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Brides of Wildcat County #3
Audacious: Ivy's Story
Ivy Nesbitt, sweet-faced and modest, has been ruined by a vicious lie. Her first love has left her; her reputation has been shattered. All she has to look forward to is a life of spinsterhood.
It's her sister's idea to go to California. Ivy doesn't care either way. She can't even consider marriage when her heart is broken forever, but maybe the change will help.
The change definitely helps. California brings out a strength in Ivy she never even knew she had. And to her pleasant surprise, the dashing Justus Calhoun has taken a liking to her. If Ivy can keep down her inner demons, perhaps she'll find happiness after all!
But then Jamie Rayburne, Ivy's first love, steps back into her life. She's torn. How can Ivy choose between her old love and her new?
It's her sister's idea to go to California. Ivy doesn't care either way. She can't even consider marriage when her heart is broken forever, but maybe the change will help.
The change definitely helps. California brings out a strength in Ivy she never even knew she had. And to her pleasant surprise, the dashing Justus Calhoun has taken a liking to her. If Ivy can keep down her inner demons, perhaps she'll find happiness after all!
But then Jamie Rayburne, Ivy's first love, steps back into her life. She's torn. How can Ivy choose between her old love and her new?
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
40 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 12, 2012
A friend recommended this series a LONG time ago and I finally found one of the books. Ivy and her sister Mattie leave their coastal town in Maine and travel to California after seeing an advertisement for women to come west to be brides. Both girls were eager for a chance to start over in life after their family financial troubles, their father's death, and Ivy's boyfriend leaves her for a life at sea. From what I could gather, the advertisement wasn't exactly for a mail-order bride exactly. The women would arrive in the town, stay in a local boardinghouse and have the opportunity for marriage after getting to know some of the local men. Their travel expenses and room and board was paid for six months. I'm not sure exactly how much time has passed since their arrival in Last Chance, but Ivy has settled in there and has a job as the school teacher. She has fought for improvements upon the school building and more supplies and books for the students. She's made some friends, most especially Justus Calhoun, a local lawyer. Everyone in town thinks he's courting her, but Ivy knows they are "just friends." Her only contact back "home" is through letters with her friend Grace, whom she writes with stories of all the exciting and wild people and events of Last Chance. Grace's brother now wants to publish some of these stories in a newspaper in Boston. Ivy jumps at the chance to earn some extra money, but only if people don't know she wrote them. Thus a pseudonym is created --- Audacia El Dorado. Ivy's a naturally shy and reserved person, but she has a wild streak that she keeps hidden. Audacia is her way to be audacious without others knowing. Her life is turned upside-down when her ex-boyfriend from Maine shows up in Last Chance, spills her secret to everyone, and wants to marry her and take her away.
I know it's not the first one in the series, so I kept reading about events that happened in an earlier book. A bit frustrating for me -- not that I couldn't catch up as to what happened, just that I had to catch up. Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It's a sweet romance -- nothing more than kissing happens in the book -- that has Ivy torn between a second chance with her first love and a new love. I like how Ivy struggles with her decision, seeing the good in each man. That's how life is. It's not an easy black or white decision most of the time. You have to weigh the good and bad and then hope you make the best choice. That said, I think when Ivy makes her decision (sort of), it seems a snap one. I was questioning it as the reader, and we realize Ivy was questioning it as well. Not a perfect solution there. The characters are lively and entertaining which leads to a lively and entertaining story. B rating.
I know it's not the first one in the series, so I kept reading about events that happened in an earlier book. A bit frustrating for me -- not that I couldn't catch up as to what happened, just that I had to catch up. Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It's a sweet romance -- nothing more than kissing happens in the book -- that has Ivy torn between a second chance with her first love and a new love. I like how Ivy struggles with her decision, seeing the good in each man. That's how life is. It's not an easy black or white decision most of the time. You have to weigh the good and bad and then hope you make the best choice. That said, I think when Ivy makes her decision (sort of), it seems a snap one. I was questioning it as the reader, and we realize Ivy was questioning it as well. Not a perfect solution there. The characters are lively and entertaining which leads to a lively and entertaining story. B rating.
August 20, 2016
I have to admit: this wasn't my favourite book in this series. It wasn't even my second- or third-favourite book in this series. It may have been my least-favourite, which is saying a lot when the top-rated book came across as mediocre at best!
Ivy is a very, very, very sad teenage girl recovering from a scandal in Maine and trying to make her way in a mining town in California, when the opportunity for fame and fortune sneaks up right out of nowhere. Soon she has an alter ego, Audacia El Dorado, and a reappearing lover from her past, all of which threatens her new life in California.
Check out my full review at Young Adult Historical Vault, and see what letter grade it ended up with. https://yahistoricalvault.com/2016/08...
Ivy is a very, very, very sad teenage girl recovering from a scandal in Maine and trying to make her way in a mining town in California, when the opportunity for fame and fortune sneaks up right out of nowhere. Soon she has an alter ego, Audacia El Dorado, and a reappearing lover from her past, all of which threatens her new life in California.
Check out my full review at Young Adult Historical Vault, and see what letter grade it ended up with. https://yahistoricalvault.com/2016/08...
July 29, 2009
Single girls from the east coast move to the California mine fields seeking husbands. The series Brides of Wildcat County tells each brides story. Audacious: Ivy's Story is about a quiet proper school teacher who writes adventure stories she sells to a Boston paper featuring the daring, talented Audacious. Ivy's writing career is discovered and her first love appears in town which causes a scandal. This a very light love story.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews