MAKE-BELIEVE MARRIAGE
When Tilly Hargreaves and her three nieces are stranded at his small stagecoach station in an abandoned town and threatened by outlaws, Nolan West must protect them. And the only way he can do that is by pretending he’s married to Tilly. But can the former solider, whose only wish is for solitude, stop himself from growing attached to his temporary family?
Tilly knows the charade is necessary to keep her and the girls safe, but now her heart is in danger. The longer she pretends the stoic station agent is her husband, the more genuine their union feels. Nolan believes he’s better off alone, but Tilly’s certain that if he’d only open his heart to his make-believe family, he’d want to claim them as his for real.
A Temporary Family by Sherri Shackelford
Sherri Shackelford is one of the best authors writing for Harlequin’s Love Inspired lines. Her historical romances set on the 19th century US frontier all have original ideas and original characters, and the Christian aspects of her stories are so subtle you might not even notice they’re there.
I will say that it took me a little while to get into this one. The characters are guarded and so a tad hard to get to know, and then they (and the three girls the heroine is caring for) are thrown into immediate danger – before we’ve had a chance to care about them.
On the other hand, A Temporary Family gets better as it goes on, which is definitely better than the book slowing down near the end!
Even though most Love Inspired Historical reads come across as overly similar to each other at the moment (I’m dying to read a few without children in them!), if you’re going to try one of these, this is probably the author you should gravitate to.
But if only the hero fought for the Union in the war!
Review copy provided by NetGalley.
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