Tag: Contemporary Romance

I’m alone in the battle of a lifetime and have no idea how to even begin the fight.

Book Review | Love and the Dream Come True by Tammy L Gray

Cameron Lee isn’t living the music star dream.

Sure, he has two albums and an award-winning single, but now he’s contractually obliged to provide the label with a third album, but he’s lost his desire to write or even sing. First, he has to go home and attend his baby sister’s wedding … and hopefully not face up to the mistakes of his past.

Lexie Walters is the twenty-nine-year-old guardian/mother to Morgan, who is thirteen-going-on-forty. Despite being orphaned and having to drop out of college to raise her niece before the age of twenty, Lexi is the eternal optimist who doesn’t let things list clocks and lists get int he way of enjoying life. (To be honest, that annoyed me at first but she did grow on me). She’s an interior designer who has just bought a house with her contractor cousin that they plan to renovate and flip. And she’s had a crush on her best friend’s older brother since she was thirteen.

He’s a singer … Cameron Lee.

So yes, we know where this story is going.

I will say I found the beginning a little confusing. I’ve been watching old episodes of House, and so it took me a few pages to work out that Cameron was the hero, not the heroine. However, it was immediately obvious that Morgan was female, not male 🙂

It also took me a couple of chapters to realise the book is written in first person from both points of view—Cameron’s and Lexie’s—so it was important for me to read the chapter titles so I knew which character I was reading. Yes, I usually ignore chapter titles (because I find too many give spoilers).

The story picked up in pace and interest once Cameron and Lexie meet at the wedding.

They then discover Cameron is staying in town, renting a house two doors down from the house Lexie is renovating. That gives lots of opportunities to bring the two together and allow their relationship to develop.

It’s obvious from early on that Lexie has a strong Christian faith.

Cameron is a believer, but has struggling with faith for several years, since he left home to chase his music dream. His journey back to faith isn’t explicit, but it’s also obvious that it’s tied up with his journey back to music, and that is clearly shown. So while the novel isn’t all rah-rah-Jesus, it is definitely a Christian story … but one that a non Christian might also be interested in reading.

Love and the Dream Come True is the third book in Tammy L Gray’s State of Grace series, following Love and a Little White Lie and Love and the Silver Lining. I’ve read the whole series but have to admit that I can’t remember anything about the previous books except that I really enjoyed them (which is why I requested a review copy of this one).

Love and the Dream Come True by Tammy L Gray is a fun contemporary Christian romance featuring a music star and an interior designer. #ChristianRomance Share on X

However, I never felt as though I’d missed anything in not remembering. To me, that’s the market of a well-written novel, when I don’t feel like I’m missing anything from not having read (or remembered) the earlier books in the series. I have since re-read my reviews and can now remember how much I did enjoy the stories. What is most interesting is how much time has passed in novel-world since the first story was released—five or six years. I’m glad I didn’t have to wait that long.

Recommended for contemporary romance fans, especially those who enjoy rock star romance or similar.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About the Author

Author Photo Tammy L GrayTammy L. Gray lives in the Dallas area with her family, and they love all things Texas, even the erratic weather patterns. She writes modern Christian romance with true-to-life characters and culturally-relevant plot lines. She believes hope and healing can be found through high quality fiction that inspires and provokes change.

Tammy is often lauded for her unique writing style within the inspirational genre, preferring to use analogies verses heavy-handed spiritual content. Her characters are real, relatable and deep, earning her a 2017 RITA award nomination in the Romance with Religious and Spiritual Elements category.

When not chasing after her three amazing kids, Tammy can be spotted with her head in a book. Writing has given her a platform to combine her passion with her ministry.

Tammy L. Gray has lots of projects going on.

You can find Tammy Gray online at:

Website Facebook Instagram Pinterest Twitter Goodreads

About Love and the Dream Come True

Their faith will face its toughest test yet.

Four years after getting the biggest break of his life, Cameron Lee’s music career has taken a nosedive, leaving him two options: become a sellout or give up on his lifelong dream. He reluctantly returns home for his sister’s wedding, hoping to avoid his past and find his love for music again.

Single mom Lexie Walters has suffered her fair share of tragedies and setbacks, but she has finally scraped together the money to achieve her dream of going into business with her cousin as an interior designer. When Lexie’s life is at an all-time high, she runs into her teenage crush, Cameron Lee.

Lost in the emotional turmoil of failure, Cameron is immediately drawn to Lexie and her infectious smile and optimistic spirit. Moreover, he adores her mouthy, no-holds-barred daughter. But fantasies only last so long, and soon Lexie and Cameron must face the real world, the one fraught with heartbreak, disappointment, and questions that sometimes can only be answered by a leap of faith.

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

First Line Friday

First Line Friday | Week #242 | To Begin Again by Emily Conrad

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. Today I’m sharing from To Begin Again by Emily Conrad, the third book in her Rhythms of Redemption Romance rock star romance collection (how’s that for alliteration?).

Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

Gannon, it's Michaela. I don't know if I should be calling you, but ...

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

 

About To Begin Again

Every dream comes at a price.

Michaela Vandehey’s reality show win transformed her from the girl whose own father ignored her into a pop singer loved by the masses. But fame has proven hard to keep. To bolster her floundering career, she heads to Wisconsin to snag a collaboration with the iconic rock band Awestruck. There, she meets bass guitarist Philip, a dad whose devotion challenges her skepticism about love and family.

Whatever faith Philip Miller had died with his wife. Now, “Amazing Grace” is nothing but a lullaby to sing to his children in her memory. Thanks to Awestruck, he can provide privileged lives for his kids, but he has no intention of finding love again. If only he weren’t so drawn to Michaela.

When he falls for her despite himself, Michaela learns the dark secret that threatens his family’s future. The grace they’ve heard so much about might grant them the fresh start they need, but to begin again, they’ll first have to sacrifice what they hold most dear.

A meaningful Christian romance with a side of fame and fortune for readers who enjoy stories where grit and grace meet and no one is beyond hope of redemption.

You can find To Begin Again online at:

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Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

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Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

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First Line Friday

First Line Friday | Week #227 | Checked Impressions by Carolyn Miller

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. Today I’m sharing from Checked Impressions by Australian author Carolyn Miller, the third book in her Original Six Hockey contemporary romance series.

Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

And now, may I draw your attention to what I consider the room's finest work if you, like me, are someone who appreciates that first impressions need not last forever.

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

 

About Checked Impressions

Sparks fly when a hometown hockey hero meets a classy art-loving museum guide hiding a secret…

Jai Mullins is used to being the fastest man on ice. Trouble is, his ability to find a genuine woman is tracking at glacial melt levels. He’s trusting God she’s out there, but he’s wary of getting trapped by a superfan, when all he wants is someone with whom he can be real.

Allie Davis has two great loves: impressionist art and hockey. More specifically, a certain hockey player. But between her shyness and her family, she’s convinced she’ll never meet him, let alone connect with him in a non-embarrassing way.

Until she does. And they connect. And romance sparks.

But she is hiding a big secret, and he’s about to find that first impressions sometimes need a reality check. Will they learn to trust and find a way forward, or will half-truths lead to further hurt on opposite sides of the country and lonely lives?

This Windy City romance has plenty of heart, humor, and swoon-worthy kisses in the third book of the Original Six, a sweet, slightly sporty Christian contemporary romance series.

You can find Checked Impressions online at:

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Click the button to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today:

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Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

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She'd had exactly four dates since high school, all of them forgettable.

Book Review | Much Ado About a Latte by Kathleen Fuller

Anita Bedford is happy in her job as a waitress at the Sunshine Diner in the small town of Maple Falls, even if it means working with Tanner Castillo, her high school crush and first kiss. But she wants to prove to her family and herself that she can do more, by buying the abandoned building next door to the diner and opening a cafe that sells proper barista coffee.

(I can only assume both rent and property are extremely cheap in Maple Falls, because every other novel I’ve read with a waitress as the heroine has shown her living paycheck to paycheck and barely able to afford rent, let alone buy a building. Or perhaps she’s got the only waitressing job in North America that pays a living wage).

Tanner Castillo’s father died when he was a child, so he and his mother have been working two jobs since forever to make ends meet and to give Tanner’s younger brother the opportunity to go to college. But he’s managed to save some money as well, because he wants to buy the Sunshine Diner and drag it into the twenty-first century with new decor and proper coffee.

Well, it’s not hard to see where the story is going and that there are problems ahead.

There’s plenty of room for tension—romantic and otherwise. The story delivers that in spades, helped by two compelling main characters who can’t both succeed …

I had a couple of reservations about the novel. First, there is a scene where a character drinks three cocktails in a very short space of time, and there are the obvious consequences. I know many Christians drink and I’m sure some drink too much, but this scene felt out of place in what I thought was a Christian rom-com. Such a scene might have fit in a novel with a theme around the dangers of excess alcohol, but I didn’t think it fit here. Of course, that statement assumes the novel is Christian fiction. While it’s categorised as Christian romance, there was nothing especially Christian about it except one character who teaches Sunday School.

The other thing I didn’t like was the ending. It felt rushed, and I thought the epilogue felt forced.

Much Ado About a Latte by Kathleen Fuller delivers romantic tension in spades, helped by two compelling main characters who can't both succeed. #BookReview #ChristianRomCom Share on X

But the other 90% of the novel was great fun, with plenty of humour and several excellent side characters. The romance builds well, and all the tension only makes the eventual payoff sweeter.

This is the second book in the Maple Falls series. I haven’t read the first, but this was a standalone novel and I didn’t feel like I’d missed anything.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Kathleen Fuller

Kathleen Fuller

With over a million copies sold, Kathleen Fuller is the author of several bestselling novels, including the Hearts of Middlefield novels, the Middlefield Family novels, the Amish of Birch Creek series, the Amish Letters series, the Brides of Birch Creek series, the upcoming Mail Order Brides of Birch Creek, as well as a middle-grade Amish series, the Mysteries of Middlefield. She has also contributed to numerous novella collections.

She and her husband James live in Arkansas and have three adult children. When she’s not writing, Kathleen is avidly crocheting, reading, and traveling, sometimes all at the same time. She runs the Facebook group Books & Hooks, which combines her love of books, crochet, and collecting recipes that she’ll never have enough time to make.

Find Kathleen Fuller online at:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest

About Much Ado About a Latte

A coffee war is brewing in Maple Falls, where Anita and Tanner are serving up plenty of steam to keep the town buzzing.

Anita Bedford needs to face reality. It’s time to decaffeinate the dream that she and Tanner will ever be more than friends. Growing up in small-town Maple Falls, she’s had a crush on Tanner for years. But he’ll only ever see her as good, old, dependable Anita. Now she’s finally ready to make her own goals a reality. In fact, that deserted building next door to Sunshine Diner looks like a promising location to open her own café.

Tanner Castillo may know how to operate a diner, but he doesn’t know beans about love. After pouring his life savings into buying the Sunshine Diner, he needs to keep his mind on making a success of it and supporting his widowed mother, not on kissing Anita Bedford. First order of business: improve his customers’ coffee experience. Next, he should probably find out who bought the building next door.

It’s a bitter cup to swallow when ambition turns longtime friends and coworkers Anita and Tanner into rivals. Now that they own competing businesses, how could they ever compete for each other’s hearts? Or will the two of them come to see what’s obvious to the whole, quirky town of Maple Falls: potential for a full-roast romance, with an extra splash of dream?

Welcome to Maple Falls, where everyone knows your name and has thoughts on your love life.

Find Much Ado About a Latte online at:

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First Line Friday

First Line Friday | Week #215 | Sunswept by Carla Laureano

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. Today I’m sharing from Sunswept by Carla Laureano, a fun novella with a fake romance (always a plot I enjoy). Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

Bailey Jensen always allowed for some discrepancies when booking a vacation rental, but she didn't remember reading anything in the listing about a man in her bathroom.

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About Sunswept

Real estate agent Bailey Jensen just wants a single quiet weekend in the midst of her goal-driven life, and a professional conference in Islamorada, Florida seems like just the thing—if she can ignore the fact she’ll be flying conspicuously solo at the company awards banquet in front of her ex-boyfriend and his new love.

Free spirit Zane Whitney would normally consider the Florida Keys his happy place, but considering he’s in Islamorada to witness his college roommate marry his ex-girlfriend, it’s the last place he wants to be. Complicate that with the fact he RSVP’d for two and he’s still conspicuously dateless, and this has all the earmarks of a humiliation in the making.

When Bailey and Zane find themselves double-booked into the same vacation rental, they realize their host’s mistake just might be the answer to their problems: share the house, act as each other’s plus-ones, and then move on with their lives. But neither Bailey nor Zane anticipates the possibility that a fake relationship might just give way to real feelings…

You can find Sunswept online at:

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Click the button to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today:

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Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

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She felt something for him. Something that was inappropriate when she was dating his brother.

Book Review | Riverbend Gap (Riverbend Romance #1) by Denise Hunter

I’ve been reading Denise Hunter novels for a long time. A couple of her early novels were a little shaky, but then she found her groove as a writer and has produced consistently readable contemporary Christian romance with consistently likeable characters falling in love. Unfortunately, I didn’t think Riverbend Gap met the standards of her more recent novels.

That’s mostly because it’s an “other man” plot (not my favourite).

Katelyn (also called Katie and Kate) is dating one man (Gavin, a recent divorcee), but accidentally falls for his brother after he saves her life. Oops. To add to the complication, Katelyn is BFFs with their younger sister, Avery, who is also her boss.

Katelyn has moved to the small town of Riverbend Gap and taken the job as nurse in Avery’s medical practice because she wants to reconnect with the mother who abandoned her and her little brother when they were small children. The town is based on the Appalachian Trail, and a lot of townspeople rely on the tourist trade for their livelihoods.

So there is a lot of angst when news comes out that the trail has to be moved for six months to repair a bridge. In true Hallmark movie style, the townspeople decide to host a festival to bring people to the town and hopefully make up for some of the lost income. (As much as I thought this was a cliche, I wish the plot had included more about the festival – it ended up being such a minor plot point that it might have been better without it).

The story has a great opening.

Katelyn is spooked by a deer on the road and has an accident, and Connor saves her life. But it soon turns when it becomes clear that Connor is interested in Katelyn, but finds she’s dating his brother.

Honestly, this was the biggest sticking point for me. I know Katelyn was a foster child who has recently lost her younger brother (another reason she’s come to Riverbend Gap: to scatter his ashes). She longs for connection to a family. But dating Brother #1 while you’re secretly attracted to Brother #2? There is nothing good about that. There is no good way to present it, and the excellent writing and deep questions weren’t enough to change my mind.

And Katelyn keeps dating Gavin for months, long after she should have ended their relationship for both their sakes. Yes, it’s a romance so everything ends nicely, but the ending came too fast (meaning, not enough time between the inevitable awkward reveal and the final chapter for the characters to process all that had gone on), and I can’t say I find that emotionally satisfying as a reader.

Don’t get me wrong: I liked Katelyn. But I didn’t like what she was doing. I especially didn’t like the fact she wasn’t prepared to own up internally to what she was doing, much less do the right thing and stop dating Gavin.

But that’s me, because I don’t like the Other Woman/Other Man plot, because a perfectly nice person inevitably gets hurt. You may think differently.

This is the first book in a new series, and Connor is one of three siblings, so I suppose the next two stories will be Gavin and Avery getting their happy-ever-after endings. I don’t know if I care. There were too many cliches in this book, I didn’t like the way the characters behaved, and it ended on more of a yawn than a bang.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Denise Hunter

Denise HunterDenise 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:

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About Riverbend Gap

She came in search of the family she’d always wanted—and found the kind of love she’d never dared imagine.

When Katelyn Loveland’s car veered off a winding Appalachian Mountain road, she thought she was done for. That is until Cooper Robinson, local sheriff’s deputy, came to her rescue. And though Katie narrowly escaped her brush with death, she still fell. Hard.

She wasn’t the only one. But soon Cooper learns that the woman he’s more attracted to than any he’s ever met is his brother’s new girlfriend—and therefore unquestionably off limits. Yet, despite their best efforts, Cooper and Katie can’t seem to avoid running into each other. Or ignore the undeniable chemistry between them.

As they grow closer, Katie shares secrets from her past and the real reason she moved to their small North Carolina town. She also wins over Cooper’s welcoming and bighearted family. But they don’t know that her feelings for Cooper keep growing—all while she’s dating his brother. Soon the stakes of their emotional connection become higher than either could have imagined.

Katie stands to lose the first family she’s ever had, and a scandal could doom Cooper’s campaign for sheriff. Suddenly they find themselves on the edge of another precipice—and they’re forced to make a decision that could change their lives forever.

Find Riverbend Gap online at:

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First Line Friday

First Line Friday | Week 203 | An Unwanted Love Story by Ellie Hall (from Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever After)

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. Today I’m sharing from An Unwanted Love Story by Ellie Hall, one of the novellas in the Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever After collection. Here’s the first line from Chapter One:

Today's forecast? Sunny with a chance of sprinkles.

I love the fun mood that sets!

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever After

This sweet romcom collection contains 20 original humorous novellas from best-selling authors that are heartwarming, feel-good, and laugh out loud funny.

Between the pages, you’ll find tropes such as enemies to lovers, second chance romance, high school sweethearts, opposites attract, friends to lovers, fake dating, and more.

Your pre-order purchase of this anthology will benefit Pets for the Elderly with 100% pre-order profits donated to this amazing cause, connecting shelter animals with seniors.

Don’t miss this limited edition box set, featuring some of your favorite authors, that will leave you reeling with laughter:

 

Ellie Hall – An Unwanted Love Story | Summer Dowell – Her Plus One | Liwen Y. Ho – Head Over Stilettos

Meg Easton – Looking for Love | Rachael Eliker – Lassoed into Love | Sophie-Leigh Robbins – Take a Hike

Rachel John – Worst Neighbor Ever | Jennifer Griffith – Elevator Pitch | Cami Checketts – The Sassy One

Sarah Gay – Once Upon a Midnight Swim | Jennifer Youngblood – Cold Feet | Kimberly Krey – Five Days With My (Super Hot) Ex

Ellen Jacobson – Smitten with Candy Canes | Cindy Roland Anderson – Breaking All the Rules | Taylor Hart – Secret Wedding Date

Carina Taylor – Jude and the Matchmaking Llama | Gigi Blume – Baby You Can Drive My Car | Amy Sparling – Julie and the Fixer-Upper

Johanna Evelyn – I Think Maybe I Lied | Melanie Jacobson – The Backup Plan

You can find Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever After online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

Click the button to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today:

 



You can then click the link which will take you to the master page of all this week’s #FirstLineFriday posts.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

 

And don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

First Line Friday

First Line Friday | Week 202 | All at Once by Lindsay Harrel

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. Today I’m sharing from All at Once by Lindsay Harrel, the first book in her Walker Beach Romance series. Here’s the first line from Chapter One:

Surely this was a cosmic joke. There was no way Gabrielle could be assigned to partner with Tyler Baker.

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About All at Once

She loved him once—and he broke her heart.

Letting herself fall again would just be foolish.

When Gabrielle and Tyler are paired together as leaders for a weeklong kids summer camp, they interact for the first time in a decade—and she realizes the immature boy who left so long ago has become a man.

A very muscular, all-too-handsome man who still has the ability to make her swoon.

But no matter how much chemistry between them, the problem remains—Tyler lives three thousand miles away in New York City, where he runs a nonprofit he’s passionate about. Meanwhile, Gabrielle’s heart is rooted in their small hometown of Walker Beach, California, where she takes care of the only family she’s got left.

It seems the only answer is to buckle down, ignore the sparks between them—and simply survive the week. If only they could get their traitorous hearts on board …

You can find All at Once online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

Click the button to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today:

 

You can then click the link which will take you to the master page of all this week’s #FirstLineFriday posts.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

 

And don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

No one was bad at math. Many people didn't respond well to the way math was taught in school.

Book Review | Let It Be Me (Misty River Romance #2) by Becky Wade

Leah Montgomery is a child prodigy who gave up a full-ride scholarship to Princeton to complete her PhD so she could stay home and raise her seven-year-old brother after her mother decides she needs to explore the Amazon (or something. Their mother was an off-stage character, and that’s probably for the best). Anyway, Leah is 100% logical–for better or worse.

Pediatric heart surgeon Sebastian Grant meets Leah at a local farmer’s market, and recognises her as the angel who came to his rescue six months ago when his car crashed. Unfortunately, he finds Leah is the teacher his best friend, Ben, has been in love with for the best part of a year. Not that Ben’s ever asked her out, but still … man-code means she’s off limits.

When a mail-in DNA test shows Leah isn’t the biological child of either of her parents, she knows she must have been switched at birth with another baby (as her unmaternal mother would have grieved a stillborn baby, but certainly wouldn’t have adopted one). Logic says she needs to find the answer, and Sebastian – who works in the hospital where she was born.

What intrigued me most about Let It Be Me were the quirky but likeable characters.

Leah is almost certainly somewhere on the autistic spectrum: she’s brilliant at math, responsible, and hard-working. But she’s not good with relationships, especially romantic relationships. In fact, she’s made it to twenty-eight without having any romantic feelings. The result was that I really liked her character voice, which pulled me through the story.

Sebastian is also an overachiever with his own personality quirks. As a medical doctor, he also understands math and physics and other logical, scientific disciplines. He’s loyal, a good friend, and willing to put his own feelings for Leah aside. He also helps Leah to discover the mystery behind her birth.

As such, this was an unusual yet compelling romance with unique characters and plenty of quirky humour—another winner from Becky Wade.

Let It Be Me is the second book in Becky Wade’s Misty River Romance series.

The stories feature members of the “Miracle Five”, who survived an earthquake as teens, an experience that has brought them together and shaped their lives. Each book is the romance of one of the Five (although one was already married when the series started). While the books are each standalone novels, they feature the same setting and many of the same characters – my idea of a perfect series.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Becky Wade

Author Photo Becky WadeBecky is the Carol and Christy award winning author of heartwarming, humorous, and swoon-worthy contemporary inspirational romances.

During her childhood in California, Becky frequently produced homemade plays starring her sisters, friends, and cousins. These plays almost always featured a heroine, a prince, and a love story with a happy ending. She’s been a fan of all things romantic ever since.

These days, you’ll find Becky in Dallas, Texas failing to keep up with her housework, trying her best in yoga class, carting her three kids around town, watching TV with her Cavalier spaniel on her lap, hunched over her computer writing, or eating chocolate.

You can find Becky Wade online at:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter

About Let It Be Me

The one woman he wants is the one he cannot have.

Former foster kid Sebastian Grant has leveraged his intelligence and hard work to become a pediatric heart surgeon. But not even his career success can erase the void he’s tried so hard to fill. Then he meets high school teacher Leah Montgomery and his fast-spinning world comes to a sudden stop. He falls hard, only to make a devastating discovery–Leah is the woman his best friend set his heart on months before.

Leah’s a math prodigy who’s only ever had one big dream–to earn her PhD. Raising her little brother put that dream on hold. Now that her brother will soon be college bound, she’s not going to let anything stand in her way. Especially romance . . . which is far less dependable than algebra.

When Leah receives surprising results from the DNA test she submitted to a genealogy site, she solicits Sebastian’s help. Together, they comb through hospital records to uncover the secrets of her history. The more powerfully they’re drawn to each other, the more strongly Sebastian must resist, and the more Leah must admit that some things in life–like love–can’t be explained with numbers.

You can find Let It Be Me online at

Amazon | BookBub | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

First Line Friday

First Line Friday | Week 182 | Let It Be Me by Becky Wade

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. Today I’m sharing from Let It Be Me by Becky Wade, the next book in her Misty River Romance series. Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

Mom and Dad are not my biological parents.

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About Let It Be Me

The one woman he wants is the one he cannot have.

Former foster kid Sebastian Grant has leveraged his intelligence and hard work to become a pediatric heart surgeon. But not even his career success can erase the void he’s tried so hard to fill. Then he meets high school teacher Leah Montgomery and his fast-spinning world comes to a sudden stop. He falls hard, only to make a devastating discovery–Leah is the woman his best friend set his heart on months before.

Leah’s a math prodigy who’s only ever had one big dream–to earn her PhD. Raising her little brother put that dream on hold. Now that her brother will soon be college bound, she’s not going to let anything stand in her way. Especially romance . . . which is far less dependable than algebra.

When Leah receives surprising results from the DNA test she submitted to a genealogy site, she solicits Sebastian’s help. Together, they comb through hospital records to uncover the secrets of her history. The more powerfully they’re drawn to each other, the more strongly Sebastian must resist, and the more Leah must admit that some things in life–like love–can’t be explained with numbers.

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