His Mail Order Mistake
(2021)(The second book in the Brides of Rocky River series)
A novel by Faith Reynolds
A woman searching for her future. A man stuck in the past. A drunken letter brings them crashing together.
Charlotte Paul has dreams beyond her tedious life as a domestic servant. Eager to flee the harsh rule of the housekeeper Mrs. White and the malicious gossip of other maids, she places an advertisement in The Matrimonial Times, certain a perfect man will romance her and ask her to come west to marry. Little does she know, the wonderful letter she receives was never meant to be sent at all. Forced by circumstance to head west sooner than planned, Lottie arrives in Rocky River, Colorado, excited to meet the charming Martin Thomas from the letter and begin life anew.When he lost his wife to influenza, Martin Thomas crawled into the bottle and over five years later he’s still there. His general store failing, friendships nearly non-existent, every day is a fresh struggle and reminder of what he lost. Numbing himself with alcohol is the only way he knows how to cope. When he’s tossed a copy of The Matrimonial Times, Lottie’s resemblance to his lost wife Milly arrests him and in the haze of a drunken stupor, he pens a letter entreating her to come west. To his horror, the letter is posted and she replies that she’s on the way to Colorado.
When she arrives, Lottie is faced with the reality of a man living in the past. A man who calls her arrival a mistake. She decides to stay in Rocky River, determined to make a life for herself. Martin must face this almost ghost of his dead wife and gradually comes to see Lottie is her own woman, a woman who makes him feel something other than pain and loss for the first time in years. Afraid to betray the memory of his beloved Milly, Martin pushes Lottie away, denying their growing connection.
Will Martin put his demons to rest and forge a new life with Lottie? Or will he cling to the past and lose this second chance at love?
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Genre: Historical Romance
Used availability for Faith Reynolds's His Mail Order Mistake