Isabella Bride of Ohio: American Mail Order Bride by Debra Parmley – Review by Torey Foster

Isabella Bride of Ohio: American Mail-Order Brides Series by Debra Parmley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Isabella, Bride of Ohio is a historical fiction story of a Swedish girl who recently moved to America. Her family moved in hopes of improving their life. The trip to the U.S. was a hard one and sickness took Isabella’s family and left her on her own. Just as she started to get back on her feet events once again changed everything for her and left her struggling to find a living and yearning for something that will last. The answer to her problems? A mail order bride advertisement. In hopes of finding a little home in the country and something of permanence to build her life on, she signs up to be a mail order bride and soon finds a man that seems to have everything she hopes for. A stable position and a nice house in the country where she can take walks and enjoy the garden. Isabella strikes out on her own once again to meet the man and see if they build a life together.
I really enjoyed this book. It was a great story and it kept you guessing. Every time I thought I knew what was going to happen, the story took another turn. I am a big fan of historical fiction and have read many mail order bride stories. I can usually guess what is coming long before it happens, but this story took some turns that had me pleasantly surprised.
The only thing I didn’t like, and my reason for taking away a star, is that while the book is supposed to take place in the 1800s, there were little things that didn’t follow that timeline. Part of the enjoyment of a historical fiction book is seeing the difference in how they had to do things before they had the luxuries that we have. This story has the main character tum rning on the faucet to run a hot bath as if it was the norm, but indoor plumbing, while it did exist, was not common practice until around 1920.
Other than my nit picking about these little things, this story was fantastic and I would definitely recommend it.

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