Cora: Mail-Order Bride of South Dakota

WESTERN:  It’s 1890 Massachusetts, and the factory Cora Ancelet works in burns to the ground. Cora, who’s never known a mother’s love, is desperate to find a way out from under the roof, and control, of her mean-spirited father, who’s hated her since birth. She applies as a mail-order bride, hoping to start a new life away from her father. John Franklin is a cattle rancher in South Dakota…a good, honest, hard-working man, ready to settle down with a wife and start a family. With the scarcity of women, a mail-order bride seems the perfect solution. But will Cora’s father allow her to find happiness she’s always been denied, or will he thwart her attempts at a new life?

Cora and Jim’s story is a sweet little historical with all the necessary elements for a good romance. It contains a few clichéd storylines…the brutal father selling off his innocent daughter in exchange for payment of gambling debts, and his senseless blaming of the child for the mother’s death during childbirth. The dialogue was choppy and stilted at times and some incidents were unrealistic. This could have been so much better with a thorough editing and a little research to correct some terminology, but it was still plenty entertaining with a nice story-arc and satisfying ending. A quick, enjoyable read!

Lori Leger