To Have and To Hold

by Barbara Bretton, Rita Clay Estrada, Sandra James

Four stories celebrate the romance, joy, excitement, and occasional mishaps that occur in the lives of women who are planning their wedding.

I Do, I Do . . . Again by Barbara Bretton: Sunny Talbot and Robert Holland were high school sweethearts whose teenage marriage quickly fell apart in the face of real life.
When a chance meeting brings them together again years later, they quickly discover that the passion they once shared burns hotter than ever.
Robert and Sunny are sure they've finally found their happily-ever-after but will their second chance at love survive planning the wedding?

Bride On The Run by Rita Clay Estrada: Wedding gown in hand, winning lottery ticket in her shoe, Kathi Baylor cut and ran. She commandeered Hannibal Saunders to drive her to collect her prize. Playing hooky in his friend's pickup truck, the conservative lawyer took this hellion on the ride of her life

Bride in Blue by Sandra James (aka: Samantha James): At her first wedding, Kate Harrison was left at the altar. Now she feared she'd never make it that far for her second. Just weeks away from the big day, Kate met Grant Richards at a remote river inn. Marriage was still on her mind--but with a different groom.

The First Man You Meet by Debbie Macomber: Shelly Hansen was horrified when Great-Aunt Milly's infamous wedding dress arrived on Friday the thirteenth. Family legend said she'd marry the next man she met. So when she ran into handsome Mark Brady, Shelly told herself--and him--that she wasn't interested. But then she started seeing him everywhere.... Just coincidence?

Genres: Romance, Anthologies

380 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 1992

About the author

Barbara Bretton is the USA Today bestselling, award-winning author of more than 40 books. She currently has over ten million copies in print around the world. Her works have been translated into twelve languages in over twenty countries.

Barbara has been featured in articles in The New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Romantic Times, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Herald News, Home News, Somerset Gazette,among others, and has been interviewed by Independent Network News Television, appeared on the Susan Stamberg Show on NPR, and been featured in an interview with Charles Osgood of WCBS, among others.

Her awards include both Reviewer's Choice and Career Achievement Awards from Romantic Times; Gold and Silver certificates from Affaire de Coeur; the RWA Region 1 Golden Leaf; and several sales awards from Bookrak. Ms. Bretton was included in a recent edition of Contemporary Authors.

Barbara loves to spend as much time as possible in Maine with her husband, walking the rocky beaches and dreaming up plots for upcoming books.

Reviews

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an Anthology with four stories

I Do I Do by Barbara Bretton tells the story of Sunny Talbot and Robert Holland who were married to each other at an earlier time. They have not seen each other in years but see each other again when Robert walks into to Sunny's Art Gallery. Sunny never remarried but Robert did and he and his wife have two children together but it turns out he is a widow. As the story progresses we learn why Sunny and Robert split up. They married right out of high school (actually it was the night of Sr. Prom) and everything was great although not easy until Sunny had a miscarriage and the emotional upheaval caused from it they were unable to deal with and work through and as a result split up. After spending a short amount of time together they realize they never stopped loving each other and decide to remarry. They hit some bumps in the road such as Robert's daughter is not happy about the "good news" but the four of them work everything out and there of course is a happy ending.

Bride On The Run by Rita Clay Estrada is about Kathi Baylor and Hanibal Saunders who knew each other growing up but have not seen each other in many years. Although they were next door neighbors in a rough neighborhood they seemed to be from different worlds and although they liked each other they didn't let the other know because they were afraid they wouldn't fit in the world the other was destined to be in. Kathi is on her way to marry Timothy who is really in love with her sister Vivian and its obvious Vivian feels the same but refused his marriage proposal. What I never quite understand is the reason Kathi is marrying Timothy. He's her best friend but he's in love with her sister and when the sister got into debt way over her head due to a gambling addiction he loaned Kathi the money to pay Vivian's debts and get her the help she needs. Best I can figure she's marrying Timothy because she can't afford to pay him back. This doesn't make sense to me. Anyway, she's suppose to be meeting Timothy and Vivian in Orlando but the car she's driving (which happens to belong to Timothy) breaks down on the highway and after trying to flag down a ride for I think it was between half an hour to an hour maybe longer or it seemed liked it she gets desperate and stands in front of the next vehicle that comes along. The vehicle happens to be a pick up truck driven by Hannibal. He recognizes her from the moment she gets in but she doesn't realize its him until later. He agrees to take her to I think the original destination was the bus stop (it seem to keep changing) but while driving she hears the radio D J announce the winning Lottery Numbers and they turn out to be hers. Hannibal eventually agrees to drive her to Tallahassee (the location of the lottery headquarters). They reminisce about growing up and although they don't seem to come right out and say I liked you back then you get the impression they realize it but weather or not they do they find themselves attracted to each other as adults and by the time Kathi completes all the paperwork for winning the lottery Hannibal is determined he's keeping her in his life. It doesn't take much longer for him to convince Kathi and wala another happy ending. Oh, there is a point where she realizes she admits she would be marrying Timothy for the wrong reason and she calls him and tells him the wedding is off. One thing that struck me in this story was he would take her hand and place it on his thigh as they drove down the road because he liked the feel of her touching him. My husband does the same thing for the same reason.

Bride in Blue by Sandra James features Kate Harrison and Grant Richards. Kate seems to have bad luck when it comes to weddings. Ben her first fiance' didn't show up for the wedding and now she's engaged to Derek. JoAnne a friend of hers owns a bed and breakfast ad asks her to run things while she and her husband are out of town. It's the off season and there is only one scheduled guest who will be staying 2 weeks. Grant is the guest and at first they seem like oil and water but with nothing to do since Grant is out of his element. The B&B (the books calls it an Inn but it sounds more like a B&B) was recommended and booked by his law partner who is outdoor type and decided Grant needed a vacation so he made all the arrangements. It is nothing like what Grant expected but he decides to make the best of it especially when he finds Kate intriguing. He helps hers to do so some soul searching and she realizes that she was marrying Derek for the wrong reason. Before she can totally come to terms with the revelation Derek shows up and calls off the wedding. Grant is there for her and she realizes that she loves him but fears he doesn't feel the same so when JoAnne returns a day early Kate leaves. She goes into a funk because she believes she'll never see him again. The day that was suppose to be her wedding day no one is around to console her. Joanne calls and insists she come to her place because she shouldn't be alone. So Kate puts on a Blue Sundress and goes to JoAnne's where she finds not only JoAnne but everyone else including Grant, a Minister and a County Clerk. He proposes, she accepts they sign the license and the minister does his thing and tada happy ending.

The First Man You Meet by Debbie Macomber is apparently the first book in a series called The Bridal Collection. The main characters are Shelly Hansen and Mark Brady. Shelly's Aunt Milly has a very special wedding dress. It was given to her by a Scottish Seamstress with the gift of sight. The family story is Milly requested an evening dress but when she went to pick it up the woman had sewn a wedding dress and proceeded to tell her she would soon marry. The first guy Milly met after receiving the dress was John whom she married ten days later and lived happily ever after with until he passed away. When this story starts is has been 8 years since John passed. Shelly receives the dress in the mail along with a letter describing a dream she had. Shelly freaks. While going to meet her best friend Jill for lunch she missteps onto the escalator and falls into the arms and eventually on top of a tall man with very blue eyes (Aunt Milly saw this man in her dream along with Shelly). Due to Shelly being freaked out about the dress and now an element of the dream is in front of her they don't get off to a very good beginning. For the next fer weeks they seem to see each other wherever they go. Mark has a fiance' but it turns out the two of them don't really love each other and because he finds he is falling in love with Shelly he breaks things off with Janice. Shelly tries to deny it but soon decides to be honest about the fact that she has fallen in love with Mark. Needless to say another Happy Ending. One of the elements I liked about this one is the being in the same place without it being planned (there are at least two places we learn Mark planned). The reason is because it reminds me of my husband and I. After we met we realized that we had actually spent our high school years being in the same place at the same time but not knowing it. When we finally met we knew we were meant to be together always. I hope I can manage to find the rest of the series. According to the back of the book Jill is next.

[Trish · Rating 2 out of 5]

Frankly I'm kind of embarrassed to say I read this. We recently moved and I didn't bring enough books with me. I snagged this one for a quarter because it was published the year I graduated high school... and well, it didn't age well. The stories are shallow, the romances unbelievable. I did snicker at the early 90s femi-drivel: "I just want a man who will let me be me, and not expect me to do all the housework!" Good for a few laughs, but little else

[Jessi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow. This is... definitely from the 90's. A fun, quick read if you ignore the fact that it's from 1992. I remember reading it and it was a favorite then so it must have either been from when I could only get my hands on a few romance novels or must have a good sign of the times.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kate & Grant