Kate Whittington reads an advertisement in the newspaper for a mail order bride, at twenty nine it’s a solution to her problems and she will finally have the family she’s always dreamed of. Her mother was a prostitute, she was raised in a Catholic orphanage by stern nuns and everyone in her home town of Maine knows her history. She writes to Reed Benton, a lonely Texas rancher and they marry by proxy. After a long journey she arrives at Lone Star Ranch eager to meet her new husband, he’s not happy to see her, he’s been injured fighting the Comanche and it was his father Reed Senior who’s been writing love letters to Kate.

When Texas Ranger Reed Benton rescues his long lost son Daniel from the Comanche village, the boy Fast Pony is wild, he doesn’t want to live in the white man’s house and he doesn’t understand why he’s been taken away from his people. Reed's furious with his father, he doesn’t want another wife, and after his traumatic past and he sees Kate as another problem he has to deal with. He needs a housekeeper, someone to look after Daniel and reluctantly he lets Kate stay. She loves children, she wants to help Daniel to learn English and adapt to his new life. But Daniel worries about his Comanche family, he knows their situation is precarious and he wants to save them.

Reed Benton is rather arrogant man, and I guess you can put his attitude down to the tragic loss of his wife and son during the Comanche raid. He soon takes notice when Reverend Preston Marshall is interested in Kate, he changes his tune and he’s very lucky she doesn't leave him. I first read Summer Moon way back in 2004, it was rather nostalgic to read it again, a classic western style historical romance by Jill Marie Landis, thanks to NetGalley for my copy and four stars from me.

Thanks to the author, Bell Bridge Books and Netgalley for an Advance Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am so glad I requested this book, even though it took me a while to get to it. I am a huge fan of historical romance and so I was expecting the usual formula and was pleasantly surprised when I realised this book was a little different.
Firstly, Kate, the heroine, is the daughter of a whore who abandons her at an orphanage aged 9 after she has already witnessed the seedy underbelly of life. When Kate's long career as a teacher of history and elocution at the orphanage comes to an abrupt end, she finds herself without options at age 29.
Having always wanted a family and with time running out for her she begins a correspondence with a rancher in Texas and falls in love with the person he proclaims himself to be in his letters. She marries him by proxy, leaved Maine and embarks for Texas, ready to start her new life. But when she gets there, Reed, her husband, has no idea who she is and that they are married.
He also has a son who has been living with the Comanche for many years and behaves like a hostile. There isn't much Kate can do but try to make the best of the situation by looking after the boy and the man as a housekeeper rather than a wife. But those pesky feelings start getting in the way and, well, you know the rest.
I have to say, though I am not American and I don't have a great understanding of First Nation history, I did think the author seemed sensitive to Comanche history in a way that appeared well-researched. This was a really good read and I am looking forward to more from this author.

Summer Moon is an amazing read from author Jill Marie Landis. I remember that I read one of her books, After All, around a decade ago when I found it for 10 PHP around 25 cents USD from my favorite book thriftshop.

This is a historical romance with angst, drama, and humor. It is a mail order bride story with a family dynamic. It talks about Kate's journey to meet Reed, a Texas ranger slash rancher.

Summer Moon is very well written and it showed a well-rounded story from various POVs that kept me interested the whole while. Jill Marie Landis truly has the skill in creating very likeable characters with endearing traits.

Though the attraction between the two leads was immediate in this story, the romance is actually a little slow burn and was not the central plot point for a good part of the book. It would have been nice if romance got a little more exposure in this book, but I still enjoyed the entire story.

Summer Moon by Jill Marie Landis was just an okay read for me. It is worth a read though. I am giving it three stars.

Mail order bride heads to Texas only to find a dead man and a son who was unaware of her - his dead father having made the arrangements for the marriage by proxy. Reed, Jr, returns home wounded and with his son, now 9 or 10, having been kidnapped at 3 years old by the Commanches. The lad is a Commanche and wants to escape, Reed Jr does not want a wife and Kate wants a happy family. She gets her way in the end. It's a well written story, a certain amount of passion, a lot of misunderstanding and stubborn-ness and a lot of determined grit. Mothers giving up children occur quite frequently and makes for realistic emotional responses. Whilst the Commanches are clearly seen as the bad guys through much of the book at least there is recognition of horrible atrocities on both sides at the end. It's a bit of a bodice ripper especially early on when Reed, in a fever from his wounds, thinks Kate is his long-dead wife and she is more than happy to participate. I'm not sure he would be able to do what he does with major bullet wounds in his shoulder, but then Texans are another breed aren't they?! A good read with a nice variation on a classic genre. Thanks to NetGalley and Belle Books/Bell Bridge books for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Mail order brides and Wild West setting... what's not to love about Summer Moon from Jill Marie Landis. I found this book to be as gorgeous and mysterious as its cover. Hopefully, you will love it too.

This was a lovely, lighthearted little book, perfect summer reading. At times it dragged a little, and sometimes the main rancher needed more than a bit of a thump to knock some sense into him (it really did get a bit frustrating a times), but if you don't take the book too seriously, it's a nice light hearted change of pace.

I received this ARC in exhange for my honest opinion #netgalley #summermoon

This author's historical books always impress me. It's not a light and fluffy story but realistic which is what I enjoy reading!
A young woman hasn't had the best start in life,she's lived with the nuns since being dropped off there as a young child. It's the best her mother could do for her.
Katherine, has never has what we take for granted, a family to call her own.
Reading an ad for a mail order bride she jumps on the chance to become a bride and have a family to call her own.
My heart ached for Katherine when she arrived at the ranch and soon found things were no where near what she was expecting
Reed Sr. tricked her into believing Reed Jr. sent the mail order bride ad but Reed Jr is not looking for a wife at all.
I can just imagine the devastation and humiliation she feels but what will she do, she has no home to return to.
Being married by proxy she is legally married to the younger Reed just as his father wanted.
This is where the trouble comes in. What is she to do when he doesn't want to be married to her?
He's not looking for another woman after what he went through with his first wife, she was just a money grubber.
Her sweet disposition is getting to Reed, can she crack the tough exterior shell of this hardened man?
Will she leave the ranch because she's not wanted there?
Loved this book and was holding my breath as I really didn't know how it was going to go all the way til the end.
Published April 4th 2019 by Bell Bridge Books .
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. Thank you.
All opinions expressed are my own.

I am now an official fan of Jill Marie Landis! Summer Moon was brilliantly written. I am a sucker for an impeccably written setting, and was thrilled to find myself pulled into each scene with ease. I happily invested myself in the lives of the characters, and took them with me each time I walked away from the book. (Which wasn't often, as I literally couldn't put the thing down.) Marvelously written and a definite recommend.

Summer Moon is a republication of a book originally published in 2001, an historical romance situated in the Texas of the 19th century, talking about after an ad looking for a bride the spouses corresponded for several months before their wedding… except that everything is just a manipulation by an old man who conveniently dies shortly before the heroine’s arrival.

Kate is a strong heroine who knows what she wants in her life, but at the same time she naïve and idealistic, which is normal as she lived 20 years with nuns in an orphanage. When she discovers she was duped and that the man she wedded by proxy doesn’t even know she exists she feels like her dream falls apart, but she keep her chin up and she looks for a way to get through. Even if she’s conscious the hero is completely different in reality from the image she had created while reading the letters he didn’t write, she has a hard time getting rid of the feelings she had begun to develop.

Reed is a man adrift since his wife’s death and his 3 years old son’s disappearance, and he’s closed himself to any feeling. He hated his father after his mother’s suicide when he was young and a lot of his actions were decided only as a contradiction toward his genitor, in a kind of adolescence crisis dragging on – he’s about thirty. He has troubles thinking to anyone apart himself, wallowing in his misfortunes, but we see him evolve as he opens up little by little.

Their relationship is complicated by a fast attraction none of them want – after a wedding night consummated during a big fever for the hero just before they learn the truth -, by the resentment for the subterfuge bringing them together, and by the fact Reed doesn’t in fact spend a lot of time at the ranch as soon as the wound which had him bedridden for several days is healed he hasten to go back to his Rangers company. Frankly I don’t see how Kate ends up loving him seeing the little time they are together and his difficult behavior. His feelings are more understandable as he found Kate’s letters for the false Reed and he falls in love with the young woman who opened up in writing, even if he needs a lot of time to admit it.

The context is difficult: the war between white people and Comanche is quite violent, with lots of deaths on the native side. But it allows Reed to find his son amongst a tribe and to add some problems in the middle of the couple’s story. Frankly I felt sorry for the little boy, taken from his family two times, once when he was too young to remember and once when he thinks he’s a Comanche taken by a bad white man. There are a lot of scenes from his point of view, where he evaluates and judges the people surrounding him through the filter of his Comanche upraising, and I really liked these scenes.

Along the secondary characters we have a young prostitute from the local brothel that Kate takes under her wing after a violent aggression, and her cute but not very developed love story with the Ranger captain, and there’s also the pastor so much more nice and understanding that I wanted Kate to choose him instead of the hero.

The whole story is quite slow and a bit uneventful in spite of some real qualities. It’s the second book by this author that I read that doesn’t leave me with an ineffable feeling and I think I will avoid her from now on.

Kate Whittington was a daughter of the town tramp. She was abandoned by her mother and left at a orphanage. When she lost her job she answered a newspaper ad to be a bride. She marries proxy and is happy to become a wife. When she gets there the man she thought she married denies that he wrote the ad. Reed is a Texas Ranger and has no plans on a wife after his was killed by the Comanche and his son was taken. Reed becomes injured by the Comanche trying to save a young man who happens to be his son. This is a beautiful story of forgiveness. It is a book i could not put down. Loved the story . Well written. This is my first book of Jill Marie Landis but will not be last. Thanks for allowing me to give my opinion and finding another interesting Author.

I couldn't get into this book. I usually love a good mail-order bride story but I didn't like either the heroine or the hero. I ended up dnfing it.

Eh. Well I finished it but just didn't enjoy it like I wanted to. Sorry, I wish I had connected more with the characters and then maybe it would have been more enjoyable for me.

This was such a good romance and not your typical “bodice ripper”. There was a great storyline that kept me engaged. Kate was a strong character and traveled as a mail order bride to a new life. However there are problems and obstacles to overcome. Reed is damaged and not a very nice person. Will it all work out in the end?
Many thanks to Belle Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Kate is the daughter of the town prostitute. At the age of nine, her mother leaves her on the doorstep of a Catholic orphanage where she is raised and then teaches for eleven years. At the age of 29, Kate loses her job and her position. In an unforgiving town with a long memory, what can she do to support herself? She answers an ad seeking a wife for a Texas rancher. Falling in love through letters, Kate marries Reed by proxy and then travels to the Lone Star ranch to meet her husband. But things are not as they seem. She arrives at the ranch to find the funeral for Reed, Sr. about to begin when Reed, Jr. (her husband) shows up wounded, delirious, bringing with him what appears to be an Indian boy. While tending Reed's wounds, Kate falls in love and grows to love Reed's son who had been returned from the Comanches. After being hurt by his first wife, Reed is not ready for love or a family. He and Kate learn that his dad forged Reed, Jr.'s signature on the marriage papers.

What unfolds is the story of kindness, family, overcoming regrets, and agape love. It is a lovely story I found hard to put down. Summer Moon by Jill Marie Landis is one that begs to be read and savored. It will make you look at others who are different or less fortunate in a new light.

I picked this book on a whim. It was a good read. Interesting plot and it kept you reading. I admired Kate in many ways. She was so daring to just pack up and leave and go on this adventure. She stayed strong too when it didn't turn out as great as she hoped. I liked that she stayed true to herself. Reed got on my nerves many times for just not thinking about his actions, but he is a man so we can't fault him for that. He was mean to Kate, but heck he was kinda mean to everyone. He was my reason I didn't give 4 stars, because I just wasn't feeling him. It is so sad the inhumanity shown to the Indians in the west and that was shown in the story. I am glad Reed's character was able to rise above. I also liked the point of view from Daniel and his take on the good attentions of the white people. That is something we all should take into considereation that our good deeds are not alwasy perceived as good deeds.

Good read, received a copy from the publisher for a honest review.

This was a different take on the usual mail order bride plot. It is a good solid read with only a tiny bit of steam, all very understate. I enjoyed the book and read it in a couple of sittings. It kept my attention. The characters weren't run of the mill and had a few surprises in store. Good read.

This was a very nice historical romance, another fine gem from a great writer who never disappoints with her storys!

Original twist on the mail order romance novel. Landis draws you in from the first page; and keeps you turning them until the very last.

After months and months of exchanging letters, Kate finds herself in Texas to begin her new life which are filled of dreams of marriage, a home and a family of her own. Unknownst to her, the man she’s has been exchanging written notes claims he had never placed the ad for a wife. Without a notice, a whirlwind romance ensues after a proxy of marriage is set in stone and she suddenly becomes the caregiver of the Texas Ranger wounded child he rescue from Comanche.

Needless to say, from beginning to end, it became a bit more than difficult to put this down. It was a true western historical romance filled trouble leads who did everything in their power to fight the growing attraction between them. I don’t know how Jill Marie Landis did it, but I was honestly captivated by the overall flow of the story in which the romance was not rush nor force, the realistic characters including the secondary characters Daniel, Charm, and Jonah left a long lasting impression on me, and how she was able to tied everything together for a satisfying finish. Hands down worth the read and I would recommend “Summer Moon” to everyone looking for a great written romance series filled with perfect writing style, heartbreak, racy scenes, and real likable characters.