Review: Needs Serious Editing!!!!  ***2 1/2 Stars***
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 11 14, 2013
This is the second book I've read by Ms. Cabot, and alas, it isn't really any better than the first.  I don't like giving bad reviews, and I certainly don't want to discourage a new author from practicing his/her craft, but I realize that I owe my fellow readers an honest review that is not tempered by sympathy for the author....so here goes.  First off, I want to commend Ms. Cabot for having the courage to put her work out there and allowing others, such as myself, to give an opinion on it.  My first impression of this book is that it needs extensive editing.  There were a lot of issues with missing words, poor sentence structure and wrong verb tense usage.  Additionally, the writing is somewhat childlike....the sentences struck me as being too simple (it's hard to explain, and I'm sorry, but that is the best I can do.)  Certainly Ms. Cabot has the ability to weave a good story, she creates a nice plot and executed a complete tale.  However, I must say that I liked the plot of this book a lot less than I did her first, "Mail Order Rose".  In this story, Maggie has a secret, one which we are not privy to until the last third of the book.  All we know is that Maggie is running away from a man named Ezra, but we are not told why she's running, or who Ezra is to Maggie.  Maggie shows up at the train station in Lincoln's Creek and is met by Jacob, the man she is supposed to marry.  He takes her home, they get married later that day, and from there the story moves quickly to the HEA (it is after all only a novella.)  I have to say that while the plot is a typical mail order bride one, Maggie's secret is an original twist.  I was surprised when I discovered what her secret was, and  I've read so many historical romance books that it's kinda hard for me to be surprised by anything that occurs in the plot.  While the original twist was a pleasant surprise, it did not, IMO, make up for the lack of romance.  I really couldn't say when Jacob and Maggie fell in love.  We hear about how much time the two spend together during the week and half they are together, but we get to see very little interaction between them.  I also did not like the manner in which Maggie's secret was revealed.....through a Dear John letter to Jacob.  It just made me feel that much more removed from the story.  It did not engender any feelings within me.  I read it, but I didn't really care about the characters or their plight.  To be honest, had it been a full length novel I would have been hard pressed to finish it.  I gave this book 2 1/2 stars, the same rating I gave to Ms. Cabot's other book, but I know that there are many readers who thoroughly enjoyed that book.  As with her first novella, this story has a lovely Christian message, which is nicely interwoven throughout....the message here is about God's love for us and his desire for us to prosper.  If you like "Mail Order Rose" you might like this one.  If, like me, you weren't too impressed with that book, then I'd say skip this one too.  I was hoping this second book of Ms. Cabot's would be an improvement over the first, but alas, that is not the case.  Too bad, as I usually enjoy mail order bride themed stories.