Dawn Crandall's Review of “A December Bride" by Denise Hunter

{My Review}

If Denise Hunter writes something, I'm going to read it. It's that simple. Even if it's short. Even if it's a novella. As far as I know, A December Bride, which is part of a novella series put together by Zondervan, is the only (non-Smitten) novella she's written. She was the perfect choice to begin the series, because as far as I'm concerned, everything she writes is absolutely wonderful.

This novella follows the lives of two characters from her fictional town called Chapel Springs (which is based off of the quaint Ohio River town of Madison, IN), and one of which is the sister of the hero in her latest full length novel, Barefoot Summer. The characters were well developed for a novella. They had super awesome chemistry together... which is pretty much a given being that they're characters from the imagination of this particular author. The plot was simple, but that's a given when the word count is so restricted. Novellas, as much as I've been trying to get into them more this year (mostly because they're everywhere all of a sudden), aren't my favorite. But this one was really good. I flew through it in one evening and enjoyed every minute. 

An eBook Advance Reader copy of A December Bride was given to me by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for this honest review.

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{More About the Book}

(from Goodreads) What started as a whim turned into an accidental - and very public - engagement. Can Layla and Seth keep up the facade in Chapel Springs this holiday season - for the sake of her career . . . and his heart?

Under normal circumstances, Seth Murphy, the best friend of Layla O'Reilly's ex-fiance would be the last person she'd marry. But the news of their upcoming (and phony) nuptials convinces a big client that Layla may be high-society enough to work for his agency, a coup that would put her fledgling home-staging business on the map. Seth has secretly loved Layla for years, even when she was dating his best friend. Maybe she'll never forgive him for the way he hurt her back then, but he has to try. And Layla is willing to keep up their engagement farce until she's landed her client. For Layla, it's the chance to save her career. But for Seth, it's his last chance to win her heart.

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{More About the Author}

Denise lives in Indiana with her husband Kevin and their three sons. In 1996, Denise began her first book, a Christian romance novel, writing while her children napped. Two years later it was published, and she's been writing ever since. Her books often contain a strong romantic element, and her husband Kevin says he provides all her romantic material, but Denise insists a good imagination helps too!

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Look out for the next novellas coming out in the "A Year of Weddings" novella collection. There are some pretty awesome authors included in the collaboration.