Love is in the Air: Once-in-A-Lifetime Kind of Love, a book review

I love, Love, LOVED this book by Inspirational Contemporary Romance Author Becky Wade!

A Love Like Ours--the story of Lyndie and Jake--is one of those books that takes you by the hand and leads you through a whirlwind tale of innocence, heartbreak, trauma, drama, restoration then lets you down gently with a very happy ending! 

So it is with great honor that I feature Becky Wade's latest novel, which Bethany House Publishers sent to me for free in exchange for an honest review.

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Once-in-A-Lifetime Kind of Love
Review written by Alexis A. Goring for Becky Wade’s book , A Love Like Ours

A Love Like Ours is one of Becky Wade’s finest, most intense, well-written books!

She explores the layers of her characters, perfectly painting a clear and correct picture of their hearts on paper.

The author takes Lyndie James—a beautiful free-spirit with an optimistic personality and a heart of compassion—and matches her with Jake Porter, perhaps the most handsome of all the three Porter brothers but also the most troubled.

Described as “Tall, dark and brooding,” Jake is wrestling with his PTSD caused by a traumatic accident during his days as a Marine. Despite not being able to control the circumstances that led to the accident and the death of his comrades, Jake who was in charge of his crew, blames himself and relives the trauma of that explosive moment very often to the point where he cannot sleep.

Deep within his heart is a safe place. It’s the place where he remembers his childhood friend, Lyndie. But since Lyndie left when her family moved away from Texas to California, that safe place is also a broken place and he blames Lyndie for breaking his heart.

So when Lyndie and her family return to Holley (Texas), Jake is more angry than happy to see her. But he’s not exactly angry out of well, anger; he’s angry out of fear because he realizes the place in his heart for Lyndie after all these years is still soft and he feels the need to protect her at all costs.

Jake’s innate need to protect Lyndie is challenged from the start of this story when Lyndie tells him she wants to exercise his horses and be a jockey for one of his struggling stallions named Silver Leaf. While Lyndie and her family lived in California, she received the experience and expertise that prepared her to be a great jockey and her compassionate heart that has a way with horses makes her the perfect person to help Silver Leaf reach his full potential as a race horse.

As the story progresses, the reader learns that Lyndie wants to help Jake too. The hurt in his eyes and his dark brooding nature does not deter Lyndie from her goal. A woman of faith, Lyndie believes all things are possible with God who is in the miracle-making business. But will Jake’s stubbornness and years of suffering from PTSD keep a permanent wall of steel surrounding his heart? Or will Lyndie’s love for horses and Jake break through?

You’ll have to read to find out the answers to those questions but I can tell you that you may fall in love with this story! It made me laugh, cry and smile.

The author is a pro at developing deep characterization, describing the settings and mastering the art of “showing” the story not “telling” the readers the action.

The reader will grow endeared to the childhood version of the characters as told in the Prologue and the reader will be captivated by the grown up version, dialogue and scenarios from Jake and Lyndie’s adult lives starting at the moment they are reunited in Chapter 1.

It’s such a beautiful story! The author takes you by then hand from page one and leads you through Jake and Lyndie’s journey from the beautiful beginning, through the challenging times and moments of despair, to the very sweet end.

What makes this book extra special to me is the Bible verse the author leaves on the last page of the book contains a beautiful promise from God in real life—Jeremiah 29:11 (New International Version) which reads, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Another reason why I love this story—that’s my “life verse” and the reason why is a whole other story which I will not go into for the sake of closing this book review.

If you’re not convinced to buy Becky’s book yet, you may when you see the lovely book cover which in itself is endearing. The book summary also speaks volumes.

A Love Like Ours is worth every bit of a five-star rating. I can see this book being of one of my favorite stories forever.

Book Review: My Stubborn Heart

My Stubborn Heart is a wonderful story of love, faith and redemption written by Christian contemporary romance author Becky Wade. 

Wade tells the story of two characters—Kate and Matt—who are in need of something to be restored: Kate needs hope and Matt needs healing. During their journey, they both receive something greater—learning how to trust and wait on the Lord.

The story is set in Redbud, Pennsylvania where Kate Donovan is on a working vacation with her grandmother. The work is to restore the old house she grew up in, a house that was built in the 1800’s. Kate is happy to have a three-month break from work and looks forward to learning more about her family as she spends time with her grandmother working on the restoration of the house. Apart from hard work and a much needed break from her day job, Kate isn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary to happen in her life. So when Matt Jarreau is introduced as the man hired to renovate the house, at first, Kate thinks nothing of him apart from his dashingly handsome looks and the deep sorrow in his eyes. Matt’s sorrow shows up in more than his eyes, it manifests in his actions—he isolates himself from people and all of his interactions while few, are strictly business.

Kate feels compelled to be nice to Matt and to find out the reason for his deep sorrow. What starts out as what feels to Matt like a game of Twenty Questions during their first day working on the house together makes Matt very annoyed with Kate and wishing she’d leave him alone to work in silence. But a persistent Kate is not easily deterred. Instead, she is determined to be Matt’s friend and relieve whatever suffering causes that sorrowful look in his eyes.

What Kate and Matt do not know is that God planned for them to meet at this time and place because they need each other. Matt needs someone to help him to learn how to trust God again after a tragedy that rocked his world and damaged his faith. Since the tragedy, Matt has made a habit of pushing everyone away—friends, family, neighbors. It is just short of a miracle that he even agreed to take on the project of restoring Kate’s family’s old house. While Matt needs healing, Kate needs hope in terms of knowing that God has heard her prayers for God to send her a husband, prayers that she’s offered up to Him since she was in the fourth grade. After several bad relationships, a newly single Kate at the age of 31 has just about given up on love and has started doubting that God has a man for her to date and be happy with much less the man of her dreams to marry. But perhaps God has a deeper reason for Donovan and Kate to be working together on restoring that old house. Perhaps God is doing a bit of restoration of His own with the souls, hopes and dreams of Donovan and Kate. Ultimately, God is teaching these two characters a lesson on faith.

Becky Wade does a delightful job of weaving a story of love, faith and redemption between two characters that need it the most. My Stubborn Heart is a captivating, intriguing read that has the potential to delight the hearts of audiences for decades to come.

Book Review: Undeniably Yours

After her father’s death, Meg Cole returns home to Texas and Whispering Creek Ranch in order to take charge of her father's oil business empire which includes a Thoroughbred racehorse farm. 

Meg is a tenderhearted, soft-spoken gal so running an empire and ranch is not her cup of tea. So she decides to close down the ranch, telling the manager Bo Porter that he has six months to close the farm. 

A very determined, hard-working individual who loves his job, Bo doesn’t want to let go of his career which is his passion, the employees who need to make a living, or the horses who are dear to his heart so he sets out to fight Meg’s executive decision. But despite his best efforts, Bo soon finds himself falling in love with Meg and feels a fierce desire to protect her life. Bo’s instinct to protect Meg may come in necessary when Meg’s money-hungry, deceitful and dangerous ex-husband comes back into her life. 

A classic story of status, love and faith, Undeniably Yours is a book that will touch your heart and inspire your soul.