Review: 3.5 stars
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 26, 2014
MAIL ORDER MISFIT (BRIDES OF BECKHAM) by Kirsten Osborne runs 89 pages (minus front- and end-matter).  This novella blends themes of coming of age, self-discovery, self-esteem, finding strength within oneself, growing love between a couple married for convenience.Elaine takes a big risk in choosing a mail order bride escape-route from her home in Beckham, Massachusetts.  It's a believable reason to want to find her own way forward, as a childhood injury left her with a limp (see book description).  I enjoyed discovering the villain in this story and how that individual's choices affected the story's plot and development.  It was good to see this novella have *something* lurking out there and threatening the newlyweds' happiness.  Outside of the villain, the story was light on conflict and much of Elaine's baggage that frankly could've been wrapped up very quickly.  The villain's impact was minor and did conclude rapidly.Through much of this novella, there's not a lot happening.  Many of the scenes illustrate Elaine and Colin coming to love each other, and Elaine's self esteem solidifying, but they're so full of "fluff" that this could've been a short story instead.  The book is riddled with a significant number of typos (dropped letters: 'h' instead of 'he', misused/misspelled words: 'table clothes' instead of 'table cloths', incorrect statements: 'over the years'...but it was only 2 or 3 months later.)...one more read through by another set of eyes would've saved Ms. Osborne the embarrassment.  I'm still thrown off by the constant switches in point of view from character to character (often every other paragraph)....but I guess that's this writer's style.....Sensuality Level: moderately spicyLanguage: PGA light, easy read.  My rating is solidly between "It's OK" and "Liked It"--