A Midwife for Sweetwater and A New Face in Town

First sentence from A Midwife for Sweetwater: Rebecca had her nose practically pressed to the train's window as it pulled into the neat brick station with stylish green trim.

First sentence from A New Face in Town: The grandfatherly conductor helped Victoria down from the high train car.

Premise/plot: A Midwife for Sweetwater and A New Face in Town are two novellas set in Sweetwater, Kansas, set in 1873. (Amazing how all FOUR books in the series so far are set in 1873--it's like time doesn't pass at all and yet there are babies being born!)

In A Midwife for Sweetwater, Rebecca Johansen, a midwife, comes to town to be the midwife for the community. This slightly plump midwife is wooed by the town's minister, Daniel Walters, but it's not a smooth relationship. She feels he's too goody-goody and a bit hypocritical. She wants a man not a man of God. Meanwhile, Daniel is overwhelmed with lusty thoughts and tries his best to flee from temptation. But alas, the community is too small for them to avoid one another's notice. Will these two marry?

A Midwife for Sweetwater features a secondary romance of the town's dressmaker, Abby, to Callie's "brother," Matthew. This romance was hinted at in the previous two books.

In A New Face in Town, Victoria Watkins arrives in town with no real aspects or plans. She's pointed in the direction of Abby and Matthew's house. Perhaps Abby needs help in her shop?--the "grandfatherly conductor" supposes. Victoria is hired to be Grace's nanny. Though Abby feels that Victoria will be "snatched up" soon because she's single and young. Well, she is snatched up--quite literally. This historical romance stars some VILLAINY VILLAINS. And it is up to the sheriff, Mason, to rescue her AND woo her.

My thoughts: Much of what I said in yesterday's review of Harrison Ranch & MacGregor's Mail Order Bride holds true for this follow-up. The book could be improved by a proof reader. (Lots of Champaign drinking going on). Yes, it's a little thing. And would reading champagne make for a better experience overall? I can't guarantee it. But maybe. Little things add up.

But what Payne does well is in the introductory sections of all the novellas. The first three or four chapters are usually really great at establishing the characters and setting up the stories AND setting up all sorts of relationships--not just romantic ones, but good, solid friendships. Because she pays attention to these relationships, the town feels inhabited. This is rare in a romance novel. Lots of people can and do write smut, but only a few have a mind to ground characters.

Now let's talk smut content. I do believe that books three and four (the books I'm reviewing in this post) have less smut than books one and two. That's a good thing--relatively speaking. But they are still smutty. It's more balanced with storytelling in these two novellas. But it's still very graphic and detailed. I wouldn't recommend to readers who prefer clean or nearly clean fiction. If I was reading a print copy, I could probably easy just skip pages--plural--and get back to the story. In an e-book this is nearly impossible.

All the men in the novellas seem to be oblivious and stupid, completely lacing in self-awareness and basic understanding of how thoughts, feelings, and emotions work in general, let alone in love.

I love the old western stories. These two books were fun to read and well written. Great characters, romance and good storylines. I enjoyed them both.

These books were easy to read and l enjoyed them. The stories were interesting about the Wild West as were the characters. l will read more by this author .

I loved these stories and the interconnections between the different characters, which despite many, I never felt it was confusing. On the contrary, I felt curious to know their stories.

A lovely moment of leisure.

These were decent enough reads. The plots were fairly basic and straightforward. The characters were decent enough. They were ok.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

A Midwife for Sweetwater- I liked this story more than I liked the first two books in book one. Daniel and Rebecca both had huge insecurities they needed to overcome to be who they strive to be. But both faced things that continue to make them wonder if Sweetwater was where they would find their happy ever after. I did like catching up with Abby. She was one of my favorites from the other book I read.

A New Face in Town- This story was just ok I felt like it was pretty predictable and not really my favorite out of the four stories I have read. I liked Mason and Matthew both have big hearts and will do anything to protect women woman who are being sold and traded. I liked Victoria she was nice but she almost seemed like she really had to try to hard to fit in to Sweetwater and it just didn't seem to fit from the other stories. In both stories there is sexual content which seems to be the majority of the book to be honest. over all the stories were ok just not for me. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.