Aundy

Pendleton Petticoats #1

by Shanna Hatfield

Desperate to better a hopeless situation, Aundy Thorsen leaves behind her life in Chicago to fulfill a farmer’s request for a mail-order bride in Pendleton, Oregon. A tragic accident leaves her a widow soon after becoming a wife. Aundy takes on the challenge of learning how to manage a farm, wrangle demented chickens, and raise sheep, even though her stubborn determination to succeed upsets a few of the neighbors.

Born and raised on the family ranch, Garrett Nash loves life in the bustling community of Pendleton in 1899. When his neighbor passes away and leaves behind a plucky widow, Garrett takes on the role of Aundy’s protector and guardian. His admiration for her tenacious spirit soon turns to something more. He just needs to convince the strong-willed Aundy to give love another try.

Sweet and sprinkled with humor, Aundy illustrates that courage sometimes arrives in a petticoat and love has a mind of its own.

Genres: Romance, Historical Romance, Historical Fiction, Westerns, Fiction, Historical, Ebooks

382 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 26, 2013

About the author

A hopeless romantic with a bit of sarcasm thrown in for good measure, Shanna Hatfield is a best-selling author of clean romantic fiction written with a healthy dose of humor.

In addition to blogging and eating too much chocolate, she is completely smitten with her husband, lovingly known as Captain Cavedweller.

Shanna creates character-driven romances with realistic heroes and heroines. Her historical westerns have been described as “reminiscent of the era captured by Bonanza and The Virginian” while her contemporary works have been called “laugh-out-loud funny, and a little heart-pumping sexy without being explicit in any way.”

She is a member of Western Writers of America, Women Writing the West, and Romance Writers of America.

To learn more about Shanna or the books she writes, visit her blog http://shannahatfield.com
or find out news at her facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/shanna.hatfield

Reviews

[Julie Lence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aundy, by Shanna Hatfield, is an excellent read. Tall, strong, and believing herself rather plain, Aundy travels from Chicago to Oregon to marry a man she's been corresponding with. She arrives in Pendleton to discover her betrothed is not only handsome, but very generous. After a quick exchange of I do's with Erik, Aundy is eager to set eyes on his farm and begin a new life with him. Then tragedy strikes and Erik is killed, leaving Aundy sole owner of Eric's prosperous farm. Her neighbors, Nora and JB, offer to teach Aundy what she needs to know about farming to continue Erik's legacy, but it's their son, Garrett, who catches Aundy's eye and has her rethinking her vow to remain single; born from every man she's ever loved having died.

Aundy is that special character a reader falls in love with. She's smart, brave, caring and determined to win over her farm hands' and her neighbors qualms of having a woman in charge, and she does this without coming off as snobby and uppity. Aundy has an honest heart, a good heart, and it's little wonder Garrett is drawn to her, making it his job to protect her when someone threatens her and the sheep she has decided to raise on her land.

Ms. Hatfield is an amazing author. With a precise voice, she cleverly shifts POV between the hero and heroine, making for a more compelling story. Her secondary characters are well defined and bring the story alive with humor, motherly love and evil nature. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.

[Eva · Rating 2 out of 5]

Aundy was a generally-ok book. A light, clean-romance fluff piece. What put me off about this book was the mass amount of eye-rolling I did throughout reading it and how flat the characters were. It was just a bit too cliche. Everyone just liked her and the one person that didn't everyone else hated too. Even though she's suppose to be plain everyone else found her beautiful and just how perfect she was. Not to mention how ever 20 pages or so it's constantly being told to you that she's stubborn and independent. It just gets annoying after the 7th time you read about it.

Another gripe would be the awkward pov switches throughout. Like it's mainly told from Aundy's selective third-person view but random sentences are thrown in from someone else's pov to tell the reader about how stubborn/independent/pretty/smart she is.

The conclusion for the problem as well completely threw off my original three star rating. Where Ashton is used as a neat scapegoat for every conflict in the book. And how the tell-my-whole-evil-plan-to-you-while-I-think-you're-asleep cliche for explaining why he was the bad guy just ruined everything for me. Everything was just too easy but I don't knew it may just be a personal thing.

Regardless, I still finished this novel which is saying something since I'll usually just drop it and leave it at a one star rating. All in all, it was an ok romance. Incredibly cliche but if that's what you're looking for give it a go. If Nik gets a book I may just keep the series but so far it looks like I'm dropping it.

[JaneReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed stepping back in time to the 1900's. The beginning began with so much hope for Aundy, she is leaving a life she hates moving to Oregon to begin life as a wife of a farmer. However the same day she weds she becomes a widow. I cried for Aundy, but thankfully her new husband had ensured she would be taken care of if anything happened to him. She is now left with farm and decides she will run it rather than return to her old life. With the help from the farm hands who decide to stay with her and the Nash family (the neighbours), she learns about farming and tries her best to make a go of it. She experiences problems from people who don't like he idea of woman running the farm but she is determined. You can feel the chemistry between her and Garrett right from the first meeting. I loved how Garrett showed her respect and helped her rather than treating her like she couldn't do what she set her mind to. I had no doubts who was causing the trouble for Aundy and was very happy when he was arrested and that Garret and Aundy were able to move forward in their relationship. I really connected with Aundy and wanted the best for her. I look forward to reading more in this series.

[Dorcas · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started off intriguing, it had great potential and the characters felt real. If I could have made it past 32% ,the storyline itself is probably continues to be a good one.
HOWEVER........the heroine had a peculiar habit of "rolling her lips". That's right. Ive heard of rolling your eyes but never your lips; it took me a while to figure out what that would even look like, I finally decided she meant she "compressed" her lips or even "frowned". But ROLLED???
Anyway, I kept giving the book 'one more chapter' to get the rolls ironed out but it never happened. Eventually, my kindle was at risk of being thrown across the room so I decided that $2.99 wasn't worth risking my kindle over.

It's a shame that such hard work is lost on something so small~ but like a splinter these things get under your skin until you just can't ignore it any longer.

Another reviewer mentioned an excess of superfluous words (such as 'he said' 'she said') and I would agree with this, it did distract.

A bit more editing would clear whiskers like this up and make a great book.
I'm keeping it on my kindle in case the author decides to update it.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christian historical romance set in early 1900s in Pendleton, Oregon. The author researched historical facts and incorporated them well into the story. The characters are interesting as is the plot.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Life in Chicago is not great for Aundy, she seems older than her twenty one years, her father died along with her fiancé in a terrible accident her mother followed shortly after leaving Aundy the eldest of three children her brother Lars and sister Ilsa. Although well educated she takes a job as a seamstress in a factory during the day then helped cook and clean in a boardinghouse for her room and board, her brother ran away and her sister went to live and work with their Aunt Louisa leaving Aundy with a life full of work, work, work and little else. Feeling particularly down one day she spots an advert for a mail order bride and after corresponding with Erik Erikson she sets off to marry him. Luckily Erik seems a kind man who although nearly twice her age wants to make the marriage work and be a good husband, unfortunately just after getting married and while they're on their way home tragedy strikes and Aundy finds herself a widow before she's really a wife. Aundy has more backbone and grit than most women but will she be able to make ago of it or will she return to Chicago and will she ever find the love that she deserves.

This was a beautiful book with some great characters, it contains no swearing or sex and it's a lovely historical romance.

[Joleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although from the start this book seemed to be written simply, like for a teen or pre-teen, I stuck with it until the end. The story started off pretty well with Aundy answering an ad from a man who needed a bride, she meets and marries him and is widowed all in the same day. It plods along fairly well with trials of a woman trying to be the owner of a ranch/farm, with ranch hands who refuse to have a woman as a boss, Aundy is determined to do her best and make this land work. There are definitely bad people who want to see her fail, or who want her land, and the plot seemed to be working.

...Little bit of a spoiler here...
The culmination of who was behind all the bad things happening toward end turned out to be too cheesy. If it had had something a little less melodramatic, something with a little more thought, and less hurried than the bad guy went a little crazy and confessed to everything... I might have given it a 4-star rating. But the last couple chapters cinched a 3-star rating from me.
Sorry.

[Heathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book took me almost a year to read because I just couldn't get into it. The first chapter or two was okay, but after the excitement of the accident went away, the book became tedious.

I found the author's writing style to be very annoying. There was really no flow. Everything just read like a grocery list, leaving me bored to tears. Honestly, I actually dozed off for about 40 minutes while reading the last part of the book.

The only enjoyable characters were the animals.

[InD'tale Magazine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shanna Hatfield writes a story that is reminiscent of the era captured by Bonanza and The Virginian, complete with the conflict between cattleman and those daring to raise sheep.

Read full review in the October 2013 issue of InD’tale Magazine.

[Brinda Choquette · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an okay book but I wouldn't recommend it only because there are so many other great books that this would just be a waste of time. I picked it up on vacation for something to read but if I had more choices, I would not have bothered.
Very predictable plot and "been there, done that" type of characters.

[Aj Schuler · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed 90% of the book and would have given it 4 or 5 stars but the ending was terrible. A great plot that was wrapped up in a totally unbelievable fashion. LAME!

[book_nymph_bex · Rating 1 out of 5]

It started out fun, but it soon got bogged down in long, boring lists of activities. More telling than showing, which made the book feel super long. And the romance was bland.

[Amanda A · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Jerri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aundy and Garrett's story

Shanna Hatfield has presented all the elements any reader could want with humor, tragedy, hope, fear, faith, tenacity, loyalty, acceptance, escape, strength, caring, and more. That is all interwoven with a romance that rides like a rollercoaster. The love grows stronger as the threat escalates. The twists and turns will keep the reader engaged until the last page. Aundy and Garrett have such depth that you want to know them as your friends. View this story as it is vividly detailed like a movie.

[Dorel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 1st book I read by Shanna Hatfield. I enjoyed this book's storyline. I found some parts of this story cute. I really liked the Christian ✝️ theme in this story. I really liked Aundy's character. I really liked Garrett's character. I really liked the ending.

[Toni L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved that Aundy is strong and independent but very warm and loving to the people in her life. Too many times a strong female character comes across as cold and hard. Not Aundy, good balance in her personality.

[Bonnie Fakhri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely hallmark type historical Christian Romance set in Oregon as city girl Aundy overcomes grief and tragedy to find her footing as a western farm owner and to find her own happily ever after. There were moments where the plot felt predictable and other times when the plot felt very forced and rushed but overall it was an enjoyable, easy, satisfying read.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aundy Thorsen agreed to marry Erik Erikson after writing back and forth for some time. When she arrives in Pendleton, Oregon Erik meets her at the train station and without giving her time to even wash her face yet alone change into her wedding dress he rushes her to the church and they are married. After a nice meal they are headed for her new home. With all of the letter writing they'd become friends and on their way home the conversation convinced Aundy that she'd done the right thing in leaving Chicago and agreeing to marry Erik without actually meeting him in person.

Just before they reach their lane the horses spook and Erik gets pinned under the carriage. Aundy runs to Nash's Folly, a neighbor Erik had pointed out as they passed their lane, to get help. Aundy spent her time by Erik's side before he passed away from the injuries. Aundy suffered a broken arm in the accident, loses her husband and gains a farm all within a few hours time.

When she makes the decision to keep the farm and run it herself she has some of her hands quit and soon has to make some decisions on how to keep the farm running. Most people don't think a woman should be taking on that responsibility and when she purchases sheep her neighbors appear to really be against her. She soon starts finding threatening notes, burning wool, dead sheep, etc. These people don't know how strong a Norwegian woman can be though, but is she strong enough to continue when two of her men get shot and she's kidnapped?

What a wonderful story! Of course since Aundy is Norwegian, that helps a lot, lol. No, I have never read any of Shanna's books that I can recall but I truley enjoyed this story. Shanna did a fantastic job and I will be looking for more of her books. This was an e-book that I read on my Kindle.

[Layla · Rating 4 out of 5]

1899 Eastern Oregon

Aundy, 21, is a feisty character with plenty of common sense and courage. She deals with life as it comes.
She accepts a mail-order marriage proposal and leaves Chicago for Oregon. She is pleasantly surprised when she meets Erik, a famer of 39 with a kind manner and clearly very good intentions of being a good husband to her. As the book description says, she very quickly becomes a widow and the start of the book is very sad.
She decides to work hard to keep the farm in Erik’s honour and faces several hurdles, from men who won’t work for a woman to threats and attempts to drive her out.
She is helped by her neighbours, the Nash family and develops a bond with Garrett Nash, the son. She never wants to marry again, convinced that she brings only bad luck.
The story is centred around their growing feelings for each other and the people in the community, with plenty of events and turns to keep the plot interesting.

[Glenda Kinard · Rating 5 out of 5]

With every book I read by the Wonderful talented author Shanna Hatfield, I think ooooohhh this is my favorite. So after reading Aundy, I can say this one has catapulted to the top. Shanna Hatfield is one of those authors that every book will be a favorite and I’ll will be actually unable to state which book I love best. Aundy will play upon every emotion a human has. I love her true grit to survive no matter what comes upon her and I especially love how she does not depend upon a man but the love of a good man completes her. Garrett is the perfect idea of a man. Garrett realizes as much as he loves and would love to change Aundy into a submissive woman that he must love Aundy as she is and accept her as she is and not try and change her. This book is not to be missed by the Wonderful Talented Shanna Hatfield.

[Jannie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just bleh

I hate being a poor reviewer, especially about books, but might as well. The story was generic and kinda flimsy. I felt no tie to any of the characters, expect Nic, the cute kid. It was very predictable and you could tell some proofreading should have been applied or better applied. But I wont give it just 1 star. Anyone willing to go through what it takes to write a book, gets a star in my “book”. I think the author definitely has potential. There just needs to be more fluff to the characters, story and general writing. But I ain’t no expert. The only thing I did enjoy about the story, was being introduced to the Pendleton underground. That was fascinating and led me to look more into it. I love reading hidden history from a fiction.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book had a solid plot and a spunky main character that I liked but....

The first thing that happened that bothered me is Aundy dressed up like a man. The reasoning behind the decision was faulty and it was obvious that the author just wanted to put her in an awkward position.

The head hopping bugged me, but I could have easily have forgiven that.

Then the main guy, Garrett, had some inappropriate thoughts but I finally gave up when (hidden because of mature content) he starts thinking about pulling off her clothes I deleted the book and the other book I had by Hatfield I had.

[Kayla Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's more than romance going on in Hatfield's novel, Aundy. She packed in action, humor, and a couple of surprises that had my eyes popping. I've read several of Hatfield's books, and this is her strongest. The characters and setting are so real, I felt like I could step right onto the Erickson farm and shake hand with them and run my fingers along Butter the lambs soft wool back. I can't wait to get started on the next book in the series, Caterina.

[Lisa C. · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars
Strong woman, super good looking and wonderful cowboy meet unexpectedly in the midst of a tragedy. Should be a sure winner but this one needed a lot of work. It was very unbelievable and I'm still rolling my eyes at her "rolling her lips." No idea what that even means.

I really liked Garrett's parents. Reminded me of neighbors growing up in the Midwest. Sorry to say, there are so many more better hist/romance books available, I would recommend you keep looking.

[marlajanereads · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ve decided I’m not going to finish this book. It started off extremely promising, but little by little the writing became weaker and Aundy’s character became annoying. She just did things that seemed to completely contrast her stubborn, hard-headed attitude toward life. I could probably guess quite accurately how the story will end, so I’m not too worried about leaving loose ends. I’m just glad it was a free ebook through BookBub.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This historic romance was written by self-published author Shanna Hatfield, and is her best book to date. She excels at this genre. The plot was great, the history interesting, and the romance clean. I highly recommend it, and I'm looking forward to reading book #2 in the series when it comes out later this year.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very sweet and predictable, but I couldn't put it down!! I love when a book grabs my attention so much, even when I'd kinda figured out in the first 2 chapters roughly how the book was going to end. I definitely enjoyed reading this.
Nice, clean romance. I like that you feel the intensity of their attraction without having to read all the details that so many romance books add.

[Zette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one a lot! Sweet and clean with a hunky hero and a heroine who doesn't know she's beautiful. Yes, it was predictable but it was also relaxing and an easy escape. I just started the next book in the series and am looking forward to reading about Aundy's sister in the third one.

[Susan P · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thought this would be a light, simple book, which I needed right now. While I had a difficult time with all the misplaced modifiers, I really couldn't get past someone getting something out of the "refrigerator" in 1899.

[Cici · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet and clean. Yes, there are cliches and predictability. But, I need that sometimes. The characters were fun. And the romance was good and clean?