A Sensible Arrangement (Lone Star Brides Book #1)

This is the first book in the Lone Star Brides series. The second book is called A Moment in Time and the third is A Matter of Heart.Marty wants nothing more than to escape Texas. She sees an opportunity to leave when she answers an ad for a mail-order bride. Once she's in Denver, she becomes the wife of a prominent banker and finds herself thrust into Denver's high society.Jake wants nothing more than to escape the bank and get back to Texas. He's taking a wife mainly to appease his boss. Mr. Morgan has definite plans for Jake's path and makes sure he stays on it. Since Jake is only working at the bank until he earns enough to return to Texas, he lets his boss lead him around without much resistance.Marty's character isn't very likable for most of this book. She's a liar and basically whines about everything. When she discovers that Jake wants to return to Texas, she's determined to stay where she is, though she hates Denver's society and its rules. She shows kindness now and then to those around her, just not her husband. She lies and manipulates him even when she knows how unhappy he is.This particular book can be read by itself if you only want to see something of a resolution for Marty and Jake. But be warned, there's some trouble ahead for them in the next book. Alice's character is introduced and she basically saved the book for me, since I wasn't fond of Marty. Alice is one of the main characters in the next book, A Moment in Time. Overall, it's a decent start to the series, just with a really unlikable main character.

A Sensible Arrangement by Tracie Peterson is an enjoyable historical romance novel. I enjoyed Ms. Peterson’s character driven plot. Not to be a spoiler, I will refrain from revealing too much of the story between Marty Dandridge Olson and Jake Wylie and the saga of their marriage of convenience. As this is the first book of a series, Ms. Peterson takes her time introducing us to each of her characters and laying the groundwork for the series. I felt the plot line was credible. Thus, the characters are, in their own way, adorable; but, flawed. Their theme is one of a quest for forgiveness and new beginnings. I also appreciated the secondary characters. She uses them to add intrigue and mystery into her plot line. We get to know them in this story and want to know what happens to them in their own stories.As this book falls in the historical romance genre, I appreciated the fact that Ms. Peterson did her research. The setting is in Denver, Colorado in the 1890s. Ms. Peterson used the banking industry and the Panic of 1893 as part of her background. My curiosity was peaked so I did a google search and she captured the essences of that time. She accomplishes this through her use of dialog. I also appreciated her descriptive language with regard to the opulent lifestyle of Denver’s aristocracy. This was a good read and I would recommend it to fans of historical romances.

The storyline was interesting and captured my attention until I ran into the inaccurate detail that Dallas, Texas is humid. She obviously didn't do her research well. While Houston is humid, Dallas is dry. I grew up there and should know. My second disappointment was the way "the lie" was handled. From my perception, it was not so much a lie but an omission of truth due to her fears resulting from her previous husband's death. Those fears weren't even addressed by Jake, so the whole scenario seemed a bit shallow. Lastly, the book ended without resolving who Mr. Smith was and what happened between he and Alice, nor was the bank situation and Jake's job resolved - and I thought the two might intertwine somehow but we were left hanging, which was disappointing.

I have read numerous Tracie Peterson novels and looked forward to reading the first book in this series. She is a wonderful storyteller. However, this book was a huge disappointment. The premise for the book was great but from the very beginning the book just felt cluttered. There were too many side stories with lots of details which took away from the development of the relationship between Marty and Jake. I really wanted to see these characters get to know one another under strained but understandable circumstances and learn from one another and in the process fall in love but with all the other side stories you had to endure, their story just got lost. There just wasn't enough character development with all the other stories being told and consequently it felt like some of them were rushed in the wrap up. I pushed through, pratically skimming the last few chapters just to say I finished it. I don't think I'll get the next book in the series. It was just too painful.

I enjoyed this story about starting over. Jake and Marty's story was not long enough. I wish more had been written to complete their story. I wanted so much more. I'm hoping that there will be more about them in the next book. I enjoyed this book enough to read the next book in the series.

This was a good read to some degree. It was a Christian olive novel with a little mystery. I liked the era and how the rich behaved, however,it was easy to know they were going to fall in love and it never got back to the bad men who told the girl to write to her friends. The end never told you what happened WILL never write another one of these as it is terrible all over the place..'..

Tracie Peterson is one of my favorite authors. She writes stories that are detailed and accurate for historical and geographical facts. She also takes her characters on a spiritual journey that leads to genuine Faith in Christ and living with integrity. There is usually some mystery and romance to keep things interesting!

Jake put an ad in the paper for a bride. Marty answered the ad. When the letter came he wanted a bride in name only. That suited her fine! Make was the bank president. Marty was surprised at the home Make lived in. It was big and beautiful. Loved this book!

A good historical marriage-of-convenience story is usually enjoyable and oozes warm fuzzies. A great one would have a bold message and good laughs as accompaniments to said warm fuzzies. With little fuzz and a plot that never seems to quite get it together, A Sensible Arrangement misses the mark for me. This book falls into the 'did not like it' category that should get a 1, but an intriguing sub-plot and writing that can't be faulted redeem it a little.The premise of the story, unfortunately, reads as somewhat illogical (*spoiler alert*). A woman who is supposedly really close to her family tells a colossal lie - she hasn't travelled to 'just visit friends' but has actually gone to be a mail-order bride. And somehow, she is able to maintain this lie for months (in addition to another major lie to her new husband that is a bit more plausible considering they've only just met).There also seems to be very little romance between the new couple (which, to be fair, is very possibly the more realistic route for marriages-of convenience; but I have no stats to back this up :-D). The husband is often not in good spirits, and the woman is constantly bored.I have a few more chapters left, but I'm not sure I'll finish this. The bank mystery side-story was the main thing that kept me reading, and sadly, it was not enough. The story and characters were just not very engaging.

This is the first book by Tracie Peterson I have read. She writes Christian books, but there are few quotes from the Bible. It us about Marty, who is widowed after her husband is killed in an accident on their ranch. Marty answers an advertisement for a wife from a man in Colorado and sets ofg in the hope of a new life away from all the memories that Texas holds for her.This is a gentle romance, but i did not really like Marty. I carried on reading in the hope that she would improve, or grow on me, but she did not. So I cannot give it more than 4 stars, because of this.

A phenomenal book. Really different from Tracie Peterson's other books