Monday, January 9, 2012

Review: The Accidental Bride by Denise Hunter

It's been awhile since I've read some Christian fiction...probably since the Inspys selection process...and truth be told I find myself reading less and less because so much of it is romance and I've grown quite tired of the genre. but every once in awhile, I like to pick one up for the comfort read and to have an idea of what's going on in the genre. Denise Hunter has written some books I've enjoyed before, so I dug into The Accidental Bride this weekend.

Shay Brandenberger is a single mom raising her daughter on a ranch in Moose Creek and struggling to pay the bills. Her husband left and then passed away and she's several months behind on the mortgage. When a friend asks her to help out in their Founder's Day celebration, she agrees to do so. The role she has to play is going through with a marriage ceremony. But it turns out the groom in the ceremony is her ex-boyfriend--who left her at the courthouse years ago on the day they planned to marry. But..someone is meddling and they use the old marriage license Shay and Travis signed years ago to make their wedding legal and real.

Sounds crazy right? And Travis does still love Shay. In fact, he came back to town to take care of his parent's ranch and in hopes of making up with her. When he realizes how much trouble she's in financially, and the fact that they are now legally married, he strikes a deal with her--he'll help her get her finances straight in exchange for a five month trial of marriage. He doesn't expect or want sex or anything, though.

Shay agrees but very reluctantly. She hates accepting charity and she lives in constant fear and worry about what others are saying about her. She grew up less privileged and doesn't really want to accept what she perceives as charity, but at the same time she really doesn't have a choice. So she agrees to the temporary arrangement...but as you can imagine Shay still has feelings for Travis so things get complicated quickly.

As a quick escapist read this works. Hunter has a nice breezy style and Moose Creek seems like a fun place. I like the way she writes romance in that I get that melty feeling in my stomach in all the right places. I believed that Travis and Shay loved each other and I could understand Shay's hurt over being left and her reluctance to trust Travis again. So if I was just...wanting to turn my brain off and enjoy a quick read, a romance without sex (and very little spiritual content as well) than The Accidental Bride worked.

But unfortunately I couldn't turn my brain off and as I was reading I started to wonder if The Accidental Bride was a good example of why I no longer enjoy romance as much. Let me explain why. This will contain somewhat detailed plot discussion so read no further if you have an aversion to spoilers!

After Travis left Shay she returned home and got married quickly. Eventually this guy left her and her daughter. But Hunter makes it clear throughout the book that Shay never loved him like she loved Travis in fact it's questionable if she even loved him at all. Her marriage and even her daughter felt like pure plot devices. Her daughter easily accepted Travis and even started calling him Dad right away which felt inauthentic to me based on their situation. At one point there's an indication that Shay's husband had called her frigid and while it's used in the book to show why Shay is so insecure with men, it's also just sad that she obviously didn't love her husband. And she bore no awareness that he probably realized that and that's why he left. I'm not excusing him leaving it was just frustrating that the book was like POOR SHAY and that the her first marriage had to be invalidated and regarded as ultimately meaningless in order not to be a threat to the romance of Travis and Shay. And see...I just don't need that. I don't need to believe there's just one person you ever really love in life. I would have preferred a story where Shay rediscovered her old love but had still had a happy marriage. In fact, I think that the reason she hadn't merely lost her husband to death but he left her first was to build a stronger case for Travis/Shay forever. So that really bugged me. And also of course, the plot was pretty convoluted. I think the premise is cute but there are a couple of points where Shay sees evidence that Travis dated before he returned home and maybe has an ongoing relationship. Instead of confronting him and talking about it though, she just gets mad and hurt. And eventually that drives him away. And yet that's never really addressed, that she should have just asked him, that she was playing an active role in damaging their relationship in the present.

The Sex Stuff

Okay so this interests me. Because Shay and Travis have a legal marriage they eventually start sleeping together. And the book says it's okay because they are married. This was FASCINATING to me, because it means that basically the book endorsed the view that a legal/government marriage is what matters in so far as when you can have sex. (sex is a big issue for evangelical Christianity lol) And I don't know, I guess I think the heart commitment is more important. They started having sex before they'd committed to each other but it wasn't a "sin" because they had a legal marriage. I mean..really? I just feel like the legal documents are not the most important part.

So....yeah. I just don't know. The faith stuff felt fairly superficial and all of the quibbles above..I just don't know if romance or Christian romance is working for me anymore or if it's just this particular book.

Rating: 2.5/5

Things You Might Want to Know: Christian fiction

Source of Book: Received for review

Publisher: Thomas Nelson



The bell above the diner’s door jingled and—despite her most valiant effort—Shay Brandenberger’s eyes darted toward the entry. An unfamiliar couple entered—tourists. She could tell by their khaki Eddie Bauer vests and spanking-new hiking boots. Look out, Yellowstone.

When her heart rate returned to normal, she checked her watch and took a sip of coffee. Five minutes till she met Miss Lucy at the Doll House, forty till she met John Oakley at the bank. What if he said no? What would they do then?

“Mom . . . Earth to Mom . . .” Olivia waved her hand too close to Shay’s face, her brown eyes widening.

“Sorry, hon.” The one bright moment of her Saturday was breakfast with her daughter, and she couldn’t enjoy it for the dread. “What were you saying?”

Olivia set her fork on her pancake-sticky plate and heaved a sigh worthy of her twelve-year-old self. “Never mind.” She bounced across the vinyl bench, her thick brown ponytail swinging. “I’m going to meet Maddy.”

“Right back here at noon,” Shay called, but Olivia was out the door with the flick of her hand.


The diner buzzed with idle chatter. Silverware clattered and scraped, and the savory smell of bacon and fried eggs unsettled her stomach. She took a sip of the strong brew from the fat rim of her mug.

The bell jingled again. I will not look. I will not look. I will not—

The server appeared at her booth, a new girl, and gathered Olivia’s dishes. “On the house today.”

Shay set down her mug, bristling. “Why?”

The woman shrugged. “Boss’s orders,” she said, then made off with the dirty dishes.

From the rectangular kitchen window, Mabel Franklin gave Shay a pointed look.

So Shay had helped the couple with their foal the week before. It was the neighborly thing to do.

Fine. She gave a reluctant smile and a wave. She pulled her wallet from her purse, counted out the tip, and dragged herself from the booth, remembering her daughter’s bouncy exit. Lately her thirty-two years pressed down on her body like a two-ton boulder.

She opened the diner’s door and peeked both ways before exiting the Tin Roof and turning toward the Doll House. She was only checking sidewalk traffic, not hiding. Nope, she wasn’t hiding from anyone. The boardwalks were busy on Saturdays. That was why she hadn’t come to town for two weeks. Why their pantry was emptier than a water trough at high noon.

She hurried three shops down and slipped into the cool, welcoming air of Miss Lucy’s shop.

“ ’Morning, Miss Lucy.”

“ ’Morning, dear.” The elderly woman, in the middle of helping a customer, called over her rounded shoulder, “It’s in the back.” Miss Lucy’s brown eyes were big as buckeyes behind her thick glasses, and her white curls glowed under the spotlights.

“Okeydoke.” Shay forced her feet toward the storeroom.

A musty smell assaulted her as she entered the back room and flipped on the overhead fluorescents. She scanned the boxes of doll parts and skeins of yarn until she found what she was looking for. She approached the box, lifted the lid, and parted the tissue.

The wedding gown had been carefully folded and tucked away. Shay ran her fingers over the delicate lace and pearls. Must’ve been crisp white in its day, but time had cast a long shadow over it. Time had a way of doing that.

Her fingers lingered on the thin fabric. She remembered another time, another dress. A simple white one that hung on her young shoulders, just skimmed the cement of the courthouse steps. The ache that squeezed her heart had faded with time, but it was there all the same. Would it ever go away?

Shaking her head, Shay turned back to the task at hand. The gown seemed too pretty, too fragile to disturb.

Oh well. She’d promised.

She pulled it out and draped it over the box, then shimmied from her jeans. When she was down to the bare necessities, she stepped carefully into the gown. She eased it over her narrow hips and slid her arms into the long sleeves. The neckline was modest, the gathered skirt fuller than anything she ever wore. Here in the air-conditioning it was fine, but she would swelter next Saturday.

Leaving the button-up back gaping, she hitched the skirt to the top of her cowboy boots and entered the store.

Miss Lucy was ushering the customer out the door. When she turned, she stopped, her old-lady shoes squeaking on the linoleum. “Land sakes.”

Shay took two steps forward and dropped the skirt. It fell to the floor with a whoosh.

“Fits like a glove,” Miss Lucy said. “And with some low heels it’ll be the perfect length.”

Shay didn’t even own heels. “My boots’ll have to do. Button the back?”

Miss Lucy waddled forward, turned Shay toward a small wall mirror flecked with time, and began working the tiny pearl buttons.

Shay’s breath caught at her image. She forced its release, then frowned. Wedding gowns were bad luck. She’d sworn she’d never wear another. If someone had told her yesterday she’d be wearing this thing today, she’d have said they were one straw short of a bale.

Miss Lucy moved up to the buttons between her shoulders, and Shay lifted her hair. The dress did fit, clinging to her torso like it was made for her, wouldn’t you know. Even the color complemented her olive skin.

Still, there was that whole bad luck thing.

And what would everyone think of Shay Brandenberger wearing this valuable piece of Moose Creek heritage? A white wedding gown, no less. If she didn’t have the approval of her closest friends and neighbors, what did she have? Not much, to her thinking.

She wanted to cut and run. Wanted to shimmy right out of the dress, tuck it into that box in the storeroom, slip back into her Levi’s and plaid button-up, and go back to her ranch where she could hole up for the next six months.

She checked the time and wished Miss Lucy had nimbler fingers. Of all days to do this, a Saturday, when everyone with two legs was in town. And she still had that infernal meeting with John Oakley.

Please, God, I can’t lose our home . . .

“I’m obliged to you, dear. I completely forgot Jessie was going out of town.”

“No problem.”

“Baloney. You’d rather be knee-deep in cow dung.” The woman’s marionette lines at the sides of her mouth deepened.

“It’s one hour of my life.” A pittance, after all Miss Lucy had done for her.

Miss Lucy finished buttoning, and Shay dropped her hair and smoothed the delicate lace at the cuffs.

“Well, bless you for being willing. God is smiling down on you today for your kindness.”

Shay doubted God really cared one way or another. It was her neighbors she worried about.

“Beautiful, just beautiful. You’ll be the talk of the town on Founders Day.”

“No doubt.” Everyone in Moose Creek would be thinking about the last time she’d worn a wedding gown. And the time before that.

Especially the time before that.

Third time’s a charm, Shay thought, the corner of her lip turning up.

“Stop fretting,” Miss Lucy said, squeezing her shoulders. “You look quite fetching, like the gown was made for you. I won’t have to make a single alteration. Why, it fits you better than it ever did Jessie—don’t you tell her I said so.”

Shay tilted her head. Maybe Miss Lucy was right. The dress did make the most of her figure. And she had as much right to wear it as anyone. Maybe more—she was born and raised here, after all. It was just a silly old reenactment anyway. No one cared who the bride and groom were.

The bell jingled as the door opened behind her. She glanced in the mirror, over her shoulder, where a hulking silhouette filled the shop’s doorway. There was something familiar in the set of the man’s broad shoulders, in the slow way he reached up and removed his hat.

The sight of him constricted her rib cage, squeezed the air from her lungs as if she were wearing a corset. But she wasn’t wearing a corset. She was wearing a wedding gown. Just as she had been the last time she’d set eyes on Travis McCoy.



Amy

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