The Perfect Wedding

This Side of Heaven #1

by Arlene James

Cowboy Rod Corley has lost his faith in everything and is afraid to share the secret he carries, until bridal consultant Layne Harrington prompts him to believe again through the power of love, in an inspirational romance. Original.

Genres: Love Inspired, Harlequin, Christian, Romance

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Arlene James has written romance for four decades, and has published 100+ novels. A mother of sons and now a happy grandmother to the brightest, most talented, and lovely of all granddaughters, she is finding her sixth decade to be great fun.

She and her very supportive husband of 45 years (whom she agreed to marry on their first date!) enjoy a busy social life and have visited much of the world. After calling Texas home for three decades, they now live in beautiful NW Arkansas.

Arlene grew up on a ranch in south central Oklahoma and still maintains strong ties in that area. She firmly believes that writing has afforded her the best of all possible means of earning a living, and credits a junior high school English teacher with proving to her that her dream of being an author was entirely achievable.

After 4 decades of deadlines and multiple-book contracts (for which she is deeply grateful), she is enjoying the ability to write exactly what she feels led to write on her own schedule.

Reviews

[GigiHillx2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book and the chemistry between the main characters, but I was a little put off at the beginning by Layne's obsession with being married. As soon as a man walked into her shop she started ticking off the boxes in her head about whether he was "The One" or not. It seemed a little desperate to me. Still, I read on, and I was glad I did. I enjoyed it!

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was all set to give this book a one star. I felt the author concentrated too much on details and there wasn't enough dialogue. I still think so, but she certainly made up for it in the final chapter!!! I was laughing and crying as I read the climax of this wonderful book!!!

I too am currently praying that God will send that special someone into my life. I feel the older I get, the less of a chance I have but I keep holding on, having faith in God's timing and God's decision.

This book was wonderful. My heart ached for Layne and the pain she went through when Rod broke up with her for a pretty stupid reason. I still don't know that Rod deserved her after hurting her like he did, but for some reason she loved him enough to not give up on him. I think Rod was a sweetheart, and I'm glad the two got together in the end, but oh how I felt like punching him! I kept thinking he deserved a good punch in the nose a few times, but Layne kept egging him on. She didn't know when to leave it alone.

Their final fight in chapter ten was the BEST one ever. I could just see them standing in her living room yelling at each other. At times the things that left their lips was just pure craziness, but we don't think straight when we are fighting, now do we? I LOVED the scene where they argue about their breaking up or not..."Were we going together?" It was a hoot! And I loved the comment about the wedding...something about "I don't want to wait until after the wedding, but I will because I love you." But she never really heard what he said because her mind stopped at the word "wedding."

I could go on all night about this last chapter. It was so wonderful. That chapter alone deserves five stars!!! This was a good read.

This book was written outside the Christian Genre and later turned into a Christian book. Keep that in mind!

[Cws]

YAI-Jam

[Tiff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Typical romance, but good!