To Have and To Hold

When only three novellas are in one collection, they are a bit longer with a bit more plot and character development. This puts me in my happy place. Each one takes more than an hour to read, but the time is most enjoyable.

Two of these novellas involve an ex in some way, and it only adds to the drama and angst the authors are trying to provoke in the reader. Amazon's synopsis says this about the three stories:

Love Takes the Cake: A September Wedding Story by Betsy St. Amant

Charlotte Cantrell is always the baker; never the bride. When Will, a regular at Charlotte’s bakery, catches her attention, she can only hope that he is the reliable man this single mother has always hoped to find. The problem is that he’s regularly stopping in to buy cookies for another girl. But when Charlotte is hired to bake a host of wedding goodies for a difficult bride and finds out Will is the best man, she has the perfect opportunity to get to know him better—and find out how serious Will is about this other girl in his life.

The Perfect Arrangement: An October Wedding Story by Katie Ganshert

Amelia Woods is a small-town wallflower and the proud owner of Forget-Me-Nots, a quaint flower shop. Her love life has always been a bit lackluster—until she ends up in an embarrassing fender-bender with handsome Nate Gallagher. Meanwhile, Amelia’s younger brother, William, has proposed to his girlfriend. Amelia would be excited except she has evidence that the fiancée is not who she says she is. It seems Nate is the only one available for any advice-giving, and he’s good at it—and pretty fun to talk to too. As Amelia works to craft the perfect flower arrangements for other people, she begins to wonder if real love is better than the dream. And if it is, will Nate still be interested when he learns who she is?

Love in the Details: A November Wedding Story by Becky Wade

When Josh returns to his hometown of Martinsburg, Texas, to help his best friend get married, he didn’t intend to run into church wedding coordinator—and ex-girlfriend—Holly. He can’t help but pine after the girl he never got over. Holly broke up with Josh years ago in an attempt to ensure his future success. But she loved him then and still loves him now. As she helps him plan his best friend’s wedding, she longs to be with Josh but doesn’t feel worthy of his big-time lifestyle when she is more comfortable in her smalltown world. Will Josh and Holly be able to keep things as they are when their true feelings threaten to surface at every turn?

There is only one of the narratives I'd give less than five stars and that is the first one, because it seemed like the author was in a hurry to finish the tale and just tied it up in a bow without really resolving everything.

Four and a half stars--I guess I'll round it up to five, with two thumbs up, and a fall romance.

My thanks to Zondervan for allowing me to read and review this book.