Joy’s Christmas Escape: The Marshal’s Mail Order Bride Book 1 by P. Creeden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Joy Stewart is a young lady grieving the recent passing of her grandmother, a woman who raised her from a young age after the passing of her parents, so when she is confronted by a hulking man escorting her from the graveside to speak to a man she has never met, Joy is astonished. Unfortunately for Joy, this is not going to be a nice conversation because the man who wants to speak to her, kindly lets her know that her grandmother owed him a lot of money in the form of past loans and he demands that Joy pays the rest of the owing’s, or becomes his wife, but her grandma has made other plans for Joy.

Marshall Jack Bolling is the law enforcement in the small town of Virginia City and so lives above the jailhouse with his mother, as he is out checking on one of the residents, he is heading home and sees smoke in the distance and as he saddles his horse he starts to organise a bucket chain, however, as he approaches the scene, his worst fears are realised, it is his childhood home. He is relieved when he sees his niece and nephew alive and well, but he is devastated when he finds out that his sister and her husband were not so fortunate, so he takes the children to live with him and his mother, but looking after them takes more of a toll than he expected and he tries to look for a nanny, with no success.

As Joy tries to process her situation, she falls on more bad luck and needs to make a decision, stay or run, meanwhile, Jack is advised that there could be another way to bring in help with the children, a mail order bride, but he is reluctant, especially with it coming up to Christmas. Will Jack find someone to be his wife before the holidays really begin and will Joy find her escape from the threats when she follows the plan her grandmother set out and will she be able to run far enough to not have to look over her shoulder? This is a slow burn romance set to a backdrop of emotional turmoil, despair and hope where two decisions can either make or break lives, as danger lurks in every shadow in this engaging historical romance.

Reviewed by @roxsannel

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