Groom Wanted

Title: GROOM WANTED
Author: Debra Ullrick
Publisher: Love Inspired Historicals
August 2012
ISBN: 978-0373829293
Genre: Inspirational/historical romance

Leah Bowen doesn’t want to marry a rancher. She wants to marry a man like her dad, a man like Mr. Darcy in a novel she read. So she advertises for a mail-order groom. She doesn’t tell her family, because she knows how they’ll react. But she’s convinced that ranching killed her father and she wants nothing to do with it.

Jake Lure figures he has bad luck with women. He offered to marry one girl, but found out she loved another, and then he offered Leah a marriage of convenience, and she rejected him. So he advertises for a mail-order bride. But he asks his best friend – Leah – to help him pick out his new bride.

Jake gets more responses than Leah does, but that’s okay, because one man fits her “Mr. Darcy” requirements. But as Jake and Leah get closer to the altar, will they realize that the best match for them has been the one who’s been there all along?

GROOM WANTED has a really cute premise. I haven’t read too many books where a woman advertises for a groom to take her out east. Usually the reverse is true, so that was fun. And being best friends, Leah and Jake had a fun relationship that made me laugh at times. Add in a mischievous goat named Meanie, and you have the makings for a really cute historical romance.

Readers will love this fun book, great for a beach read, or a vacation take-along. I read my copy poolside. There is a little sexual tension, but it is understated as per this publishers guidelines. Don’t miss GROOM WANTED for a different sort of mail-order romance. Recommended. Discussion questions are included at the end of the book. $5.75. 280 pages.