A February Bride by Betsy St. Amant

Happily ever after guaranteed. Allie left the love of her life at the altar—to save him from a lifetime of heartbreak. When a Valentine’s Day wedding brings them back together, she struggles against her family’s destructive history. Can Allie ever realize that a marriage is so much more than a wedding dress? History repeats itself when Allie Andrews escapes the church on her wedding day—in the same dress passed down for generations and worn by all the women in her family—women with a long history of failed marriages. Allie loves Marcus, but fears she’s destined to repeat her family’s mistakes. She can’t bear to hurt Marcus worse. Marcus Hall never stopped loving Allie and can only think of one reason she left him at the altar—him. When the two are thrown together for his sister’s Valentine’s Day wedding, he discovers the truth and realizes their story might be far from over. Can Allie shuck expectation and discover who she is as a bride and in the Bride of Christ? And if she ever walks down the aisle, what dress will she wear?

I love that the first sentence of the blurb for this book is “Happily Ever After Guaranteed”.  That’s a hook for me if there ever was one!  Yeah, I love guarantees.

I am loving this Year of Weddings series.  The February bride is the third book in the series.  I sure hope I can read through the whole year of them!  They are short and sweet:  the perfect romantic distraction.

In this book, Allie calls off her wedding at the very last minute.  Like the minute she is supposed to be walking down the aisle.  And she doesn’t actually call it off, she just runs away with no word to anyone.  Poor Marcus is left, clueless as to what just happened and why.

Allie is sure that she is jinxed.  Cursed.  Doomed to a failed marriage because of her family.  She just cannot do that to Marcus.  She loves him too much to doom him to a failed marriage with her.  That is why she runs out on him.  It seems silly, right?  But Allie sure takes it very seriously.

Marcus is surely one patient, understanding man.  He never demanded a reason?  Never tracked her down and tried to get answers?  And then when Allie appears in his life again he just treats her with kindness.  Of course he still loves her but this guy is a saint.  Honest.  A saint.

It was good to see Allie work through her anxiety and weird notions.  Her inner struggle is a good one and it’s always good to see growth in characters.  It’s even better to get to the promised happily ever after.

As for content, this book is squeaky clean.  This is a Christian Fiction book so there are also religious elements. 

You can find this book at Amazon.

Book Source:  Publisher through NetGalley