In The House that Love Built, Beth Wiseman brings her readers a touching story about learning to love again and finding both faith and family.  Brooke Holloway has always lived in the small Texas town of Smithville.  She married her high school sweetheart, only to lose him too young.  Now she’s raising their two kids and running the family’s hardware store.  Owen Saunders came to town purely out of spite.  He’s fresh out of a bitter divorce and has bought the kind of house his ex always talked about having, only he realizes that it is more house, and work, than he needs.  Still in love with his ex, he befriends Brooke and her kids but makes it known that he isn’t ready for anything more.  Which is fine with Brooke, she can’t imagine replacing her husband and her son is definitely not ready to see a man in her life.  But as they spend more time together, their attraction builds.  Are they ready to let the past go and move on with each other?

There is a large cast of characters involved in this story and all of them are compelling.  In addition to Owen and Brooke, Wiseman introduces us to Brooke’s mother and estranged father, Owen’s uncle Denny, the town’s screw-up Hunter, his grandmother and his drug addict parents.  The best part of this story is how it’s about all of these characters learning to forgive where forgiveness is needed, give second chances, and love one another.  I think Hunter touched my heart the most.  He’s had such a rough life for one so young and there are parts of his story that brought tears to my eyes.  All of them are dear to me, but he is the one I fell for the hardest.

The House That Love Built is billed as a love story but it is so much more – it’s about finding a place in the world you can call home and realizing that family is more than the people you are related to.