The Blizzard Brides

Welcome to Last Chance, Nebraska! When the freak blizzard of 1878 kills most of the men in a small Nebraska town, what does it mean for the surviving women and children? Realizing they need to find men of honor to help rebuild, the women place an advertisement in the Matrimonial Times. Choosing a husband is more difficult than they thought when there is an overwhelming response to the ad. Will these Blizzard Brides find the second chance at love in a town called Last Chance?

Claire just lost her husband to a blizzard, and she’ll need a man before spring. With two children to raise, she wants out of the farming community and picks a man who she hopes will take her and her family to civilization. Ethan has lived in the city all his life and works as a librarian, but his dream is to be a pioneer farmer. His chance comes when he answers an ad looking for men to come to Nebraska. Though he’d wanted to marry for love, he figures he’ll settle for a mail-order wife if it gets him out of the city.

Celia Thornton would give anything to start over after the blizzard ends her loveless marriage. Jack Wendler needs to leave New York immediately after one too many business deals left his investors penniless. Figuring marriage in remote western Nebraska must be better than the reckoning he's facing in New York, Jack pens a response to a marriage advertisement. When he arrives with a bag of letters—including his own—answering the widows of Last Chance's advertisement for husbands, he's quickly taken with Celia's shy beauty and agrees to marry her on the spot.

Linda Applebee’s life is perfect until she loses her husband in a freak blizzard. Now instead of spending her time writing an adventure novel, she has to find a husband or be required to move back to Wisconsin where she knows nobody. With one ad for husbands and a selection made, maybe life in Last Chance can return to normal. Then he rides into town!

Carrie Porter doesn’t know what she’s lost until it’s gone. With her husband dead, and a young child to feed, she must rely on herself to improve her situation…or find a wealthy husband to care for her desolate family. When she chooses a man looking for a mail-order bride, she prays he will be her salvation.

Millie Reed is trying to do it all. She is a mother, the local schoolteacher, and trying to keep her husband's horse ranch going. She knows her husband is never coming home after he died in the blizzard that killed so many men. She needs help, so why is she so hesitant about the letter she mailed to a stranger? What she doesn't expect is to find a man hiding in her barn, or his outrageous story of innocence.

Altar Pennington isn't like most of the widows in Last Chance, Nebraska. After a blizzard takes her husband's life, she's neither mournful nor joyful at his death. Her biggest concern isn't how she's going to live now that she's a widow; but how is she going to raise a child on her own? When the preacher demands that all the widows remarry or leave town, she is forced to seek a husband to provide a father for her child.

Ruby Fulton has had a tough life, and it isn’t getting any easier after her husband dies. Suffering under his abuse for years, all Ruby wants is independence, peace and a new chance at life. She is barely scraping by herself, and now she’s responsible for one of Last Chance’s orphaned children. The last thing she wants to do is sign herself up for another husband who will make her life miserable. But when the preacher insists that she marry again, what is a woman to do?

Nineteen-year-old Rachel Kayden’s worst nightmares never included being widowed a month after she married John. She decides her marriage vows also meant caring for their horse ranch regardless of the hardships. Rachel’s mother never wanted her to marry and leave home. John’s death gives her the perfect reason to try and force Rachel to return home.

Hollie Dawson didn’t set out to deceive anyone. She only meant to do what the pastor insisted she do: find a new husband and marry soon. But Hollie isn’t the typical wife. She hates housework and prefers to run her diner. As a successful businesswoman, it will take a special man to marry her. Little did she know the one she invites to court her is not the right one! Her sister’s intended, on the other hand, is just perfect.

If Gracie Erstwhile wants to keep her new homestead, she must do what every other widow in Last Chance, NE has done: choose a mail-order groom. At least having a man around to handle the farm will free her up to pursue her dream of opening a theater.

Jilted at the altar, with no groom in sight, Callie Stratton is left with few options. Friends and family view her with contempt, as if somehow the abandoned bride is to blame. Unable to bear the shame, Callie takes the only path open to her. Run! Callie leaves Georgia for Last Chance Nebraska, as a mail-order bride to a marry a reputable successful businessman, James Frankford.

When Heather Barnes loses her beloved husband to the terrible blizzard that claimed so many lives, she must decide where her future lies. It was her husband who led all the men to their fate, and now she feels responsible that the women must remarry so quickly. The last thing she wants is another husband, but taking care of the farm, hunting, the butcher shop, and being a mother to two orphan children, is too much for the woman that is also the town's midwife. What she doesn't count on is a traveling gunslinger making her question her choice to love again.

Jenna is tied to the earth, to nurture her farm, and see things grow. Alex has a wandering skip in his step and longs to see what is over the next hill. Is love strong enough to uproot Jenna?

When Becca’s husband dies in the freak blizzard that September, she brings her remaining livestock and two girls to town to live. Her hand is forced by Pastor Collins to reply to a potential intended, Haden Jarrod, but before he arrives, she falls for her sister’s intended, Charlie T. Cairn.