BOOK REVIEW- THE BEST BRIDE by SUSAN MALLERY

 
#1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery brings you a reader-favorite tale of redemption, self-discovery and a love that conquers all.

Elizabeth Abbot is finally pulling her life back together. She's endured enough heartbreak at the hands of her deceitful ex-husband and is determined to provide a happy life for her daughter. That's exactly why she should stay away from Travis Haynes, the sheriff of Glenwood, with his trademark Stetson and sexy smile.

With all of her broken heart, Elizabeth longs to trust the legendary lawman, to let him past the walls she has built up so carefully. But will her shattered past forever hold her hostage, even from a love that could make her whole?  AMAZON  4 STARS

This is a harder book to rate because I was surprised to see 3 separate stories in this one book.  I didn't realize that at first.  I do have to say that I thought all of the stories had good characters in it although how I would rate each story would be slightly different. 
 My favorite is the last story in the book, the one about  Nick Archer  and Hannah Pace.  I really liked it although at first I couldn't see what it had to do with the other books but it didn't take too long to see that it was indeed connected.  I also really liked Louise, she was quite the colorful character.  Nick was charming but also had some unexpected depths to him and the interaction between Nick and Hannah were often really funny.  He understood her more than she realized and that threw her.  He often had funny comebacks to her responses that kept her off balance.  She never let people get very close to her but what she didn't realize was that they had a lot in common besides physical attraction.

The second book, would be next in line of likes,  That story was about,  Sandy Walker and Kyle Barnes.  I made the story a bit different because of Sandy being a widow with 3 children.  It had some good elements to it.  Especially Kyle's being a few years younger and how many years he had an unrequited crush on Sandy.  

The first book was about  Travis Haynes and Elizabeth Abbott and her daughter Mandy.  I liked it but I think the repetition on Travis' part about not knowing how to love because of the Haynes Curse, got old for me after awhile.  But that didn't take away from the fact that I did like the main people and the Haynes brothers.  There was also the good twist that came with Elizabeth's hidden secret.  It was a good twist too.
Through all of the stories was the main thread of the Haynes family and also the difficulty of trying to find love and family without having any really good role models.  Their father was quite the womanizing, bad father kind of guy.  They had almost given up hope on any HEA but they all do get one.  They get a large extended family that they treasure because its so hard won.  I enjoyed the over all Walton family feel, that was modern but showed how close they became.