A November Bride by Beth K. Vogt

A November Bride

I’ve read several of the books in Zondervan’s Year of Weddings series, and this title was one of my favorites among them. 

Let’s begin with the summary:

Sadie McAllister is fastidious to a fault—but that serves her well as a personal chef to her clients in Denver. Yet her earliest attempt at managing romance was a bust when Erik Davis declined her invitation to the school's eighth grade Sadie Hawkins Dance.

Having celebrated the big 3-0 by ending a relationship, Sadie is tired of romantic relationships-by-text. The only man she knows willing to put down his iPhone and have face-to-face conversations with her is Erik. It's time to put a 21st-century twist on the Sadie Hawkins' tradition of a woman going after her man. He may not be the hero of her romantic dreams, but she can propose to Erik and achieve some sort of happily ever after with her best friend.
 
Erik is good at two things: his freelance job and maintaining casual, no-one-gets-hurt relationships with women. What is Sadie thinking, proposing to him? This is marriage—not a middle school dance. Erik decides to show Sadie what romance looks like when the man takes the lead. And while he's at it, he'll prove just how wrong they are for each other. But when he realizes he's fallen for her, can Erik convince Sadie his just-for-fun dates were the prelude to "'til death do us part"?

And now, my review:

Reunion romances are fun to read. They make for great novellas because there has already been a history between the characters, which makes a relationship developing in the short span of a novella believable. These two have a history together—she once asked him to a dance, which he refused. He had his reasons. Now she’s cautious where he’s concerned, except in the role of friends.

Our heroine struggles with believing lies about her appearance. She had to wear an eye patch in elementary school, making her a target for teasing. At the same time, this heroine has a strong will and thinks for herself. When the hero tries to orchestrate the perfect first date with her, telling her how to greet him at the door, she agrees to a redo. Once ready to leave, during the second attempt she makes him wait then opens the door wearing a Japanese kimono. He’ll have to wait some more. Ha! I laughed aloud. In fact, there were several places where I laughed out loud. Here is a spunky heroine readers don’t want to throttle.

Our hero struggles with not wanting to fail in relationships. He feels he’s protecting Sadie (aptly named, given the connection the Sadie Hawkins’ dance) from getting hurt.  A noble choice. But he’s called to risk his heart… So, will he?

The mentor characters in this novel were strong and helped moved the story forward. I appreciate the streamlining a novella’s structure brings to a story. You move the romance from A to Z without a lot of detours, but that construction didn’t limit this author. She included a few twists to keep me flipping screens.

Very fun contemporary romance set in the fall. Enjoy! 

Highly recommended!