To Have and to Hold: Three Autumn Love Stories (A Year of Weddings 2 #10-12) by Betsy St. Amant, Katie Ganshert, Becky Wade

Meet the people who make it all happen—the planners, the photographers, the musicians who have helped orchestrate the perfect day for countless couples—as they find their own happy endings in the second Year of Weddings novella collection.

Love Takes the Cake by Betsy St. Amant

She’s known for her delicious cakes, but there’s no recipe for dealing with the new man in her life.

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 by Katie Ganshert

Meeting Nate was truly an accident—but Amelia finds that he’s one of the few people she can count on.

Amelia Woods is a small-town wallflower and the proud owner of Forget-Me-Nots, a quaint flower shop. Despite her success in business, her love life has always been a bit lackluster. Until she spies on her ex-boyfriend’s wedding and ends up in an embarrassing fender-bender with handsome wedding guest, 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—including a ninety-year-old “fairy godmother” named George—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 by Becky Wade

She left him to save his future, but they’ve never gotten over each other.

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 can’t help but feel horrible for the pain she caused him. And even though she longs to be with Josh, she doesn’t feel worthy of his big-time lifestyle when she is more comfortable in her small town world. Will Josh and Holly be able to keep things as they are when their true feelings threaten to surface at every turn?

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These novellas were published separately at one time and they are now combined into one book for your reading pleasure.  I had read (and reviewed) Love in the Details previously (I love Becky Wade) but I hadn't read the other two so I thought I'd pick this one up.

I don't think I've ever read anything by Katie Ganshert but I'll be looking her up after reading her novella.

All three of these novellas are so sweet.  I really enjoyed them.  The autumn theme was perfect for romance and falling in love.  These women are strong and independent- a baker, a florist and a event planner.  They are making a way for themselves and are in the perfect place to have romance enter in.

These stories are sweet, gentle and left my heart smiling.  

Content:  Clean

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Love Arrives in Pieces by Betsy St. Amant

For so long, Stella was known for her beauty. Now, with her heart stripped bare, she must discover who she really is.

Former pageant queen Stella Varland doesn t trust beauty anymore after her divorce. Her appearance betrayed her and led to her brokenness so instead of being beautiful, now she tries to make beautiful things, but always falls short. So she keeps her passion for her secret art to herself and focuses on her interior design work. But if she doesn t get another job soon, she ll be stuck living with her parents.

Contractor Chase Taylor is determined to live a life of no regrets after losing his fiancee in a car crash. Now he lives life at full speed, striving to see how much he can accomplish. He knows if he slows down, he ll fall apart. So he returns home to Bayou Bend to renovate the town s old theater, and is shocked to learn former flame Stella is the designer for the project.

Forced to work together, Chase and Stella battle their chemistry and their pasts as they struggle to compromise and come together on a vision for the theater. Chase doesn t understand why Stella is such a subdued version of herself, while Stella doesn t get Chase s constant need for productivity and speed. Their wills clash as they attempt to hide their brokenness and their unresolved feelings for each other until Chase breaks through Stella s walls and convinces her to enter her mosaic tile art in a contest.

A near catastrophe, a fire, and a small-town gossip mill finally force both Stella and Chase to realize that they have a choice to hold on to the shards of their pasts, or surrender their fragmented pieces to the One who makes a beautiful masterpiece from the broken.

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Wow, that summary basically tells the whole story!  I for sure do not have to do a summary review for this book.

A few things are obvious from the very beginning of this book.  One, Chase and Stella have chemistry- a magnetism drawing them together.  Two, they have a not so great history together.  Three, they are both hiding things from their more recent past.  With those three things all put together, you know the road is going to be bumpy!

Stella and Chase both have a lot to work through although Stella seems the most needy.  Chase basically spends his time trying to make up for the past and apologizing for every little thing he does that sets Stella off emotionally.  

Sometimes I felt like the story was spinning around in the same place for too long.  Stella seemed to go around and around about the same things.  But, the story here is a sweet one and the patience of Chase should not be overlooked.  

I loved the "pieces" connection through art.  I love how Stella arrived at the place of healing, awareness and love.  It was a pretty moment.

This is a Christian fiction book, no content to report.  Clean!

My thanks to the publisher, Zondervan, for allowing me to read and review this title for them.