Having not read anything from Becky Wade before I wasn't sure what the expect but I enjoyed the writing style and the characters in A Love Like Ours. Lyndie and Jake couldnt be more different from each other. Different backgrounds and lives, so when they reconnect after a period of time. They are both a looking for someone to fill the emptiness in their lives, little by little they start to realise that maybe that person is each other. This book is very emotional for many reason but it is also heartfelt and moving. A truly great read.

I requested this book years ago, and am no longer interested in reading. Thank you for the opportunity.

Becky Wade dealt with two difficult issues in this book: a war vet's PTSD & a disabled character (sibling). She did so phenomenally! I really felt for Jake, the hero, as he sought to overcome. And seeing Lyndie's love for her sister really rounded out her characterization.

The narrative style felt a little rough around the edges, and I found the ending to be rushed (I disliked Lyndie's "sacrifice," especially, because it felt as if there was a missed opportunity for Jake to depend on God). I also found the emphasis on kissing to be a tad much.

But if you love contemporary fiction and have a soft spot for tall, dark, and brooding heroes, you'll love this book. The fact that Lyndie's a writer and it shows is an added bonus!

“A Love Like Ours” by Becky Wade is the third book in the “Porter Family” series, and is published by Bethany House. I’ve been waiting and waiting and WAITING for this book, as it is on the top of my I-WILL-ABSOLUTELY-DIE-WAITING-TO-READ-THIS, when will this ever come out?? bookshelf. Becky Wade quickly jumped near the very top of my favorite authors list, and she (thankfully!) did not disappoint with this book.

Lyndie and Jake were best friends when they were kids. He always protected her and stayed by her side when his older brothers would go off and play somewhere else. She could always make him smile. Her fanciful, whimsical imagination and love for animals endeared her to him and made him want to look after her. The two were inseparable.

Then Lyndie’s family moved. Her younger sister Mollie has cerebral palsy, and she always follows her family wherever they go to find the best medical support. It’s twenty years later, and Lyndie’s been in California, riding and training horses and helping her family take care of Mollie. When they decide to move back to Holley, Texas, Lyndie is excited to reunite with Jake Porter, her best friend. It’s not as easy as it sounds, however. Jake is scarred, physically, but mostly mentally, from his service as a Marine in Iraq. Suffering from PTSD, the most handsome of the Porter brothers stays in a barely furnished apartment, trains horses, and rarely says more than two sentences per conversation. Will Lyndie’s happy, lively personality be enough to warm his heart and reawaken their friendship?

I loved this book! The characters were so true to themselves in their responses to one another, and didn’t seem unoriginal or overlapping with previous ones. We as readers also get to visit Amber, Jayden, Meg, Bo, Celia, Ty, Addie, and Uncle Danny from previous books, making the community of Holley, Texas come alive and the story seem more complete. I enjoyed watching the characters grow towards one another once again, regaining their childhood friendship. The story and its redemptive, healing themes were intense at times, but overall fit together well and was not overdone. I would highly recommend this book!

Thank you so much to Bethany House publishers for providing me with a complimentary electronic copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own; I was not required to write a positive review.

by Andrea Renee Cox

The sexual content of this book shocked me. There were several mentions of "libido" and "testosterone" as well as sexual longing and dozens of inner heat reactions to a physical attraction to a member of the opposite sex. This book was heavily sensual throughout, which kept a sexual tension thick on nearly every page. This type of material is too edgy for solid Christian fiction.

The Lord's name was taken in vain at least twice. In addition, there were at minimum five expletives or expletive phrases.

There was a scene in which a child was unbuckled and changing clothes in the backseat while his mom was driving across town. This is a safety hazard that is unlikely to happen in today's society without CPS getting involved or a deadly wreck happening, yet neither of those situations happened in the wake of this scene.

One reason I was looking forward to reading this book was the horse trainer aspect, but that fell way short of my expectations. For the first seventy-five percent of the book, the horse trainer merely stood at the railing while his horses were being worked out. He hardly had anything to do with the horses through all that time. Yet in the back fourth of the novel, it was gushed about how much he loved and was active with his horses. Actions shout while words whisper, and I didn't see enough interaction between the man and his animals.

The lead female would flip-flop between sexual attraction to the lead male to extreme mothering of him. This was awkward for me to read for two reasons. The first is covered earlier in this review (sexual content); the second is that a romantic relationship does not often result in one party mothering the other. That does not seem like romance to me. Rather, it appears to be quite controlling.

Speaking of which, the lead male was pretty controlling of the lead female, which led me to root against them getting together. He was very often a jerk to her, which made me wonder why she still cared about pursuing him. Maybe it's the naivete of her young age. In my perspective, if a guy's a complete jerk on more than one occasion with me (because a one-time thing could be chalked up to having a bad day), I'm not hoping to date and/or marry the guy; I'm running for the hills. If a guy's a jerk before you're dating him, that type of behavior will get worse once you are dating, even worse when you're married, and beyond worse once kids get involved. I'm not even sure how the lead female could gush about his manners late in the book since he was pretty impolite to her more than anything else throughout ninety percent of the book.

My favorite thing about this book was the uniqueness of the dates that were included in the story. Some of them were things I would not have thought about adding into a book to liven things up a bit. This was the most interesting part of this story to me.

I also liked Zoe. She was a character I came to count on for relieving the sexual tension and providing a little comedy to the scenes she was in. I really looked forward to her scenes a lot throughout.

The aspect of special needs came through beautifully. This was another favorite aspect of the story for me.


I receive complimentary books from publishers, publicists, authors, and sites like Netgalley, Litfuse Publicity Group, and Blogging for Books. They do not require me to write positive reviews. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.