Four Weddings and a Kiss... #notTheWedding #justabookreview

Well, yes, I do have weddings on my mind at the moment. One particular Wedding, as beloved son and beloved daughter-in-law get married in a couple of weeks' time.

Yet marriage, as we know, is both fairytale and in-real-life, romantic and prosaic... just so with the four stories gathered together in this book.

The book opens with a conundrum: a preacher in love with an Unsuitable Girl finds himself on the receiving end of wise advice from four older preachers, sitting round a fire, telling stories...stories of unlikely marriages to similarly Unsuitable females.

Each story has a happy ending for its unlikely heroine: a girl who behaves like a boy - until she has to help her neighbour with womanly tasks, thereby discovering her femininity while demonstrating her strength. A clever, independent woman is more than competent at running a newspaper. A plucky victim of a tornado, unwillingly accepting help to rebuild her ranch and her life. And a vulnerable woman, unjustly accused of murder, who nevertheless comports herself with winsome dignity.

The women are not 'rescued' by a handsome prince -whether that be a hard-working rancher, an ambitious editor, a wandering cowboy or a conservative lawyer - yet each one discovers strength in herself and in the relationship. There are five happy endings in this book: the four stories, and the story of the confused preacher who finds... yes, he finds that his Unsuitable Girl is, in fact, eminently suitable to be a preacher's wife.

Although written by four different authors - Mary Connealy, Robin Lee Hatcher, Margaret Brownley and Debra Clopton - the stories form an agreeable whole. For an enjoyable, light read, it is well worth looking out for more from the same authors.

Western romance is not my particular interest, but I was given this free of charge by Booklook Bloggers, who always offer quality books. This was no exception.

Lists. #wedding

Just over three weeks to go. Jonny arrives for a few days next Friday, so we'll be able to catch up.

Meanwhile, I am writing lists. And lists of lists. Ticking items off - hat, shoes and bag sorted, thanks to the kindness of a dear friend.

So far the list looks like this:

Wedding necessities

Electrical

Small gazebo for generator

Protective netting ditto

Protective red and white tape

Plastic stakes

Duck tape (? Maybe it's actually called DUCT tape. I know it as Bodge Tape. The silver stuff, anyway.)

Screwdrivers  pliers etc

Warning signs – car triangles and laminated signs: no entry and electrical hazard

Scissors. And The Toolbox - you never know...

4 x RCD lights

Christmas lights

Long string of fairy lights

4 x coloured lights

Portable LED light

Fripperies

Dried rose petals

Printed and cut up photos

As for everything else...it's all in hand...

Lights! #wedding

Hmmm... generators.  How much power/how little power.... quotes from companies for all amounts of power...

Meanwhile, we have or have planned:
tea light lanterns and jam jars
garden solar-powered lights
strings and strings of fairy lights
battery-powered lights...
and...disco lights!  Remotely controlled in a myriad of colours. Richard is fascinated by them....

It will be BEAUTIFUL.

Holidays...and the countdown begins. #wedding

Sunday, July 6th.  In four weeks' time, Jonny and Adele's wedding will be over and they will be married.

So much to do, so little time.

But actually, all is well in hand. The church is booked; the music and service and all those helping; the venue: a marquee in a country field; the dresses: sorted. Even mine: I whizzed into town yesterday and, with the decisive help of Hero Husband, found two dresses (in the summer sale: bonus) after trying on six in three different shops, all in fifty minutes from start to finish. Result.

Now it is tying up the details. A friend and I have dried rose petals and poppy seed heads. Adele, my beautiful lovely daughter-in-law-to-be, has created and collected all kinds of artistic decorations. Her mum, Judy, and I have had The Hat conversation. (Yes, we will.) And Hero Husband is busy investigating all the electrical needs....

A May Bride - book review

Starting to catch up on book reviews. Phew. Takes a while.


A May Bride by Meg Moseley is another light romance in the series 'A Year of Weddings'.  Fun, as Ellie (Ellison) Martin meets the man of her dreams, Gray Whitby, embarks on a whirlwind romance and becomes engaged - quite quickly, it seems to me, as this happens before we have even reached halfway through the  book.

But all is not plain sailing. Throw in some doubts and divided loyalties, as Ellie seeks to placate her controlling mother and keep her younger sister, Alexa, happy. Alexa's wedding looms, but then, when her mother discovers that Alexa and her fiance have put 'bed before the wed', her mother refuses to pay for the wedding and all the plans are thrown in turmoil. Ellie, who has saved for her wedding since she left high school, generously gives her wedding fund to Alexa: without asking Gray first.

He is, understandably, upset that she has made such a major decision - which impacts hugely on their own wedding plans - without asking him. So the road to a happy ever after ending becomes rocky and uneven.

There are quirky details in the book. Ellie meets Gray when he is guest at a 'guerrilla wedding'.  Ellie, a country girl who lives in the city of Atlanta, is secretly 'guerrilla gardening' in a churchyard, pulling up weeds and enjoying the peace when a wedding party arrives. Avoiding fees, the couple are married, unbeknownst to the resident minister, in the churchyard. Gray notices Elllie hiding in the bushes and....so Boy meets Girl.

Ellie's relationship with her mother is one which many girls - particularly eldest daughters - will recognise. Feeling an undue sense of responsibility to keep her single mother happy, Ellie does not always put her relationship with Gray first, causing tension between the couple.  Ellie is also at risk of jeopardising her own happiness while also sacrificing her future plans to her self-centred younger sister.

All works out well in the end: Ellie is married, her mother makes compromises and the story ends with hope for the future. Not just the young married couples, but also for the older generation as Ellie's mom is brought to a different realisation about her daughters' lives.

An interesting, albeit very light, read. My thanks to BookLook Bloggers and Zondervan for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book: I am enjoying this 'Year of Weddings' series and am looking forward to the next one.

First barbecue of the summer... Yay!

Nashville Sweetheart by Rachel Hauck: a book review

In this intriguing romance set in Nashville, Aubrey James has been a country music star for a decade. She had performed on stage since she was a small child, but rocketed to fame after her parents, who had pioneered gospel music, were killed. A private person, Aubrey is forced to enter the public eye after a former close friend and associate betrays her. Yet the reporter interviewing her for the country music magazine 'Inside NashVegas' digs up someone from her past she would rather forget. As her world seems to collapse around her (Aubrey breaks off her engagement to a rich businessman and fights with her label over the sort of music she wants to produce), Aubrey finds herself falling in love with the reporter and at the same time rediscovers her faith in God.

I love Rachel Hauck's books and take every opportunity to read her writing and have, in fact, read this book twice (I obtained it free of charge from Booksneeze in exchange for an unbiased review). Yet I found the language difficult. Not only is much of it written in the first person, but also the points of view change as each of the two main characters speak in turn. This is not a writing style I enjoy and I found it distracting. Nevertheless, I was drawn into the story and started caring about the characters.  By halfway through the book I had become involved and found that I really did want to know the ending.

I'm not sure I'd read another book in the Nashville series, but can recommend Rachel Hauck as a writer.