Lone Star Book Blog Tour: The Mail Order Bride’s Secret by Linda Broday (Review)

“Sometimes a person had to cling to hope no matter how slender the thread.”

The Mail Order Bride’s Secret by Linda Broday is Book Three of the Outlaw Mail Order Bride Series. While all the books can stand alone, don’t do it! The characters overlap, and each book is a treasure to be enjoyed and savored.

In 1881, Hope’s Crossing in the Texas Panhandle is home to outlaws, renegades, and anyone else looking for a new beginning and a fresh start. Tait Trinity is the star of The Mail Order Bride’s Secret and next in line for a bride. But this particular intended bride, Melanie Dunbar, has a secret as big as Texas and a hidden agenda that could very well spell the end of Tait Trinity. But what is a young lady to do when her life and her twin sister’s life are at stake?

Tait is a wanted outlaw, holed up in Hope’s Crossing and biding his time until he can hopefully secure a pardon for his crimes and begin anew as a free man. Melanie is the daughter of a gambling father who has no qualms about leaving his twin girls to take the heat as he escapes into the night to avoid an angry town. But Melanie is no shrinking violet and has seen her share of saloons, bedrooms, and card games. When Melanie finally arrives in Hope’s Crossing to meet Tait in person, she finds a smoldering hunk of a man and his recently orphaned niece and twin nephews. The situation for both of them has taken a decidedly unexpected turn. Watching these two navigate a new relationship and handle two angry and frightened young boys and their adorable three-year-old little sister will make you laugh and turn you to mush.

Linda Broday has created a believable Texas world and populated it with all sorts of wonderful characters, both good and bad; young and old, who entice, intrigue, and entertain. For Melanie, her marriage to Tait starts off as nothing more than a cruel sham to save herself and her sister, but can she come clean and throw the truth down at Tait’s feet? Can the love they are beginning to feel conquer the betrayal and the danger headed their way? It is only a matter of time before Tait must face the consequences of his past and Melanie must face an incredibly hard decision.

A main theme in The Mail Order Bride’s Secret (in the entire series, actually), is family and what it means to be a family. Children play a vital, contributing role in all these stories, and it is interesting to see how gruff outlaws and women who never knew they wanted children rise to the occasion when children are in need of family and love.

While revenge and shootouts are served up and dished out, The Mail Order Bride’s Secret is ultimately about trust, loyalty, love, and the sweet human need for companionship, family, and friends. Even as the romance heats up between Tait and Melanie, the danger and drama run high as these two first face off against each other before joining forces to outwit and outmaneuver an extremely bad man with an old grudge and no scruples whatsoever in how he exacts revenge. Keep a close eye on Melanie’s father because he is full of surprises and may just steal your heart, and one recurring character in Hope’s Crossing that I personally want to read more about is Dr. Mary and her necklace made of bullets.

Enter the giveaway below on or before February 7, 2020, for a chance to win some fabulous prizes!

I received a free copy of this book from Lone Star Book Blog Tours in exchange for my honest review.