//published 2014//
This is a collection of three novellas, each by a different author, and each for a different winter month. There are actually twelve novellas altogether for a year of weddings. In this first collection, I enjoyed each of the stories, although they didn’t particularly inspire me to seek out more of any of the authors’ writing. (Although I have already read a lot of Denise Hunter’s books.)
December Bride by Denise Hunter – 3.5/5 – this was a really fun fake romance trope story, with characters who were relatable, pleasant, and had good chemistry. The situation was plausible, and I liked how they both had their doubts, but it didn’t descend into nothing but internal angst. The story is set in Chapel Springs, where several of Hunter’s other books take place, but was a completely individual story.
January Bride by Deborah Raney – 4/5 – this was my favorite out of the three, about an author who ends up writing letters to a fellow she has never met. The whole story was just adorable fluff. I loved the misconceptions they had about each other and how that played into their comfort with sharing letters. I would have enjoyed having more of their letters and less of the drama of the fellow getting over his guilt about falling in love again (his first wife died several years earlier), but all in all a really fun little story.
February Bride by Betsy St. Amant – 3/5 – while this wasn’t a bad story by any means – and I actually really liked the characters – sooo much of this story was just listing to the protagonist internally bemoan how she just isn’t good enough to marry this guy and how their marriage would be doomed to failure if she even tried. I think this story would have worked better at a longer length, where those internal monologues could have been broken up more with a bit of actual things happening. Like, she had valid points and important issues she needed to work through, but because so much time was spent on those, the whole story kind of dragged a bit.
All in all, a fun collection of stories, and I’m looking forward to checking out Spring Brides next!
I enjoyed December Bride. Did you see the Hallmark movie of it? There were some differences that annoyed me, but I liked it. It was MUCH better than when they made The Convenient Groom.
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No, I’ve never seen the movie, although I bet my sister has. (As an aside, she discovered that Hallmark Channel has their own app that’s only like $3/mo and she can watch cheesy movies whenever she wants haha it’s a serious problem!) I’m still scarred from their attempt of The Convenient Groom, which really was just genuinely terrible lol I honestly thought that this story had a lot of similarities to the CG, but it was fresh enough that it was still pleasant reading.
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Ooh I haven’t heard of that app. I might need to invest in it!
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I’ve never heard of these, but I love reading about weddings!
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They were really fun little stories, and they’re Christian fiction so they are also clean (although I suppose some people may roll their eyes at some of the ‘God talk’, I found it to be tastefully done). However, most of them end with the weddings, so I’m not sure I would say they were exactly ::about:: weddings haha but they are definitely happy, relaxing little tales!
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These sound exactly right for me, regardless of whether I get descriptions of the bridesmaid’s dresses and the cake. I’m not religious, but I am slightly prudish and I like the journey rather than the destination :) Hope my library have some.
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