Thanks for the advanced readers copy. I was not able to get into this one, so I won't be proving a review on social media.

I was disappointed with this story, which I thought had so much potential when I read the synopsis. I didn't like the characters or the way they handled their reunion. I did not feel connected to them and grew more irritated as the plot unfolded. This series of novellas has been pretty hit and miss for me- they have garnered the whole range of ratings from me- from five stars all the way down to one.

(I received a complimentary copy of the book; all opinions expressed in this review are my own)

I'm very picky when it comes to Christmas books because I have so little time each year to read them. This one just did not sit well with me, and I set it aside.

This was another cute story in the Year Of Weddings series. I enjoyed the characters and would love to see other stories about some of the secondary characters. If you like a short sweet romantic stories with a Christian theme, I'd give this one a try.

Christmas is a time for love and romance, especially when a couple is given a second chance at love. Hope and John were only 18 years old when they made a grown up decision--eloping instead of going to their prom. I know they were young, but you would think that sometime within the ten years from then until now, they would realize how naive they were in believing that their marriage wasn't fake after all.

I'm not sure if the book didn't ring true for me because there wasn't time to really develop the characters or if they were just hard to relate to because of their innocence, but I didn't connect. I guess I have higher expectations when it's a contemporary story. I was just hoping for more from the story and was expecting something a bit sweeter and more fleshed out--not as confusing. Do they want to stay married or not?

I will say that I did like Verna and her sneaky ways and I thought she was the glue of the novella.

Content: no details, but you know the couple sleeps together

*I received a copy through Netgalley, which had no influence on my thoughts and opinions.*

***SPOILER ALERT***
Maybe I'm wrong, but I think people change a TON in ten years, especially going from teens to twenties and I couldn't understand how in the world they could pick right back up where they left off, claiming that they always had so much in common. If you even have an inkling that you want to end a marriage that you didn't know you had, why would you sleep together?! That's just what they did--they found out it wasn't really fake, slept together, and then tried to figure out what to do about it. And another kind of weird factor was that Verna is John's foster mother and Hope is Verna's niece. I know it's legal, but it was just weird.

This novella was a sweet one, and was very quick and easy to read. It told the story of Hope and John, who married, and then separated when Hope panicked. The minister told her he wouldn't file the paperwork, so the marriage wouldn't be legal. Years later she finds out that wasn't true, and has to deal with the situation she finds herself in.

I enjoyed both of these characters and watching them come to terms with one another.