Mail Order Millie by Cheryl Wright

My edition: Kindle Unlimited
Pages: 104
Series: Widows, Brides, and Secret Brides #1
Genre: Marriage of Convenience, Clean Romance
Published: March 6, 2020
Rating: 3 stars

Synopsis:

When Millie Camden prematurely becomes a widow, she is left homeless and penniless. Against her better judgement she has no other option than to become a mail-order bride.

Daniel Carson finally succumbs to the pressure and orders a mail-order bride. On the surface, she appears to be everything he needs, and he is smitten, but what is she hiding?

Can these two resolve their differences and make their marriage of convenience work? And what will happen when he discovers her secret?

Review:

A cute story of a mail-order bride. Millie’s first husband was a sheriff who was KIA. She then has to move out of the house they had for the new sheriff and his wife to move in. Though she’s uncertain she becomes a mail-ordered bride. Daniel Carson brings her in.

Super short and cute. I loved both Millie and Daniel.

Charm by J.A. Armitage

My edition: Kindle Unlimited
Pages: 270
Series: Cinderella Reverse Fairytale #1
Genre: Retelling, YA
Published: Sept 26, 2017
Rating: DNF @ 17%

Synopsis:

You think you know the story of Cinderella… The kingdom needs an heir and Princess Charmaine is quite aware that the job rests solely upon her shoulders. When her elder sister dies, Charmaine has to take her place at the ball designed to find her a husband. With a hundred men to choose between and her wedding planned, all she has to do is pick one. But love can sometimes be found in the most unlikely of places and at the most inconvenient of times. Cynder knows about the impending war between the people of magic and those of his masters, but working as an underpaid servant in the palace kitchens leaves him with little power to do anything about it. On one hand, he’s a staunch supporter of equal rights for his own kind, but he can’t deny the attraction he feels for the daughter of the king and queen he works for. When the two meet, sparks fly and not just the magical kind… 

Review:

As if my week hadn’t been hard enough. I’d lost my sister, and now I was getting married to someone I’d never even met and was having his baby.

Charmaine is having a hard time dealing with her oldest sister dying. She now has to take Grace’s place at the ball. She must decide to choose five men from the ball to stay with them so she can get to know them better. After that, she has to choose one to marry.

Charmaine at first is an “I’m not like other girls.” To be honest, these types of girls are boring and a dime a dozen in the YA world. She is also the middle child through and through. Now being from middle child to oldest it’s hard for her to handle. Then throw a ball in two weeks after her sister’s funeral and you have a basket case.

The main reason I am DNF is that I really couldn’t connect with Charmaine. I wasn’t really enjoying the story. Maybe I read this at the wrong time. I don’t know. Either way, I put this down once and I won’t be able to pick it back up again.

Heart of Red, Blood of Blue by Rebecca Belliston

My edition: Kindle Unlimited
Pages: 410
Standalone
Genre: Medieval, Fantasy, YA, Christian Fiction
Published: Dec. 11, 2018
Rating: 4.5 stars

Synopsis:

A girl on the run. A kingdom to save.

Princess Gisela of Steinland was born without color. Albino. When her betrothal to Prince Jerrik of Kronga ends in his death, it starts a ten-year war her father is determined to win, even if it means bringing her out of hiding to do it. Now the savage Krongon war commander, Bloodless Kristoff, seeks the hearts of the entire royal family, especially Gisela’s.

Desperate, her father agrees to another alliance that involves her marrying an old brute of a king. Unwilling to be the sacrificial lamb, Gisela goes on the run. Thrown into the center of a battle between three kingdoms, she finds herself fighting for her life and the right to be truly loved.

Can the girl who started the war find a way to end it?

Review:

But memories are strange, bizarre even. Some disappear while others survive in perfect clarity. Distorted and biased, twisted and blurred, memories weave a colorful tapestry that is often fiction as much as fact.

Gisela was meant to marry Prince Jerrik. But his father plans an attack at their betrothal ceremony which ends in Jerrik’s death. Now ten years later at the age of seventeen, Gisela has been hidden away from Bloodless Kristoff who is killing all of her brothers. Gisela is now ordered by her father to return home to be married off to an old king who is known to be a brute.

Gisela is called the cursed daughter. Due to her betrothal ending in a blood bath and her looks. Gisela is not like her family. Her family represents the color red, while she is as her governess says dull. Her hair is white as snow along with her skin.

I felt sorry for Gisela. Her governess treated her like crap. Her father doesn’t care much for her. Everyone says she is cursed because she is albino. The boy that she first fell in love with just saw her for her crown and where that could get him. I seriously felt so bad for Gisela.

I completely loved this book and the story. The only bad thing I can say is that sometimes I think the author forgot Gisela has bad eyesight. But really that is my only complaint. I ain’t even mad about that twist ending.