A Bride's Heart of Gold by Grace Clemens

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

A Will, a Western, and a Wild Proposal

What happens when a father decides to play matchmaker from beyond the grave? It comes in the form of a rather inconvenient will, forcing his daughter, Lily, to find a husband. With her inheritance on the line, Lily feels she has no choice but to advertise for a groom. She is meticulous in her wording.

Enter Henry. He isn't looking for a wife, but rather, his lost brother. Seeing an opportunity, he answers the ad and Lily chooses him. Their relationship doesn't blossom on paper; it's forged by them working side-by-side on the homestead and down in the copper mine. 

Lily finds herself falling for the man beside her, so imagine her distress when she discovers Henry's true motive for marrying her! It’s an excellent bit of drama, and in my eyes, Lily’s own reasoning for the marriage isn't entirely pure, which she soon realizes. It was a delightful moment of self-awareness..

Now, I'll be honest, the story is slow going at the start. The unfolding of the relationship through shared labor takes its time, but that's what makes the payoff so good. When the action of the Western finally kicks in, it makes for one bang-up climax!

The one thing that perhaps got a bit tangled up was the sheer volume of subplots surrounding the copper mine and Lily's inheritance. Unfortunately, the most annoying villain gets lost in the shuffle after Henry's brother shows up and isn't even mentioned in the conclusion. 

All in all, I think it's a good read. It's certainly a different take on the typical mail-order bride story—or perhaps, I should say, mail-order groom!