Customer Reviews

Gingham Bride (Love Inspired Historical)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Fiona thinks her life can't get any worse and dreams and plans for the day that she can escape the control of her abusive father and defeated, angry mother. Since her brother died, she has lived in a house completely void of kindness, caring, or love of any sort. Her only respite is when she finds solace in the barn with the animals and at school or church with her friends. She lives in fear that one false move will send her drunken father into a fit of rage and invite yet another beating from him. Just when she thinks life can get no worse, she finds that Ian, the man who her father had "arranged" for her to marry someday, shows up. Does he really want her or just her father's land? When terms cannot be met and he leaves, her father finds someone else for her to marry. Will she be forced to live in a worse place with a horrendous man even more abusive than her father? Ian comes to the rescue, but with terms she can't seem to understand. She tries to keep her heart uninvolved and out of harm's way. Will she keep her vow to never marry and let a man have control over her? My opinion: This is a wonderful holiday love story showing how God's love works through a patient man who lives as the Lord leads him and puts those he loves first before himself and his own dreams. This story is woven beautifully to show how God can heal the broken heart of a young girl who's lived a lifetime of pain and rejection, helping her learn to trust and even love a man who seems too good to be true. Once again, Hart had me pulled into her story from the very beginning and kept me there through the entire book. I felt as I was living right alongside her characters. I didn't want to put her book down. In fact, I want to be a part of Fiona's sewing circle. I would love to read more love stories of the characters in this book, as well as see more into the married life of Fiona and Ian. The characters are so likable that you don't want their stories to end.

I LOVE Jillian Hart! She is one of my favorite authors. And she is the one who got me into, Historical romance, in the first place, with her books...I LOVED this book! Couldn't put it down! I absolutely fell 'In LOVE' with the character, Ian. Found myself HATING Fiona's parents! Very sweet, hearwarming Christmas romance with a 'Happy Ending!

Fiona and Ian had been promised to each other by their grandparents years ago. Fiona wanted to escape her family and desired to never have one of her own. Ian came to meet Fiona as a promise to his ill grandmother hoping to find a way to make life better for them financially. He didn't expect to find a woman that was beautiful and that he longed to protect. It is a sweet story that starts this Buttons and Bobbins series. I loved the sacrifices they made for each other. Overall a good read that I couldn't put down until I finished all the books available in the series.

I read 2-3 historical romances a week, when I find one that I can't put down and makes me cry out of hapiness you got a five star book in my opinion. Short, sweet, interesting, and tugs at your heartstings.....good reading highly recomended.

I just loved this book, and can't wait for more of the series to come out.
A young woman with a really severe life, and I am sure there are many true story's of that, knowing all of her life that she's been betrothed, (I mean her betrothed could be a real nasty guy), trying somehow to make somekind of plans for her life to be safe and experience her dreams and then to find a young, handsome,sweet man, that has come to really care for her, come on does it get any better than that.
Isn't that what we all dream about.
I say write more books, like this!!!

Once again, Ms. Hart has written a book that evokes emotion beautifully, and often painfully. The clarity of her imagery is striking, and this book does make a lasting impression. However, it was frustrating to read for the following reasons: 1) hardly anything happens throughout the course of the book; 2) there is little character development (to be expected in any book by Ms. Hart, but disappointing nonetheless); 3) the same thoughts, feelings, and questions are repeated over, and over, and over again, until the reader finds herself simply skipping pages in an effort to alleviate the boredom; and 4) the ending came abruptly and without much explanation, so much so that I was pulled out of the story to wonder whether Ms. Hart had run out of words, or whether she was up against a tight deadline, or whether she had simply grown tired of this particular story and wanted to move on to something else. When I put this book down, I was frustrated and disappointed. An unhappy turn of events, especially considering the potential of the storyline and the heartfelt evocation of emotion on the part of the heroine.

This would make a better short story. The main storyline is OK, but not developed enough, hitting the reader over and over with the same themes throughout. Telling us that Fiona hates the guy once is OK, twice is a gentle reminder, dozens of times throughout like three-fourths of the books is overkill. Move on already; get secondary characters developed with secondary story lines, too.

And instead of finally taking lots of action in the last 4 pages or so, making your head spin, develop that more into the entire story - - and make a story of it.

Please, in the book clubs anyway for adults, let's remember our main readers are grown women, right? High school still going on here up until the end? Wow, this is a teen book this way, folks. Disappointed it was in the book club for adult female readers - and in full length novel format.

By the way, I did add a star because there is FINALLY a main female character without red or reddish hair. Here's to hoping more and more books, movies, tv shows, etc. get real. Yes, red / auburn, etc. colored hair is beautiful...but there are not that many people with that color hair on the planet as depicted in romance novels, movies, tv shows and Disney junk over the past life time. Get real, please, and add more variations writers, as this writer has. Two thumbs up there.

I bought this book yesterday and it was a fast, easy read. Fiona has known all her life she is betrothed to a young man she has never met. She assumes he will be like her abusive father, but when Ian McPherson shows up and saves her from a beating, her feelings start to change, in spite of herself.
Short, fun Christmas story......sort of cliche, but it was a great fun, happy romance!!!