Sunday, August 22, 2021

Review of Mail-Order Brit (Wayward Brits) by Poppy Parkes

 


She’s an American knee-deep in student loan debt and desperate for a way out.

He’s a British single father who needs to fill the hole left in his children’s life when their mother died.

Neither one of them expect to share more than a pragmatic arrangement, no feelings attached.

But when the home they’ve made threatens to fall apart, they discover that there’s more binding them together than a marriage license.

Mail-Order Brit is a steamy contemporary love story set in the rolling hills of Somerset, England. Come for the age-gap pairing and a sexy silver fox, stay for the modern mail-order bride romance. You’re sure to catch feelings as you wait to discover if this pair will. ;)

Come meet the heart-melting men of The Wayward Brits series! They might not be proper but that doesn’t mean they’re not absolutely brilliant. These spiffing mostly-standalone romances will light your fire and make you smile. Happily ever afters guaranteed!


Goodreads * Amazon

(affiliate link)


**My thoughts**

This book is the first in a series of novellas and I'm honestly still trying to sort out how I feel about it. It's short enough that I read it twice, though.

Safe is an American who is struggling with her student loan debt. (Something I am sure that many fellow Americans understand.) She had also gone to school to be a teacher, but couldn't seem to find a job. (That part I am a little confused on because even prior to the pandemic, there was a strong need, even if it meant moving elsewhere.) So she ends up finding a fix after asking her professional matchmaker friend for help and ends up moving across the big pond to England as a mail-order bride who is just supposed to serve as a nanny.

I struggle to wrap my head around why Arthur thinks he needs to have a wife to become mother to his children and gets one by "ordering" a bride from America. I mean, this is supposed to be a modern day story. I thought mail order brides were a thing of the past. And what is there to make this woman any better than the nannies he has already tried?  Contract or no contract, you do not want the wrong person taking care of your beloved children.

The whole concept perplexes me as it is, but perhaps even more so because I am a teacher and a childcare provider.

You fully expect what happens. The two meet and have an instant attraction. Contributing to that is his appreciation for how well she takes care of his kids and how easily they have bonded. And she is, of course, also attracted to him as a father for his four wee ones. A particularly traumatizing event also brings them closer together. And I am okay with this formulaic approach because it's all how the story is told.

I did feel like the timeline got a little rushed, like it skipped over some time and events that could have been included somehow. Or at least the passage of time could have been better explained at first. But I liked them working together for the sake of the children.

Side note: if you prefer closed door love scenes, skip it. It is not overly obnoxious in my opinion, but will be too steamy for some readers.

So overall, this story was okay. It has potential and I think could have been expanded. I have been reading on in the series and do feel like the stories get better, so you can't totally write this one off, even though it is a standalone.

Thank you to Give Me Books and the author for a requested review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Due to tremendous amounts of spam, all comments are moderated and will be approved and published throughout the day.