unrated | 11 hours 12 minutes pages | Kensington | Contemporary Romance | 5/29/2018
You know, I don’t read that many contemporary romance novels and reading A Wedding On Bluebird Way was like getting a nice flight of contemporary romance. The small southern town of Serendipity, Texas is the backdrop for the biggest social event of the year, the wedding of heiress Savannah Loving and Dr. Chance Worthington. Or at least it was the biggest wedding of the year until Savannah bolts in the middle of the ceremony, setting the stage for four different love stories.
In the first romance Bluebird Inn owner Felicity Patterson, a widow with a history of hard knocks, loses a ton of money and business after the failed wedding. Her only guest left is Tom Loving, a retired soldier and amateur ornithologist who wants to help bring bluebirds back to Bluebird Way (yeah, this is real convenient) but after a lifetime of heartache can Felicity allow herself to let Tom in.
This was one of my favorites. Wilde has a really breezy writing style and creates backstories and obstacles for her characters that motivate the choices they make. I really want more romances with heroes and heroines in their 40s.
Meanwhile, runaway bride, Savannah Loving, speeds out of Serendipity only to be stopped by Officer Hank Evans, who has recently returned to Serendipity. He agrees to let Savannah hide out in his condo in Dallas and Savannah embraces the impulsive and reckless side of herself.
The third story was kind of meh for me, it was bout Savannah’s brother looking for a second chance with the girl he left behind. It’s more of a New Adult contemporary. This the story felt sort of inevitable, but it was still a satisfying romance.
In the final love story, the ex-groom lends a helping hand to the frazzled wedding planner …and her precious twin daughters. I’m not usually one for plot moppet children and this romance moved really fast but there was no doubt some chemistry between the hero and heroine.
Each story had varying heat levels, Loving Hailey by Stacey Keith was probably the warmest.
I’m not really sure how these collections are curated and edited but the way they blended together was a little clunky and I feel like there were missed opportunities for crossover moments, and I see that Janet Dailey passed in 2013, so I’m kind of curious if someone else is writing for her? Or is this an unpublished story of hers?
Also on the meta side, I liked that two prolific authors, Lori Wilde, and Janet Dailey, were paired with two authors who appear to be prominently indie. I feel like I got a feel for each writer and can’t wait to dive into their backlist.
Susan Bennet had her hands full on the audio.
