Brenda Minton

This book came to me via two friends. I picked it today because I wanted a light read that I could finish quickly. (I have a couple other books started with "heavier" topics.)

If you analyze the plot, it's ones that are used quite often in the Love Inspired line. A girl with a past she's trying to hide trying to start over in a new town--and with a history of dating someone from that town who ran when she told him about her past. A "country boy" who proposed to a "city girl" and was rejected who's now not eager to face rejection again and who can't see how he can keep the promise he made to his childhood sweetheart to "love her forever" while loving someone else.

The author complicates the plot a bit by having Lacey's sister and niece show up and then Lacey's mother show up, and by having Lacey end up adopting the niece. I did feel sorry for the niece, but glad that Lacey was willing to step up and try to provide a stable life for the niece. I hope that Lacey's mother turns her life around too with the help of Lacey's friends.

As is usual with this line, the romance seems to develop too quickly for my taste and I worry that impressionable people who read these will think that true love and "happily ever after" can come after knowing someone for only a few months. I believe Lacey'd been in town for about 3 years, but can't remember how long Jay's been back in town. They definitely hadn't spent tons of time together prior to the start of this book though.… (meer)