Bluebonnet Bride by Colleen Coble

Bluebonnet Bride by Colleen Coble was a follow up novella to her novel Butterfly Palace (read my review here). While it is a mere 58 pages long, Ms. Coble packed it with suspense, romance and well developed characters. 

Ellie is a mail order bride that has agreed to marry Nathan and to be a mother to his daughter Hannah.  While the marriage was to be one of convenience, I found it hard to believe that the author would be able to bring them together beyond “in name only” within the few pages allowed in this novella, but Ms. Coble is a gifted author and she tied their story up quite nicely.

I am thankful to Ms. Coble for continuing Nathan and little Hannah’s story that began in Butterfly Palace. While I would have loved for this story to be a full-fledged novel, allowing the character’s relationship to grow slowly, I did enjoy it for what it is.

While you don’t have to read Butterfly Palace first in order to enjoy Bluebonnet Bride, I would highly suggest it so you understand about Hannah.  I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good clean romantic suspense novel.

On a 5-Star scale – 4.5 Stars!

I would like to thank Booklook Bloggers for my review copy of Bluebonnet Bride. I received my Kindle e-book copy for free in order to read and give my honest review, which I have done.

Smiles & Blessings,

Butterfly Palace by Colleen Coble - a review

As a huge fan of Colleen Coble, I always jump at the chance to review one of her books. I have to say that when I first began reading Butterfly Palace it seemed to move slower than most novels by Ms. Coble. In fact, I wasn't so sure I was going to like it and almost gave up on it. But, I told myself I couldn't give up because after all it was written by Colleen Coble and it was worth the read. I was so glad I continued reading as once it grabbed me and pulled me into the story I was in for a wonderful suspenseful and somewhat dark ride.

The story begins in Larson, Texas in 1900 when Lily Donaldson and Andy Hawkins are in love and find they have to sneak around in order to spend time together. One fateful night they are together while their fathers are doing business in the livery stable which is connected to Lily's house. When they smell smoke they run out to see that the livery stable is on fire and there is nothing they can do to save the lives of their fathers. Andy leaves that day never to return and without telling Lily goodbye. 

Four years later, after Lily's mother passes away, she finds herself in need of work and journeys to Austin, Texas where she was hired in as a servant at the Butterfly Palace. During her first night, while serving dinner, she sees Andy dining with the guests as if he were of their stature. When he spies Lily he knows he owes her answers so he looks for the chance to take her aside to talk with her. He tells her he goes by Drew Hawkes now and begs her to keep his secret. What he eventually tells her is that he is working undercover as part of the Secret Service.

There are several suspenseful threads woven within Butterfly Palace. There is a serial killer on the loose killing blond servant girls within the city, there is a counterfeit ring that Drew it working on bringing down and there is a conspiracy to assassinate the new Senator Elect and possibly the President of the United States. Ms. Coble does an outstanding job of creating twists and turns and then tying everything up quite nicely. I must admit she had me guessing until the very end.

I have always found that Ms. Coble creates such believable characters that they stay with you long after you finish reading the last page. I will admit that one character grabbed me from the first moment we met on the page, that would be Belle Castle.  I loved seeing this 'somewhat of a brat' grow within the covers of the book. Watching her transformation was like watching a butterfly emerge from a caterpillar's cocoon. Simply beautiful.

I would highly recommend Butterfly Palace to mature readers who love a great suspense novel.

On a 5-Star Scale = 5 Stars!!!!!

I would like to thank Thomas Nelson and BookLook Bloggers (formerly BookSneeze) for my review copy of Butterfly Palace. I received my copy for free in order to read it and give my honest review, which I have done.

Smiles & Blessings,