PROXY BRIDE BOOKS ARE POPULAR READS

By Caroline Clemmons

Don’t you love a great series that continues to have books available? I love reading them and writing in them. That’s why Proxy Bride Series conceived by Christine Sterling has remained a favorite with so many readers. We’re up to 76 and more are coming this year!

All through the month of January, the Proxy Bride Series is being featured by the participating authors—arranged by Heidi Gray McGill. The historical western romance books are still only $2.99 each for e-book, most are available in print, and are enrolled in Kindle Unlimited. You can find them featured at this site—revolving through the month to expose each of the books.

https://heidimcgill822089357.wordpress.com/the-proxy-brides-series-promo/

Proxy bride marriages used to be more common than they are now. However, they are still performed. Those in the series are set in the late 1800s. I’m sure you’re aware that the Civil War and the move West left the male population in the Eastern United States highly depleted. You know that more men died in the Civil War than in both WWI and WWII combined. So what was a young woman to do? She could become a mail-order bride or a proxy bride unless she wanted to be a companion (dogsbody) to an older woman or live as little more than a servant with a sister or brother and family.

Most proxy brides, I think, were arranged by friends rather than a matrimonial agency. At least that’s how the marriage happened in the proxy bride stories I’ve written. So far, I have three books in the series, but I’ll add more.

My first is A BRIDE FOR GIDEON, book 16. At the risk of sounding immodest, I love this book. 

Book Authority chose this book as the Top Proxy Bride Book of All Time. Woo Hoo! You can imagine how thrilled I was to learn that. The cover, by V. McKevitt’s Black Widow Cover Designs is also one of my favorites. She designed all the covers for the series.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R85KZPC

Here is the synopsis for A BRIDE FOR GIDEON.

Keira desperately wants to belong somewhere

Gideon is haunted by a secret too horrible to share

Fate conspires against them…   

Keira Cameron came to Boston from Scotland after the death of her parents. She wanted a job, a husband, and eventually a family. She feels rejected because she’s too tall, too foreign, and too pretty for a wife to want her working near a woman’s husband. Were her expectations unreasonable? Her cousin convinces her to enter a proxy marriage to his friend, Gideon Ross, who lives in Montana Territory. Out of options, she agrees and hopes her goals will be realized.

Gideon Ross is a large man at five inches over six feet. His business is a smithy and gun repair shop. The war left him with a terrible scar on his face. He wears a beard to try to conceal the scar but still hears people whisper he’s a monster and a giant. Do they think he has no feelings? He’s haunted by the war and has terrible nightmares. Reluctantly, he agrees to wed Keira by proxy.

 Outside forces work against the couple. Keira and Gideon must find the key to the attack on their lives. Can they defeat the enemy before they’re too late?

 

My second Proxy Bride is A BRIDE FOR DALTON, Book 25

Rebecca and Dalton embark on married life in unusual circumstances. Can love blossom in tumultuous times?

Rebecca wants a husband but not the man her stepbrother insists she wed. To escape his threats she turns to a family friend for help. Reverend McClain suggests she enter a proxy marriage to his only living relative, a nephew who ranches in Montana. Out of options, she agrees. Until she arrives in Sweet Springs, she has no idea the telegram with instructions to her supposed groom has not been delivered. Where does that leave her?

Dalton is working with dangerous men to accomplish his goal. The last thing he needs at this time is a wife to distract him. He is a gentleman and sees no other solution than to complete the vows. How is he going to keep her out of harm’s way while he completes this job?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07X3V948W

 

My last (so far) is A BRIDE FOR LUKE, Book 36

Each is struggling to build a better life. Two strong-willed people are bound to clash. Danger forces them to focus on what is at stake.

Maeve Kelly came to America for a better life. In Boston she found only signs that said No Irish Need Apply. Now the cousin she is staying with is moving. Maeve has until the end of the month to find a new place to live. Her friend at the laundry where she works suggests proxy marriage to her nephew as a solution. Maeve resists then finally accepts.

Sheriff Luke Sullivan is admired and well-respected in the community of Broken Wheel, Wyoming Territory. When he learns his mother and aunt have schemed to get him a proxy bride he’s furious.  Before he and his bride can adjust to one another, Luke is caught in the middle of an explosive situation between striking miners and the railroad. 

 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08416GQHG

A BRIDE FOR LUKE received a Crowned Heart Review from InD'Tale Magazine.

I hope you’ll take advantage of the wonderful books in the Proxy Bride Series.

Stay safe and keep reading!