Mail-order
bride stories are adored by romance readers. Over and over again we
heard, "I'll buy any book that features a mail-order bride
story…I just love them." So we were surprised to discover that
although there may be a good number of books written with this
storyline, only a few are treasured favorites. But when they hit,
they hit big. Look at the popularity of the film "Sleepless in
Seattle," in which Tom Hank's son orders a wife for his Dad over the
radio and millions of women, including Meg Ryan, respond. It's a
classic mail-order bride romance with a twist and only one of many
great contemporary romances with this fave storyline!
Wanted: A
woman who is willing to risk everything to travel across the country
(or the world!) to marry a stranger. Must be willing to sleep with
him, raise his children and must have the magical ability to make
him fall in love with you. Don't have to be attractive or untouched.
This is your chance to start life fresh with the man of your
dreams–you just haven't met him yet!
What's The Appeal?
As the colonies on the eastern coast
of the United States became more urbanized, the Western wilderness
beckoned to men and women with a high sense of adventure, willing to
take risks for the great rewards involved. Men left in droves for
the large parcels of land promised to those willing to stake a
claim and stick it out. But once settled, it became clear that
although Adam was thriving, he desperately needed an Eve.
Nor was
the lure of the west limited to men. Women wanted the same chance
for new beginnings that the wild west offered. Americans are proud
of this heritage: the Harvey Girls, frontier school teachers and
mail-order brides who braved the unknown to help carve out a place
for themselves and their loved ones.
Readers want to read about
heroines with guts, and the women willing to marry men who
advertised in the classifieds were surely as courageous as their
male counterparts. Not only were they willing to risk the physical
dangers of the frontier, they were willing to marry complete
strangers and gamble with their lives for opportunities that weren't
available elsewhere.
A variation on the "marriage of convenience"
romance, this scenario goes one step further, for the couple haven't
even met before they have made a commitment to make their marriage
work.
The magic of the love story involves the uncovering of two
characters of great depth and strength. Neither the male nor his
bride are who they appear on the surface, and as they learn about
one another, they learn to love and trust a person they might not
initially have chosen for themselves. As they work together to tame
the rugged landscape, they also transform one another through the
bounty of love.
-Kate Ryan
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