My rating: 2 stars
Synopsis from Goodreads.com
She’s prepared for her wedding all her life… but she forgot a few things.
Ellie Martin, a country girl in Atlanta, often de-stresses from city life by tending the flower beds of a church near her apartment. She has dreamed of a traditional wedding all her life, a wedding like the one her younger sister is planning back in their hometown. Their single mom will pay for Alexa’s wedding, but Ellie started her own wedding fund years ago. She only needs to find a groom.
She bumps into a man who’s a guest at a wedding on the church grounds. She’s noticed him around the neighborhood, but today he introduces himself as Gray Whitby. They embark on a whirlwind romance, but her mother doesn’t trust freewheeling men like him. Standing up to Mom leads Ellie to stick up for Alexa too. When Ellie risks her own plans for her sister’s sake, Gray feels betrayed. Will he always play second fiddle?
Will Ellie and Gray reconcile their differences so her dream wedding can come true, or will the romance they’ve begun come crashing down?
My Review
This novella started out great, with how the characters meet and start their relationship. However, once the relationship starts to progress, the feelings and chemistry between the characters is non-existent. Any emotion Ellie portrays is about her issues with her mother. I felt there was such potential since the characters were introduced well and likeable, but the connection I felt with them went flat when the author began to tell and not show how they fell in love... and it was brief at that. I don't think the heart of the story needed to be sacrificed because it was a short story, but instead Ellie's issues with her family were the focus and Gray played second-string not only to Ellie's family but also in the plot.
(ARC provided via Netgalley for unbiased review)
