To Love a Stranger by Colleen Coble is a historical western romance set in 1868. It's the story of Bessie Randall, a mail order bride from Boston, and Jasper Mendenhall, a soldier who is to be stationed in Fort Bowie, Arizona Territory. The initial conflict is that Jasper unwittingly and legally marries Bessie by proxy, thinking that she is actually her sister, Lenore, with whom Jasper had been corresponding for six months. In addition, Bessie doesn't know that she has legally married Jasper, because Lenore had impersonated her sister by using Bessie's name, even though she had mailed her own picture to Jasper. Lenore no longer wishes to join Jasper because she has met another man whom she has become interested in, and begs Bessie to take her place so that her deception will not be exposed to their parents and to society. Lenore asks her sister to make this sacrifice in order to save Lenore's reputation, which would be in ruins if word gets out about what she has done.
Bessie is the homelier sister. She has always longed for a man to love her and to have a family of her own. Compared to her pretty and vivacious sister who is surrounded by beaus, Bessie has been frequently overlooked by men. Even though she initially balks at participating in the deception, Bessie agrees to go west to join Jasper, partly because of her own desires and dreams. She hopes that he will forgive her, accept her as his wife, and eventually come to love her.
Jasper is pretty angry about the deception when Bessie arrives in Lenore's place. He can't understand why Bessie and Lenore didn't tell him the truth before Bessie travelled out west to meet him. When he discovers that Bessie had also been deceived by Lenore, he still wonders why she didn't write to clear up the mess, and wonders at her motivation in following through with the deception. It is difficult for him to trust her, even though he senses integrity in her character. He is also uncertain that Bessie's frail appearance will make it easy for her to survive on the trail and at Fort Bowie once they arrive there. He plans to consult an attorney to see what their options are after they travel to his new posting. Will Bessie be able to win Jasper's love so that he won't seek a divorce?
The plot seemed to allude to a Leah/Rachel/Jacob triangle. Bessie is the unattractive older sister who finds it hopeless to win the love of her husband because she fears that he loves the younger more attractive sister. She has issues with self acceptance because of her looks, which leave her vulnerable to doubts about whether Jasper could ever come to love her.
Jasper, on the other hand, begins to find that who he thought he wanted might not be the best for him as he gets to know Bessie better with each passing day. However, various circumstances arise which threaten their fledgling marriage.
When I saw To Love a Stranger on NetGalley, I snapped it up because it was written by Colleen Coble. I really enjoyed her contemporary novel, Tidewater Inn, but I didn't recall reading any of her historicals, so I was looking forward to reading this western romance. However, while I was going through To Love a Stranger, I kept thinking that it didn't seem to match my memories of what I expected a Colleen Coble novel to deliver, and after some digging on the internet, I found out that To Love a Stranger is being re-released by Thomas Nelson in 2016. It had originally been published by Heartsong Presents in 2000. Basically, I would say that To Love a Stranger is a decent story, but Tidewater Inn, released in 2012, is an even better written novel. You can tell the difference in Ms. Coble's storytelling over the years when you compare the two. If I had not known that Ms. Coble had written To Love a Stranger, I would have said that it was a fairly good story. I must confess that my opinion of To Love a Stranger is biased because of my previous experience with Ms. Coble's later book.
Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of "To Love a Stranger" by Colleen Coble from NetGalley in exchange for a review. All opinions stated in this review are mine.
