Meant to be Mine: Book Review

Meant to be Mine: By Becky Wade

Contemporary Christian Romance

Synopsis:

Ty Porter has always been irresistible to Celia Park. All through high school–irresistible. When their paths cross again after college–still irresistible. This time, though, Ty seems to feel exactly the same way about Celia. Their whirlwind romance deposits them at a street-corner Las Vegas wedding chapel.

The next morning they wake to a marriage certificate and a dose of cold reality. Celia’s ready to be Ty’s wife, but Ty’s not ready to be her husband. He’s a professional bull rider, he lives on the road, and he’s long planned to settle down with the hometown girl he’s known since childhood.

Five and a half years pass. Celia’s buried her dreams so that she can afford to raise her daughter. Ty’s achieved all of his goals. Or thought he had, until he looks again into the eyes of the woman he couldn’t forget and into the face of the child he never knew he had.

How much will Ty sacrifice to win back Celia’s trust and prove to her that their spontaneous marriage can still become the love of a lifetime?

My thoughts

I didn’t particularly like the set up of this book. I didn’t like the horrible situation that Ty had left Celia in. But I found myself completely relatable to the young woman Celia. I have a daughter the exact same age.

Before I go one, I will emphasize, as I have before, that Becky Wade is a wonderful writer. Her writing is superb, her stories are heartfelt and her characters are strong.

I do not agree with the whole ‘We got married in Vegas, and then slept with each other, and THAT’S OKAY because we were technically MARRIED.” plot line. I  don’t particularly think it’s a great christian genre story line, even though it’s been done before IN Christian fiction. Not my personal taste. I don’t usually feel it’s appropriate.

Throughout half the book, I hated Ty, but I loved Celia. ( poor girl!! that he so royally screwed over) I felt that their relationship was quite physical before it was more emotional.

Not until both Ty and Celia began to dig into the spiritual issues of forgiveness, belonging, of love and trust, of our human tendency to control v. letting God lead did I start to get into the story. Deep issues of the heart. Then I began to see the characters in a different light. I began to see the author’s vision, the reason behind presenting to the world the story of these two people.

In real life, people live broken lives. All over the world, all ages, all races, all religions, all ethnic groups, all economic groups. Brokenness is one of those human conditions that is cross-cultural. Often, at the core of brokenness is the lack of forgiveness.

Reading stories such as these brings me encouragement, as my book series centers around forgiveness as well.

Overall, a well written book, a thought provoking, very romantic story.

Other books by Becky Wade I have reviewed:

Undeniably Yours: Porter family series #1

Her one and Only: Porter family series #4