I love Lincee Ray! And this delightful collection of her thoughts and experiences with love made me love her even more. She hilariously tells a story and then turns right around to grip your heart with the truth of how important and real our everyday relationships are. This book made me smile, and want to hug my parents.

Such a funny author. I liken her to a Melanie Shankle. Just right if you want a lighter read to ease anxiety. Her small town stories bring a smile to my face.

The title and cover initally gave me the impression that it was a book about romantic love. I knew a bit about Lincee and that her podcast was about pop culture, so I guessed that it would be a book about different portrayals of romantic love in pop culture. But right from the start Lincee set me straight: It's A Love Story is about all kinds of love. I think this book would make a great Valentines Day gift for a friend or someone who is single. It would be perfect for anyone who would appreciate a reminder that there are more kinds of love than what we typically celebrate with weddings, anniversaries, and that dreaded day in February. It's a book that has the reader laughing out loud while reading one sentence and and then saying "aww.. how sweet" while reading the next. Lincee is great at painting a picture so the reader can clearly imagine her and her reaction in each story, which makes it even funnier. I bought her first book Why I Hate Green Beans and will definitely be reading that soon.

It's a Love Story
From Happily to Ever After

by Lincee Ray

Revell

Christian

Pub Date 30 Apr 2019


I am reviewing a copy of It’s A Love Story through Revell and Netgalley:


In It’s A Love Story Lincee Ray reminds us that as human beings God created us to be loved and we love to be loved. As children we pour out that love to our friends, our family and our pets. When we are teenagers we start to fall in love with musicians, actors, and boys in our class. As we mature we hope to find love and romance in a lifelong relationship. She tells us how Sacrificial love, unexplainable love, familial love, desperate love. Love songs and love stories. All of these show us that we were created to love, that it is in fact ingrained in our souls.



Lincee Ray invites you into this celebration and love, telling us stories of her own encounters with love, from first crushes, to the love you find in God. She encourages us too to think about our own love stories, with people and most importantly she reminds us to think about the love of God.


I give It’s A Love Story, five out of five stars!



Happy Reading!

Lincee Ray pulls me right into her stories and I always enjoy them. There’s some fun stories in this book. My two favorites were her account of her parents’ description of when they first met, and the story of recovery from Hurricane Harvey in Houston. I did not grow up in the same generation as Lincee, but each I could identify with high school disasters and mission trips. A good book from a talented storyteller.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

This is not my first time reading a book written by author Lincee Ray. You can check out, “Why I Hate Green Beans” which dives more into finding your identity in Christ. While I love her humor and the down to earth manner of her writing style I didn’t quite feel like the books content fully delivered.

The book “It’s a Love Story” is filled with lots of short stories from the authors life. Stories of romance, her first kiss, she even speaks about her love of movies, music, dancing etc. Thanks to Uncle Waltz Disney we have developed a love for love movies. These love stories often play a big part in our own love stories as well, whether for better or worse.

Through the personal stories that she shares, it helps to paint the picture of the many different ways we love. From something as serious as loving the guy sitting next to you in French class to something as simple as having a love for Starbucks Hot Chocolate. These different loves in our life are often conditional. I love you because of what you can do for me or because it’s required because we are family after all. There is someone who loves without conditions even to the point of death. The author ends off the book reminding us that there is one who loves us deeply no questions asked. It’s a Love Story by Lincee Ray is a fun lighthearted read about different loves and the one that truly matters, God’s unfailing love.

Human beings love to be loved. And we love to fall in love. As children we pour our love into our pets and our friends. As teenagers we fall in love with musicians and actors and the boy whose locker is next to ours. As we mature, we long for romantic love that will last a lifetime. Sacrificial love, unexplainable love, familial love, desperate love. Love songs and love stories. Clearly we were created with the longing for love ingrained in our souls.
With lots of wit and a bit of wisdom drawn from a lifetime of falling in love, Lincee Ray invites you to an unabashed celebration of that loving feeling. As she reveals the loves of her life and encourages you to recall your own, you'll discover alongside her that there is only one who can ever truly fulfill the deepest longings of our hearts. And he made us to be part of a divine love story.
This is a sweet read about Life &Love. This book is full of cute stories about kids and people falling in love. This was a very nice read and I'm looking forward to reading more from LIncee Ray.

SUPERB!

I had never even heard of Lincee Ray until a few weeks ago. I know - I live under a rock or something, right? I can relate to her storytelling on so many levels! It’s A Love Story From Happily to Ever After is the type of book that grabs you from the first paragraph and won’t let you’ve read the last sentence. Trust me, you’ll really want to read it in one sitting, too! Ray is relatable and an excellent storyteller. You will feel as though you’re sitting on your couch talking to your best friend! I kept wanting to pick up the phone and call her and discuss certain points in the book! She writes on subjects that matter to all of us and here are some examples - Fur and Feathers (Animal Love), Young Love, Love Beyond the US Border, Fake Vision of Love, ‘Tis the Season, The Soundtrack of My Life, You’ve Got a Friend in Me and my personal favorite, Mary, Did you Know? She’ll having you laughing and crying because she’s hysterical and because you just might see yourself somewhere on these pages!

As Ray tells you her own personal Love Story, she encourages each reader to recognize their own Love Story - the people and the places that are the pillars where the reader feels safe. Where the reader’s heart is known without having to say a word and a place where their heart feels at peace when they’re there.

While she writes with a great deal of humor, Ray always brings you back to the main thing and that is the BEST Love Story in everyone’s life:

“When I feel adrift, unchosen, without a rose or a fairy-tale ending, I’m reminded of a deeper truth: God is my portion forever. Although my flesh and heart may fail, He is my strength. Psalm 73 gives me the assurance that I am enough. He chose me. He loves me. ... I hear the lyrics of love in this psalm of acceptance, and my heart beats to the rhythm of being in sync with someone who totally gets me.”

I was provided an ARC of this book by Revell and NetGalley. The opinions expressed here are completely my own and without influence.

I really enjoy Lincee Ray’s writing style. Her personality shines through and I find it hilarious, thoughtful, and delightful. She’s not afraid to admit that she has “mentally dated” fictional characters and she is real and vulnerable in the telling.
This book looks at many different things we love from the serious to the silly and shows how they all are a reminder of the greatest love. “When we say ‘I love Dr. Pepper,’ that really and truly is part of our love story as human beings who were made in the image of God. Because those feelings of love…all reflect the very essence of who He is…Although we’ll never be wholly fulfilled this side of heaven, love lives in our hearts and souls to remind us that day is coming” (location 106).
I realized a few things while reading this book. 1) I am grateful I don’t have a cat leaving headless presents on my step. 2) There are a few rom com movies that I missed and really need to check out. 3) Some people have really horrible break-up stories. 4) God is gracious in giving us so many things, including His Son, that point to His eternal love for His children.
I would recommend this book. It made me laugh out loud and smile throughout. Thank you to Revell for providing me with an e-copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

“It’s a Love Story” by Lincee Ray had me laughing, thanking God for all the little things I love in my life, and remembering where I feel at home.

“When we say ‘I love Dr Pepper,’ that really and truly is part of our love story as human beings who were made in the image of God. Because those feelings of love — for people or places or things — all reflect the very essence of who He is. The squishy feeling is for Him. I believe we were created with this specific longing ingrained in our souls that can be fulfilled only by the One who loves us most. I wrote this book to encourage anyone reading to recognize that feeling. Although we’ll never be wholly fulfilled this side of heaven, love lives in our hearts and souls to remind us that day is coming. And it will be glorious.” – Lincee Ray in “It’s a Love Story”

I especially loved the chapters on serving others and how we don’t have enough romantic comedies these days. And I’ll never hear Black Eyes Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling” the same. That’s what Lincee does. She takes a pop culture reference and makes it relevant to a bigger picture and more entertaining than it would be otherwise. Plus, like me, she’d choose Pacey Witter over Dawson Leery any day.

But she does conclude with the greatest love story there is. We were separated from God long ago when Adam and Eve wandered and sinned in the garden. But God loved us so much he sent his Son as our sacrifice so we could know God, who is love. It’s a Love Story where there’s no surprise ending even though it’s still being written.

“Until we reunite with our Maker face-to-face, we’ll settle for substitutes to satiate our longing. Romantic movies and poetic storylines will fill us with faith. Gorgeous lyrics will fill out ears with hope. And intentional relationships with our families and friends will fill out hearts with love.” – Lincee Ray in “It’s a Love Story”

Reading acknowledgments is one of my favorite parts of books. Weird, I know, but, y’all, Lincee has the very best acknowledgments. For this book, she dedicates love songs to her people, so it reads like a playlist. Well done.

This is a quick easy read of the funny bits and the messy bits of these things called life and love. Broken up into fun chapters full of the things kids of the 80's and 90's grew up on and with Lincee's trademark humor and writing style this book is super fun read! I loved the chapters on The New Kids On The Block and the RomCom movies. I heard of Lincee through another blogger/author named Melanie Shankle and I have not been disappointed since adding her to my list of authors I love. If you are looking for a fun read with spiritual truths sprinkled in, don't miss this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and Revell for a free digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

I have been a fan of Lincee Ray's for a while. In fact, we grew up on the same small East Texas town. I relate to her story in many ways and know some of the people and places she refers to. However, even if I wasn't intimately familiar with Hallsville, Texas, I would still be drawn into the stories Lincee tells because of her wit and sense of humor.

I read the first half of the book waiting for a flat tire to be fixed, and as I sat with people all around me I continually had to cover my mouth to suppress full on guffaws from escaping. Lincee's skill in weaving the theme of love through her personal stories and her faith made me feel like we were real life friends. I think if you need to hear about love maybe not in the ways you expect or if you need some hope and laughter in your life, then you should pick this book up.

A great follow-up to Lincee Ray's first book, Why I Hate Green Beans. This is a fun, funny, sentimental and snarky look at L-O-V-E from family and pets to NKOTB and Jesus. It's a must read, especially the chapters devoted to Hallmark Christmas movies and '90s boy bands.

I received an advanced reader copy via NetGalley and Baker Publishing.

You'll laugh, you might tear up, you'll be reminded of some of your favorite love stories, you'll giggle, you'll wipe away another tear, and then you'll laugh again. From love story, to love of all things in your life, to the reminder that there is only One ultimate love story that matters, this book NEEDS to be on your bookshelf!

As I read this book I started jotting down connections I had to pop culture references or other funny antidotes the author Lincee referred to. There were funny similarities to ACL injuries I managed in high school, a love for NKOTB and Torchy’s Tabos, and more than a few pop culture references that pointed to exact experiences littering my teenage years, As I laughed my way through her words I felt seen in a kind of intimate way....like getting a text from a best friend - someone else like me!

And just when I had decided that the book was a fun quick read, she hits with some beautiful gospel related truths that caused me to tear up and feel lots of feelings. I loved the last chapters the most as she tied it all together to our love for God.

I loved that Lincee was able to write a book that tied my love of such similar maybe “trivial” things together to the love of our Savior. As I’ve been studying and immersed in scripture this Holy Week, reading and reflecting on the love He gives me I love the author’s reminder that His love is perfect, eternal, and when coupled with faith and hope will probably be the only way any of us survive.

Thank you to Lincee for her humor, candor, and ultimately for pointing to Jesus while she kept me laughing, crying and connecting it all together.

(I did receive an Advanced Readers Copy of this book, but the opinions are my own.)