Book Bits~n~Bobs: Otto's Offer Review

In 1868, Otto Atwell has a 160 acre homestead near Abilene, Kansas and a limp as a result of a Cheyenne musket ball hitting his low back while he marched with the 16th Kansas Cavalry on the Powder River Expedition in 1865. What he doesn’t have is a wife. Then again, what woman would want to marry a cripple?

Libby Jones comes to Junction City as a mail order bride. Not only does the man who sent for her reject her, he tries to sell her to the local brothel to recoup his fee. Otto offers to marry her, but she rejects him in favor of a job with his relatives.

Will Otto’s offer still stand when trouble from Libby’s past catches up with her?

Otto’s Offer is a stand-alone book in the Lockets & Lace series sponsored by some authors of the Sweet Americana Sweethearts blog.

While they last, an ebook version of the series prequel, The Bavarian Jeweler, is available from the blog without charge.

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My name is Robyn Echols. Zina Abbott is the pen I use for my historical novels. I’m a member of Women Writing the West and I just joined Western Writers of America. I currently live with my husband in California’s central valley near the “Gateway to Yosemite.”

I love to read, quilt, work with digital images on my photo editing program, and work on my own family history.

I am a blogger. In addition to my own blog, I blog for several group blogs including the Sweet Americana Sweethearts blog, which I started and administer.

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4 out of 5 Stars

I went through a bit of a flux with this book. First, I will admit I was a bit bias against it just because I wasn’t fond of the cover… I know totally petty. However, I started really enjoying the story as I went along and as long as I didn’t look at the cover I could actually start liking the characters. The story was complex and interesting, delving into the cultural expectations of the people at that time. It actually made me really appreciate that I live now. The family surrounding the main characters made a great supporting cast.

However, by the end of the story, I really felt that the 2 main characters had not spent enough time together to actually be in love enough to buck tradition and societal norms. I felt like their interaction together made up far too little of the book then it should have. Personally, this was really the main flaw.

There is a trigger warning for this book, sexual abuse. Thought the incident was in the past it is mentioned, but not in detail, and is critical to the plot of the book. There is some other violence but again it is written in a non-offensive manner. If you enjoy historical romance, particularly western or mail-order bride romances this is bound to be a fantastic book for you.