Minding Benji

Sweethearts of Jubilee Springs, Book 5

By: Sandra E Sinclair, Sweethearts Jubilee Springs, Sweet Americana

Narrated by: C.J. McAllister

Length: 3 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Prudence Fairchild went from riches to rags. The world she knew was swept from under her with the death of her parents. Destined to a life of servitude, she realizes the struggles of being poor comes with the risk of being taken advantage of.

She uses everything in her to ward off the advances of her employer. His threats to have her on his return from a business trip drives Prudence into action. She must get away and protect her virtue at any cost. It's all she has left. As a last resort, she answers an advertisement to be a mail order bride.

Austin Alwin is not happy about the condition placed on him in his uncle's will. If he is to keep the only home he's ever known, he must find a wife within a few weeks or lose it all. As time is of the essence, he forgoes all the usual protocols in obtaining a mail order bride and will only have a few short days to make up his mind once he meets her.

Both Prudence and Austin are about to have a life altering decision to make as they are faced with an unexpected addition to their pending nuptials.

Will this bundle of joy pull the couple together or tear them apart?

©2017 Sandra E Sinclair (P)2017 Sandra E Sinclair

Mail Order Romance 3 hours

In this enjoyable, lightly Christian, mail order bride story, Prudence turns to arranged marriage to escape an aggressive lascivious employer and travels West to meet Austen, who has to marry to keep his home.

Sweet and Clean

This book is a sweet and clean listen set in the past (my guess is mid to late 1800's). The author wrote interesting characters that fit their time. The narrator did an awesome job performing the various characters and giving the right emotions. My review is not a synopsis of the book, but rather my opinion of it. This is a standalone listen and part of a series. I was provided with this review copy audiobook at no charge and have voluntarily written this review.

very sweet!

I really enjoyed this super sweet romance. I loved these characters and how their story developed. Narration was great - really great job of bringing these characters to life.

Minding Benji

A short but very enjoyable story.
Narrative was enjoyable even if at times it come across a little monotone/stilted.

Making a change...with a baby

Prudence knew she needed to make a change and the solution she found was to become a mail order bride. What she didn't plan on was having her brother leave her with his baby son right before she left to meet her intended. Austin needed a bride and getting a mail order bride seemed like the best solution. One thing Austin was sure of was that he was NOT father material, so when his bride shows up with a baby, he feels he has been lied to.
Fun and sweet western romance. The conversations between Prudence and Austin become my favorite part as she tried to explain multiple times that the baby was her nephew.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.

An escape from a lecherous beast, may destroy her!

A young girl, orphaned and left in supposed safe hands, find that the husband in the house as nefarious designs on her.
Her escape and consequently the taking charge of her nephew, may have put her safety in jeopardy.
It must have taken courage for gentlee women to cross a continent, in times when traveling unescorted was frowned upon. However, many were escaping unsuitable situations, praying that what they were heading to would be better.
With a shortage of "God fearing" women, a man really didn't know what would land on his doorstep, when asked a bride to join him.

The author nailed another one

If you could sum up Minding Benji in three words, what would they be?

Engaging, fun, entertaining

Who was your favorite character and why?

Benji. For a baby, he seemed to know that God had his best interest at heart and was going to make everything ok.

Have you listened to any of C.J. McAllister’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes. He did another good job with this book also.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, it was a quick listen.

Any additional comments?

I got this book via audiobook boom and enjoyed it. The story was well developed and ended well.

A sweet mail order bride romance

What made the experience of listening to Minding Benji the most enjoyable?

I loved the story of the mail order bride who ran away from a bad situation, and ended up with a man who misunderstood what he was getting himself into.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Minding Benji?

One of the most memorable moments for me, was when Austin found out that Benji was not Prudence's son by birth, but by that time he had already fallen in love with both Prudence & Benji.

Which scene was your favorite?

At the end, when the two main characters finally admitted their love to one another, out loud. Beautifully done!

Any additional comments?

I thought the narrator did a great job of changing his voice just enough to let us know who was speaking, and yet it sounded like someone telling me this wonderful story. Great job!

Sweet historical romance

A lovely mail-order bride story. The narrator is excellent. Highly recommend if you are looking for a sweet romance listen. I received a free review copy of this audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.

Sweet novella with a good, solid story

Would you listen to Minding Benji again? Why?

I wouldn't listen to Minding Benji again. It was a good one time novella, but I don't typically listen to or read books more than once unless they are absolutely fabulous-I'm talking Game of Thrones good. That isn't to say that this isn't a good novella though.

What did you like best about this story?

I was just a good, sweet novella that was enjoyable to listen to. There wasn't one particular thing that stuck out as the "best" part of the story. I suppose if I had to pick something, it would be the end, where everything falls into place as it should and everyone gets their happy ending.

Have you listened to any of C.J. McAllister’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This was my first C.J. McAllister narrated novel, so I have nothing to compare it to, though I think he did a good job with the narration.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I didn't have an extreme reaction to this novella either way. It was a sweet novella, but at under 4 hours, it makes it difficult to really fall in love with the characters. It was a solid listen though and there was more character development in this novella compared to others that I've listened to that are around this length and a little longer.

Any additional comments?

I have to say that I can't stand the cover image. Pru looks to be all of 12 years old and Benji was obviously photographed in different lighting and clearly Photoshopped in. Since the cover is the first introduction to the novella, I had this image of Pru in my head which stuck with me throughout listening to the book. For this reason, I had a more difficult time connecting to the main character. I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher for an honest review.