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Book Review – A May Bride

12 Tuesday May 2015

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cover40522-mediumA May Bride

by Meg Moseley

“Meg Moseley follows her stellar debut with this lovely dive down south . . . this inspirational tale is destined to be another winner.” -Julie Cantrell (on Gone South)

A year’s worth of novellas from twelve inspirational romance authors. Happily ever after guaranteed.

She thinks she has prepared for her wedding all her life . . . but it seems she may have forgotten the most important part.

Ellie Martin, a country girl in Atlanta, has dreamed of a traditional wedding all her life-a wedding just like the one her younger sister is planning back home. Their single mom will pay for Alexa’s wedding, but Ellie started her own wedding fund years ago. She only needs to find a groom.

At a wedding at her church, Ellie bumps into a man who’s one of the guests. She’s noticed him around the neighborhood, but today he introduces himself as Gray Whitby. They embark on a whirlwind romance, but her mother doesn’t trust freewheeling men like Gray.

When Ellie risks her own future for her sister’s sake, Gray feels betrayed. Will he always play second fiddle to Ellie’s family?

Will Ellie and Gray reconcile their differences so her dream wedding can come true, or will the romance they’ve begun come crashing down?

I totally understood Ellie and her troubles.  Feeling like she needs to follow other peoples wants, learning how to set boundaries in her life is very tough for her.  With the kind of mother she has, it is easy to get why she hesitates so much with stepping away from the path her mom decides is right. 

Managing family expectations is never easy, but Ellie’s packs a little extra punch.   Then she meets Gray and he’s definitely hard to resist (I was half in love with him myself).  It’s an emotional journey for her but one that makes their HEA all the sweeter. 

I have really been enjoying these little novellas – they are nice bite size romantic treats, quick reads with a lot of heart, and they’ve exposed me to new authors as well.  With A May Bride Moseley delivers a winner.  It is a story of emotions, troubles and love, with complicated family dynamics and personal growth. 

Book Review – An April Bride

05 Sunday Apr 2015

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cover39362-mediumA charming wedding novella set in the spring. What will happen when love and wedding plans come together this April?

War changes everything . . . even their love.

Bride-to-be Stella Carson can’t wait to marry her longtime sweetheart Marshall Henderson. But Marshall has been away serving his country and has suffered a head wound. After being diagnosed with post-traumatic disorder, he has distanced himself from Stella, asking her not to visit him in the Washington, D.C. hospital. Marshall returns to Louisiana just four weeks before the wedding, but as the big day draws near, Stella wonders if the man she’s loved for most of her life has become someone else.

Can true love conquer all for Stella and Marshall? Even the tragedy of war?

I don’t know how I would handle the situation Stella finds herself in, but I can guarantee I wouldn’t do half as good of a job as she does.  It’s a rough ride for both of them as Marsh and Stella learn to navigate a world where things aren’t the same as they were before he went to war.  He’s struggling to find his place in the world and she’s trying to figure out if that place includes her.  They have a lifetime of love behind them as well as their faith in God but it doesn’t make it easy. 

An April Bride definitely will tug on your emotions.  Both of them are strong and caring, trying so very hard to do the right thing, but just not knowing what that is.  I found myself being pulled between the two because I had a great understanding of the struggles both of them are going thru and hoping that somehow it all works out.  (Which you know it will because it is a love story but it’s touch and go until the end.)

I love these novellas – all of them I have read have been packed full of good things in just a handful of pages and I’ve been introduced to new authors, like Worth, who are definitely going on my list of go-to authors.  She’s got that perfect mixture of emotion, faith and love, with a little humor thrown in to keep it real.  I’ll definitely be looking at the rest of her booklist. 

If you are looking for something that makes your cry and laugh and root for a happy ending, An April Bride is the perfect choice. 

Book Review – A January Bride

16 Saturday Aug 2014

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cover40307-mediumPart of A Year of Wedding Novella series

In A January Bride by Deborah Raney, what will happen when novelist Madeleine Houser’s “pen pal” friendship with a lonely widower takes an unexpected turn?

Who can work in a house that’s overrun by contractors and carpenters? Not Madeleine Houser, a successful novelist who gladly accepts the help of her octogenarian friend, Ginny, to arrange for a temporary office in the charming bed and breakfast owned by Ginny’s friend, Arthur. Maddie’s never met the innkeeper – but a friendship grows between them as Maddie and Arthur leave messages for each other each day. To Maddie’s alternate delight and chagrin, she seems to be falling for the inn’s owner – a man who’s likely many years her senior – and who she’s never even met.

So we’re only a couple of chapters in before it is revealed that Arthur isn’t an old man like Maddie thinks.  He’s a young widower with a unique friendship with Ginny, just like her.  But we get to be there as Maddie and Art learn more about each other thru notes left to each other every day.  It’s quaint and old-fashioned … and very warming.  I love that they take time to write heartfelt notes, even if they are short and sometimes mundane.  It’s sweet that they each develop a crush on what they think is an older person, someone who isn’t actually a romantic possibility.

Maddie hasn’t had a good history with her relationships and Art still has some feelings of guilt and uncertainty about moving on from his first wife.  So when they find out that there feelings could lead to something more, they have to decide if their timing is right and if they are willing to give romance a chance.

For a sweet, fast read that will leave you with that warm-fuzzy, A January Bride is the perfect choice.

Book Review – A December Bride

10 Sunday Aug 2014

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cover36471-mediumWhat started as a whim turned into an accidental – and very public – engagement. Can Layla and Seth keep up the facade in Chapel Springs this holiday season – for the sake of her career . . . and his heart?

Under normal circumstances, Seth Murphy, the best friend of Layla O’Reilly’s ex-fiance would be the last person she’d marry. But the news of their upcoming (and phony) nuptials convinces a big client that Layla may be high-society enough to work for his agency, a coup that would put her fledgling home-staging business on the map. Seth has secretly loved Layla for years, even when she was dating his best friend. Maybe she’ll never forgive him for the way he hurt her back then, but he has to try. And Layla is willing to keep up their engagement farce until she’s landed her client. For Layla, it’s the chance to save her career. But for Seth, it’s his last chance to win her heart. A year’s worth of novellas from twelve inspirational romance authors. Happily ever after guaranteed.

A December Bride is a sugary sweet story, perfect to remind readers about the miracles of the holiday season.  It’s actually book 1.5 in Hunter’s Chapel Springs series – I haven’t read the first book (although the second full length story is in my TBR pile) and I didn’t really find that it made that much of a difference … although there were some hints about what happened in the first one.  It was more of an “ooh, what happened” moment than anything that would interfere in reading this one.

And I loved Seth and Layla together.  They were friends, they were on the borderline of maybe going somewhere romantic, then she started dating his best friend.  That relationship ended badly and Layla blamed Seth for some of what happened, which destroyed their friendship.  Now thrown together by a fake engagement (it does make sense in context), they have the chance to find out whether their pretend relationship could turn into something real.

Seth has to deal with the fact that he had feelings for his friends girl and that he has some responsibility (very slight) for the hurt she felt when that relationship ended.  He’s caring and hardworking and wants very much to have a second chance with Layla.

Layla still has a lot of bitterness and anger toward her ex and with Seth.  Now thrown together with him for the good of her business, she remembers all the reasons why they were friends … and with the possibility for more.  But she has to decide if she is willing to let go of those past hurts and look to the future.

Novella in length, Hunter still manages to pack a fantastic story into just a few pages.  She manages to give readers a detailed history of their relationship, setting up their happy ending nicely, but still telling a complete and in-depth romance in the present.  A December Bride is compelling and sweet, full of so much sappy, happy love.

Book Review – A March Bride

27 Sunday Apr 2014

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cover38126-mediumIn this sweet romance by award-winning author Rachel Hauck, royal wedding plans are in the air, but the bride is being asked to give up so much for her new life that her groom-to-be is worried she may not return from her most recent visit home.

A year’s worth of novellas from twelve inspirational romance authors. Happily ever after guaranteed.

Susanna has found her true prince, and their happily ever after is just around the corner. But when Nate asks her to give up something precious to her, Susanna can’t help but wonder if it’s a sign that their love is not meant to be.

Susanna Truitt (Once Upon A Prince) is three weeks from royalty. She’ll soon marry King Nathaniel II of Brighton Kingdom. But when the government insists she renounce her American citizenship before the wedding, coupled with the lack of involvement by family and friends, Susanna’s heart begins to doubt whether this marriage is God’s plan for her.

Nathaniel would do anything for his bride-to-be. But he knows his position requires that she give up a lot to be with him. Her life will never be her own-right down to her very identity. When she travels home to St. Simon’s Island, Georgia, right before the wedding, Nathaniel fears she won’t return. Gathering his courage, he devises a plan to win his bride all over again, and together they seek out a kingdom to treasure above all.

I thought Once Upon a Prince was fantastic and I’m happy to see a follow-up for Susanna and Nate.  (There is a sequel Princess Ever After, which isn’t a continuation of their story like this one, but I will be reviewing that one in the future so keep an eye out.)  It’s was nice to see what happened to them after they fought to be able to get married – the changes that have to be made and the sacrifices that Susanna has to make to marry a king.  Like the first story, there is a little bit of political fighting in A March Bride but it wasn’t quite as prevalent as it was in OUaP, probably because this one is just a novella.

Instead we get two people who have fears about their future and how they address those.  It’s very sweet and very real.  Everyone has reason to doubt that they are doing the right thing when they make as momentous change as getting married, but for Susanna it is even bigger because it is on an international scale, in front of the press, and the world.  And once she moves forward it is even more final because she’s marrying the life-time leader of a country – to go from small-town Georgia to queen is a big step and it would make anyone cautious.

Nate loves his bride-to-be and we get to see that he is once again will to fight for her and her happiness.  He’s got a lot going on being king but he also knows the value of a good woman who will support him and love him for him.  He also knows that if she won’t give up this last thing to be queen, he’ll either lose her or the crown.  Once again, Hauk delivers Prince Charming (or I guess here it would be King Charming) and his actions to make Susanna happy are just wonderful.

It’s pretty much a must to have read Once Upon a Prince, but considering what a wonderful book it was I don’t think anyone should hesitate.  If you dream of meeting your own Prince Charming or loved the idea of Prince William and Kate, then this is definitely the series for you.  You can’t find a better hero than Nate … be prepared for him to once again sweep you off your feet.