Book Review: The Accidental Bride, by Denise Hunter

I recently finished The Accidental Bride, by Denise Hunter. Here's a brief synopsis and my review:

Shay Brandenberger is a single mom trying hard to make ends meet so she and her 12 year old daughter, Olivia, won't lose their ranch. In spite of all her hard work, bills are piling up and the bank is threatening to foreclose. When Shay agrees to play the part of a bride in her town's Founders Day reenactment, she has no idea that this will be a day that changes her life . . . until she realizes the man playing the part of the groom is her old flame, Travis McCoy, who left her at the altar years before. Travis and Shay didn't exactly part on the best of terms all those years ago, so she isn't thrilled to see him, to say the least. And when it turns out that the marriage reenactment ceremony actually was a real, legal wedding (thanks to an absentminded preacher who filed their wedding license from years before), Shay is definitely not happy. Travis, on the other hand, has been hoping for a second chance to win Shay's heart, and he sees this as the perfect opportunity to not only win her, but also to help her keep her home. Shay finally agrees, since Travis promises he will leave in six months if things don't work out between them. What follows is the entertaining story of the ups and downs they experience as Travis tries to win back the woman he loves.

This book was just "okay," in my opinion. Like I said, it was entertaining. It was a fairly light read, heavy on the romance (in places) and pretty light on the spiritual aspect. There were some spiritual principles woven in, especially toward the end, as Shay learns to only be concerned about what God thinks of her, after spending her whole life to that point worrying about what everyone in town thinks of her. I do enjoy western settings, and this story was set in Montana, which was fun . . . and the characters were likable (although I kept getting frustrated with Shay's tendency to assume the worst about Travis instead of talking to him). It was also neat to see the father/daughter relationship that developed between Travis and Olivia. There was quite a bit of physical attraction and some marital intimacy mentioned in this book, which was unnecessary, in my opinion--and so I would not recommend it wholeheartedly, and not at all for young girls. I give The Accidental Bride 3 out of 5 stars.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through theBookSneeze book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."