"A Reluctant Bride" by Jody Hedlund--Bride Ships, book 1

With no prospects for the future let alone her next meal, Mercy Wilkins signs up to immigrate to Vancouver Island, not realizing that she's agreeing to become a bride for one of the hundreds of single men in the colony. However, on the long journey across the oceans, her kind heart and unending wells of mercy catch the eye of the ship's physician, Lord Joseph Colville. Mercy finds herself acting as Joseph's assistant with the other brides, but the attraction between them is strictly forbidden--lest Mercy be shipped back to England or worse.

I didn't realize until I reached the author's note at the end just how much of the story was based on actual history, from the very ship itself and its trial-fraught journey to even the central love story. I love when a story is so deeply based off history! I had been aware of shipments of brides from the East Coast to Seattle, but I hadn't realized the British had sent brides too, just to the Canadian side instead.

Mercy is all things sweet and light, living up to her name. I can easily see why Joseph falls for her, but I feel like we're missing half the story--given the disparity between them in social station, education, and speech, they'll have a really hard road ahead of them (particularly by returning to London instead of staying in the colony where social positioning is much less likely to matter).

Though the focus was on Joseph and Mercy, I enjoyed (or in a couple cases, enjoyed disliking) a couple of the more prominent secondary characters. Mr Collins Mr Scott is just as obnoxious as Jane Austen's character, just with a couple daughters and a few more years of marriage added to him. But on the more pleasant end of the spectrum, I was intrigued by the bride Miss Lawrence. I can only hope we get her story next--there were so many tantalizing hints dropped that I wanted Mercy to spend more time with her than Joseph, just so I could find out more.

Thank you Bethany House and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.

The Bride Ship
1. A Reluctant Bride
2. The Runaway Bride
3. A Bride of Convenience
4. Almost a Bride