Second Chance Brides by Vickie McDonough

Reviewed by Nora St.Laurent

"This is a book I devoured and had so much fun reading."

Back Cover: Fans of The Anonymous Bride, will feel for Shannon O’Neil and Leah Bennett who are stranded in Lookout, Texas, without husbands or future plans. Thankfully, the marshal has ordered the rascally Corbett brothers to pay for the women’s lodging at the boardinghouse, but will the brothers’ idea of hosting Saturday socials really bring these women the kind of loves they long for? Will Shannon choose to marry just for security? Will Leah reject love when the challenges mount?

REVIEW: I was thankful and glad to receive a review copy of Second Chance Brides, it’s the sequel to The Anonymous Bride, which I really enjoyed. Second Chance Brides starts with a wedding the whole town is cheering about, and so is the reader. The mail-order brides, Shannon and Leah, who are introduced in the first book, are witnessing the marriage of a man they were meant to marry. The whole reason they came out to Texas was to marry this God-fearing Marshall, but now they’re forced to find work and support themselves or return home. The Corbett brothers are responsible for this mess and feel bad that they brought these ladies here under false pretenses. They want to help them in some way...but how?

This sequel was just as much fun to read as the first book with all of the same characters I enjoyed -- the Marshall and Rachel, along with their daughter, Jack; Shannon and Leah, who are back in a big way and struggling with where to work and whether to pursue marriage. They both want to marry for love. Oh, there were lots of offers from men to marry them - to be a live-in cook and maid, but both wanted more from their lives. But would they get it?

Thanks Vickie, for a fun look at life in Texas when the land was young, times were tough and life was very different. I appreciated the authors’ spiritual thread and humor. This is a book I devoured and had so much fun reading. You’ll enjoy Vickie’s fun and memorable characters, along with a story that kept me entertained and thankful I live in this time period.

Nora St. Laurent is the CEO of The Book Club Network Incorporated and runs two book clubs near Atlanta, Ga., and is the former ACFW On-Line Book Club coordinator. Nora currently writes a Book Club column for the Christian Fiction OnLine Magazine and is a Book Club Talk "Columnist" for Novel Rocket. She writes reviews and interviews authors on her blog Finding Hope Through Fiction, Novel Reviews, Title Trakk, Suspense Zone and The Christian Pulse.