The Mail Order Groom

by Sandra Chastain

Book Overview

Poetry In Motion . . . Stunning Melissa Grayson, a veritable Helen of Troy in the Wild West, will do anything to satisfy her one burning passion--teaching art and poetry to the children at Grayson... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 073942663X
• ISBN13: 9780739426630
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: BANTAM BOOKS
• Length: 293 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.

Customer Reviews

WONDERFUL!

I am so excited! This is the first Sandra Chastain historical romance I have read and can not wait to read more! The humor and warm rich characters in this book are a delight. James Pickney the guy she does not marry is a hoot! A sickly easterner determined to have a big adventure- he is a wonderful foil for Lucky Lawrence the gambler with a heart of gold as well as lucky coin with a diamond in it. The humor, the romance, the passion and the rich secondary characters make this a must keep! Now I want to read the story of Rainey - Lucky's long lost sister!

a dead-eye hit with laughs and sighs

V\The teacher and founder of the Grayson Academy, Melissa Grayson was cursed. She had been born with a perfect figure, creamy skin, and sea-blue eyes. With this physical description her life in the primarily XY chromosome town of Silver Wind caused riots and civil unrest. Melissa is given an ultimatum by the men of the town: marry or be jailed. The latter would cause the end of the school her father started out in the mining town. And she surely did not want to marry one of the locals, including Black Bart, the town drunkard.Enter Lucky Lawrence, a do-good gambler, escaping from an unhappy man who is out for his blood. Lucky steps off the train and into Silver Wood. Little does he know Melissa has sent for her pen pal to rescue her. She has never seen this man before but he promised to marry her thus saving Grayson Academy. Melissa sees the tall, dark and unshaven Lucky and presumes he is her James Harold Pickney IV. Lucky sees the opportunity to help out a gorgeous woman whilst being able to hide out under a different name.Melissa soon realizes her James is not exactly the scholar he had appeared to be through his letters. Although he could charm the scales off a snake, he knows little about 'reading, 'riting, and 'rithmatic. She finally confronts her 'husband' when she catches him teaching the younger students to add and subtract with 'Blackjack 21.' But she finds that no matter who he is, she loves this dark gambler with gun-metal gray eyes.The only problem arises when the real James Harold Pickney IV arrives and discovers Melissa and Lucky have not been living as brother and sister in their false marriage. If that town finds out, Melissa and her school are in trouble, or worse Lucky may leave her with a broken heart.This is my first novel by Sandra Chastain but she has included one of the funniest elements in her novel. That element would be hicks and hillbillies. I do love to read their dialogue and wonder why more authors do not center their novels around these colorful characters. The eloquent Melissa is reminiscent of Laura Ingalls from the "Little House on the Prairie"; strong, brave, and lovable. However the absolute best part of the book is the interaction of Lucky Lawrence and James Harold Pickney IV, and their learning to live with and as each other.THE MAIL ORDER GROOM is a dead-eye hit with laughs and sighs to propel it into the readers heart.

A wonderfully funny, fast read!

In the mining town of Silver Wind, Colorado, Melissa Grayson's beauty is a thing of legend. Or, the subject of any and all brawls that occur any time she's around. Melissa had come to the town of Silver Wind to help at the school that her father had built, but unfortunately he died before she got there, so she's been running the school on her own, and doing a pretty good job of it. Only without a husband, many of the single men in town seem to think that she's up for grabs, and continuously resort to fisticuffs over her. When another such brawl ends up with Melissa accidentally shooting the Mayors' son, the local sheriff, and a group of concerned citizens decide they've had enough-she's to either pick a groom, or she'll be arrested. In desperation, for she can't find a man among the locals she thinks will even halfway suffice, she contacts the brother of a friend that she's been pen pals with, Harold James Pickney IV, and asks him to become her husband in name only, and in return, she'll provide him with a teaching opportunity, and help take care of him, for he's of bad health. When Harold agrees, Melissa is thrilled to report it to the town, but they wait suspiciously for him to show up. They're determined Melissa is going to be married, one way or another. When Lucky Lawrence, a gambler sometimes savior, saves the daughter of a friend, only to wind up on the run himself from the notorious outlaw Cerqueda, he doesn't even care where he's headed when he jumps on the train heading for Silver Wind, CO. He's astounded when he gets off the train, and there, on the platform, is a horde of people-who mistake him for Harold Pickney, IV. When Lucky begins to hear the story, he realizes that he'll have to help, as he can't leave a damsel in distress. And when he sees Melissa, he's so bowled over by her beauty; it takes him a min. to realize that she also thinks he's Harold, her fiancé. This gorgeous woman had never met the man she intended to marry? Lucky begins to see this as the perfect opportunity to hide out for a while-he can play this woman's fiancé, save her and himself, and then hightail it out of town when things die down. In a wonderfully humorous romance, Ms. Chastain entertains us to the hilt. It's almost a comedy or errors to watch the characters with one another. The romance between Lucky and Melissa is the central focus of the story, but Ms. Chastain entertains us with several romances between supporting characters, which all together made this a delightful read. Her spark and verve for humor come across quite clearly, and her characters will have you laughing out loud, and turning the page to see what they'll be up to next.

entertaining Americana romance

In 1888 Silverwind, Colorado, the town's citizens are tired of males fighting over beautiful schoolteacher Melissa Grayson. The latest melee occurs as people go to church resulting in the mayor's son being shot by a ricocheting bullet that hit the church bell first. The townsfolk inform Melissa she either marry someone immediately or go to jail for attempted murder since she fired the shot that accidentally hit the lad. Desperate to continue running her deceased father's academy and to avoid jail or marriage to the locals, she sends a telegram to her telegraph pal sickly James Pickney asking if he would marry her though they never met. James accepts this chance for the adventure he always was too ill to try.In Santa Fe, gambler Lucky Lawrence rescues Louisa Hidalgo from nasty Cerqueda, but by doing so he has made himself a deadly persistent enemy. Lucky needs to hide until his foe forgets him so when he is mistaken for James he accepts the role and marries Melissa, rationalizing his deception as assisting a damsel in distress. Soon a comedy of errors filled with love occurs even as Cerqueda plans to correct his failure.THE MAIL ORDER GROOM is an entertaining Americana romance that wildly westernizes Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors. The characters with their distinct personalities make the story line as readers appreciate the deep cast that stars three sets of couples though much of the plot focuses on the real Lucky-Melissa. Sandra Chastain provides an engaging novel so that those lucky enough to read the novel will recognize the author's talent.Harriet Klausner