A Bride in the Bargain by Deeanne Gist

I have read one other book by Gist... Maid to Match... and loved it! You will find my review here: Maid to Match Review  So I was excited to start another book by this author and anticipated it being just as fun to read. I was not disappointed!

A Bride in the Bargain is a hoot!  It is a sweet story with fun characters, but over all (to me) it was a book that made be laugh and smile the whole time I read it.  Joe Denton has his land... he has worked to prove it and has a thriving lumber business. What he doesn't have is a wife and if he doesn't get one soon, or prove he had one at the time he started this endeavor, then he will loose it all. Asa Mercer is promising brides... orphans and widows of the Civil War who have no one.  Desperate, Joe purchases one of Mercer's brides and then waits for her to arrive.

Anna Ivey needs to escape... the pain of all she lost to the war and the clutches of an unscrupulous boss who wants more than a cook.  She signs on with Mercer to move west and cook for a lumber business in Seattle.  What he fails to tell her and many of the other women is there is more to the bargain!

When Joe Denton escorts Anna to the preacher she is appalled!  She came to be a hired cook not a wife and she wants nothing to do with marriage! With only a few months left before he loses all he has, can Joe convince Anna that marriage would serve them both well?

There are so many twists and turns and hilarious happenings in this book.. not only with Joe and Anna, but with some of the other characters like Mrs. Wrenne and her lack of teeth or the Judge and his nameless children called One, Two, Three and Four!

Delightful book!  Put it on your "to read" list. You will not be disappointed!