Review: Love in the Details by Becky Wade

Practically Perfect

Love in the Details is another novella in the Zondervan Year of Weddings series, each of which is a standalone novella. I’ve read several of them, and Love in the Details is definitely one of the better stories in the series. Becky Wade is an excellent author, who manages to inject just the right level of humour into what could have been a depressingly sad story.

Holly Morgan fell in love with Josh Bowen at high school, but broke up with him during their first year of college. What he never knew—because she never told him—is that she broke up at the request of his mother, who was afraid he’d throw his college scholarship and come home to Texas. Holly broke up with him, he never came home, and how he’s a tech billionaire (oh, gone are the days where mere millionaires were considered romantic heroes!).

Now Josh is temporarily back in Martinsburg, Texas, for his best friend’s wedding. He’s best man, and Holly is the church wedding liaison, which throws them together once more, and Holly finds Josh still hasn’t forgiven her … and she still hasn’t gotten over him. Will they be able to get over their past and find true love? Well, this is a romance novella, so the answer to that should be pretty obvious.

However, Love in the Details manages to be more than a cliché romance. The writing is excellent, both characters are lovable and well-developed, and the combination of internal conflict and external attraction makes this an excellent short read. Recommended.

Thanks to Zondervan and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

Review: Every Girl Gets Confused by Janice Thompson

Read Every Bride Needs a Groom First

Amazon Description

Katie Fisher and Brady James may be a match made in heaven, but that doesn't seem to guarantee them a happily ever after accompanied by angelic choirs. In fact, the sounds being heard at the bridal shop where she works are on the contentious side lately, as a bride- and groom-to-be try to mediate the growing rivalry between their basketball-obsessed families in the middle of play-off season. On top of that, Katie's parents are nagging her to get out of Dallas and come home to tiny Fairfield where her former boyfriend Carson is waiting for her, ready to rekindle their relationship. Oy vey! What's a girl to do? And will she ever be able to wear that gorgeous wedding dress she won?

My Review

This is the second novel in a series, and I probably would have enjoyed it more if I’d have read the first book, Every Bride Needs a Groom. There are two reasons for this: it appears the story carries straight on from the first book, and there are so many characters, I got confused more than once trying to remember who was who. Of course, now I’ve read Every Girl Gets Confused, there’s no need for me to read Every Bride Gets a Groom, because I’ve pretty much sussed out all the important things that happened.

No, Katie wasn’t the only one to get confused. Actually, the title in itself was confusing, because Katie a) wasn’t a bride, and b) wasn’t confused. In fact, she seemed to be the most unconfused person in the novel, as her major confusion was around why Brady wasn’t forward in telling her how he felt (clue: he’s a man, and while many fictional heroes are happy baring their hearts, Brady was more, well, human).

Every Bride Gets Confused was written in the first person, entirely from Katie’s point of view. This was both a strength and a weakness—while I enjoy novels written in first person, especially when they have plenty of humour, the weakness is we are never able to see what Brady is thinking. The other possible weakness is that Katie is a pretty together person and her voice doesn’t have as much humour as I’d expect in romantic comedy. However, there was still plenty of comedy, mostly from her family. There was also too much introspection from Katie at times, particularly in the beginning, and this made it hard for me to get into the story.

Once I got into the story I very much enjoyed it, and appreciated the understated spiritual truths. But the spiritual and life lessons were mostly lessons learned by Brady and the supporting characters, which made Katie feel more like the observer/narrator than the centre of the story. I came away feeling Katie is a person I’d like to have as a friend because she’s hard-working, stable and a strong Christian, but I never got the feeling she went through any major confusion or character change herself.

Overall, Every Bride Gets Confused was enjoyable, but not as good as Red Like Crimson, which I recently reviewed.

Thanks to Revell and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

Review: One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

I am not the target reader for this book.

I bought it a year ago on the recommendation of two friends, and I still haven’t finished it. I’m not going to: I picked it up again, and I simply don’t get the appeal. The writing is too esoteric, too literary for my taste, as though it's focusing on beautiful words at the expense of being understood. Some sentences I read and reread and still don’t know what they say.

I love the concept: Count your blessings (literally). Be thankful. Show gratitude. Live in joy. Live in communion with God. Live fully right where you are. But that, for me, should be simple. And One Thousand Gifts is anything but, as I continually find the language getting in the way of the message.

It has over a thousand five-star reviews on Amazon, but my opinion is firmly aligned with the 10% minority who give it one or two stars. Two stars on Amazon means “I didn’t like it”; one star means “I hated it”. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I hated it. As I said, I like the idea. My issue is with the execution, as one sentence that is simply beautiful is followed by one that might as well be written in another language. But I didn’t like it (which will still mean just one star on Goodreads, which has a different rating system).

Ironically, the one and two-star reviews show up as “Most Helpful” on the Amazon page, with thousands of “helpful” votes between the top three reviews. Perhaps this suggests just as many people dislike this book as love it, but as good Christians they follow the Bambi rule and don’t wish to write a critical review. I can see their point. I’m writing this review, but I won’t be posting it on Amazon.

Writing, to me, is about reading. It’s about expressing an idea in words your reader can understand, appreciate, apply. One Thousand Gifts has obviously spoken to thousands, perhaps millions, of women, but I’m not one of them. I just don’t get it. I don’t get the language, and I don’t get the appeal.

One Thousand Gifts counts towards my 2015 Reading Challenge as a book with a number in the title.

Review: Dubosity by Christy Barritt

Excellent Suspense!

Savannah Harris left her life as an investigative journalist following the death of her husband and daughter, but she finds herself getting deeper than she’d like when immigrant workers harvesting local crops begin to disappear and there are whispers of murder.

Dubosity is an excellent thriller, with enough of a touch of romance to keep me happy. There was plenty of suspense, especially as the reader knows Savannah is being watched … but we don’t know by whom. But there are plenty of likely suspects, including landowner Landon Kavanaugh, and Clive Miller, who is new in town.

Savannah is an intelligent and likeable character, despite abandoning God and withdrawing from life following the death of her family, and it was easy to want her to determine the identity of the evildoer, rediscover her faith, and get her happy-ever-after.

The writing was excellent. I have read one or two of Barritt’s earlier books, and while they were good, they were shorter works of fiction, and this was better: the longer novel gave more opportunity for subplots and character development, and it was well done. Recommended for suspense fans.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

Review: Love’s a Stage by Rene Gutteridge and Cheryl McKay

Deception ... for a good cause?

Aly Brewster and Nick Armstrong have been friends for five years, since their first year in college. They’re both now in grad school, with Aly studying to become a marriage therapist like her father, and Nick studying theatre. Nick’s been in love with Aly for years, but she’s always rebuffed his proposals, believing an actor won’t make a good marriage partner. Her ambition is to have the perfect marriage, like her parents.


But all isn’t well in the Brewster household, and Aly comes up with a ridiculous plan to get her parents to see they are meant to be together: she’ll announce her engagement, and beg them not to announce their divorce until after her ceremony. Now to find a groom … Well, who better to ask than the theatre major?

I could admire Aly’s desire to see her parents together and determination to make that succeed, although that didn’t entirely cover my discomfort at the way she treated Nick. Not that Nick was unwilling—the opposite—but I didn’t think Aly-the-future-couples-therapist did a good job in considering whether or not what she was asking was ethical or appropriate. Or kind.

Nick is equally determined. Despite being rejected time and time again, he still loves Aly and is convinced she’s the only woman for him … which is why he agrees to go through with her ridiculous scheme (and I’m sorry, but it really is ridiculous. But it makes a great plot for a novel!). But even he doesn’t bargain on how difficult he will find it to pretend to be engaged to Aly, especially around her parents. I don’t want to add spoilers, but the awkward why-do-you-want-to-marry-my-daughter scene was simply brilliant (even Aly thought so!).

The one thing (two things?) that didn’t work for me about Love’s a Stage were the prologue and epilogue. They were in a different viewpoint and voice than the rest of the novel, and one which was less attractive, less endearing and less readable. It wasn’t a good way to start, and the epilogue left me with a quizzical ‘say-what?’ expression where I should have had a smile (I did have a smile at the end of the last chapter).

An enjoyable romance, recommended for those who like contemporary Christian romance especially with the friends to more plot.

Thanks to Redbud Press for providing a free ebook for review.