Customer Reviews

Shotgun Bride (McKettrick Cowboys Trilogy #2)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I personally don't see why this book is getting so many low reviews. It seems the biggest complaints are the lack of romance and too much "fiction". This book had all of the elements of a good story, with several twist and raw scenes of the old west that make a western historical fiction so engaging. True, there was not tons of sappy romance, but the readers need to remember that these boys are marrying to gain a ranch, not for love, but I did not find it lacking in "romance". The only reason that I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 was the situation with Angus and Concepcion. I love the fact that these two married after so many years, but the announcement that they were expecting a baby was a bit out there, given their age. (Angus is pushing 80). Otherwise, the book is worth the read, and one that does not deserve the low ratings.

I really enjoyed the book. Mandy had to endure many hardships, including losing her entire family in two weeks time, one member (her brother) being killed by her to save her husband's life.

Despite her background Kade knew their was only one woman for him, Mandy! There are laughs and tears and moments of gentleness in this novel. Enjoy!

I am not sure why everyone is giving his book such low ratings. I read all kinds of romance and I really loved this book. I won't get into the story at all ... other reviewers did a good job of that. I look forward to the 3rd book in this triliogy. I have read book 1 and 2 and have loved them both!!!

I was expecting this book to be more of romance than fiction. The story focuses on finding the outlaws who killed and robbed money from the McKettricks. Amanda poses as a nun, but Kade McKettrick believes she is hiding something. Her past catches up to her when Gig Curry,a mean, old bf of her mom's come to threaten her life for her half brother, Cree. Kade becomes Marshall when the one prior to him had a stroke. He captures Gig after a horse race who is accused of murdereing 12 soldiers and robbing. Throughout the book they try to solve the problem. They also try to resolve the relationship between the McKettrick brothers and Holt.

I thought the story reflected too much on the outlaw problem rather than having it focus on the relationship between Kade and Mandy. Romance is lacking in this book, which is why I would call it more fiction than anything else. The book was a bit dry. This is not something worth buying, perhaps buy as used or rent from library.

Arizona territory, 1885

SHOTGUN BRIDE is a terrific McKettrick Cowboys sequel to HIGH COUNTRY BRIDE! Be sure to follow up with SECONHAND BRIDE and MCKETTRICK'S CHOICE.

It's hit or miss with Linda Lael Miller sometimes. While I liked the idea of the plot of this novel, unfortunately, it just wasn't carried out well nor were its characters compelling.

Kade McKettrick, after returning with his lost brother to his home town and family ranch, finds a surprise waiting for him in the form of 6 mail order brides. They all have their qualities for sure, but his attention is drawn to Sister Mandy, a woman he's sure isn't a nun. But she has secrets of her own and seems to be tied in the crimes that have been happening around the area, the lead of which is a giant robbery and murder. Could Mandy know more than she claims?

The characters weren't the greatest in this book. The side characters were ok, but I wasn't impressed with the rest of them. All of their motivations weren't very believable and Mandy especially had some strange goings on. She tried too hard to be independent or a rebel. Her brother Cree was also very unbelievable and had too much of a mood switch and motivation change. Kade McKettrick was kind of a jerk and as the main male lead, I didn't really enjoy reading about him.

The plot had promise and was filled with plenty of excitement, but the lackluster characters mellowed it down so it didn't live up to its potential. You would think a book with robberies, gun flights, and dangerous people milling about would have been better. Since this is a romance I do have to comment on the fact that there are sex scenes in this book. If this is not your cup of tea I suggest you stay away from all of Miller's books as they all contain this feature. Her writing is easy to read though; she doesn't get too verbose and usually her characters are compellingly done.

I will keep reading the series, but I'm not as eager to start on the next one as I was before.

Shotgun Bride
Copyright 2003
432 pages

Review by M. Reynard 2011

I read this book in one sitting and while it is a rather lengthy book, I think some of it could have been edited out. There seemed a lot going on with a lot of different people and I didn't feel as if there was enough time spent on Kade and Mandy. I enjoyed Rafe and Emmeline much more in this story than I did in High Country Bride, a book I didn't really care for. But, again, I enjoy LLM's style of writing in her western romances. I think she does a very clever job of it.

I really enjoyed this book as much as the first. The one thing I really did like about this series is that you still read about the whole family. Alot of the series books don't include anyone from the first and I liked that these ones do.

I have read more romance novels that I can count and I think this was the VERY worst. I had to force myself to finish it. There is no real love story. The plot is unbelievable and lacks depth. This was the first novel I have read where I didn't like the female lead. YIKES! MAIN problem I had with this book, Kade was thoughtful, caring, sweet, mild mannered, a book worm actually, the peace maker of the family in the first book HIGH COUNRTY BRIDE, In this book he is a marshal, pig headed, rude, thoughtless and childish! BIG ERROR on the Auther's part!
I am going to read the 3rd in this series on the hope that Miller gets her act together!

"You'll adore the McKettricks . . ." raves Romantic Times. But if you're like me, by the end of this book you'll be hard put to even like the McKettricks. Nearly every one of them's got a mile-wide mean streak and a stunning inability to actually apologize. Ever. And what is it with this book, any way? In 20 pages it can go from boring to funny to romantic to philosophical to gruesomely violent. Don't get too attached to any of the minor characters, either; the author manages to kill a surprising number of them off.