BOOK REVIEW- Paper Widow by Ailene Frances

   

Book Details

 When a pampered socialite in post civil war Boston seeks adventure and romance, she finds peril, heartache, and tragedy along with it.
Answering an ad in The Matrimonial News, she secretly marries by proxy, but is widowed before she gets to meet her husband. The fact that she's naïve and unskilled in the ways of love when she finally encounters the man of her dreams only adds to her situation.  AMAZON LINK

3.5 STARS

 This story turned out to be quite emotional but also with a lot of action. 

Nate has a lot of assumptions going on and quite a bit of bitterness too because of the cruelty of a former girlfriend.   He is traveling on assignment with his fellow Pinkerton's when he meets Elise. Oliver and Joseph seem like good guys although Oliver seemed a bit clueless in being an agent and keeping a lower profile.  He does a lot of boasting to others which is kind of dumb.  He's also a charming man who has an easy way around women. Joseph had a lot of responsibility on his shoulders in his personal life and seemed more mature.  One thing I found surprising is how kind of clueless they all were when it came to not blending in as they were searching for outlaws. That had me scratching my head a bit. This outlaw gang is not the only dangers that they and Elise will face though.  

Elise seems to keep jumping from the frying pan to the fire.  She was doing the best that she can though.    Even though she is put in dangerous situations most of them are because of someone else with bad motives.

Elise and Nate go through a lot before they find each other again.  So there is a H.E.A. in the story although I never really did warm up to Nate. I thought more than once, "stupid, stupid man."  So I guess in the end while it was well written, it really wasn't my cup of tea. 

 I received a free ARC of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.