BRIDES AND BOUQUETS 2006

Author: Laura Hamby, Rebecca Ruger & Lyndell King ISBN: NA 6/2006 ANTHOLOGY Publisher: BY GRACE PUBLISHING

At First Sight Whitney Adams, the fourth sister of five, has been waiting patiently for her Mr. Right. Her greatest hope is to find a man who is perfect for her. Thanks to a power outage that leaves her stranded in an elevator with Brad Wright, Whitney finds her Mr. Right and discovers love at first sight. Jack and Jenny When the man Jenny Barrie has secretly loved for years asks her for a huge favor that will put her in his close company for many weeks, she has no idea how she'll be able to keep her heart from being broken. But Jack McKenna has a secret of his own that he'd love to share... Bride’s Maid in Heaven Janie is at her wit’s end. Just two days before her twin sister’s wedding, the flower girl has chickenpox, there’s vomit on the imported napkins, and the bride’s face is sunburned. Can Janie overcome the hurdles to salvage her sisterly bond, snag the best man and survive the wedding, all while wearing a pink meringue bridesmaid’s dress?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

BRIDES AND BOUQUETS 2006 is a nice little set of novellas designed to keep a woman content through a nice, quiet afternoon of reading.

The first story, At First Sight by Laura Hamby, is a cute, quaint story about what happens when a man and woman get stuck in an elevator for an afternoon. Not my favorite of the three books, my only complaint was how fast everything happened. They met and, voilà, sixteen hours later had decided that they were in love. While the story was very sweet and the addition of Whitney's family members hysterical, the sixteen hour thing was a bit much for me. Sixteen days...maybe, sixteen weeks.... definitely.... but not sixteen hours.

Jack and Jenny is the second story in the anthology and just what the doctor ordered for a girl looking for a good ol' fashioned romance. Jenny has had a crush on her brother's friend, Jack, for a long time—five years to be exact—but he has always been like an older brother to her. But, throw in a little romantic dancing and an ex beau that is determined to make Jack jealous, and Jenny might just get everything that she wished for. Jack is hot enough to burn up the pages all on his own, but add Jenny to the mix and you have a pretty great couple.

Brides Maid in Heaven was third offering in the anthology, and a very nice additive it was. It finished off the anthology with a nice flair and fit perfectly in keeping with the theme. I loved the lead characters, Katie and Brad, and how simple and sweet their romance was. Ms. Lyndell is a very gifted comedic writer as well, and the last few scenes with the "wedding" were just hysterical and had me laughing out loud. Very well done and extremely well written, Bride Maids in Heaven is one of those rare finds of a story that you know you will remember for some time to come.

All in all, I would have to say that this anthology is lovely. All three writers have proven to be exceptional authors. If there happens to be a BRIDES AND BOUQUETS 2007, I will definitely be on the lookout for it!

Kristal Gorman