Valentine's Rose by E.E. Burke #review

Pages -  158
Published -  March 8, 2016
Amazon  -  Link
Genre -  Historical Romance, Victorian, Mail-Order Bride
Series -  The Bride Train
Sexual Content -  0/5
Language -  Irrelevant

An English lord...an Irish laundress...only in America could Fate be foolish enough to put them together. 

Constantine Valentine, the second son of an English baron, is in America for one reason—to make a fortune so he can return home and repair a tarnished reputation. Wedding a destitute Irish laundress isn’t his first choice, but a strange twist of fate makes a hasty marriage the key to gaining riches.

She lost everything but her belief in love.

Rose Muldoon grew up in a New York slum and has suffered hardship, hunger, and heartbreaking loss. Against impossible odds, she still trusts love—something her privileged husband has never experienced and can't accept.

Rose longs for home and family.

Val has no intention of staying in a marriage of convenience, not even for a beautiful woman who fires his blood and makes him yearn for what he doesn't have…or deserve. 

But when the unforeseen happens, threatening everything Val holds dear, he must make a choice.

Valentine's Rose is Book 1 in an exciting new mail-order bride series--with a twist. Called "compelling and well-written" and "everything I could want in a Western romance...," the series features a cast of strong heroines and atypical Western heroes, set in a rough, but real, American West. Don’t miss this new series by bestselling author E.E. Burke.

A short and sweet romance filled with interesting characters who are developed enough to make me want to know more.

Practically flawless reading and writing style as well.

It was easy to read and just as easy to want to finish, but with the anticipated type-o's cropping up toward the end.

The author began by introducing us to one character and then chose to tell the story of another's romantic encounter after the Bride Train arrives in Kansas.

It was odd and a first for me, but in no way did it confuse or make me not want to keep reading.

I'm just overly curious, now, to find out how Suzanne's story pans out and if she ends up with the man I am hoping she will end up with -- if her story is ever told.

There are about a dozen women aboard this train headed West, to Kansas, where the Railroad has set up a (not fictitious) program as a way to ease the mounting tension between them and the landowners.

The women hail from different backgrounds and different areas of the East Coast but are all united in their snag-a-hubby efforts.

And, as outdated a concept as mail-order brides might sound today, these women read as confident despite their desperate situations, levelheaded despite the era, and determined to get their way without coming off as shrewish or self-indulgent.

Rose's story is quick but compelling, and being introduced to the other ladies on the train worked to get me interested in their stories as well.

Valentine's Rose is squeaky clean but cannot be labeled as Christian, although there were a few mentions of religious beliefs  -- just not enough to make it a preachy read.

For me, the character development was solid for a novella.

The two leads read perfectly plausible in my head, I could practically picture them soon into their story, and with just enough background information on them both to help me understand their plights as well as their reasons for behaving as they did.

Second son treated badly as a child is still desperate to gain his family's approval and poor Irish girl with a heartbreaking past is desperate to put the puzzle pieces back together while still maintaining a mature outlook on life.

Novella's tend to be rushed and this story was as well, but it still managed to end as a completed story with a HEA that made me smile.

I'm looking forward to reading more of E.E. Burke's work.

Patrick's Charm: Book 2, The Bride Train

Apr 25, 2016

by E.E. Burke and Jena O'Connor

Tempting Prudence: The Bride Train

Aug 11, 2016

by E.E. Burke and Jena O'Connor