The Promise Bride by Gina Welborn and Becca Whitham

The Book✯✯✯✯

Oh my goodness. I read this book right after reading the Brides of Montana 3-in-1 and was worried I wouldn't care for it if it followed the same writing style and lack of an intriguing plot. But I was so very wrong.

Instead, it was a near-perfect romance story staying true to wild west settings, a strong female lead, and swoon worthy love interests. It delivers what it promises without appearing contrite and is perfect for any reader that enjoys clean adult books. 

It has Christian influence, but not in an aggressive manner, and always interwoven seamlessly into the story. 

It has romance, but it is slow to build, and I was incredibly grateful the authors stayed away from the blatant predictability that plague most Christian romances. 

And finally, we have a murder mystery to round it all out. Whatever you think it is, it isn't. So just enjoy the ride.

The writing was flawless, really--too many times Christian romances can appear cheesy, corny, and sickly sweet. Instead, The Promise Bride provides natural dialogue and focuses on relationships of a small group of people avoiding the pitfalls of having to juggle too many many characters.

Unfortunately, that is also where the fault comes in to play.  Outside of Emilia and Mac, everyone is fairly 2-D--even Roch and Luci, Emilia's younger siblings. I'll admit that you have a surprise character, but not enough to make them seem fully fleshed out.  Despite this (or maybe because of this), I'll be on the look out for the next book to see if we can learn a bit more about the good people of Helena, Montana. 

Thank you to NetGalley, Gina Welborn, Becca Whitham, and Kensington Books for this beautiful ARC in exchange for an honest review.