The Outlaw Takes a Bride

I just may have to add Susan Page Davis to my very short “I will read anything by this author” list under Inspirational Fiction (aka Christian Romance) if I continue to enjoy her books as much as I have Captive Trail and now Outlaw Takes a Bride.  It doesn’t hurt that these books have had premises that align so closely with my tastes in this type of fiction, or that I find myself really liking her characters.

Johnny Paynter is on the run, after his friend Cam lets him know that he is a suspected murderer. They flee to Texas and Johnny’s brother’s ranch, but find Mark Paynter dead of bullet wounds. After being mistaken for his brother in town, Johnny follows Cam’s advice and lets everyone think that he is Mark. Including the mail-order bride that arrives within a matter of days.

4 out of 5 stars.  Recommended for anyone who enjoys westerns, outlaws, mail-order brides and a sweet romance.  

The full review is on my Wordpress blog: http://wp.me/p5Tcfi-16  
This review refers to an ebook copy received from the publisher via NetGalley, in return for an honest review.  I may need to buy a physical copy soon, so I can reread at my convenience.

Johnny Paynter is working on a ranch in Colorado in 1885, when his friend Cam rides up to tell Johnny that the ranch foreman is dead and everyone believes Johnny killed him. Johnny wants to return to the ranch to protest his innocence, but Cam convinces him that he’d be hung if he went back. They head for Johnny’s brother’s ranch in Texas and discover his brother Mark has been shot by outlaws.  Johnny assumes Mark’s identity, the first of many lies he tells as he deals with the townspeople. More ensue when Johnny discovers that Mark’s mail order bride will be arriving within days.

Widow Sally Golding lives with Reverend and Mrs. Winters in St. Louis, Missouri. In financial trouble and hoping one day to have a family of her own, Sally replies to rancher Mark Paynter's advertisement and takes a train to Beaumont, Texas. 

Johnny realizes he has no choice but to marry Sally, whom he considers beautiful, but Sally begins to wonder what’s wrong with her when her husband avoids their nuptial bed.  She also feels ill at ease when her husband’s ranch hand, Cam, is around. Soon the marriage that began with a lie has Johnny and Sally turning to God for help.

The Outlaw Takes a Bride is a wonderful and fast-paced mail order bride novel. The characters are sympathetic and believable: they struggle with their fears yet are willing to do what is necessary to make their marriage work. While that marriage is based upon a lie, the suspense and enjoyment of novel is learning how the web of falsehood is untangled and the characters’ feelings are resolved. 

Ms. Davis has written an outstanding novel of love, hope and redemption, while at the same time making the hardships of living on a ranch in 1885 Texas come vividly alive.

Can an outlaw find love and happiness when his life is nothing but a lie?

Springtime in Colorado, 1885. Johnny Paynter is accused of a murder and flees towards his brother’s ranch in Texas. Although when he arrives, he finds his brother Mark dead! Folk in town think that Johnny is Mark, and Johnny doesn’t correct them. He begins to start a new life as Mark and things go rather well. Until he finds out that Mark has a mail order bride on her way to Texas. Deciding that there is nothing else to do, he takes Sally as his wife and continues life as Mark Paynter. With a relationship founded on lies, how can it survive?

The foundation of any relationship should be founded on truth and honesty. If it isn’t, there is much turmoil working through the mess. But there is always hope, the Lord can heal the hurt and His mercies are new every day. We can always begin again. I have enjoyed both books that I have read by Susan Page Davis now. The Outlaw Takes a Bride is a western romance, with really good Christian principles. She reminds us that we should strive to live an honest life, but even when we mess things up, the Lord is there to forgive and restore what has been broken. This book is action packed with bandits, touching and romantic, and an overall good read!

I received a free digital copy of The Outlaw Takes a Bride from Barbour Publishing, Inc. through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

The Outlaw Take a Bride has many of the hallmarks of your typical mail-order bride story, but author Susan Page Davis does an admirable job of shaking up the story - in pretty believable ways - to make it a lot less predictable.

After several months of courting by letter Sally travels to Texas to meet and marry Mark Paynter.  At the same time, Mark's brother Johnny believes he is about to be taken by a lynch mob and leaves for Mark's ranch, but arrives to find Mark murdered.  Several townspeople mistake Johnny for his brother and at the urging of a fellow cowboy, he decides to just let everyone think he is Mark.   In the meanwhile Sally arrives by train expecting to be married immediately, the murdering gang of thieves is still roaming the area, and the cowboy who was Johnny's mentor isn't always leading him in the right direction.

Well written with characters that you're a little sorry to leave behind at the end, I would predict that I will be reviewing more of Davis' novels.
Review based on ARC provided by the publisher/author.

A new twist on the Mail Order Bride packed with a bunch of lies that spiral out of control, and in the end what is the truth. We also have a western story as we are on ranches spanding from Colorado to Texas, along with gunfights.
When the book opens we see what a bleak life Sally Golding is living, she barely exists, and falls in love with a man she has never met by mail. No wonder she was willing to leave St Louis behind and head to the unknown in Texas to marry Mark Paynter.
We meet Johnny Paynter as a friend tells him he is wanted for murder, and he takes his advice. They head to Texas and end up finding his brother’s body, and they bury Mark. Oh dear, we are getting deeper and deeper in lies. Johnny now takes Mark’s identity when he goes to town and people call him Mark.
Of course, he can’t keep on an even keel with these lies, and when he finds letters of the pending arrival of Sally, the next day. Now what? You can guess what is about to happen, or can you. What do you do with Sally?
This is a page turning read and I enjoyed the added twists of not knowing what was going to happen when the truth is revealed.

I received this book through Net Galley and the Publish Barbour, and was not required to give a positive review.

Characters: These characters were the perfect fit for this story. I quickly grew to like Johnny and Sally and really felt for each of them for the situation they were in. Both characters had personalities that were portrayed very consistently with their actions and were quite believable as well.

Storyline: I love a good mail-order bride story and this one had such an interesting twist to it! From the beginning scenes I was hooked and had to know what would happen next for Johnny. The story certainly flowed quite nicely.

My Thoughts: I adored this book! It was such a unique take on a mail-order bride story and the characters were wonderful to get to know. There was everything from tense moments to sweet moments in the story. It had the perfect blend of making me want to see everything turn out just right but feeling like it was an impossibility for it to happen. This is a book I would highly recommend.

The Outlaw Takes a Bride is the first novel I have read by Susan Page Davis. After reading this one, I found myself putting all her books on my wish list. This book is great! I really enjoyed it. So much so that I can could not find myself putting it down and ended up reading it from cover to cover in just a couple of hours. The plot was quite unique with a bit of a twist. It had a touch of mystery and when secrets were revealed I was completely surprised and did not see that coming.  The interaction between Sally and Johnny was so sweet and I love them both. I also found myself laughing at moments in the book. The only complaint I had with this book is it had to end.
Such a refreshing read. I highly recommend it. I look forward read more by this author. She really knows how to write and captivate the reader.  5 plus stars

Sally has agreed to be a mail-order bride to a man by the name of Mark Paynter, little does she know that Mark is dead, and that his brother Johnny who is on the run from the law for a murder that he did not commit has assumed his identity. Now if that isn't a good set up for a story, I don't know what is!

Sally is a strong woman, who has had a tough life, with a difficult first marriage, yet she is willing to give marriage another shot. Mark was a good man, and she would have liked him if she had been able to meet him. 

I liked that Johnny was respectful of Sally, and kept his distance, because he felt that what he was doing was wrong. 

This book was a bit slow to start, but quickly picked up and was well worth the read. Sally and Johnny forge a friendship, and help each other grow as people. 

Overall, this was a very good book, perfect for fans of mail order bride stories and a nice western romance. Definitely worth checking out :)

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. 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."

Mail-order bride stories have always fascinated me – I mean, it's hard to believe some woman would just answer an ad and travel for days, or weeks, to marry a man she has never met, even if they did correspond for awhile. I guess it was just a precursor to internet dating?!

Outlaw had a great twist! Of course, no good relationship can be based on lies...and poor Sally unknowingly gets herself mixed up in Johnny's mess. As we all know that one lie can lead to another and then another – oh what a tangled web we weave! – it was almost painful to watch Sally's confusion and Johnny's rejection of her. You just wished you could shake Johnny to 'fess up, but again, another good lesson: peer pressure doesn't go away when you leave your teenage years behind!

Peer pressure, fear, lies, guilt... ouch.

My suspicions of whodunit was right on, but it didn't ruin the story. Instead, I was just waiting to see when the truth would finally come out. 

Quite honestly, I wasn't ready for the story to end! I wanted just a few more chapters, as I'd really come to like Sally and Mark/Johnny and I felt their story ended just a bit too abruptly.

If you enjoy mail-order, western type stories, you'll want to pick up The Outlaw Takes a Bride!

Thank you to Susan and Shiloh Run Press through NetGalley for sending me a copy to read and review!

'The Outlaw Takes a Bride' is a book I, without reservation, highly recommend. The characters are endearing and the plot keeps enough momentum for most to be able to enjoy without hesitation. Other than my minor disappointment with there being no real expounding upon Sally's secrets (and their connection to and impact on the marriage) I can find no real fault with Ms. Davis' work. This is definitely for anyone who is a fan on Mary Conneally and Erica Vetsch.

Outlaw Takes A Bride His only crime is his naïveté, her only fault is her deep love for him. How will they clear all this dangerous mess and still be together?! She is on the verge of giving up and going home and he is ready to turn himself to the law when true cards are revealed and real danger started. johnny's and Sally's story though frustrating at some points is overall breathtaking. It takes a true gentleman to not take advantage of a willing lady, even buried in deceit as he is. And it takes a special kind of woman to understand and still love a man like Johnny faults and all.  Adorable, suspenseful story that will have you flipping pages with worry and anticipation.  Disclaimer: I have received a free copy of this book from Publisher, through NetGalley, in exchange for my honest opinion.

by Andrea Renee Cox

What do you think it would have been like to be a mail-order bride?

Susan Page Davis gave us her take on that in the entertaining novel The Outlaw Takes a Bride. This book was such a delight. The tension and surprises were written with excellent timing. I especially enjoyed the play between the two lead characters. The awkwardness that came from the situations they were in was so sweet. I look forward to reading more historical books by Susan Davis. She sure knows how to spin a yarn!

In The Outlaw Takes a Bride, Johnny Paynter goes on the run when his foreman turns up dead and it’s suspected that Johnny committed the crime… even though he’s innocent. Upon arriving at his brother’s ranch in Texas, he finds his brother has been killed. When he discovers a mail-order bride is on the way to marry his brother, Johnny assumes his brother’s identity and takes his bride. But what happens when the truth comes out? How will Johnny and the ranch survive a drought, a posse of outlaws, and a betrayal by someone he thought trustworthy? Will he and his bride find a way to trust God to smooth out the rocky road they’ve found themselves on?

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Such a fun read! Unfortunately, I don't have the time to write a proper review but I highly recommend it!