An Entertaining Collaboration

The 12 Brides of Summer Collection is comprised of twelve novellas. It is an entertaining collaboration by some wonderful authors which you are sure to enjoy.

***I received a copy of this book via NetGalley. All comments and opinions are my own.

Thanks for providing a review copy. I was unable to get into the book and wont be returning to it, so no official review posted at this time.

An awesome collection of some of the most talented writers in this clean, historical romance collection. Really enjoy this kind of collection of authors as it lets you get to know new authors and enjoy your favorites in one book. Highly recommend!

12 Brides of Summer—Novella Collection #3*****
by Margaret Brownley, Miralee Ferrell and Pam Hillman

-The Dog Days of Summer Bride***** by Margaret Brownley
Marilee Davis gives piano lessons in her home. She has taken in a stray dog and named him Mozart, Mo for short. Only one problem, he runs away every Friday and stays gone until Monday morning smelling terrible—like old fish. Blacksmith Jed Colbert is puzzled with his fishing partner and once faithful black and white cow dog Dynamite, Dyna for short. Suddenly about four months ago Dyna started running off every Monday and returning every Friday—smelling like perfume...lavender-rose. Because of his perfume-smelling dog everyone thinks he is a womanizer, causing a decline in business. Things start looking up when Dynamite digs up an old bag full of money—stolen money from years past. Whoever owns the dog will get a reward...but who is the owner, Jed or Marilee?

This is a fun short story with lots of charming characters, including a black and white cow dog. I like the name of the town, Bee-Flat, sounds kind of musical. I like the matchmaker in this story—a black and white cow dog. Lots of humorous situations, misunderstandings, joy, love and faith make this a fun story. One part that made me chuckle was when Jed tells Marilee she “smells like his dog”...uh-oh...that did not go over well at all.

-The Dogwood Blossom Bride***** by Miralee Ferrell
Sparks fly when Gracie Addison, a tree-climbing tomboy and Will Montgomery meet under a tree—well, she ends up falling on him. Will's eight year old niece, Laura thinks Gracie is wonderful and wants to be just like her. Thus starts an up and down relationship that is anything but romantic. Can Gracie finally give up her tomboy ways and can Will get past the hurts of the past? I can understand Will wanting to keep his niece safe, but he is a bit overprotective of her. I wasn't sure which direction Will was going to go from one moment to the next regarding Gracie. Poor Laura, all she wanted to do was to be a little girl and have some fun. Then there is Gracie, it was clear she wasn't ready to settle down until the right person came along. Gracie, Will and Laura all had gone through grief in the past, adjusting to a new way of life with hopes and dreams, struggles, guilt, misunderstandings and seeking God for the path they should take—making this a cute, fun, heartwarming story.

-The Lumberjack's Bride***** by Pam Hillman
Lucy Denson has her hands full helping cook for a logging crew—especially since she can't cook! She didn't want to move from Chicago but had little choice when her father moved her family to Mississippi. Will she grow to love it or return to Chicago? Eli Everett is one of the lumberjacks and doesn't think he can compare with the life-style Lucy is used to. Can he change her mind about staying in Mississippi? Eli's mother is so cute, I loved the way even though she couldn't physically help with the cooking she was able to teach Lucy how to cook. There are some funny antics in the story that had me chuckling. Some tense moments when a tree falls and Lucy is right in its path and later when Eli gets hurt. The secondary characters add much to the story, along with some match-making, strong faith, joy and love—making this a fun story to read. I never read lumberjack stories until recently and I have found I really like them.

~I received an e-book copy of this book via NetGalley, this is my honest review~

The 12 Brides of Summer Collection is a collection of 12 novels of historical romances which are all set in the summer time and with a Christian influence . Also previously available as 3 in one collections, each of the story has a sweet tale of finding love in some testing conditions but all having a happily ever after


Collection #1

. First up is Blue Moon Bride, with a sorrow tale at first. Ava lost supposedly the love of her life when she was sixteen when he died in the war. Now that her younger sister is getting married and not wanting to be downer. She decides she wants to go travelling and forget those memories .

What starts off a simple trip to Wyoming Territory, soon becomes anything but the moment she meets Joe on the trains. Joe is on job for his boss to deliver something to San Francisco but unfortunately things don’t go well for the pair. The train gets robbed and whilst Joe does the heroic job and rescues Ava and the brooch she was supposed to give Polly. Poor Joe’s package for his boss’s clients is lost and he doesn’t know what to do .

Joe isn’t a too bad of character but with the robbers no where in sight and he stuck with the costs. He decides to stick around Cheyenne where Ava is happening and the rest lest say is history. Davis offered a sweet story that built up slowly and allowed for nature to take it’s course making it believable with plenty of action

Sun Bonnet Bride, tells the tale of Sally and Malcolm who are neighbours in a small community that dealing with a tornado. Malcolm is in love with her, but Sally isn’t exactly interested. She got other things on her mind and there another man in the picture. With the community trying to work together and recover, Malcolm is the steadfast in the community offering help where he can. However Sally decides to make some bonnets it when the story really starts to shine. A good story about generosity and how God can work miracles

Wildflower Bride tells the story of Grace and Ian , a country girl and city boy who meet and fall for each other the moment they lay eyes on each other at the wedding of their mutual friends. However they both got responsibilities and it tearing them apart despite the right intentions. Grace the daughter of a pastor, feels her place is with her father’s church and Ian has got appointment in the city to become the head pastor. Will they be able to sort their feelings and work out a plan suitable and honour God

Collection Two

The Bride Rides Herd about a Uncle and a neighbour who are thrown together looking after his nieces when his brother and his sister in law got on a drive . With kids involved it always going to be a fun novel . Poor Matt doesn’t expect to get roped in like this , knowing next to nothing about kids and poor Betsy has also step up to the plate thanks to some unexpected problems. With the parents not due for a few days, it up to these two to kept the peace and the house together . But it never going to plan and it a fun story as these two fall in love and try to survive

The Fourth of July Bride Is a sweet cliché story revolving around a faux engagement but it doesn’t end that way. Gideon is a wealthy man who has everything expect one thing a wife . His mother is coming to town and he doesn’t want some match making, so the finance is the next best thing right . Naomi is dire straits , needing money to help her sick mother and get the surgery she needs. Gideon hears about their situation and offers a solution to their problems. Expect that Naomi is falling in love with him and wants to change things and so does Gideon. But he doesn’t believe. …..

Naomi is in a sticky situation and she can’t past over the sticky factor. Will God work a miracle in Gideon and change his heart. Or will Naomi will have to stay goodbye to honour God?

The Summer Harvest Bride

Sally is in a dilemma. She always thought she would married Wills, the mayor’s son. It been practically arranged. However when a new family arrives in town the Daughtons, Sally is left wondering has been settle for second best and God has a bigger plan. As Lukas is making her question things and he an outsider the town isn’t too please to see. As they are here only for the summer to build grist mill and Willis got the town believe that they are stealing and hurting the town . Will Sally be able to see that if she trust God, that everything will work out ?

Collection Three

Dog Days of Summer Bride was a fun novel involving a dog that has been living in two house and each owner unaware of what the dog has been up to until, the dog find a buried treasure and they bought claim the dog in front the town. Marilee the prim music teacher who believe that the dog is a music geniuses and Jed the town blacksmith who belives he a cow dog who has habit of disappearing to be with a woman. A woman he doesn’t want anything to do with as it causing trouble Until they discover the truth and set out to work something out but it isn’t going to be easy given that they are total opposites and Marilee has caused some trouble Jed unknowing with the town

The Dogwood Blossom Bride, is story about God working in his mysterious ways and providing the right outcome. Grace ‘s father is a leading citizen and expect his daughter to stop acting like a tom – boy and marry a politician that is coming to town. However Grace is determined to still climb trees and do things as normal.

Grace is determined for the politician to notice for the wrong reasons instead it Will and his niece who notice her. New arrivals to town and the people her father would least to see her with especially married. Will is trying to give a better future for his niece. However things don’t go to plan for him either with the introduction of Grace into the picture. Laura can’t stop talking about her and soon they find themselves in each other company clashing over things. Is this a sign of thing to come ?

The Lumberjack’s Bride

Lucy has found herself in the middle of now where in Mississippi when her father up the family moved to join the timber trade as accountant for a crew . Lucy misses the city and wishes to return as this far from what she expects and wants. Eli notices her and wishes to know her but Lucy is determined when she finds herself nearly in an accident. Determine to get her to stay and know her better. Lucy soon finds herself immersing her self into the daily life of the crew but will she realise what in front of her .

Collection Four

The Country Fair Bride tells the story of Prudy and the new mayor Adam who doesn’t know what exactly to do with her at first. Prudy the daughter of the town left the town in shame after being a hussy basically. She thought she was in love with the Pastor Clayton, despite him having a finance. Now she has returned a changed woman, recently expecting Christ . Determine to be helpful and help her sick father , she doesn’t expect the reception from those who she hurt. However she still the misguide woman of before but this time harmless . However Adam is too aware of what she like previously . Will Prue get the second chance and realised that God has everything in control

The Honey Bride is set right in the midst of the action as we watch Katie Tucker the heroine faces some difficult times and see God rewarding her in her testing times. What starts of a simple storm soon turns bad for the Tuckers when the farm gets on fire thanks to some lighting strikes. Sending her younger brother for help, he only manages to find Pete the neighbour’s hand who tries to help them valiantly put out the fire.
however it ends tragedy as her father perishes in the fire, leaving Pete to explain and her ten year old brother the owner of the farm.

Pete feeling sorry for them wants to help but he always had dreams of owning his own farm and whilst he interested in Katie. There a lot going on and Katie has to wonder if everything is falling into place a little too perfect and does Pete still have ulterior motives

The Columbine Bride

Another Lucy but this one is a widower who has been trying to manage things since her husband died. The ranch has been left alone as she been busy teaching and now finally she can return to the ranch to fix things and give it a go. However she has no clue what she is doing and luckily her neighbour Buck has taken a interest. After encountering her in the mercantile and wanting to help. Buck feels that the timing is perfect. His responsibilities to his sister and nephew are over and he can finally start his own family. However Lucy isn’t interested and Buck worms his way into the family and is determined to make Lucy his .

A perfect story to round off the collection and whilst some novellas stood out more then others in the collection . It was enjoyable collection. Most were around the four star mark bar a couple. There was some distinctly different novels here.

This is a sweet novella set in the 1800's in Wyoming. A train robbery leads to a job on the railroad for Joe Logan and this gives he and Ava Neal time to pursue the spark of interest that developed when they met and traveled together on the train. This is a 5 star romantic novella. It makes a quick read for summer or any time of the year.

The Sun Bonnet Bride by Michele Ule
After a grasshopper plague descends, Sally Martin is faced with a choice to marry a banker who wants to buy out ruined farmers or a teamster willing to give all his money to God’s work.
MY REVIEW: What a precious novella ! Sally Martin creates lovely sunbonnets that have an ingenious design that are fast becoming popular in the local shops. She has two ardent suitors: the rich young banker, Josiah, and Malcolm, the hardworking teamster. She has a choice to make and the town as well as her own family are trying to recover from the loss of homes and crops during the recent tornado. I rated this novella 5 stars and think readers of historical fiction will enjoy this romance set in the 1870's.

The Wildflower Bride by Amy Lillard
Grace Sinclair would never dream of leaving her Ozarks, so when Ian MacGregor visits for a wedding, she ignores her sudden romantic thoughts. Can Ian make her see the way of love?

MY REVIEW of The Wildflower Bride: Do you believe in love at first sight? Grace and Ian are certainly experiencing it after meeting at her sister, Maddie's wedding. Grace had resigned herself to being an old maid and helping her father with his church in Arkansas, but now???? she really wants to be wherever Ian will be. He will be returning in New York in a few short days to accept his first church pastor position and she will be staying behind in Arkansas. What will they do? How will they resolve the issue? Readers are sure to love this 5-star romantic novella by Amy Lillard.

MY OVERALL Review of Collection #1: 5 star romantic novella set in the 1800's which is certain to be a lovely way to spend a summer day reading !

Don’t miss the four collections that inspirational romance readers will be swooning over:
The 12 Brides of Summer Novella Collection #1 – Releases June 1
The 12 Brides of Summer Novella Collection #2 – Releases July 1
The 12 Brides of Summer Novella Collection #3 – Releases August 1
The 12 Brides of Summer Novella Collection #4 – Releases September 1