Close to a perfect romance
Author Madeleine Houser has moved to Clayburn, Kansas, to be near her sick mother. She’s living in her sister’s house, but the endless renovations are making it impossible for her to write. So her 80-year-old neighbour, Ginny, makes a suggestion: that she write at a local guest house, owned by Ginny’s widowed friend, Arthur Tyler, an English professor at a nearby college.
Maddy doesn’t meet Art, but is introduced to him through the note he leaves for her, which she replies to, starting a daily correspondence. She thinks Ginny might be interested in Art and tries to set the two up, only to find Art is actually only in his thirties. For his part, Art was convinced Maddie was much older, so is equally surprised when they meet and the sparks begin to fly.
I really enjoyed A January Bride . I liked both Maddie and Art, and it was fun to watch them get together (and then suffer. As Madeleine says, it’s “the bane of an author’s existence—the need to make her beloved characters suffer”). It is a novella, so it’s a quick read, but it’s a lot of fun. The writing was excellent, and I especially liked the way the author fall victim to the common fault of trying to cram in too much plot or too many characters. Close to the perfect romance.
A January Bride is the first title I’ve read by Deborah Raney, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.
Thanks to Zondervan and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Deborah Raney at her blog.
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