AUTHOR: Joi Copeland
DATE: 2022
STARS:*****
From the back cover:
Tired of living in his oldest brother’s shadow, Barrett Harden, Bear to his family and friends, accepts his inheritance from his parents, and decides to strike out on his own. Unfortunately, he must agree to the terms of his inheritance. First, he needs to find a business to purchase or start his own in the town of Silver Springs, Colorado. Bear only has three months to find a wife after he purchases the mercantile. If he fails in either venture, he must return to the ranch and work off the money he spent. His younger brother urges Bear to place an advertisement seeking a bride by proxy. Will he find a lasting marriage full of love or is he destined to return to the ranch, always living in his brother’s shadow?
With the sudden death of her parents in a freak train accident, Clara Dupree is at a loss of what to do. Her overbearing sister-in-law convinces her weakling of an older brother to marry her off to the highest bidder. Unfortunately for Clara, the highest bidder happens to be the philanderer of Philadelphia. All he wants is her dowry. All she wants is her freedom. When her best friend sees an advertisement for a bride by proxy, Clara jumps at the chance to make her own choices. But will she regret her decision, or will she find love in the process?
My review:
In A Bride for Bear, two strangers, one in Pennsylvania and the other in Colorado, face desperate circumstances and choose a chancy solution: marriage by proxy. Can such a union have a chance of working?
Bear makes a great hero, strong and handsome but with insecurities that trip him at times. When his brother talks him into taking a chance on a bride by proxy, he’s desperate enough to prove his own worth to risk it. Beautiful Clara’s circumstances prove even more dire. She has to escape, immediately. Raised in a wealthy environment, how will she manage life in the west? And is she jumping from the proverbial frying pan into the fire?
Immediate mutual attraction when Clara steps off the stagecoach eases the newlywed strangers’ fears, and I thoroughly enjoyed their growing relationship. Does their marriage stand a chance, with all their differences and anxieties? By the grace of God, yes. Faith is vital to this story, and a wonderful message of grace weaves through each detail and into my heart.
I love A Bride for Bear and give it five stars. Recommended.