A Reluctant Bride by Jody Hedlund

 

I found Jody Hedlund in 2015 when I helped influence for her first YA series. After reading and LOVING that book, I sought out her other books and quickly added them to my “must read” authors. She writes a variety of genres. I haven't found a book of hers that I didn't LOVE.

A NEW LIFE AWAITS HER ACROSS THE HORIZON

Living in London’s poorest slim, Mercy Wilkins harbors little hope for a better life. So when she’s offered the opportunity to join a bride ship sailing to British Columbia, she agrees. The journey abroad is her only prospect to escape a bleak future-both for herself and to help her sister, who’s suffering in a workhouse.

Wealthy and titled Joseph Colville leaves everything behind and takes to the sea to escape the pain of losing his family. As the ship’s surgeon, he’s in charge of the passengers’ welfare aboard the TYNEMOUTH, including sixty brides-to-be. He has no immediate intention of settling down, but when Mercy becomes his assistant, the two must fight against a forbidden love.

With hundreds of single men congregating along the shore of Vancouver Island, eager to claim a bride from the TYNEMOUTH, will Mercy and Joseph miss their chance at true love, or will they overcome the obstacles that threaten to keep them apart?

A Reluctant Bride is a story that takes us into parts of London that we don’t think about much. I love the fact that Jody does such in-depth research so she can give us a REAL picture of the life her characters live. It brings things so close that they seem like real people. Her character development, as always, was wonderful. This is the way I love to learn about history, from authors that really care about being accurate in their setting.

This story contains actual events but with her characters. I hadn’t heard about the bride ships and I didn’t fully understand just how bad the conditions were in London until I read this book. I loved Mercy because she had such a sweet heart for others. She was drawn to helping and caring for anyone who needed it. But she saw such tragedy in her young life that it was easy to see how she would need to protect herself from the pain. Joseph’s story was a little more understandable, in my mind, because he just seemed like a “rich kid” who was running away from his position in life by traveling around being a doctor. He was GOOD, more than good, at his job and he cared about those he took care of. But he didn’t want to have anything to do with his family home or the title that he carried. It takes awhile to figure out why.

I loved how the story wrapped up and she chose for them to work through their personal struggles. There are some characters that I hope we will see in the future of this series because I think THEIR stories will be quite interesting, too.

I recommend highly this entire series. 

**Take note that THIS is BOOK ONE in The Bride Ships series. Be sure to check out BOOK TWO: The Runaway Bride, March 3, 2020 available for pre-order.

About Jody:

Jody Hedlund is the bestselling author of over twenty historical novels for both adults and teens and is the winner of numerous awards, including the Christy, Carol, and Christian Book Award. Jody lives in Michigan with her husband, five busy teens, and five spoiled cats. Visit her on her website here.