the next installment.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this wonderful nnovel.

Finding forgiveness and healing:
This book grabbed my attention from the very beginning and had me turning pages as fast as I could in order to see what would transpire. I liked the mix of faith, romance, drama and mystery. It was well paced and whilst an easy read; it had a depth and maturity to it.
There were important lessons about forgiveness and trusting God. Abby had built a wall to protect her heart but this caused her to be isolated from both the Lord and those who cared about her. Meanwhile Dash also had regrets from his past and working together again they were able to find absolution and hope for the future.
This was a fabulous addition to the Daughters of the Mayflower series and I look forward to reading more books by this talented author.
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

I am so glad i discovered this series. I have liked every book so far. Wonderful historical research woven into the story and it brings Nebraska to life. The hero and heroine were great together. Even the notes the author wrote after the story was very interesting and well worth reading. I recommend this book to anyone, not only for a sweet love story and learning how to trust God even if things haven't gone your way. The religion is not overdone. The mystery adds interest and i can't wait for the next story in this series. I urge everyone to start at book #1 and reading all of them.

I received this book as an ARC from the publisher through netgalley and the opinion is my own.

Unfortunately the heroine was hard to relate and just simply like. She was stubborn and though she knew better that everybody else. Dash was nice albeit a little bland.
It's hard to enjoy a book when you don't like the characters. Other than that I really enjoyed the story setting.

I am enjoying the entire Daughters of the Mayflower series. Each book builds my knowledge of history and appreciation for our country. While each book stands alone, I eagerly look forward to each new installment.

I first heard about the “School Children's Blizzard” about a year ago. What a horrible and tragic event! The winter of 1888 had two devastating blizzards. This one hit the plains about the time kids were being dismissed from school. Knowing this, I was nervous when reading. But thankfully, like all the other books in this series, the tragedy was handled very well—accurately, but not destroying my heart as a reader. I also enjoyed the other storyline about counterfeiting. History is so interesting. I love it when authors draw me into the time period. I can’t wait to read more!

I follow the GoodReads rating system. Please note that this means even the 3-star books are ones I liked.
1 star – didn’t like it
2 stars – it was OK
3 stars – liked it
4 stars – really liked it
5 stars – it was amazing; I’ll read it over and over and/or it will impact my daily life.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher through NetGalley. I was not required to give a positive review. The thoughts and opinions expressed here are entirely my own.