REVIEW OF THE CONVENIENT GROOM

I’ve not done many reviews lately due to other obligations, so look for several that have been sitting on my desk to write in the coming months.

I finally read The Convenient Groom by Denise Hunter this weekend. Well, I should say I finally read it this past Saturday. LOL. I started the book at around 1:30 P.M. and finished it around 10:00 P.M. Once I finally found time to read it, I couldn’t put it down.

The Convenient Groom is the second installment in Hunter’s new Nantucket Love Story series. The books are written as stand alones and have no carry over characters. More of a series based on location only. In fact, the author does such a great job drawing us into the setting that the location feels like another character.

Both Convenient Groom and the first book, Surrender Bay, are written as modern day parables. Though Thomas Nelson publishes both, neither are preachy or even “Christian” in nature. Moreover, the spiritual thread comes at the end when you see the whole picture and can relate the main characters love story to our own love story with Christ.

Back Cover Blurb:

Five hours before her Nantucket beach wedding—and on the eve of her big book launch—celebrity marriage counselor Kate Lawrence has everything in place.

Everything, that is, but the groom. She might not have a career, either, when her nationwide audience finds out their marriage guru has been left at the altar.

Enter Lucas Wright, who offers to stand in for the missing husband to be and marry her. Kate’s desperate enough to agree—though she’s sure this Mr. Wright is completely wrong for her. But can they pull it off? And why would Lucas marry her in the first place?

Could it be that “Dr. Kate” doesn’t know the first thing about love?

Sabrina Here:

I loved this story. I think because it was written to enjoy and absorb. Not to dissect and try to figure out some greater meaning like a lot of “Christian Fiction”. The message was so subtle I was able to just enjoy the great story.

There were a few times when Kate annoyed me and I wasn’t sure I could believe she would marry Lucas just to save her hide. However, as the story went on, it became increasingly believable. You could see how her need to succeed and to control her own future meant so very much to her that she was willing to do just about anything to save her career.

Personally, Kate’s parents failed marriage and subsequently her mother’s alcoholism were somewhat easy for me to relate to. So easy that by the end of the book I found myself lost in Kate’s life and almost praying she found her way out of the turmoil she created for herself. Hunter did a great job wrapping up the story and subtly showing us the parallel of Kate and Lucas’s love to Christ’s love for us. I’d definitely recommend this book. Especially if you love romance. Because of the parable nature of the book, it would also make a great gift for those that prefer clean secular fiction.