A Bride of Convenience

A Bride of Convenience is the 3rd novel in The Bride Ships series. It can be read as a standalone, but I recommend reading this engaging series in order. I thought A Bride of Convenience was well-written with developed characters. Jody Hedlund captured the time-period and I enjoyed her descriptions of Vancouver Island. I was especially taken with the cave with the hot spring. In A Bride of Convenience, it is women who worked in the cotton mills who are on the bride ship. They have been unemployed, and food was lacking at home. Zoe Hart's family fell apart when her mother passed. Her father took to the bottle while her sister, Meg became addicted to laudanum. Two things haunt Zoe. The loss of her sister's baby and the reason her brother, Zeke fled England. Zoe came on the bride ship to find Zeke and set things right for him. Pastor Abe Merivale is three years into a five-year assignment in British Columbia. After his time there, he wishes to return to England to marry his sweetheart and get his own parish. Abe has plans to become a bishop. First, though, he must do well on this assignment and get the local bishop's recommendation. Zoe is a spunky woman who is kind, caring, and compassionate. She has a natural affinity with children. Abe has the same qualities. He wants to do more than just address his parishioners' spiritual needs. Abe has a hands-on approach. He wishes to make sure they have a good home life, food, and shelter. Abe even finds ways to keep the kids occupied during the long winter months. The Christian element is developed and integrated into the book. I liked how all the various parts of the book worked together for one complete story. It was interesting learning about headache remedies utilized. I could feel for Zoe and the pain she suffered. I could tell the author did her research for this series, and I enjoyed reading the Author's Note at the end of the book. A Bride of Convenience has drama, suspense, family, friendship, and romance. A Bride of Convenience is a captivating tale with a neglected newborn, a bullying bishop, an immoral man, an absent brother, and a wanton woman.