Review: Super Short, but Still Sweet
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 09 20, 2013
I gave this short story 3 stars, but I think it really deserves 3 1/2 stars.  Unfortunately, that is not possible on Amazon.  This is a Christian historical romance set in the late 1800's some time.  Maggie is a recent widow.  Her husband's untimely death leaves her in peril of losing her farm.  She needs a man to help her, but she can't see herself spending her life with any of the men in town.  After praying about it she posts an ad for a mail order husband for a marriage of convenience.  Matthew answers Maggie's ad.  He has suffered his own loss and understands grief only too well.  He too is looking for companionship without romantic love, so Maggie's ad is like an answer to his prayers.  After a few letters back and forth Matthew arrives in Maggie's hometown.  The story starts at the train station where Maggie and Matthew meet for the first time.  Because the story is so short each chapter only gives you a peek at a particular day in the lives of Maggie and Matthew.  We get to see when they first meet, the first hours after their marriage and then the next chapter catapults us to several weeks ahead and so on and so forth.  The story even includes an epilogue where we get a glimpse of Maggie and Matthew almost 30 years down the road.  Of course with a story this short you don't really get too much detail about the characters, but all things considered I think the author did a nice job with it.  What really came across was Maggie and Matthew's strong faith and how that shared faith helped to strengthen their relationship.  Another aspect of the story that I liked was the fact that each chapter opened with a bible verse.  This is definitely a nice read for bedtime or whenever you have a half hour to relax.