Denise Hunter has written some great Christian romances, like the fabulous Sweetbriar Cottage. Sweetbriar Cottage is a sweet (!) yet powerful exploration of the nature of unconditional love, and a great second chance romance with some deep Christian themes.
Hunter has also written some novels that have just missed the mark for me. Riverbend Gap has heroine Katie dating one brother while falling for another, while Just a Kiss hinted at the physical and mental health issues facing returned servicemen and women but didn’t deliver.
I am usually a sucker for amnesia stories, but Before We Were Us didn’t hit the right notes for me.
Jonah is about to propose to Lauren when has an accident. She wakes up having lost four months of memories, and finding the annoying guy from the rustic resort she was working at hanging around for no known reason.
Then she finds out they were dating: during the missing four months, she and Jonah moved from enemies to friends to an adoring couple planning their wedding.
Oops.
I expected the story to start with Lauren’s accident (which it did), then to move forward and show her recover and falling in love with Jonah all over again (which it didn’t).
Instead, it flitted back and forth between the present timeline, which started in September, and how she and Jonah fell in love the first time. Nice, but we knew they’d fallen in love a first time.
What I wanted to see was Lauren falling for Jonah a second time.
Both timelines were told from both points of view, and it wasn’t always clear which timeline we were in (not helped by the fact I routinely don’t read chapter headings, which I know is a me problem).
As a result, I found it hard to engage with the story and with the characters and found the story ultimately unsatisfying.
Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.
About Denise Hunter
Denise Hunter is the internationally published bestselling author of more than 30 books, including “The Convenient Groom” and “A December Bride” which have been made into Hallmark movies. She has appeared on the The 700 club and won awards such as The Holt Medallion Award, The Carol Award, The Reader’s Choice Award, The Foreword Book of the Year Award, and is a RITA finalist.
Denise writes heartwarming, small-town love stories. Her readers enjoy the vicarious thrill of falling in love and the promise of a happily-ever-after sigh as they savor the final pages of her books.
In 1996, inspired by the death of her grandfather, Denise began her first book, writing while her children napped. Two years later it was published, and she’s been writing ever since. Her husband says he inspires all her romantic stories, but Denise insists a good imagination helps too!
When Denise isn’t orchestrating love lives on the written page, she enjoys traveling with her family, drinking good coffee, and playing drums. Denise makes her home in Indiana where she and her husband raised three boys and are currently enjoying an empty nest.
Find Denise Hunter online at:
About Before We Were Us
She can’t remember. He can’t forget.
When Lauren Wentworth wakes up in the hospital after falling from a ladder, she has more questions than answers. Way more. She knows where she is—the wilds of New Hampshire. But she’s apparently lost the last four months of her life. Is she really contemplating forfeiting her big-city dream job for a position at a rustic resort? And how did her number one nemesis become her adoring boyfriend?
Jonah Landry is crushed to learn Lauren has forgotten their entire summer together. Terrified of losing her for good, he determines to help her remember their deep connection as she finishes her obligation to the resort. But soon it becomes apparent Lauren doesn’t want to remember falling in love with him or rethinking the entire course of her career. She wants to pretend the summer never happened and move on with her life. Without him.
As Lauren falls back into the steady routines of resort work with Jonah, she’s relieved her memories haven’t returned and remains resolute about her big-city future. But as autumn leads into winter, she begins to see glimpses of the Jonah she’s forgotten. Will she be able to resist the steady love of this patient man? Or Is her heart destined for its own freefall?
Find Before We Were Us online at:
Amazon | BookBub | ChristianBook | Koorong
