The Bartered Bride Romance Collection

These collections are sometimes hit and miss for me. It is sometimes hard to make it through 9 different stories when they are all novellas and the characters aren't well developed due to time. I actually really enjoyed these stories. Perhaps the idea of romance flourishing after the arrange marriage is just interesting to me. I like to think all marriage is like that. We may marry for love but we have to work on our marriages once that twitter of first romance changes into the rhythm of everyday life and the foibles of our partner unfold. I loved the use of spirituality and the reliance on God played in part in most of these stories. I think that unifying aspect of marriage is what makes it work. Anyway, I enjoyed the stories and thought that they each had a different perspective yet at the same time the focus was on working it out. I liked that several of the stories were linked. The four Craig sisters each got their own story but the continuation of the story gave them a feel of unity. I am happy to have had the chance to read these and thank Netgalley and the publisher the chance to read and review this collection.

The Bartered Bride Romance Collection is written by various authors and comes together in an engaging collection. Several of the stories are written by Cathy Marie Hake. There are four stories which follow sisters as they arrive in the west looking to be married but the man who placed the order was expecting bridles and not brides. A bit of confusion and concern over what to do with the women in a town full of men and no hotel or boarding house ensues. The farmer soon realizes that he has bought himself four brides, when he doesn’t even want one, and must see to their safety. There is one story focusing on each sister and builds on the previous one even though not by the same author. Each of the stories in the collection are unique and set in the 1800’s. The characters all focus on God’s plan for their lives though at times that plan is not clear.
I really enjoyed this collection due to very unique situations and characters that are realistic and easy to relate to. The stories are short and easy to read one at a time. I give this book 5 of 5 stars and recommend it to everyone who enjoys reading Christian romance stories.
I received an advance copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

An endearing collection of short stories of Christian, Western historical fiction. There are three of the stories that have the same cast of characters centered around the fictional town of Lickwind, Wyoming. I loved these stories and I know that it will warm your heart while you are treated to sweet stories of love and family.

The Bartered Bride Romance Collection will be available from Barbour Books on May 1, 2018. An egalley of this book was made available by the publisher in exchange for a honest review.

I have to confess that when I first saw this book on my Netgalley dashboard, I misread it as "battered" which instantly piqued my interest since I have come across very few titles on domestic violence. However, when I finally got down to reading it I discovered that it was "bartered". Nonetheless, as I came to discover, the women in these stories have been battered by different life occurrences that force them to arranged marriages.

In this compilation of nine stories from fictional women who lived in the 1800s who were forced into marriage to maintain their social status, security and save face. From mail-order arrangements, taking the place of one's eloped sister to convenient arrangements to survive the Oregon trail, the stories of these women will warm the readers' hearts. Readers will appreciate reading from both the men and women's perspective because, in most instances, society fails the equal pressure put on the men in these circumstances.

My personal favourite story was Joie De Vivre at the beginning of the book that tells the story of a battle-scarred soldier whose parents arrange for him to marry a younger woman who is infatuated with his younger. Edouard LeBlanc and Josée Broussard's love story shows the importance of finding joy in the mundane activities and how they bolster the relationships. In addition, it sets the pace of the novel.Lynette Sowell's story stood out because it was set in French New Orleans which I rarely read about. Though, my only critique of this story is the heavy use of French words that contribute to the novella's authenticity but can be frustrating for non-French speakers.

Overall, this would be a great book to cuddle with in the colder months or when you need a pick me up.

I liked every story in this collection. There’s a group of great authors who have written these stories. All the storylines are interesting, and the characters fit together well. These kinds of stories can sometimes seem a little rushed to get to the end of the story, but I didn’t get that feeling with this collection. The historical details all seemed accurate. For those times when you’d like a shorter story, this is a great book. As collections go, I’d give this one five stars.

I received a copy of this book for review. I was not required to give a positive review. This is my honest opinion about this book.

This is an enjoyable collection of Christian historical romances. The stories range from an arranged marriage to a different brother than expected to substitute brides, and four connected stories about four sisters who find their true loves in a small town. I received a copy of this collection from the publisher through Net Gallery. This is my honest and voluntarily given review. This is a collection that you can savor and pick up and reread later.

I am always so excited to see a Barbour Romance collection being released. I have been reading these collections for almost 20 years now and they never fail to excite me with a new arrival. It's so much fun to be invested in the characters and see how their lives and their situation develop. I will always highly recommend Barbour Collections!
Pub Date 01 May 2018
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Books through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I sometimes find it difficult to read a collection of short stories in one book, but this was actually captivating. I love how the authors made sure that they resolved the issues the main characters had at the beginning of each story. I always was a fan of how an arranged marriage will unfold until the end, how the main characters will learn to love each other. It’s really nice to see characters who felt so real. It wasn’t actually difficult to care about the main characters because they all had different situations that you could actually relate to, like how Edouard LeBlanc had to forego life disappointments and learn to love again. Also, how Charity and Ethan might be in different social classes but learned to see through it. Seeing all the main characters getting through all the difficulties in life and learn to love again is what I love about this collection.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in short stories with interesting characters that are very realistic. I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for an honest review.

The Bartered Bride Romance Collection is one of my favorite Romance Novella Collections. It contains 9 Novellas and each one is almost better than the last - almost - each one stands alone and each one is delightful yet complicated, adventurous and downright descriptive, jam-packed - with light hearted moments, hearts being torn, soulful and full of trusting in the LORD - as it should be... The first one is about pre-arrangement, deeply disappointment, feels like wrong brother is picked - will she ever love him? You have one that is about loss and desperate situations arising and learning to follow the will of GOD, Another is about love arranged in writing - another is about accidental love - another is about very protective love - another is about take over ever thing love? another is about preconceived perceptions - will they be able to get over it? Another one is about misrepresentation's, love at first sight and a vow to GOD. - what will win out? Lastly you have one about pre-arrangement, elopement, pride and financial arrangement - will he love the runner up? I received a copy of this book from the Publisher and Netgalley; all of the opinions expressed in the review are all my own.

This collection of novellas is a gold mine of fantastic authors including Cathy Maria Hake, JoAnn Grote, and Kelly Eileen Hake to name a few. You will find excellent "bang for your buck" with nine stories included in the "Bartered Bride Romance Collection." There is a nice variety of stories with a vast array of endearing characters woven into these novellas.

To those of you that don't read novellas (I used to be one of you), I have recently discovered the appeal of these shorter reads as time becomes a more difficult commodity to come by in my crazy life. It's nice to be able to sit down and read an entire story without having to spend hours doing so. Novellas are a wonderful way to get your story fix while not totally neglecting the mountain of chores or work that need doing.

"The Bartered Bride Collection" is a great book and I thoroughly enjoyed reading the stories. I would definitely recommend it. Thank-you to Net Galley and to Barbour Publishing for a complimentary copy of this novella collection.

Nice long read. I hate a good book to end, so it's nice to read a collection like this that keeps it going. I also think it takes a little something extra to write a really interesting story with depth and still be novella length. These are all master storytellers. You don't feel like the story is cut short. Each is a unique experience, holds interesting experience and walk of faith. A few of the stories are linked together, their being sisters who were an answer to an ad - or were they? God has plans for us that we don't always understand, but He knows what we need all along.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the Publisher and Netgalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

This was nice collection of historical fictional novellas. Four of the stories are about sisters written by different authors. The 2nd one, “From Carriage to Marriage” by Janelle Burnham Schneider has to be my favorite. It was so sweet. I would have love that to be a full length novel.

Thank you NetGalley!